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Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid continued to etch his name in the record books on Thursday night, recording two assists against the New Jersey Devils and becoming the third player to reach the 60-assist mark in 2024-25.
It's the ninth straight season McDavid has managed at least 60 assists, and he became just the second player in National Hockey League history to accomplish the feat, joining Wayne Gretzky, who did it 13 times from 1979-80 to 1991-92, per NHL Public Relations.
Unfortunately for McDavid, the milestone came in a losing effort; Edmonton fell 3-2 to New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Thursday. It was the Oilers' second consecutive loss and eighth in 11 games dating back to February 7.
“I think we just started giving them too much time in our zone and they took a little bit of momentum from that,” Edmonton defenseman Brett Kulak said afterwards, per NHL.com's Mike G. Morreale. “We've just got to do a better job of closing time and space and not letting pucks get to the net.”
The Oilers' top line of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman was humming again, scoring both of the team's goals in the contest. Despite leading 2-1 early in the third period, the Devils rallied to win their third consecutive game.
Oilers still struggling despite play of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl
“I thought our guys put in a really good effort the first 40 minutes; it was an even game,” Edmonton's bench boss coach Kris Knoblauch said, per Morreale. “In the third period, I thought we pushed hard and had a lot of good scoring chances. I think our top line (Draisaitl, McDavid, Hyman) controlled the play when they were on the ice.”
The main problem for the Oilers as of late has been the depth scoring; outside of the stacked top line, there hasn't been much offense coming from the rest of the forward group.
With 17 games left in their regular-season, that's certainly a concern, especially as they were leapfrogged by the Los Angeles Kings, who shut out the Washington Capitals later on Thursday night.
Edmonton is now third place in the Pacific Division and just seven points up on the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, who have both struggled as well as of late but still fashion themselves playoff teams with just over a month left in the campaign.
The Oilers need to start stringing together some wins, and after a brutal 3-2 loss to the worst team in the Eastern Conference in the Buffalo Sabres, they were unable to hold the lead a few nights later.
Right now, the squad is on a collision course to play the Kings for the fourth straight time in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If the tournament started today, Edmonton would not have home ice advantage.
McDavid and the Oilers will look to avoid dropping three consecutive games when the road trip continues against the New York Islanders in the second half of a back-to-back on Friday night. Puck is set to drop just past 7:30 p.m. ET from Long Island.
