Draisaitl helps Oilers send Blackhawks to eighth straight loss

CHICAGO -- Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist to help the Edmonton Oilers hand the Chicago Blackhawks their eighth straight loss, 5-4 at United Center on Wednesday.

Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Mattias Janmark each had a goal and an assist, and Stuart Skinner made 21 saves for the Oilers (13-10-0), who have won three straight and will play at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
"Wins have been hard to come by, but it's huge to get on that run," Janmark said. "We're not satisfied with our record. We've just got to keep building. We can't be satisfied with the three wins in a row and the record we have. We've just got to keep on moving forward here and get more wins."

Max Domi scored twice, MacKenzie Entwistle had a goal and an assist, and Arvid Soderblom made 36 saves for the Blackhawks (6-12-4), who are 0-7-1 in their skid.
"At the end of the day, we didn't get any points," Entwistle said. "We have to work on playing hard defensively. That top line [of Edmonton] is pretty highly skilled, and we knew that coming into this game that you have to try to limit their chances. … It's nice to score goals, but we have to keep them out of our net too."
Janmark gave the Oilers a 4-1 lead at 10:00 of the third period with his first goal since signing a one-year contract July 17. He took a pass on a 2-on-1 with Nugent-Hopkins and scored from the right circle. Janmark played 41 games for the Blackhawks in the 2020-21 season.
"I had a good time here," he said. "Always nice to score against an old team like that, for sure."
Domi cut it to 4-2 at 12:37 on a power play, moving in from the right point and scoring on a wrist shot.
Entwistle scored from the slot 19 seconds later to bring Chicago within 4-3 at 12:56, but Draisaitl scored off a pass from McDavid at 15:21 to push Edmonton's lead to 5-3.

Domi made it 5-4 with a power-play goal at 18:49, scoring at the right post off a behind-the-back, no-look pass across the crease from Patrick Kane.
Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead 54 seconds into the second period off a pass from Darnell Nurse.
Nugent-Hopkins made it 2-0 at 9:48 when he took a backhand pass from Jesse Puljujarvi from behind the net and scored from in front.
Jack Johnson's wrist shot from the left point deflected off Boris Katchouk to bring Chicago within 2-1 at 14:33.
McDavid increased the lead to 3-1 at 1:18 of the third period. He took a pass from Draisaitl in the Edmonton zone, skated down the right side and scored inside the far post.
"If they're on a 2-on-1, I think the damage is done," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said of Draisaitl and McDavid. "Even when they're on a 2-on-4, it's difficult. It really is. Oh, they're special players, and putting them together, it's a great idea."

Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft was brief in his assessment.
"We found a way to get two points," he said. "That was our goal heading into the game, to have total commitment to get the result, and we got a result tonight. What do I take away? We got the two points, and we're ready to move on."
NOTES: Draisaitl has four goals in a three-game goal streak and six goals in six games. … Draisaitl scored his 43rd game-opening goal to pass Glenn Anderson for fourth in Oilers history. … McDavid (18 goals, 23 assists) reached 40 points in 23 games or fewer for the fourth time (21 games, 2021-22; 22 games, 2020-21; 22 games, 2019-20). … Edmonton forward Tyler Benson had one hit in 6:11 in his season debut after being recalled from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Sunday. … Nurse played his 500th NHL game. … Jonathan Toews played his 1,036th game to tie Bobby Hull for fifth in Blackhawks history. … Kane had his 764th assist to pass Chris Chelios for fourth among United States-born players behind Phil Housley (894), Mike Modano (813) and Brian Leetch (781). … Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou played his 400th NHL game.