Leon Draisaitl scored twice to move into a tie for the NHL's goal-scoring lead and Evander Kane tallied in his Edmonton debut as the Oilers defeated the host Montreal Canadiens 7-2 Saturday night.
Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had one of each and Derek Ryan also scored for the Oilers, who have won four consecutive games after going 2-11-2 over their previous 15. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 21 saves.
Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Canadiens, who have lost five in a row and are 1-7-4 in their past 12 games. Sam Montembeault stopped 10 of 16 shots through two periods before being replaced by Cayden Primeau, who gave up one goal on eight shots.
Draisaitl's goals were his 30th and 31st of the season, tying the New York Rangers' Chris Kreider for first in the league.
Kane, formerly with San Jose, signed as a free agent Thursday after being cleared by an NHL investigation regarding a violation of the COVID-19 protocol. He played on the Oilers' top line with reigning league MVP Connor McDavid and Kailer Yamamoto.
Kane opened the scoring at 11:21 of the first period, getting to the front of the net and deflecting Evan Bouchard's shot from the blue line past Montembeault.
It was the first goal in a span of 1:47 for the Oilers, as Hyman scored at 12:48 on a tip of Kris Russell's shot from the point and Draisaitl tallied at 13:08, driving to the top of the crease before a stick-check by Montreal's Rem Pitlick knocked the puck into his own net.
Anderson got the Canadiens on the board at 3:58 of the second, but Nugent-Hopkins restored the three-goal margin at 6:18.
Hyman made it 5-1 at 14:30, taking the puck behind the net and then whipping around when he reached the right faceoff circle and putting a shot past Montembeault.
Toffoli scored on the power play for Montreal at 15:09 of the second before Draisaitl responded 24 seconds later, knocking home a rebound of a Warren Foegele shot into a nearly empty net to make it 6-2.
Ryan scored at 19:26 of the third to cap the victory.
--Field Level Media
Edmonton | Montreal | |
Zach Hyman 3 | Points | Josh Anderson 1 |
Zach Hyman 2 | Goals | Josh Anderson 1 |
Warren Foegele 2 | Assists | Ben Chiarot 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Tyler Toffoli 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Stuart Skinner .913 | Save Percentage | Cayden Primeau .875 |
Stuart Skinner 21 | Saves | Sam Montembeault 10 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Edmonton | 24 | 7 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 9 | 27 |
Montreal | 23 | 2 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 17 | 27 |