Draisaitl scores 20th goal of season, Oilers defeat Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Leon Draisaitl scored his 20th goal of the season and had four points in the Edmonton Oilers' 5-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Wednesday.

Draisaitl, who had two goals and two assists, became the first NHL player to reach 20 goals in as few as 19 games since 1995-96, when Mario Lemieux scored 20 in 18 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Connor McDavid also had two goals and two assists, and Zack Kassian had a goal and two assists for the Oilers (14-5-0), who rebounded from a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves.
Draisaitl leads the NHL with 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists); McDavid, who had his season-opening point streak end at 17 games Tuesday, is second with 36 (14 goals, 22 assists).
"Connor and Leon were kind of feeling it tonight," Edmonton defenseman Tyson Barrie said. "Just every night, those two are doing something and it's pretty incredible. I don't see them slowing down any time soon."

Scott Wedgewood made 39 saves for the Coyotes (4-14-2), who won their previous two games and had a four-game point streak (3-0-1).
"That's the kind of team the Edmonton Oilers are," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "You give them a chance to get going, and they will. They have talented players, world-class players."
Oilers coach Dave Tippett reunited Draisaitl, McDavid and Kassian on his top line, and they combined to score 11 points. Draisaitl's second goal, on a power play, made it 4-1 at 13:08 of the third period.
"I thought we'd become a little stale the last three or four games, so we tweaked some things and got rewarded," Tippett said.
Travis Boyd scored 35 seconds later for Arizona at 13:43 to make it 4-2, and Shayne Gostisbehere cut it to 4-3 at 15:06.
McDavid scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left for the 5-3 final.
''It would have been easy at 4-1 to close the door,'' Tourigny said. ''Not once this year have I had to address the effort of our guys. Again tonight they fought hard. They battled.''
Clayton Keller gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 3:45 of the first period on a 2-on-1 with Phil Kessel. Keller had a goal and two assists.
McDavid tied it 1-1 at 14:58 with the first of Edmonton's two power-play goals. The Oilers have the NHL's best power play (23-for-59, 38.98 percent).
"We had a good start to the game, but then the second period and the first part of the third, we were kind of waiting for something to happen," Coyotes defenseman Anton Stralman said. "They slowly turned it around and we were on our heels a little too much."

Draisaitl scored from along the goal line to make it 2-1 at 10:53 of the second period. He is the only Oilers player except for Gretzky to score 40 points in fewer than 20 games. Gretzky did it seven times.
"It's great, of course," Draisaitl said. "We've got a great group and it's about winning, and obviously that's my way of helping the team. Without linemates or especially Connor, this is impossible.
"We're looking to keep going on and these stats, at the end of the day, don't really mtter."
Kassian gave the Oilers a 3-1 lead at 7:45 of the third.
"He knows where to go to be effective and gives us the room that we need to make plays," Draisaitl said of Kassian.
NOTES: Koskinen set an Oilers record for the fewest games played to reach 10 wins in a season (10-2-0). Andy Moog (1984-85) and Grant Fuhr (1983-84) each needed 13 games. … Draisaitl has scored at least three points 10 times this season, which leads the NHL. … The Oilers were without defenseman Duncan Keith, who is day to day because of an upper-body injury. He was replaced by defenseman William Lagesson, who made his season debut and had two shots on goal and one hit in 10:59 of ice time. … Keller has two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak. … Coyotes center Jay Beagle (lower body) missed his first game of the season.