McDavid's Five-Point Night Ties Gretzky and Lemieux Records in Oilers Rout

McDavid reaches rarefied air in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — There are starts to a season, and then there is whatever Connor McDavid is doing to the NHL record book.

The Edmonton Oilers captain scored twice and added three assists on Saturday night, powering the Oilers to a 6-2 rout of the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center. It was McDavid's 16th five-point game of his career, but the numbers behind it were historic: his 17 assists through eight games tied Wayne Gretzky (1986-87) and Mario Lemieux (1995-96) for the most assists through a player's first eight games of a season in NHL history.

McDavid has 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) through eight games and leads the league. He became the second-fastest player ever to reach the 20-point mark, behind only Lemieux, who did it in seven games in 1995-96.

"It's crazy. He's flying," said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. "It looks like he's hit another gear this year, finishing like crazy. So, it's a good sign for our team."

The captain wasted no time. McDavid opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the first period, taking a feed from Leon Draisaitl on a breakaway, cutting wide through the left circle and sliding a backhand around Karel Vejmelka's left pad. It was McDavid's seventh opening-minute goal of his career, tying the franchise record established by Mark Messier.

Edmonton never looked back.

Five goals before the second intermission

Hyman, playing his first game since the season opener after missing six games with an undisclosed injury, made it 2-0 on the power play at 13:21, jamming home a centering feed from McDavid that bounced off Mikhail Sergachev's skate. Just 32 seconds later, Mathieu Joseph pounced on a misplayed puck by Dmitri Simashev for a breakaway goal and a 3-0 lead.

"We lost at home, obviously, and then to play back to back again against a great team like Utah, and you're able to go into their building on Saturday night and put on a really strong performance and battle back and get a win, I think it's a good sign," said Hyman, who also added an assist in his return. "It was great to be back and join the guys and kind of get back into things. It's never fun being out."

Kasperi Kapanen made it 4-0 at 10:57 of the second, burying a rebound off Evan Bouchard's point shot high over Vejmelka's glove. Then McDavid set up Draisaitl for a breakaway goal at 13:48 to extend the lead to 5-0, and Vejmelka's night was over — pulled after allowing five goals on 17 shots.

McDavid capped his evening with a breakaway goal of his own at 10:17 of the third, poking the puck away from John Marino in the neutral zone before finishing for the 6-2 final.

The Oilers have won six of seven and pushed their season-opening road win streak to a franchise-best 5-0-0. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in goal, and Draisaitl's two-point night extended his goal streak to three games.

A start the NHL hasn't seen in decades

The context around McDavid's tear is what elevates Saturday's performance from a great game to a season-defining one. No player has reached 20 points in the first eight games of a season in 31 years — since Lemieux's 1995-96 campaign. At this pace, McDavid is on track for 242 points over an 84-game season, which would shatter Gretzky's single-season record of 215.

Oilers coach Mike Babcock was as impressed by the all-around game as the point total.

"Isn't he plus-19 or something like that?" Babcock said. "Lots of guys have points, or they have them all in power play, and still you look at them and they're plus-3 or the minus, and he's done everything that I've asked, and done it with a way that he seems to enjoy it. He takes pride in doing things right. Well, it's impossible to coach a team when your best player isn't driving, and this guy's driving."

McDavid finished the night plus-4 in just 19:52 of ice time — efficiency to match the production.

Mammoth left searching

For Utah, the night was a humbling response to Thursday's 4-2 win over these same Oilers in Edmonton. John Marino and Mikhail Sergachev scored third-period goals, and Sebastian Cossa made three saves in relief of Vejmelka, but the Mammoth's three-game win streak is over and the lessons were plain.

"We knew it would be challenging, they will be ready on the other side," said Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny. "I didn't like our compete at all in our battles. The kind of game it was in Edmonton, we knew it would be the same thing here tonight."

"That's the first time we played the same team back to back," Sergachev added. "Next time, we just need to be ready because every team, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, they will come in the next game and they want to beat you, especially at home."

Edmonton returns home now for a five-game homestand, carrying the league's most dangerous player and its hottest start in years. If McDavid keeps this pace, the record book will need more than one page rewritten.