The usual suspects were at it again for the Edmonton Oilers as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl scored four points each in a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.
By Chris Faria
Edmonton got off on the right foot early as an Artem Zub interference penalty sent the Oilers to the power play just past the midway mark of the first period. With McDavid perched on his favoured left flank, he sent a crisp cross-seam pass to Draisaitl, who hammered a one-timer home past goaltender Marcus Hogberg to put the visitors up 1-0.
The Oilers put up a whopping 17 shots on the Senators’ net through 20 as Hogberg made a handful of excellent saves to keep Ottawa within one.
The Sens quickly rewarded their goalie for his efforts, equalizing the score just 25 ticks into the second frame. Thomas Chabot fired a shot on net from the left dot, picked up his own rebound, and swung a wraparound pass onto the stick of Josh Norris who tipped it home past Mikko Koskinen for his 10th goal of the season.
Ottawa played a much better second period, outshooting Edmonton 11-5 through the first 17 minutes of the frame, however that pesky Oilers duo would not be denied. With less than three minutes to play, McDavid entered the Sens’ zone and stopped up at the top of the right circle. The NHL’s scoring leader sent a pass down to Draisaitl in the corner who fired it on net from a ridiculous angle, somehow beating Hogberg on the short side to restore the Oilers’ lead.
But just as they did in the second, the Sens answered back almost instantly in the third. Just a minute into the period, Mike Reilly gained the Edmonton line then fed an open Connor Brown in the high slot. Brown quickly snapped it into the top right corner to bring his goal streak to five games and tie the game at 2-2.
The third period was a back and forth battle and with less than 10 minutes to go it looked as if the Sens would get at least a point – until McDavid and company decided to take over. After nearly two minutes of possession in the Ottawa zone, Draisaitl left a drop pass up high for a circling McDavid. The Oilers star danced right around Chris Tierney and flipped a shot up into the roof of the net to give the Oilers a late lead and add yet another highlight reel goal to his seemingly endless collection.
Draisaitl put the cherry on top of an excellent game as he added an empty net goal with less than a second left to complete his hat trick and give the Oilers a 4-2 win.
With the loss, the Sens fall to 1-4-0 in their last five games. They’ll have a chance at redemption against the Oilers tomorrow night as they face off at 7:00 PM EST.
