The Red Wings – and they’re hardly the first team to have faced this – had no answer Thursday for Connor McDavid.

The Edmonton Oilers’ star was at his best against the Wings, assisting on all four goals as the Oilers defeated the Wings, 4-1.

The loss was the first for the Wings (17-12-3) in regulation time during this six-game road trip (3-1-1), which concludes Saturday in Chicago, and ended a three-game Wings’ win streak.

But interestingly, this may have been one of the Wings’ best games on the trip.

“We came to play,” coach Todd McLellan told FanDuel Sports Detroit. “This was one of our better games played on the trip. We didn’t scramble around as much. We checked fairly well.

“We made a couple of critical mistakes (on Edmonton goals) and you can’t give that team those types of opportunities.”

Simon Edvinsson, who left Wednesday’s game in Calgary early after taking a shot to the skate, returned to the lineup against the Oilers and scored his fourth goal.

Zach Hyman scored three Edmonton (14-11-6) goals (one a power play, one empty net) and Mattias Ekholm had the other goal. And all four goals were by way of McDavid’s primary assists.

BOX SCORE: Oilers 4, Red Wings 1

“Connor willed his team to a win tonight,” captain Dylan Larkin told reporters. “That’s going to happen (for opponents) on a back-to-back in this building and you aren’t on your toes.”

But Larkin liked how the Wings competed.

“It was maybe one of our better games of the trip,” Larkin said. “(Offensive) zone time, generating chances. It’s just they capitalized on their chances and we didn’t.”

Two of McDavid’s best passes resulted in Hyman goals. McDavid threaded a pass through the slot in the first period to feed Hyman in front, a power-play goal, that gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead.

Early in the second period, McDavid turned and found a trailing Ekholm, who put a puck on net and beat a screened goaltender Cam Talbot (25 saves) for Ekholm’s third goal.

Edvinsson cut the lead to 2-1 at 5:41 of the second period. Nate Danielson centered a pass to Edvinsson, joining the rush, in the slot and Edvinsson batted a puck past goaltender Stuart Skinner (27 saves).

“He (Edvinsson) saw open ice and arrived on time, and put it in the net,” McLellan said. “We’ve talked about secondary scoring, and you can get it from the defense as well.”

But the Oilers restored the two-goal lead on Hyman’s second goal, by way of McDavid’s third assist. McDavid somehow saw Hyman in good position in the slot, and fed Hyman with a between the legs pass from near the side of the net, Hyman snapping his fourth goal at 17:48 of the second period.

tkulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan

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