Connor McDavid achieved a rare feat as his team was administering a rare beating.
McDavid had a goal and added his 100th assist of the season as the Edmonton Oilers closed out the home portion of their regular-season schedule with some panache, squashing the San Jose Sharks 9-2 on Monday.
The Oilers captain is just the fourth player in NHL history to hit the 100- assist milestone behind Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr, and the first since 1990-1991.
“It means a lot. Those three are obviously three of the greatest players to ever play. To share a little something with them, it means a lot to me,” McDavid said. “It has been a different type of year, but everybody stuck with it, and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot heading into when it matters most.”
Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said McDavid always seems to be able to set a higher bar.
“It is probably the hardest one that he has accomplished,” he said. “You can’t really be surprised with the things he does every year. It is an amazing accomplishment. You probably didn’t think it was possible for it to happen in this day and age, but he keeps surprising you. I am very proud of him.”
McDavid made an instant impact in his return from injury, scoring his 32nd just 53 seconds into the opening period on the game’s first shot as he turned on the jets and then banked a passing attempt off of defender Marc-Edouard Vlasic and past San Jose goalie Devin Cooley.
Georgi Romanov came into the Sharks net to make his NHL debut, replacing Cooley, who allowed eight goals on 22 shots.
The moment fans had been waiting for came with 4:25 to play in the second period as McDavid hit the century mark for assists as he sent it to Zach Hyman at the side of the net for an easy tap-in and his 54th of the season.
Warren Foegele had two goals and Adam Henrique and Dylan Holloway each had a goal and two assists. Corey Perry, Cody Ceci, Evan Bouchard and Hyman also scored for the Oilers (49-25-6) who snapped a two-game losing streak. Edmonton has gone 11-1-2 in its last 14 home games.
Danil Gushkin and Fabian Zetterlund replied for the Sharks (19-53-9) who have lost four of their last five.
