McDavid hits 60-goal mark with OT winner as Oilers hand Coyotes 4-3 loss
It seems like Connor McDavid can’t go a game without setting a new standard.
McDavid hit the 60-goal mark with his second of the night 1:31 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers took a 4-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
Moments after hitting the post on a previous breakaway, McDavid tried the exact same shot on another breakaway opportunity to score on Coyotes goalie Connor Ingram, making him the fastest player to reach the mark (72 games) since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 (62 games).
“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 their 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' (41-23-8) goals.
“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.
“It is pretty hard to score in this league and to score 60 in a season and still have 10 games to go is pretty remarkable. He is just a special player.”
Stuart Skinner made 14 saves for Edmonton, which seems to be rounding into playoff form having won five straight games and nine of its last 11.
Clayton Keller, with two goals, and J.J. Moser replied for the Coyotes (27-33-12) who have lost two straight on the heels of a four-game winning streak.
“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.”
Ingram stopped 27-of-31 shots in the loss.
“Our guys never quit, they keep going, they have character, they play for each other, there are a lot of guys who want to suffer for each other and there is a huge brotherhood in that room,” said Arizona head coach Andre Tourigny.
Edmonton’s deadly power play opened the scoring 5:47 into the opening period. McDavid took it behind the goal line and banked it off of Ingram's head and in to extend his home point streak to 16 games.
Moser knotted the game with a power-play marker with 4:13 left in the first. Matias Maccelli made a nice feed through the crease to give Moser an easy tap-in at the side of the net before Skinner could get across.
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 point streak to 10 games with his 33rd goal of the season.
With just 10 seconds to play in the middle frame, Draisaitl sent a backhand pass from behind the net and up the middle, where Nugent-Hopkins wired it home to tie the game 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 goal of the game.
Just over three minutes later, the connection between Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins struck again.
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 to eventually send the contest to overtime.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted in Ontario double homicide: DOJ
A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who is suspected of being the leader of a transnational drug trafficking group that operated in four countries is wanted for allegedly orchestrating the murder of an 'innocent' couple in Ontario in 2023, authorities say.
Ontario school board trustees under fire for $100K religious art purchase on Italy trip
Trustees with an Ontario school board are responding to criticism over a $45,000 trip to Italy, where they purchased more than $100,000 worth of religious statues.
A photographer snorkeled for hours to take this picture
Shane Gross, a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist, has won the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Tobacco giants would pay out $32.5 billion to provinces, smokers in proposed deal
Three tobacco giants are proposing to pay close to $25 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to some 100,000 Quebec smokers and their loved ones as part of a corporate restructuring process triggered by a long-running legal battle.
More Trudeau cabinet ministers not running for re-election, sources say shuffle expected soon
Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election. Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other, Marie-Claude Bibeau, doesn't plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.
Robert Pickton's handwritten book seized after his death in hopes of uncovering new evidence
A handwritten book was seized from B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton's prison cell following his death earlier this year, raising hopes of uncovering new evidence in a series of unprosecuted murders.
Former members of One Direction say they're 'completely devastated' by Liam Payne's death
The former members of English boy band One Direction reacted publicly to the sudden death of their bandmate, Liam Payne, for the first time on Thursday, saying in a joint statement that they're 'completely devastated.'
Israel says it has killed top Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar in Gaza
Israeli forces in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man.
Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City
The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.