Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will try to extend their point streaks to 13 games on Friday night when the Edmonton Oilers host the Anaheim Ducks.
McDavid has three goals and 20 assists during his streak, while Draisaitl has scored 10 goals and 14 assists. Since their streaks began, the Oilers have gone 9-2-1, staying close behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division.
“You look at our record and where we are in the standings, and two big, big reasons are Connor and Leon. How well they’ve played at both ends of the rink and then also producing offensively every single night,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “Very rarely are they held off the scoresheet, and you have success when your best players are your best players, and those two are our best players.”
Edmonton is also getting good production from forward Connor Brown, who has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his last 24 games. Brown, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL, has recently been placed on the same line as McDavid.
“I feel back to where I was pre-injury,” Brown said.
Zach Hyman’s eight-game point streak ended in a 4-1 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday, but McDavid, Brown, and defenseman Mattias Ekholm all stepped up with multi-point performances.
“We have a lot of different pieces in here that can play together,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “It’s fun sometimes to play with other guys, get some new looks. It keeps it fresh a little bit.”
Knoblauch has mixed up the lines but the players trust that he sees things they might not.
“He really does things with a purpose. I don’t think he’s throwing darts at a wall,” Brown said. “Any types of decisions he made are pretty calculated. He’s a really smart coach. Also, we’ve got a lot of good players in here, so you can jumble it around and get some results a couple different ways.”
Meanwhile, the Ducks started their short two-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. The victory extended their winning streak to a season-high three games.
John Gibson made 25 saves for Anaheim, but Lukas Dostal is expected to start against the Oilers. Dostal made 20 saves in a 5-3 win over Edmonton on Sunday and had 32 saves in a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
“I’ve said this repeatedly — he’s mature for his age, particularly in a goalie’s life when you’re that young, to have his maturity level,” said Ducks coach Greg Cronin. “He doesn’t get rattled. He’s got a very high standard that he sets for himself, even when he plays pucks.”
Cronin pointed out a couple of instances when Dostal covered the puck against the Devils, preventing the Ducks from changing lines.
“I saw his face, you could tell he was disappointed in himself, but you can see by his body language when little details like that slip, he immediately takes ownership of it,” Cronin said. “You always say, it’s not the number of saves, it’s the timeliness of the saves.”
