GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Predators 2

EDMONTON, AB – The Predators are still the prey.

Captain Connor McDavid recorded his 14th career regular-season hat-trick, while forward Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers, who dominated the Nashville Predators again on Tuesday night at Rogers Place to pick up their first win of 2026 with a 6-2 victory on home ice.

Not only the Predators, but McDavid continues to prey on the entire NHL after tallying his 26th, 27th and 28th goals of the campaign – scoring on the power play, a penalty shot and at even strength against Nashville to extend his point streak to 16 games, totalling a whopping 39 points (17G, 22A) over that span.

"It feels like there's always another level that somehow he gets to," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "But he's playing some phenomenal hockey right now, so Hyms and I are trying to keep up on the same line. It's not always easy, but he's playing some great hockey, for sure."

McDavid also pushed his point streak against the Predators to 16 games, including 11 goals and 26 assists, while Draisaitl followed suit with his three-point effort to give the German superstar 50 points (28G, 22A) in 29 career meetings with Nashville, including 42 points (22G, 20A) over their last 15 contests.

"I'm playing well," McDavid said. "I feel good. Doing a lot of things right, but it's a credit to Nuge and Hymsy getting back and putting that line back together. It's gone well. So it's fun to play with those two. It's fun to talk about the game, grow our game, and work on our game together. It makes it a lot of fun."

Playing on the second line with Draisaitl, Kasperi Kapanen marked his return from a 36-game absence with a goal and an assist, while Vasily Podkolzin had two assists to help the Oilers improve to 14-1-1 over their last 16 contests against Nashville. Curtis Lazar also scored his third goal of the season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins reached 500 career assists with the primary helper on McDavid's hat-trick goal with 57 seconds left in regulation, reaching the milestone in his 993rd career game as he tracks to cross the 1,000-game threshold later this month.

Goaltender Connor Ingram had the shutout intact early in the third period until the Predators scored twice in 15 seconds, but the 28-year-old went on to stop 24-of-26 shots for his third win of the season.

After a quick trip to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Thursday, the Oilers will return home to host the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place on Saturday.

FIRST PERIOD

Sweet Sixteen for No. 97.

Coming into Tuesday, there was no player in the NHL who'd averaged more points per game over their career against the Predators' franchise than Connor McDavid (1.79), and there was currently nobody in the League playing hotter than the Oilers captain, who concurrently extended his point streak against Nashville and his overall streak to 16 games by weaving his way through on Edmonton's opening power play to open the scoring 8:53 into the first frame.

After Leon Draisaitl gained the zone and moved it over to Evan Bouchard along the blueline, McDavid was late arriving to the play as he regrouped in the neutral zone with speed, accepting a pass from his defenceman and carrying his momentum through a weaving route towards Juuse Saros in the crease.

McDavid burned past a Ryan O'Reilly in the slot to open up a one-on-one against Saros in front, using his speed and agility to go backhand-to-forehand quickly to slide his 25th goal of the season past the Nashville netminder with ease to make it 1-0 for the Oilers before the first period's midway mark.

"I liked a lot of the things about our game tonight," McDavid said. "Obviously, it was a good start for us. We kind of rode it all the way through. Solid all the way through. A little bit of a lapse there early in the third, but I thought we did a good job regaining momentum."

McDavid pushed his current point streak to 16 games – the sixth point streak of his career to reach that high – totalling 15 goals and 22 assists. Additionally, he's now recorded a point in 16 straight games against the Predators after the Oilers scored a power-play goal for the 10th game in their last 11 contests.

"I think right now, he's attacking every chance he has and he's taking it to the net, whether he's shooting it or beating guys and taking it there," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Obviously, you know he can do it with his speed and his hands, so I think just the way he's attacking right now is what's creating, and whether they go in right away, he's sticking with it.

"You put some in, you get some confidence and that's obviously what he's feeling right now."

Edmonton's man advantage over its last 15 games is 40 percent (20-for-50), giving it the best power play in the league this season at 33.6 percent, which would be the best rate in League history if the season ended today.

Draisaitl also continues to prey on Nashville after picking up an assist, having collected 47 points over 28 career games against them since the 2019-20 campaign coming into Tuesday's matchup, representing an average of 1.66 points per game.

He's tallied 15 PPG (29 GP) against the Predators, which is the second most against any franchise in his career.

SECOND PERIOD

It took nearly 16 minutes for the Oilers to find twine again in the second period, but once they did, it was worth the wait.

If your name's Kasperi Kapanen, you waited 36 games.

The Oilers scored three times in 2:59 late in the middle frame to take a commanding 4-0 lead on the Predators after 40 minutes, starting when McDavid was held on a breakaway just before the four-minute mark to award the captain a penalty shot and the chance to double the lead with his second of the night.

McDavid came in on his one-on-one against Saros, changing speed and making a few moves, before lifting the puck into the far corner and inside the post for a terrific finish, making it 2-0 Oilers with their first penalty shot goal at home since Feb 12, 2018, when Draisaitl scored against the Carolina Hurricanes.

McDavid improved to 4-for-8 over his career on penalty shots.

"Just thinking to score," McDavid said. "Coming from different angles and just trying to find a way to find a hole."

