Gagner has eight points to tie Oilers record
Edmonton 8 Chicago 4
EDMONTON — Sam Gagner had four goals and four assists to tie a franchise record as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 8-4 on Thursday.
Gagner tied an Oiler team record for most points in a game held by Wayne Gretzky and defenceman Paul Coffey.
The 22-year-old, who came into Thursday with five goals on the season, earned all three stars after the game.
Taylor Hall, Ryan Whitney, Jordan Eberle and Cam Barker had the other goals for the Oilers (20-26-5), who have gone 3-0-1 in their last four games to move into a tie for third-last in the NHL with Anaheim.
Patrick Sharp had a pair of goals while Jamal Mayers and Dave Bolland also scored for the Blackhawks (29-16-7), who have now lost four straight.
The Blackhawks started the scoring six minutes into the game as Mayers fluttered a long shot from above the circle that fooled Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Chicago kept pouring it on but hit a pair of posts, a long blast from the point by Brent Seabrook and another from in close by Andrew Shaw as the game stayed 1-0 going into intermission.
Just 40 seconds into the second period Chicago made it 2-0 when Patrick Kane fed it to Sharp who found a clear lane to beat Dubnyk.
The Oilers responded less than two minutes later as Gagner earned his first point of the night. With a long pass he sprung Hall who chipped in his 18th of the year past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford. Hall has scored in three straight games.
Gagner then tied it just over seven minutes later when he picked up his own rebound, circled behind the net, and scored on the wraparound.
The Oilers took a 3-2 lead with seven minutes remaining in the second as Whitney ripped a shot from the point while on the power play for just his first of the season. Gagner earned the assist.
Chicago tied it two minutes later on a short-handed 2-on-1 as Dubnyk gave up a rebound to Sharp who buried his second of the night.
Gagner made it 4-3 two minutes into the third with his second goal of the night. Whitney’s shot sailed over the net but bounced in front for Gagner to put past Crawford.
The Oilers chased the Chicago goalie two minutes later when Barker fluttered a shot from the point that Crawford waved at as it went into the top corner. Gagner earned his third assist and Ray Emery replaced Crawford.
The Blackhawks got a goal back six minutes into the third as Bolland made a no-look backhand swat at a puck that squirted past Dubnyk.
Gagner completed the hat trick 30 seconds later to make it 6-4, as Hall spun around and found Gagner streaking for his sixth point of the game.
But he wasn’t done yet.
Eberle and Hall did some terrific tic-tac-toe passing to get Gagner the puck and he slapped his fourth of the game into a wide-open net with Emery sliding to keep up with the play.
He then added his eighth point of the game by making a prefect feed to Eberle, who scored his 20th of the season with four minutes left.
Dubnyk finished the game with 43 saves on 47 shots.
Crawford let in five goals on 28 shots while Emery allowed three goals on 13 shots.
The Blackhawks are in Calgary on Friday while the Oilers next return to action on Saturday when they host Detroit.
Notes: It was the fourth and final meeting between the two teams. Edmonton won two of the first three, including a huge 9-2 win over the Hawks during Chicago’s last trip to Rexall Place back in November... Edmonton’s once lengthy list of injured players continues to slowly erode as defenceman Cam Barker came back from an ankle injury suffered in November. Rookie scoring leader Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is back skating with the team and is expected to rejoin the lineup on Saturday while blue-liner Tom Gilbert should be back sometime early next week... Chicago’s Andrew Brunette left Thursday’s game with an upper body injury and did not return... Chicago centre Brendan Morrison played in his second game with the team since being traded to the Hawks by Calgary during the all-star break.
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