Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) looks for an opening against Chicago Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek (34) as Isaak Phillips (41) and Jarred Tinordi (25) look on during second period NHL hockey action in Edmonton, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken
EDMONTON – Connor McDavid had two goals and an assist and backup goalie Calvin Pickard made 27 saves for the shutout as the Edmonton Oilers kept their spectacular streak alive with a 3-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
Zach Hyman also scored while Leon Draisaitl had three assists for the Oilers (28-15-1) who have now won 15 games in a row, becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to meet the mark.
The record is 17 wins in a row by the Pittsburgh Penguin in 1992-93. The Oilers are now 23-3-0 in their last 26 games and have gone a franchise-record 13 consecutive games allowing two or fewer goals.
The Blackhawks (14-33-2) have lost three straight and have an unfortunate streak of their own going, losing 19 consecutive road games (0-18-1) as Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots.
Edmonton broke the deadlock on the power play 1:37 into the middle frame as Draisaitl made a touch pass to McDavid and he scored on the backhand with Mrazek well out of position. The goal extended McDavid’s home scoring streak to 17 games.
Chicago had a glorious opportunity with 1:36 remaining in the second period when Mackenzie Entwistle was awarded a penalty shot after being hauled down by Oilers defender Vincent Desharnais. Entwistle attempted to send his shot through Pickard’s legs, but the Oilers netminder shut the door.
Edmonton took a two-goal edge six-and-a-half minutes into the third as McDavid made a nice backhand pass across to a hard-charging Hyman, who directed his 29th of the season past Mrazek.
The Oilers put the game away with a late empty net goal as McDavid notched his 18th goal of the season moments after Hyman narrowly missed whilst being hauled down.
NOTES
It was the third and final meeting between the two teams this season. Edmonton won the previous two “¦ The Blackhawks came into the game with a dismal minus-54 goal differential during their sorry streak of 18 consecutive road losses “¦ Chicago has been ravaged by injuries with the likes of Connor Bedard, Taylor Hall, Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Johnson, Anthony Beauvillier, Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Murphy all out – representing a combined cap hit of US$29.25M. By comparison, the Hawks’ forward group against Edmonton had a combined cap hit of less than $20M “¦ The teams in NHL history to extend winning streaks to 15 game or more have been the Pittsburgh Penguins with the record of 17 in 1992-93, the Columbus Blue Jackets with 16 in 2016-17, The New York Islanders with 15 in 1981-82, and Pittsburgh with 15 in 2012-13 “¦ Oilers forward Sam Gagner was a part of that Columbus team that won 16 straight, making him the only player in NHL history to be a part of two such lengthy runs of consecutive victories.
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Play the final game of a four-game road trip against the Flames in Calgary on Saturday.
Oilers: Host the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2024.
