McDavid, Oilers flip Flyers
EDMONTON, Alberta -- A balanced Edmonton Oilers attack overwhelmed the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Rogers Place.
Twelve Oilers hit the scoresheet as Edmonton beat Philadelphia 6-3. Connor McDavid reclaimed the NHL scoring lead with a three-point night -- a goal and two assists. He has 66 points on the season.
The Oilers (31-19-8) earned their second win in a row, while the Flyers (27-24-7) lost for the fifth time in six games.
Jordan Eberle, Matt Hendricks and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who also got goals from Leon Draisaitl and Oscar Klefbom. Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot made 33 saves.
Radko Gudas, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn scored for Philadelphia, which got 19 saves from Michal Neuvirth.
Just 2:14 after the opening faceoff, Hendricks gave the Oilers the lead, when his low wrist shot from 25 feet out beat Neuvirth. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol challenged the goal, calling for a video review to see if Hendricks and linemate Mark Letestu went offside when they entered the Flyers zone. The goal stood.
The Oilers doubled their lead at 15:19. Draisaitl got his 22nd of the season, directing in an inch-perfect pass from defenseman Matthew Benning.
But, just 31 seconds into the second period, the Flyers got one back. Gudas pressed deep into the offensive zone and got the final touch on a scramble in front of the Oilers net.
The Oilers restored their two-goal lead at 7:17 of the second when Eberle's backhanded effort went in just below the crossbar, after Neuvirth had made an initial save on McDavid.
Just over a minute later, it was 4-1 when a point shot from Gryba hit Nugent-Hopkins and went in.
Klefbom made it 5-1 at 16:39 with a point shot that blew past Neuvirth.
Simmonds got it back to 5-2 with a backhanded effort with 44 seconds left in the second.
Schenn scored on the power play at 7:13 of the third to slice the deficit to 5-3. However, McDavid made it 6-3 with 5:10 left.
NOTES: The Flyers beat the Oilers 6-5 in their only other meeting of the season on Dec. 9. ... The Flyers lost to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday; their Alberta trip marks the 14th time they've played back-to-back games this season. Of those 14 back-to-backs, 10 of them have seen the Flyers play their second game against a team that didn't play the night before. ... Oilers D Kris Russell missed the game with an undisclosed injury, but he will make the upcoming six-game road trip. ... Oilers coach Todd McLellan said LW Benoit Pouliot, who crashed heavily into the boards during practice Sunday, will miss at least the start of the upcoming road trip. ... The Flyers scratched LW Roman Lyubimov, RW Dale Weise and D Nick Schultz. The Oilers scratched D Jordan Oesterle.