McDavid scores 60th, leads Oilers past Coyotes 4-3 in OT
EDMONTON, Alberta, March 23, (AP): Connor McDavid scored his 60th goal of the season with his second of the game 1:31 into overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night.
Moments after hitting the post, McDavid went high on Connor Ingram, giving him 60 goals in 72 games and making him the fastest player to reach the mark since Mario Lemieux accomplished the feat in 62 games in the 1995-96 season.
“I kind of felt like I was pressing for the 60th all night,” said McDavid, who became the first player in NHL history to score his 60th in overtime. “I was disappointed not to bury (the first one). You are not going to get many better looks than that. It is not every day you get two breakaways back to back like that.
“Getting 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it and it feels good to join that list.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had a pair of goals, and Leon Draisaitl assisted on all four of the Oilers’ scores.
ICE HOCKEY
“He obviously missed the first one and he was telling me he slammed his stick against the boards after,” Draisaitl said of McDavid’s overtime goal. “I just saw their guy bobble it, so I tried to strip him and I saw Connor again. It is crazy to try that same move again and score on it the second time. But that is just what he does, I guess.
Stuart Skinner made 14 saves for Edmonton, which has won five straight games and nine of its last 11.
Clayton Keller scored twice and J.J. Moser also scored for the Coyotes, who have lost two in a row following a four-game winning streak. Ingram stopped 27 shots.
“I think we had some good urgency,” Keller said. “It was a tough back-to-back for us, but I think we did a good job. We were a little sloppy at the start and we didn’t want to put them on the power play and it was good for us to kind of just stick with it and play a mucky game and get a point out of it.”
McDavid extended his points streak at home to 16 games with his first goal of the game on the power play 5:47 into the opening period. McDavid took it behind the goal line and banked it in off Ingram’s head.
Moser tied it with a power-play goal with 4:13 left in the first.
Keller gave the Coyotes the lead 3:37 into the second period after a giveaway behind the Oilers’ net allowed Nick Schmaltz to send it in front, and Keller extended his points streak to 10 games with his 33rd goal.
With just 10 seconds to play in the second, Nugent-Hopkins tied it on the power play.
Arizona regained the lead 8:54 into the third when Barrett Hayton made a nice pass through traffic to get Keller a wide-open net and his second of the game.
Just over three minutes later, Draisaitl made a long stretch pass to send Nugent-Hopkins in on a breakaway and he beat Ingram stick-side for his second of the game.
In Denver, Sidney Crosby wasn’t even aware of reaching yet another milestone. He’s simply locked in on helping the Pittsburgh Penguins make a 17th straight postseason appearance.
Jeff Carter had a pair of goals, Crosby scored on a nifty backhand shot in the second period to reach the 30-goal mark for an 11th season and the Penguins beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Crosby moved into a tie with Hall-of-Fame center Mario Lemieux for the most 30-goal seasons in Penguins history. Another milestone reached - it came as news to him.
“I think the most important thing for me is just try to be consistent and if that reflects that great,” said Crosby, who turns 36 in August.
Even more, Crosby’s the first player in league history to post a 30-goal campaign at 18 years old and again when he was 35-plus, according to NHL Stats. “It means I’ve been in the league for a while,” Crosby cracked. “That’s been the thing that’s driven me since since I got into the league - in your first year, you want to prove that you belong. Even at 35, I still think you want to prove you belong, because it is a younger league.”
Jake Guentzel also scored and Bryan Rust added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who snapped a four-game slide and moved back into a wild-card spot in the East.