EDMONTON, AB – Happy Holidays, Oil Country.
The goals were snowing down for the Edmonton Oilers in the Battle of Alberta on Tuesday night, with Leon Draisaitl recording the hat-trick and Connor McDavid posting an incredible five assists in a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place in the final game before the start of the holiday break.
McDavid factored in on every one of Edmonton’s goals to post his 12th-career regular-season game with five or more points, extending his masterful point streak to 11 games, totalling 12 goals and 19 assists, to lead the NHL in scoring with 67 points (23G, 44A) through 38 games as we hit the holidays.
Draisaitl hadn’t scored in nine games for the Oilers, but broke his ‘scoring slump’ despite having nine assists over his previous four games by recording his ninth-career regular-season hat-trick, pushing his own point streak to five games with three goals and nine assists to reach 20 goals on the campaign.
The German surpassed Glenn Anderson for the third-most goals in Oilers’ franchise history with his 416th, 417th and 418th career tallies in the victory.
All of the Oilers’ scoring was done by five players on Tuesday, with Zach Hyman also posting a multi-point night with a goal and two assists and Nugent-Hopkins opening the scoring with his 11th goal of the campaign in the first period on the power play, which went 3-for-6 against the Flames.
Goaltender Connor Ingram made 18 saves to pick up his second straight win for the Oilers, who improved to 19-13-6 this season.
The Oilers’ next matchup will be a rematch with the Flames in the Battle of Alberta this coming Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.