Draisaitl has six assists in Oilers win against Senators

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl had an NHL career-high six assists for the Edmonton Oilers in an 8-5 win against the Ottawa Senators at Rogers Place on Sunday.

He is the first Oilers player to have six assists in one game since Wayne Gretzky on April 9, 1987, and first in the NHL since Eric Lindros for the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 26, 1997, also against the Senators. Gretzky had seven assists three times, all with Edmonton, to share the NHL record for most in one game with Billy Taylor Sr.
"No, I was not aware of that," Draisaitl said. "It's not something I pay too much attention to. It's a big two points for us. We would have liked to keep it a little tighter, but at the end of the day, it's two points, and we'll take that."
Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists for the Oilers. It was McDavid's first five-point game of the season and the sixth of his NHL career. He leads the NHL with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists).

James Neal scored his first two goals of the season, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and two assists for Edmonton (5-6-0), which won two straight games for the first time this season.
Brady Tkachuk and Colin White each had a goal and assist for Ottawa (1-7-1), which has not won since its season opener Jan. 15. Matt Murray allowed three goals on nine shots before being replaced by Marcus Hogberg, who made 17 saves.
"It's a fragile group, there is definitely no doubt about it," Senators forward Derek Stepan said. "I've been through this before, no one is feeling bad for us. We have a lot of guys learning things, we have some veterans finding their way here in a new group too. We have a lot of moving parts and I look at our third period, and say what you want, in an 8-3 game, we pushed a little bit, and that's a start, and I think we have to start just chipping away at little victories."
The Senators and Oilers play again here Tuesday.
Stuart Skinner made 33 saves for the Oilers in his NHL debut.
"We got (goalie) [Mikko] Koskinen a rest, we got two points, and you continue to evaluate your team," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "Ultimately you want the two points; that's what you came for. There's other things that you're trying to get your team up and going. Good for young Skinner, he got his first win in the NHL, we got [Koskinen] a night off. We'll regroup tomorrow and get ready for Tuesday."
Dominik Kahun scored on the first shot of the game at eight seconds off a Draisaitl face-off win to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
Neal made it 2-0 on the power play at 4:15.

White scored his first goal at 5:38 to make it 2-1.
Tyson Barrie scored his first goal with the Oilers on the power play at 7:20 to make it 3-1. Hogberg replaced Murray after the goal.
Neal gave the Oilers a 4-1 lead at 9:42 with his second goal, and Nugent-Hopkins made it 5-1 on the power play at 13:42.
"I had a good bounce on the first one, and it was a good job by [Kyle Turris] on the second one," Neal said. "I'm feeling more comfortable each night. It's good to get my legs under me the first few [games], and I'm looking to build on that."

Tkachuk scored at 16:06 to make it 5-2, and Drake Batherson cut it to 5-3 on the power play at 17:38 with his first goal.
McDavid scored on the power play 42 seconds into the second period to put the Oilers ahead 6-3. Darnell Nurse made it 7-3 at 11:31.
Edmonton was 4-for-5 on the power play.
"Certainly, we have to flush it, you can't let it linger, but we're going to have to look at it and see what happened," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "Four power-play goals, it's pretty easy to see what happened tonight. And you're playing catch-up all night against a team that has as much power as they do, it's one of those ones, it's probably best to flush."
Kailer Yamamoto made it 8-3 at 19:43 off a pass from Draisaitl, who leads the NHL with 15 assists and is second to McDavid with 21 points.
Tim Stutzle
scored on the power play at 8:08 of the third to make it 8-4, and Austin Watson scored 47 seconds later to make it 8-5 at 8:55.
It was the first NHL game between Stutzle and Draisaitl, who were born in Germany.
"You can't really say it was fun because, I think, he had six points tonight," said Stutzle, the No. 3 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. "It's not a lot of fun playing against him. It's always tough playing against those very good players, and you could see what he did out there. We had some good shifts against him, and we have another game in two days, and that's our goal, to win that game."
NOTES: Gretzky had seven assists for the Oilers on Feb. 15, 1980 (8-2 win against Washington Capitals), Dec. 11, 1985 (12-9 win at Chicago Black Hawks) and Feb. 14, 1986 (8-2 win against Quebec Nordiques). Taylor had seven assists March 16, 1947, for the Detroit Red Wings in a 10-6 win against the Black Hawks. ... Draisaitl is the fourth Oilers player to have six assists in one game (Gretzky: Dec. 20, 1985, and April 9, 1987; Paul Coffey: March 14, 1986; and Mark Messier: Jan. 4, 1984). ... It was the third game Draisaitl and McDavid each scored at least five points. Each had five points (Draisaitl: four goals, one assist; McDavid: one goal, four assists) in an 8-3 win at the Nashville Predators on March 2, 2020. Draisaitl had five assists, and McDavid scored six points (three goals, three assists) in a 6-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 14, 2019. ... Tippett said defenseman Ethan Bear is day to day after sustaining an undisclosed injury in a 4-3 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.