EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) 鈥� Connor McDavid scored his NHL-leading 57th goal and added an assist in the Edmonton Oilers' 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
McDavid pushed his NHL-best points total to 131 鈥� 30 more than second-place linemate Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl assisted on McDavid's goal.
Edmonton improved to 38-23-8 with its second straight victory and sixth in eight games.
鈥淚t was the type of game we needed,鈥� Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. 鈥淚 thought our energy level was good and our details were good and we found a way to beat a really good hockey team. They were averaging five goals a game and we won 4-1. To me, that sticks with the template we keep talking about here.鈥�
Stuart Skinner made 25 saves for the Oilers.
West-leading Dallas fell to 37-19-13 with its second loss in a row.
鈥淕etting in the hole in the first period and playing behind again just like the other night, it鈥檚 not a good recipe for us,鈥� Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. 鈥淵ou have to score more than once to win and I didn鈥檛 think we did enough to get to the net, to get inside to penetrate to score.鈥�
Warren Foegele and Mattias Janmark scored for Edmonton in the first period, with Janmark connecting short-handed for the first of his two goals.
鈥淚 thought we didn鈥檛 really get going at any point and that鈥檚 tough,鈥� Stars defender Esa Lindell said. 鈥淲hen you don鈥檛 start well, we fell behind. They played well, but I think that was more on us. Our structure that we lean on and how we play, we didn鈥檛 really do that and that鈥檚 the result we get.鈥�
Wyatt Johnston cut it to 2-1 midway through the third. McDavid quickly restored the two-goal advantage, and Janmark capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
鈥淲e are always hungry to continue to get better,鈥� Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. 鈥淲e can definitely take some good pieces from that game and build on them. That is a good sign for us here. We have a lot of important hockey coming up.鈥�
Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots for the Stars.
UP NEXT
Stars: At Calgary on Saturday night.
Oilers: At Seattle on Saturday.
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The Associated Press
