McDavid, Draisaitl lift Oilers past Canadiens

EDMONTON --Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had three points for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, and McDavid had three assists for Edmonton (9-8-1), which ended a four-game losing streak. Mikko Koskinen made 27 saves.
"We went after our team pretty good and held them accountable (Monday) and it was a good response game," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "It shows me that they're attentive, their intent is strong and direct and good. They care about each other and that's a good sign. Taking that lesson and playing tonight's game is great, but the lesson has to arrive earlier so that the four-game losing streak is only a two-game losing streak or a three game. But we're still a team in evolution and we're learning lessons as we go. Stopped it at four instead of five, so that's positive."
WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Oilers highlights]
Andrew Shaw had a goal and assist, and Max Domi scored for Montreal (9-6-3). Antti Niemi made 37 saves in his second straight start in place of Carey Price.
"It was called a no-show on our part," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "We are a fast skating team, so it wasn't about speed, but their team looked pretty fast when you give them the room that we did tonight. We didn't show up. It was a tough night, by far our worst game of the year. We have to, hopefully, write it off and move on."
Matt Benning scored his first goal of the season to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 3:13 of the first period when his point shot bounced off the end boards, hit the back of Niemi's leg and trickled into the net.

"The last few games I've had some good looks and probably the worst of my shots goes in," Benning said. "It is what it is, you just have to keep getting pucks at the net."
Domi tied it 1-1 at 5:45 when he beat Koskinen glove side from the left face-off circle on a rush. It was his 10th goal of the season; he had nine each of the past two seasons with the Arizona Coyotes.
Draisaitl scored to make it 2-1 at 16:31. After McDavid slipped by Canadiens defenseman David Schlemko along the right boards to create a 3-on-1, he passed to Draisaitl, who beat Niemi in the slot.

"I thought I had the right gap on him," Schlemko said. "That's the reason they call him the best in the world. He is a great player. It was one little stutter step and he is gone, and he will burn you."
Shaw tied it 2-2 at 1:10 of the second period on a one-timer, but Drake Caggiula gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead at 3:05 on a rebound in the slot.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored at 5:36 of the third period on a shot from the slot to extend the lead to 4-2.

Kris Russell scored his first goal since Feb. 9 (43 games) on a wrist shot from the point at 12:14 to make it 5-2, and Darnell Nurse made it 6-2 at 18:04.
"This win is good for the confidence," Nurse said. "We have to see what we did to make it happen and those are going to be habits that we need to continue to work on. Our defensemen have to be able to put pucks to the net, allowing our forwards to get after it. We (defensemen) found a way to get a few in too, which is good."

They said it

"When you have guys like that on the other team and you give them odd-man rushes, they are going to capitalize. We were awful tonight. We spent way too much time in our own end and didn't take their speed away." -- Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl
"We like to play the same style, we complement each other well and think the game at the same level. And Drake, he does a lot of things people don't recognize." -- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl on linemates Connor McDavid and Drake Caggiula

Need to know

Domi extended his point streak to seven games (five goals, six assists). ... Edmonton entered the game with three goals from its defensemen. … Draisaitl has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games. … Oilers forward Tobias Rieder left the game in the second period. McLellan said he sustained an upper-body injury and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Calgary Flames on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Oilers: At the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN1, NHL.TV)