*Photo from the CBC*
When the Edmonton Oilers need a spark, they turn to their two best players. They are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Both of them sure had excellent nights. McDavid tallied 3 points, Draisaitl added two more, and the Oilers rolled past the Ottawa Senators with a 6-2 win Friday night.
McDavid got the scoring started just 10 seconds into the game, giving Edmonton a very early 1-0 lead. At 3:06, Thomas Chabot tied things for Ottawa. Tyson Barrie then added a goal for Edmonton, and it was 2-1 Oilers after one period. In the second, Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play for Ottawa, but Nurse and Draisaitl added goals for Edmonton, making it a 4-2 game after two periods. In the 3rd, goals from Tyler Ennis and Gaeten Haas put the game on ice for Edmonton.
McDavid said of the Oilers recent surge that "A lot was made last week with what happened with Toronto and we found a way to get those points back, so it's big. It doesn't matter who you're playing, it's not easy to beat them three times, so credit to our group."
Indeed, Edmonton has been on a surge, winning their last 4 games, moving to a 18-11-0 record, second place in the NHL's North Division. Mike Smith got the win in net for the Oilers, saving 23 shots out of the 25 that came his way in a solid win. Smith's record now stands at 9-2-0 this season, despite his late start to the season.
Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said of the secondary scoring from the Oilers that "When you put McDavid and Draisaitl together, you've got to have some balance throughout your lineup. It's good to see them get on the board. Those are things that, as a team, we have to make sure are in place as we move forward here with everybody chipping in and everybody feeling like they're a part of it, whether they're on the scoreboard or not."
Senators backup Joey Daccord got stuck with the loss in this game, saving 31 shots out of 37 that came his way, facing a high shot volume from Edmonton's potent offense. Daccord is still in search of his first win, dropping to 0-3-0 this season, while Ottawa still sits in the basement of the North Division, with a dismal 9-20-1 record, including what is now a 3 game losing streak.
Chabot said of the loss by Ottawa that "At the end of the day we wanted to show up tonight and really work hard and win our battles and obviously whatever the result was, we know we did that. Some nights it's not going to go your way and some nights it's going to come back our way. We worked hard and worked until the last minute of the game so that's what's most important to us."
Edmonton travels to Vancouver as they play against the Canucks tonight, with Mikko Koskinen getting the start. The Senators host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, where Matt Murray is expected to start.
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