The captain increased his 16-game point streak totals to 16 goals and 22 assists, tying the most he's had over a 16-game span (38 in 2021-22) while pushing his individual point streak against the Predators to 36 points (10G, 26A) over an equal amount of games.

Not even 30 seconds later, the Oilers increased the lead to 3-0 on a hard-working follow-up shift from their fourth line of Mattias Janmark, Curtis Lazar and Matt Savoie, as the former Edmonton Oil King was able to shovel home his third goal of the season.

After an errant drop pass from Michael McCarron while attempting to break out, Lazar pounced on the turnover and tried to sift it in front to a wide-open Savoie before he followed up the play and backhanded it home just 22 seconds after McDavid had made it a two-goal game for Edmonton.

"You've got to get to the net front to score goals," he said. "I think we kind of took over that game in the second period just from our back pressure. My goal in particular, Janny did a great job with the stick opening it up, and Savy was net front. We were able to bang one in, so you could see us building there."

Lazar's tally was his second goal on home ice this season, exactly one month since his last tuck, which came in a 6-2 win over Winnipeg on Dec. 6. The 30-year-old got back into the lineup on Tuesday after playing the Jets in his last appearance on Dec. 29 and is averaging 9:14 of ice time.

"It's the NHL, right? You're going to take those minutes anytime," he said. "There are people around the world who would do a lot of things just to get a chance in this league. As long as my names continue to get called, even if it's not that much, you go out there, and you do a job because, say, if we lose a guy early, then the role gets a little bit more important here and there. So it takes an army, and for me, it's just kind of that next-shift mentality."

Then it was Kapanen's turn.

Making his return to the lineup from a 36-game injury absence, having come all the way in his recovery from a lower-body injury he suffered in October before reaggravating it again during a practice in November, Kapanen picked a great time to score his first goal of the season before the intermission.

"It always takes a little while to kind of get used to things, and it doesn't matter how many practices you have until you start playing," Kapanen said. "You kind of ease into it a little bit, but I thought I started off the season pretty well, and today was a step in the right direction, so hopefully I can keep it up."

Kapanen was back in the lineup alongside Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin on the second line, and the Finnish forward got on the end of a pass from the German that came from a turnover in Nashville's zone, taking a shot from the slot that was blocked before going in off a Predators' defender's skate.

"It's always great to get on the scoresheet, but for the most part, I felt pretty good, and the body felt good, which is important," Kapanen said. "And then at times, I think you could notice I hadn't played in two and a half months, but all in all, I thought it was not a bad effort."

Along with Lazar, Kapanen provided some much-needed scoring depth for the Oilers, who were averaging 3.3 goals per game coming into Tuesday (third in the Western Conference) and leading 4-0 on the Predators through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

For the first time this year, the hats rained down at Rogers Place in celebration of a McDavid hat-trick with the help of a historic assist for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who picked up his 500th career helper on the captain's third goal to help the Oilers walk away with a victory on home ice for the first time in 2026.

"I thought overall, it was a pretty solid 60," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Every line was going, every D pair, and obviously Ingy made some huge saves to kind of keep us in it and keep us going. They had a bit of a push in the third, but I thought we did a pretty good job of weathering it and having our push back.

After Connor Ingram made a terrific glove save on Cole Smith by diving across on a rebound that bounced off the boards behind Edmonton's net, the Predators scored two goals over a 15-second span in the early minutes to give the Oilers a sobering reminder that this was far from over.

Which made it a perfect time for the start of 'Drai January'.

Ryan O'Reilly and Nick Blankenburg scored in quick succession for Nashville, but Draisaitl converted his 21st goal of the season almost half a period later, reading the bounce off the stick of Nicolas Hague's stick perfectly after the pass along the boards from Kapanen was broken up before controlling it and putting it five-hole on Saros to give the Oilers extra breathing room up 5-2.

With a goal and two assists, Draisaitl has now collected 50 points (28G, 22A) in just 29 career games played against Nashville, while posting 42 of those points (22G, 20A) in his last 15 games versus the Predators.

Kapanen picked up a helper for a multi-point night in his return, along with Podkolzin picking up his second helper of the night.

He has collected 40 points (21G,19A) in 15 games played in that span. In his 29 career games against Nashville, he has tallied 15 PPG (29GP) which is the second most PPG against any franchise in his career. Draisaitl’s career totals against Nashville are 48 points (27G, 21A) in just 29 GP, giving him 1.66 points per game against the Predators.

With 57 seconds left in regulation, McDavid notched his hat-trick by putting Nugent-Hopkins' feed from the left circle under the right arm of Saros, giving No. 97 his 14th career regular-season hat trick and No. 93 the half-century of helpers with the primary assist.

Nugent-Hopkins became the sixth player to reach 500 career assists with the Oilers, joining Jari Kurri (569), Leon Draisaitl (594), Mark Messier (642), Connor McDavid (768) and Wayne Gretzky (1,086), helping the team he's played nearly 1,000 games for (993) earn the 6-2 victory on home ice.

"The team game was great," Kapanen said. "Individual efforts were great, and the team effort was good. Obviously, the third period wasn't a great start for us, but I think after those two goals, we kind of settled down and started playing our game again. Just a big win for us today."