EDMONTON, Alberta — Connor McDavid had a career-high six assists to lead Edmonton to an 8-4 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night, the Oilers’ eighth straight home victory.
It was McDavid’s second career six-point game (Nov. 14, 2019, against the Colorado Avalanche), as he became the fifth Oilers player ever with multiple such contents, joining Wayne Gretzky (22), Jari Kurri (4), Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson.
His third assist of the night was the 600th of his career, making him the fourth-fastest in NHL history to hit that milestone (reaching it in 616 games). Only Gretzky (416), Mario Lemieux (514) and Bobby Orr (608) were faster.
“It’s unbelievable. You can only dream of a game like that,” Oilers forward Dylan Holloway said. “It’s pretty incredible. It’s fun to watch. He deserves it, too. He brings it every day in practice, brings it every game. He had a great game tonight.”
McDavid, as is his custom, was unselfish amid the praise.
“I play with some good players, obviously,” he said. “And tonight was a good night.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and Leon Draisaitl, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Holloway also scored for the Oilers. Edmonton is one victory shy of matching their franchise record of nine home wins, done twice — in 2017 and 2022.
“I think his stats sheet says it all: Six assists, plus-six, no power-play time and he was skating,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said of McDavid, who has 603 assists in 616 games. “He was one of the few guys who was skating for a full 60 minutes and the plays that he made tonight were pretty phenomenal. If he’s not on top of his game, we’re probably not winning that one.”
The Oilers head out on a three-game trip before their next home game, on Feb. 21, against Eastern Conference-leading Boston.
Edmonton is 26-5-0 in its last 31 games.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report
Source: www.espn.com