Connor McDavid scored his league-leading 60th goal of the season 1:31 into overtime, his second tally of the night, to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night.
McDavid, who slammed his stick off the boards after firing a shot off the post just seven seconds earlier, got the puck back from Leon Draisaitl and then broke down the slot and roofed a sharp-angle shot from the left side of the crease over Arizona goalie Connor Ingram for the winner.
It was the 15th career overtime winner for McDavid, who became the first Oiler since Wayne Gretzky in 1986-87 to hit the 60-goal mark. McDavid needed the fewest games (72) to score 60 goals in a season since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux got there in 62 games during the 1995-96 campaign.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored two goals for Edmonton (41-23-8, 90 points), which closed to within two points of the second-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division by registering its fifth straight victory. Draisaitl finished with four assists, and Stuart Skinner made 14 saves for the win.
Clayton Keller scored twice, J.J. Moser added a goal and Nick Schmaltz had two assists for Arizona (27-33-12, 66 points), which is 6-1-3 in its past 10 games. The two goals extended Keller’s point streak to 10 games (nine goals, 10 assists), tying his career high. Ingram finished with 27 saves.
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead at the 5:47 mark of the first period on a power-play goal by McDavid. He banked a shot from behind the left side of the goal off Ingram’s back and into the net.
Arizona tied it near the end of the first period on a power-play goal by Moser, who tapped in a Matias Maccelli crossing pass on the backdoor by the right post for his sixth goal of the season.
Keller gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Schmaltz set up the score, stealing the puck from defenseman Evan Bouchard along the boards behind the net and then quickly backhanding a pass to Keller in the slot, where he backhanded a shot past Skinner’s blocker side.
The Oilers tied it 2-2 with 10 seconds left in the period with another power-play goal, a spinning wrist shot from the high slot by Nugent-Hopkins off a Draisaitl pass.
Keller put Arizona back in front at the 8:54 mark of the third period with his 34th goal of the season. He roofed a cross-crease pass from Barrett Hayton from the left side of the net.
Edmonton tied it 3-3 with 7:43 left when Nugent-Hopkins took a long stretch pass from Draisaitl and broke in and fired a wrist shot under Skinner’s right arm for his 33rd goal.
–Field Level Media
