Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid overwhelm Flames
Leon Draisaitl scored a hat trick and Connor McDavid added five assists as the Edmonton Oilers upended the visiting Calgary Flames 5-1 on Tuesday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 8-2-1 both overall and in their past 11 meetings with the Flames. Edmonton goalie Connor Ingram made 19 saves.
McDavid, the NHL's first star of the week, registered his second career five-assist game, tying Draisaitl and Paul Coffey for the second most in franchise history. Wayne Gretzky logged 12 five-assist games for the Oilers.
MacKenzie Weegar tallied for the Flames, and Dustin Wolf stopped 34 shots.
Draisaitl completed the hat trick at 5:38 of the third period on a power play, batting home the loose puck off a McDavid rush. It was his ninth career regular-season hat trick.
The Oilers scored twice in the middle period to open a three-goal cushion heading to the third.
Edmonton pushed the lead to 3-1 on a power play at 1:59 of the second as Draisaitl redirected a McDavid feed past Wolf.
Hyman made it 4-1 at 11:55 of the middle frame, tapping in a cross-ice, 2-on-1 feed from McDavid for his 10th of the season.
Edmonton outshot Calgary 15-8 and led 2-1 after 20 minutes.
Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring, putting home the rebound off Evan Bouchard's point shot for his 20th career goal against the Flames -- his most against any opponent -- at 6:48 of the first.
The Flames responded at 15:58 as Weegar's point shot deflected off Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and past Ingram.
Draisaitl restored the Oilers' lead with 17 seconds remaining in the opening period on a power play, one-timing a Hyman feed into a wide-open net.
The Tuesday game was the opener of a home-and-home set wrapped around the NHL's holiday break. The teams will reconvene in Calgary on Saturday.
Calgary edged Edmonton 4-3 in a shootout in the first meeting between the Pacific Division rivals on Oct. 8, the season opener for both clubs.