McDavid scores 60th, leads Oilers past Coyotes 4-3 in OT
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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid scored his 60th goal of the season with his second of the game 1:31 into overtime to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night.
Moments after hitting the post, McDavid went high on Connor Ingram, giving him 60 goals in 72 games and making him the fastest player to reach the mark since Mario Lemieux accomplished the feat in 62 games in the 1995-96 season.
“I kind of felt like I was pressing for the 60th all night,” said McDavid, who became the first player in NHL history to score his 60th in overtime. “I was disappointed not to bury (the first one). You are not going to get many better looks than that. It is not every day you get two breakaways back to back like that.
“Getting 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it and it feels good to join that list.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had a pair of goals, and Leon Draisaitl assisted on all four of the Oilers’ scores.
“He obviously missed the first one and he was telling me he slammed his stick against the boards after,” Draisaitl said of McDavid’s overtime goal. “I just saw their guy bobble it, so I tried to strip him and I saw Connor again. It is crazy to try that same move again and score on it the second time. But that is just what he does, I guess.
Stuart Skinner made 14 saves for Edmonton, which has won five straight games and nine of its last 11.
Clayton Keller scored twice and J.J. Moser also scored for the Coyotes, who have lost two in a row following a four-game winning streak. Ingram stopped 27 shots.
“I think we had some good urgency,” Keller said. “It was a tough back-to-back for us, but I think we did a good job. We were a little sloppy at the start and we didn’t want to put them on the power play and it was good for us to kind of just stick with it and play a mucky game and get a point out of it.”
McDavid extended his points streak at home to 16 games with his first goal of the game on the power play 5:47 into the opening period. McDavid took it behind the goal line and banked it in off Ingram’s head.
Moser tied it with a power-play goal with 4:13 left in the first.
Keller gave the Coyotes the lead 3:37 into the second period after a giveaway behind the Oilers’ net allowed Nick Schmaltz to send it in front, and Keller extended his points streak to 10 games with his 33rd goal.
With just 10 seconds to play in the second, Nugent-Hopkins tied it on the power play.
Arizona regained the lead 8:54 into the third when Barrett Hayton made a nice pass through traffic to get Keller a wide-open net and his second of the game.
Just over three minutes later, Draisaitl made a long stretch pass to send Nugent-Hopkins in on a breakaway and he beat Ingram stick-side for his second of the game.
NOTES: Out with injuries for the Coyotes were Josh Brown (lower body) and Zack Kassian (upper body). … Out for the Oilers were Ryan Murray (back), Ryan McLeod (upper body) and Devin Shore (undisclosed). Edmonton played the game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: At Colorado on Friday in the finale of a three-game trip.
Oilers: Host Vegas on Friday in the final game of a three-game homestand.
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Arizona Coyotes’ Juuso Valimaki (4) and Edmonton Oilers’ Derek Ryan (10) battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
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