OTTAWA — Leon Draisaitl scored three goals and assisted on Connor McDavid’s game-winner, and the Edmonton Oilers continued their dominance of the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 win Wednesday night.
The Oilers improved to 8-0 this season against the Senators, with the series finale between the teams coming Thursday night in Ottawa.
McDavid assisted on all three of Draisaitl’s goals as the Oilers’ superstar pair continued to feast on the North Division’s last-place team.
Draisaitl now has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) against the Senators this season, while McDavid has 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) against Ottawa.
Senators forward Connor Brown scored in his fifth straight game, and forward Josh Norris continued his impressive rookie season with his 10th goal of the season and his second in as many games.
Senators goaltender Marcus Hogberg, making his first start since February, looked solid for Ottawa and made 31 stops. Mikko Koskinen stopped 28 shots for Edmonton.
The Oilers (24-14-2) moved past idle Winnipeg into second place in the North Division. The Senators fell to 13-23-4.
The Senators worked to contain the Oilers’ counterattack, but gave Edmonton’s potent power play a chance to go to work when Artem Zub was called for interference after he held up Draisaitl in the Ottawa zone.
Edmonton made the Senators pay when Draisaitl opened at 12:18 of the first period after he took a pass from McDavid and fired the puck past Ottawa goaltender Marcus Hogberg.
Ottawa tied the game 25 seconds into the second period. Thomas Chabot picked up his own rebound and fed the puck in front of the Edmonton net, and Norris got his stick on it and put it past Koskinen for his 10th of the year.
McDavid and Draisaitl combined again just after a penalty to Josh Archibald expired. McDavid sent a nifty pass to Draisaitl deep in Ottawa’s zone. The German star wired the puck past Hogberg from a tight angle.
Again, Ottawa tied the game with a goal early in the period. Brown took a pass from Mike Reilly and scored on a well-placed shot right under the crossbar 1:02 into the third.
McDavid restored the Oilers lead after a period of sustained Edmonton pressure when he slipped past Chirs Tierney and put the puck past Hogberg for his 23rd of the year.
Drasaitl scored into an empty net for his 22nd goal and 10th in eight games against the Senators.
It was Ottawa’s first game since it named Zac Bierk as goaltending coach and reassigned Pierre Groulx to a scouting and development role. General manager Pierre Dorion said a number of Ottawa’s goaltending performances this season have been “underwhelming.”
The Senators entered the game last in the NHL in goals allowed per game, averaging 3.72.
Ottawa has used five goalies this season — Matt Murray, Joey Daccord, Hogberg, Filip Gustavsson and Anton Forsberg.
Hogberg made his first start since a Feb. 18 game against Toronto, when he suffered a lower-body injury after facing just five shots. He looked good early with 16 first-period saves, including stops on both McDavid and Draisaitl during an Oilers power play late in the first.
NOTES: The season series finale between the Oilers and Senators was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved up as part of the NHL’s schedule juggling due to the Vancouver Canucks’ COVID-19 situation. … Edmonton has points in eight of its last nine games (6-1-2). … Ottawa has lost four of its last five following a two-game sweep of Calgary. … Brown’s goal streak is the longest of his NHL career.
The Canadian Press