Hockey
McDavid stretches point streak to 19 as Draisaitl leads Oilers past Rangers 3-1
Connor McDavid just keeps going. On Monday night at Rogers Place, the Oilers captain scored the opening goal in a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers, stretching his season-opening point streak to 19 games. Alongside him, Leon Draisaitl scored twice — including a spectacular shorthanded empty-netter from his own zone — to give Edmonton its second straight win and first place in the Western Conference.
A streak for the history books
McDavid is only the fourth player in NHL history to open a season with a point streak of at least 19 games, and the first since Dany Heatley, who put together 22 from October 5 to November 29, 2005. The other two are Wayne Gretzky (longest run: 51 games in 1983-84) and Mats Sundin (30 in 1992). The Edmonton captain has 48 points during the streak — 11 goals and 37 assists — making him also the fourth player in history to reach 48 points before his 20th game of a season (Lemieux, Gretzky, Joe Malone in 1917-18). His goal, at 6:42 of the first period, came from a mistake by goaltender Dylan Garand, whose clearing attempt behind his net bounced off the cage: McDavid, waiting at the right post, only had to tap the puck home. His run of consecutive games with an assist, however, ended at 18: he ties Adam Oates (1992-93) for the second-longest such streak in history, behind Gretzky's 23 in 1990-91.
Draisaitl, the goal machine
If McDavid collects points, Draisaitl collects goals. The German scored twice for a second straight game and now leads the NHL with 18 goals in 19 games. He made it 2-0 at 2:59 of the second period, beating Garand through the legs with a wrist shot after Vasily Podkolzin mishandled a pass from Mattias Ekholm — a goal upheld after video review, with the Rangers challenging for goaltender interference. He has six goals in his past four games and 12 points during a six-game point streak. His second goal of the night, at 18:47 of the third period, sealed the game: with the Rangers playing six-on-four, the German picked off a soft pass and lobbed the puck into the empty net from his own zone.
Levi, Edmonton's wall
Devon Levi made 28 saves and improved to 8-1-0 this season. "He's the main reason we won the game," Draisaitl said of his goaltender. "He made the right saves at the right time." The Rangers, who had won three straight, still controlled long stretches: Jaroslav Chmelar cut the deficit to 2-1 at 5:05 of the third period, shorthanded and fresh out of the penalty box, on a long stretch pass from Mika Zibanejad. "We generated a lot of chances," coach Mike Sullivan admitted. "For whatever reason, we couldn't put the puck in the net." The Oilers (13-3-3) have won 11 of 13 games this season when they score first. They host the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, while the Rangers (10-8-1) visit the Calgary Flames the same night.