EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl got one goal and four assists, and Connor McDavid scored two goals and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in their fifth straight 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Evander Kane scored a hat trick, and Jack Campbell made 19 saves for the Oilers (7-3-0).
McDavid leads the NHL with 11 goals and 22 points; Draisaitl is second with 21 points and leads the league with 16 assists. …
“I think it was really good offensively,” Draisaitl said. “Sometimes when you go up early in a game like that, by three or four goals, those games can sometimes be tough because you naturally let off the gas. They’re a good team that can score and make plays, but I thought we did a really good job.”
Philippe Forsberg had a goal and two assists, Mikael Granlund, Matt Duchene and Romain Josi each got two assists, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators (3-6-1), who lost seven of eight.
“[Draisaitl and McDavid] are two of the best players in this league, and I think we gave them a little too much, especially early on,” Forsberg said. “When we give these guys time, they’re going to enjoy it and that was a little too easy for them sometimes. You can’t give anyone too much time in this league, but especially not these guys.”
Video: Evander Kane gets his 5th career hat trick
Mattias Ekholm scored 34 seconds into the first period on the game’s first shot to give Nashville a 1-0 lead.
Kane tied it 1-1 at 4:14, converting a backhand centering pass from Draisaitl from the right boards. The two combined again at 7:25 to make it 2-1, Draisaitl finding Kane in front with a pass into the corner.
McDavid made it 3-1 at 7:51, keeping the puck moving and shooting it through Saros’s pads.
“I think we had a really good first half, we fought hard after they scored early,” Kane said. “In the second period we traded goals on the power play. In the third we knew we had to go out and check, we knew we had enough goals to win, we wanted to make sure we were managing their push and we got on. sure we pushed back. We held on all night and managed to score the two points.”
Derek Ryan scored his first of the season at 14:58 to give Edmonton a 4-1 lead. He tapped as he passed Tyson Barrie on the side of the net.
McDavid scored on the power play at 7:26 of the second period to make it 5-1. He collected the puck on a clean win by Draisaitl and fired a shot from the slot over Saros’ shoulder.
“We have to be better collectively in the different phases of the game,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “They are two dynamic players and they made some good plays, and they came back into the game with their skills. They certainly had a good night tonight.”
Video: NSH@EDM: McDavid scores PPG for the second goal of the game
Ryan Johansen made it 5-2 on the power play at 9:28, redirecting a pass from Josi.
Forsberg scored at 4:51 of the third period to make it 5-3, watching a cross pass from Duchene.
“After we scored they came back and got those three quick points and turned it around,” Saros said. “We tried to come back but it wasn’t enough today. Then when you get closer you can’t give up on the next one, it’s a bit like that tonight.”
Draisaitl scored on the power play at 8:55, converting a cross pass from Ryan Nugent Hopkins to make 6-3.
“At 5-3 that penalty would have been nice to kill him but it’s tough, they have five elite players there; two of the best in the world and the rest aren’t too bad in that unit either ,” Forsberg said. “I think the killers did a great job all night, but you can’t stop them when you take that many penalties. It’s something we shot ourselves in the foot with on the comeback.”
Nino Niederreiter scored on a 6-on-4 power play with Saros on the bench for an extra skater to make it 6-4 at 17:10, and Kane scored in an empty net at 18:23 for the 7-4 final .
“I think if you look at the goals we’ve allowed, there are some things we can do better,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “One of them was 6v4, but there are things we can do better. But I always come back to the fact that the team is 7-3, but we realize we’re not perfect, we have areas that we need to improve and [penalty kill] is definitely one of them.”
REMARKS: In 21 games against the Predators, Draisaitl has 30 points (20 goals, 10 assists). He has five five-point games, which is fifth among active players behind Yevgeny Malkin (eight), McDavid (seven), Sidney Crosby (six), and Brad Merchant (six). … McDavid has five multipoint games in the first 10 games of the season. … Kane has five hat tricks in the NHL. … Duchene had his 400th NHL assist.
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