Connor McDavid set an NHL record with an assist in a 13th straight game to open the season, and the Edmonton Oilers shut out the Calgary Flames 4-0 on Wednesday night at Rogers Place. The first-period assist that broke the mark came on Edmonton’s first shot of the game, and it moved McDavid past a 12-game standard shared by Wayne Gretzky, Ken Linseman and Sebastian Aho.
FINAL: Edmonton Oilers 4, Calgary Flames 0. Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 24th of his NHL career, and Edmonton (9-2-2) snapped a two-game losing skid (0-1-1) in the first Battle of Alberta of the season. Calgary (5-7-0) had its four-game winning streak ended.
How to watch: Edmonton Oilers vs Calgary Flames, Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 8:30 p.m. ET at Rogers Place
TV (Canada): Prime Video (Wednesday Night Hockey)
Stream: Prime Video
Radio: 880 CHED (Edmonton), QR Calgary 770 (Calgary)
McDavid Sets The Season-Opening Assist Record At 13 Games
The record fell 7:46 into the first period. McDavid carried the puck into the Calgary zone, drew the coverage toward him, and sent a pass from the right dot across the slot to Mathieu Joseph, who put Edmonton’s first shot of the night underneath Devin Cooley’s right arm for a 1-0 lead. With that assist, McDavid had recorded at least one assist in every one of Edmonton’s 13 games this season, something no player in NHL history had done to open a campaign. Sportsnet Stats posted the new list as it stood on Wednesday night: “Connor McDavid (EDM) 2026-27: 13; Wayne Gretzky (EDM) 1982-83: 12; Ken Linseman (BOS) 1985-86: 12; Sebastian Aho (CAR) 2018-19: 12.”
The Gretzky mark had stood since 1982-83, Gretzky’s fourth season in Edmonton, and the company McDavid passed underlines the scale of the start he has made. He added a second assist in the third period, feeding Kasperi Kapanen across the crease on the power play, and now leads the NHL with 36 points (eight goals, 28 assists) through 13 games. He has also recorded a point in all 13 games. The next Gretzky standard in view is the fastest run to 50 points in a season, 18 games in 1983-84; at 36 points through 13, McDavid’s pace keeps him in that conversation without the season needing any exaggeration.
Jarry Shutout Seals The Battle Of Alberta
Edmonton built the lead in layers. Mattias Ekholm made it 2-0 at 4:52 of the second period, taking Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ faceoff win back to the point and putting a wrist shot over Dustin Wolf’s left shoulder, off the crossbar and in. Ekholm was playing his first game back after missing two games with a concussion. The game then broke open in the first 76 seconds of the third period: Kapanen scored his fourth of the season on the power play at 0:55, lifting McDavid’s cross-crease pass over Wolf’s left pad, and Alex Formenton scored 21 seconds later at 1:16, beating Wolf on the glove side from the slot off Jason Dickinson’s centering pass. Dickinson, who forced the turnover that created the goal, was playing for the first time after missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Calgary’s night turned in the crease late in the first period. Cooley, who came into the game with four straight wins, a 1.50 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage over that run, stopped eight of the nine shots he faced before Colton Dach collided with him in the crease with 12 seconds left in the period. Dach was assessed a goaltender interference penalty, Cooley sustained a lower-body injury and did not return, and Wolf took over to start the second period, finishing with 20 saves on 23 shots in 40 minutes of relief. Flames forward Brennan Othmann also left the game at 5:04 of the first period with an upper-body injury, and there was no update on Cooley’s status immediately after the game. Nugent-Hopkins finished with two assists for Edmonton, which is now 7-0-1 when scoring first and 7-0-0 when leading after two periods.
What The Record Night Means For Edmonton’s Start
The shutout matters alongside the record. Edmonton had allowed its early-season momentum to stall over the previous two games, and a rivalry game against the hottest team in the province was the wrong place to let it slide further. Instead the Oilers got the complete version of their game: the captain driving the record book, scoring from four different forwards and defensemen, a power-play goal, and a clean sheet behind them. Calgary had won four straight and five of its previous six, and for two periods the Flames were still in the game; the two goals in 21 seconds early in the third ended that.
Edmonton now starts a three-game trip in New York against the Islanders on Saturday, and Calgary returns home to host the Seattle Kraken on Friday night. The teams do not meet again until March, so the first Battle of Alberta of the season belongs entirely to Edmonton, and to its captain: 13 games, 13 games with an assist, and a record that belonged to Wayne Gretzky for 44 years now belongs to Connor McDavid.
