McDavid scores NHL-leading 57th goal, Oilers beat Stars 4-1

Mar 17, 2023, 05:17 am

EDMONTON, Alberta -- — Connor McDavid scored his NHL-leading 57th goal and added an assist in the Edmonton Oilers' 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

McDavid pushed his NHL-best points total to 131 — 30 more than second-place linemate Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl assisted on McDavid's goal.

Edmonton improved to 38-23-8 with its second straight victory and sixth in eight games.

“It was the type of game we needed,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I thought our energy level was good and our details were good and we found a way to beat a really good hockey team. They were averaging five goals a game and we won 4-1. To me, that sticks with the template we keep talking about here.”

Stuart Skinner made 25 saves for the Oilers.

West-leading Dallas fell to 37-19-13 with its second loss in a row.

“Getting in the hole in the first period and playing behind again just like the other night, it’s not a good recipe for us,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “You have to score more than once to win and I didn’t think we did enough to get to the net, to get inside to penetrate to score.”

Warren Foegele and Mattias Janmark scored for Edmonton in the first period, with Janmark connecting short-handed for the first of his two goals.

“I thought we didn’t really get going at any point and that’s tough,” Stars defender Esa Lindell said. “When you don’t start well, we fell behind. They played well, but I think that was more on us. Our structure that we lean on and how we play, we didn’t really do that and that’s the result we get.”

Wyatt Johnston cut it to 2-1 midway through the third. McDavid quickly restored the two-goal advantage, and Janmark capped the scoring with an empty-netter.

“We are always hungry to continue to get better,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We can definitely take some good pieces from that game and build on them. That is a good sign for us here. We have a lot of important hockey coming up.”

Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots for the Stars.

UP NEXT

Stars: At Calgary on Saturday night.

Oilers: At Seattle on Saturday.

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