Ottawa Senators defenceman Artem Zub looks on as Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid scores the game winner on goaltender Marcus Hogberg on April 7, 2021 in Ottawa. The Oilers defeated the Senators 4-2.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Oilers didn’t coast to their eighth win over Ottawa this season, but in the end the Senators couldn’t contain Edmonton’s superstar combination of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Playing on the same line Wednesday night, Draisaitl scored three goals and assisted on McDavid’s game-winner, and the Oilers continued their dominance of the Senators with a 4-2 win Wednesday night.
McDavid assisted on all three of Draisaitl’s goals as the Oilers improved to 8-0 against the Senators in the 2020-21 season.
Edmonton’s high-scoring pair continued to feast on the North Division’s last-place team. Draisaitl now has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) against the Senators this season, while McDavid has 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) against Ottawa.
McDavid and Draisaitl often centre their own scoring lines, but they have proven to be a potent combination when put together.
“It’s probably a different game than when I’m playing centre,” Draisaitl said. “We both just try to play our game, be effective and play both ways, be good in our own zone and turn that into quick transition up the ice. He obviously speeds the game up a lot, so it’s quick thinking. And I think he would probably tell you the same.”
Senators forward Connor Brown scored in his fifth straight game, and forward Josh Norris continued his impressive rookie season with his 10th goal of the season and his second in as many games.
Despite the loss the Senators gave the Oilers a tough game, and they have one more shot at Edmonton in the series finale Thursday night in Ottawa.
“We played well,” Senators coach DJ Smith said. “Their goalie made some really great saves down the stretch. Chabby (defenceman Thomas Chabot) had a really good look.
“Should we have got a point? I don’t know. But I would have really liked to see us hold them to two [goals] there.”
Senators goaltender Marcus Hogberg, making his first start since February, looked solid for Ottawa and made 31 stops. Mikko Koskinen stopped 28 shots for Edmonton.
The Oilers (24-14-2) moved past idle Winnipeg into second place in the North Division. The Senators fell to 13-23-4.
Despite the teams trending in different directions, Oilers coach Dave Tippett said he expects a strong response from Ottawa on Thursday.
“Ottawa works,” Tippett said. “If you’re not willing to work, then you’re going to be behind. They drag you into the game.”
The Senators worked to contain the Oilers’ counterattack, but gave Edmonton’s potent power play a chance to go to work when Artem Zub was called for interference after he held up Draisaitl in the Ottawa zone.
Edmonton made the Senators pay when Draisaitl opened the scoring at 12:18 of the first period after he took a pass from McDavid and fired the puck past Hogberg.
Ottawa tied the game 25 seconds into the second period. Chabot picked up his own rebound and fed the puck in front of the Edmonton net, and Norris got his stick on it and put it past Koskinen.
McDavid and Draisaitl combined again just after a penalty to Josh Archibald expired. McDavid sent a nifty pass to Draisaitl deep in Ottawa’s zone. The German star wired the puck past Hogberg from a tight angle.
“That’s a shot that only a few guys in the world can make, and he’s one of them,” McDavid said.
Again, Ottawa tied the game with a goal early in the period. Brown took a pass from Mike Reilly and scored on a well-placed shot right under the crossbar 1:02 into the third.
“Sometimes you earn a bit of confidence and some go in,” Smith said of Brown’s scoring streak. “I mean he was snakebitten for a while and now everything he shoots goes in. Sometimes you’ve just got to ride the streak.”
McDavid restored the Oilers lead after a period of sustained Edmonton pressure when he slipped past Chirs Tierney and put the puck past Hogberg for his 23rd of the year.
Draisaitl scored into an empty net for his 22nd goal and 10th in eight games against the Senators.
It was Ottawa’s first game since it named Zac Bierk as goaltending coach and reassigned Pierre Groulx to a scouting and development role. General manager Pierre Dorion said a number of Ottawa’s goaltending performances this season have been “underwhelming.”
The Senators entered the game last in the NHL in goals allowed per game, averaging 3.72.
Ottawa has used five goalies this season – Matt Murray, Joey Daccord, Hogberg, Filip Gustavsson and Anton Forsberg.
Hogberg made his first start since a Feb. 18 game against Toronto, when he suffered a lower-body injury after facing just five shots. He looked good early with 16 first-period saves, including stops on both McDavid and Draisaitl during an Oilers power play late in the first.
NOTES
The season series finale between the Oilers and Senators was originally scheduled for Friday, but was moved up as part of the NHL’s schedule juggling due to the Vancouver Canucks’ COVID-19 situation. ... Edmonton has points in eight of its last nine games (6-1-2). ... Ottawa has lost four of its last five following a two-game sweep of Calgary. ... Brown’s goal streak is the longest of his NHL career.