Oilers use four-goal first period to blow past the Ducks

Anaheim dropped to 3-5-1 on the team’s franchise-record 10-game homestand.

Klim Kostin scored two goals, and Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist apiece in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-2 victory over the lastplace Ducks on Wednesday night.

Leon Draisaitl also scored and Jack Campbell made 21 saves for the Oilers, who snapped a two-game skid on the second stop of a fourgame West Coast road trip. Edmonton recorded 53 shots on goal while scoring at least six goals for the fifth time over the last five weeks and avenging a 4-3 loss to the lowly Ducks last month.

Dylan Holloway got the opening goal just 3:24 into Edmonton’s four-goal first period, which was highlighted by McDavid’s exceptional backhand goal after a turnover by Cam Fowler to make it 3-1.

“It’s important to have a good start, especially against a young group,” McDavid said.

McDavid has 79 points in 43 games after his 22nd multipoint game, boosting his lead over Draisaitl to 16 points in the race for his fifth NHL scoring title.

Kostin had his third career two-goal game and his second in the last two weeks, scoring late in the first period off a turnover by Dmitry Kulikov and getting another in the second period.

Sam Carrick and Simon Benoit scored and John Gibson stopped 31 shots while giving up six goals in the first two periods for the Ducks, who dropped to 3-5-1 on their franchise-record 10-game homestand. Anaheim already was the NHL’s worst defensive team before yielding 17 goals in its last three games.

“Our best guys were clearly not our best guys,” coach Dallas Eakins said. “It shouldn’t take a big meeting between periods to get you going in this league. Working hard is not enough. You have to compete. You have to be a self-starter. You have to do what’s required.”