McDavid’s hat trick is enough to beat Ducks
EDMONTON 6 DUCKS 2
Connor McDavid had a hat trick and became the eighth NHL player to record 400 points before his 23rd birthday as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the host Ducks 6-2 on Sunday.
It is the fifth hat trick of McDavid’s career and his first since Feb. 18, 2018, against Colorado. Edmonton’s superstar center is the 13th player in league history to reach 400 points in 306 or fewer games.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored twice for the Oilers, who have won four of their last six. Zack Kassian had a goal and two assists and Leon Draisaitl added three assists to move into the NHL scoring lead with 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists).
Oscar Klef bom had a pair of assists and Mikko Koskinen made 31 saves for his seventh win in 10 games.
Rickard Rakell and Max Jones scored for the Ducks, who lost their third in a row.
“We got outplayed,” the Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf said. “We said they were an opportunistic team. They were. We said they were good on the power play. They were. We got outplayed.”
McDavid reached the 400-point milestone with 9:06 left in the first when his wrist shot beat goalie John Gibson to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead. Gibson made 25 saves.
McDavid then completed the hat trick with a pair of third-period goals. He put another wrist shot past Gibson at 7:14 to give Edmonton a 5-2 lead and then got his fourth power-play goal of the season with 6:35 left.
Nugent-Hopkins earned the 17th multi-goal game of his career after coming in with only one goal. He put the Oilers on the board 88 seconds into the game when he took advantage of a turnover behind the net and jammed it past Gibson’s short side. Edmonton’s James Neal pressured the Ducks’ Korbinian Holzer to turn it over.
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The Ducks put defenseman Hampus Lindholm on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury . ... Rakell is the 16th player in Ducks franchise history to appear in 400 games.