Connor McDavid helps Oilers close gap on Ducks with win

NHL points leader Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-2 win against the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Saturday afternoon.

McDavid increased his points total to 124 (42 goals, 82 assists) and stretched his point streak to four games (five goals, four assists).

Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist, Jack Roslovic and Matt Savoie also scored, Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 28 saves for the Oilers (37-28-9, 83 points), who have won three in a row to match their season high and pulled within three points of the Ducks for first place in the Pacific Division.

Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier scored, John Carlson had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 30 saves for the Ducks (41-28-4, 86 points), who entered the finale of the three-game road trip on a six-game point streak (5-0-1).

The Ducks gave up the first goal of the game for the 15th time in 17 games since the Olympic break.

Bouchard took a one-timer from above the right circle that went wide and hit the back of the net on the carom.

Carlson tried to sweep the puck into the corner, but it hit McDavid’s skate and ricocheted back toward the crease, where McDavid backhanded it into the net for his 42nd goal of the season and a 1-0 lead at 7:36 of the second period.

The Ducks were outshot 11-3 in the second period.

Roslovic made it 2-0 at 4:59 of the third when he slid the puck through Dostal’s pass off a feed from Hyman to finish a rush.

The Oilers scored again 1:11 later when Savoie redirected a cross-ice feed from Vasily Podkolzin into the net off another rush for a 3-0 lead at 6:10.

Sennecke spoiled Ingram’s second shutout of the season when he scored on a tip to cut it to 3-1 at 6:53.

Jeffrey Viel made a no-look pass from below the goal line to Gauthier out front and he scored his team-leading 37th goal of the season to cut it to 3-2 at 9:41.

Hyman sealed it with an empty-net goal with 17 seconds left for a 4-2 lead.

Ducks forward Troy Terry returned after missing the 3-2 overtime win at the Calgary Flames on Thursday with a lower-body injury, but Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov sat out the finale of the three-game trip with lower-body injuries.

–Field Level Media