04/09/26 12:58:00
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04/09 00:56 CDT Connor McDavid nets hat trick on 5-point night as Oilers surge
into first place in Pacific Division
Connor McDavid nets hat trick on 5-point night as Oilers surge into first place
in Pacific Division
By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) --- The best way for the Edmonton Oilers to shake off a
tough loss was to let Connor McDavid take over the game.
One night after his team squandered three separate leads in an overtime defeat
at Utah, McDavid delivered the kind of performance Edmonton needed.
He scored three goals for his 15th career hat trick and added two assists in a
5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday that moved the Oilers into
sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.
"He knows our team needed a win," coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We're playing a
little short-handed and he's going to be the guy. Tonight every shift he was
really dialed in and played extremely well. I've seen him play a lot of good
games and that was one of his best."
McDavid was sharp right from the start, scoring a power-play goal on his third
shift. He assisted on a power-play goal by Vasily Podkolzin late in the first
period and then added two more goals and an assist on his first seven shifts of
the second to put away the game.
When McDavid is playing the way he did against the Sharks, the strategy for his
teammates is simple.
"Get him the puck," Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard said. "When you see him
playing the way he was tonight, and honestly, most of the season, you want to
get him the puck. He makes things happen when not many other people can."
McDavid got the best of his matchup against his Canadian Olympic teammate and
fellow Hart Trophy contender Macklin Celebrini, who scored on the power play to
give San Jose a 1-0 lead.
McDavid answered that goal less than two minutes later, and the Sharks couldn't
slow him down the rest of the night.
"He's the best player in the league and he's also the fastest so if you don't
really slow him down or get in his way he's just going to skate by you,"
Celebrini said. "It's simple as that. You've seen it his whole career. I loved
watching it when I was a fan but it's super frustrating when you play against
it."
McDavid's 133 points this season are six more than Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov
in the race for Art Ross Trophy and the second-most McDavid has had in a season
to his 153 in 2022-23.
He needs three goals in the final three games for his second career 50-goal
season, although his focus remains on bigger goals. Edmonton is two points
ahead of Vegas in the division race, but the Golden Knights have a game in hand.
"We've got to punch our ticket," McDavid said. "We've got three games left.
We've still got to punch our ticket to the playoffs. Those individual things
are nice but not at the top of mind."
After making back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final the past two springs,
the Oilers have sputtered their way through much of this season. But Edmonton
has gone 6-1-1 over the past eight games to move into first place in the
Pacific Division.
With high-scoring teammate Leon Draisaitl possibly returning from injury for
the start of the postseason, the Oilers are trying to get back into top form in
time to make another deep run.
"It's been kind of an up-and-down year for us, honestly," McDavid said. "We
still feel like our best hockey is ahead of us. We're kind of finding it right
now, which is a good time to do it."
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