Connor McDavid Score Four Goals as Edmonton Beats Tampa Bay

Edmonton hosted the NHL Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning on February 5th and Oilers’ superstar Connor McDavid was more than up for the challenge. McDavid scored four goals and added an assist as Edmonton beat Tampa Bay 6-2. McDavid, the Art Ross Trophy winner for 2017 (points leader), now has 61 points on 21 goals and 40 assists and is tied for third in the league in total points. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, who did not score in the game, leads the NHL with 66 points.

Edmonton improved to 23-24-4 (50 points) but is third from the bottom in the Western Conference standings and the Oilers will have to pick up the pace if they are to reach the playoffs. It doesn’t help that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who is second on the team with 16 goals, is out at least another month with a rib injury, but the Oilers also have to keep the other team from scoring. Edmonton is averaging a mediocre 2.78 goals per game while allowing 3.18. Starting goalie Cam Talbot is allowing 3.10 goals per game (41st in the league) with a .902 save percent. Edmonton is also the worst penalty killing team in the NHL, at 71.6 per cent, and that’s not just Talbot’s fault.