McDavid has three assists, Oilers pad lead on Jets in North playoff race

WINNIPEG -- Connor McDavid had three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers padded their lead on the Winnipeg Jets in the Scotia North Division playoff race with a 3-1 win at Bell MTS Place on Wednesday.

McDavid has scored at least two points in each of Edmonton's nine games against Winnipeg this season; he has seven goals and 15 assists. McDavid scored a hat trick and had an assist in a 6-1 victory here Monday.
McDavid leads the NHL this season with 84 points (28 goals, 56 assists) in 47 games. He has scored at least three points in four consecutive games.
"It's pretty amazing," Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "We know how special a player he is, but to be able to do it every night is another story. He does it in practice every day too, so we do get a taste of it. But obviously he's having a special season and he's a pretty spectacular player."
Nugent-Hopkins and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (29-16-2), who were 2-for-3 on the power play and swept the two-game set. Mikko Koskinen made 29 saves.
"It was kind of a hard-fought game," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "Koskinen made a couple big saves early for us, but just a lot of wall battles, a lot of battles for pucks. [The Jets] competed hard."

Blake Wheeler scored for the Jets (27-19-3), who have lost five straight games. Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves.
"I thought we were hard tonight," Hellebuyck said. "We were doing all those details hard. It was a step in the right direction, but we can't settle for losing. We're going to snap out of this and it's going to be big, and we're going to carry that momentum. It's just a matter of time."
The Oilers have won four of their past five games and are in second place in the seven-team North, three points ahead of the Jets. The first-place Toronto Maple Leafs, who clinched a playoff berth Wednesday, are seven points ahead of Edmonton. The top four teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Edmonton won seven of nine against Winnipeg this season.
"I don't know exactly what it is; we definitely raise our level when we play these guys," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I think overall we try to limit their high-quality scoring chances from in tight and try to keep it to the outside as much as possible, and we found a way to capitalize on our chances against them."
Barrie one-timed McDavid's feed for a power-play goal at 10:52 of the first period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
Wheeler tied it 1-1 with a shot from the left circle at 4:29 of the second.
"It was way better than the last game for sure," Wheeler said. "We beat them 1-0 5-on-5, [but] they scored two power-play goals. Obviously, that was the difference in the game.
"We've got some important games [upcoming] for our group and it was a step in the right direction tonight, but nothing's going our way."

Nugent-Hopkins took a pass from Barrie and scored with a wrist shot from the left circle for a power-play goal at 6:20 of the second period to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead.
"Our power play came through with a couple big goals for us," Tippett said. "It was kind of a slugfest after that. … We got a big kill at the end to also help us. We knew they were going to play hard; they're a desperate team. I like the way our guys kind of hung in the game."
Leon Draisaitl scored an empty-net goal at 19:51 of the third period for the 3-1 final.
Koskinen made 15 saves in the third.
"It's more consistent, like every night we come out the same way," Koskinen said. "We've been playing really well. If you compare the start of the year to now, there's a huge step for our team."
NOTES: Edmonton is 20-2-1 this season when it scores first. … Hellebuyck made his sixth straight start and leads all NHL goalies this season with 40 games played. He has started 17 of the past 19 games but has been pulled in two of the past four.