Connor McDavid picked up an assist in Edmonton on Wednesday night, November 11, and with it a point in his 20th straight game to open the season. FINAL: Edmonton Oilers 3, Philadelphia Flyers 2 (OT). The Oilers captain became just the fourth player in NHL history to earn at least a point in each of the first 20 games of a season.
McDavid 20-Game Point Streak Joins Gretzky, Sundin And Heatley
The list is the story. The NHL’s game recap records that McDavid joins Wayne Gretzky, who did it three times including the record 51-game point streak that opened 1983-84, Mats Sundin, who reached 30 games in 1992-93, and Dany Heatley, who reached 22 in 2005-06. No one else in league history has opened a season this way. McDavid also recorded a 20-game point streak for the second time in his career, after his 46-point run last season, and became the eighth player in NHL history with multiple streaks of 20 or more games, alongside Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Patrick Kane, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Adam Oates.
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The point itself came at 14:03 of the second period, on the power play. McDavid’s shot produced a rebound in close and Zach Hyman jammed it home for a 2-0 Edmonton lead. It was McDavid’s 38th assist and 49th point of the season, both league-leading totals through 20 games, with 11 goals beside them.
Hyman Scores Twice, Bouchard Wins It In Overtime
Hyman opened the scoring at 4:13 of the second, finishing into open space after a Mattias Ekholm point shot missed the net on one side and bounced straight back off the end boards. “The key to goal-scoring the longer that I play is just don’t worry about it,” Hyman said. “Just stay consistent and continue to work and do the right things, and don’t lose confidence because they’re not predictable when you’re in front of the net.”
Philadelphia, outshooting Edmonton 13-6 in the first period and 15-7 in the second, pushed back. Tyson Foerster’s power-play goal cut it to 2-1 at 16:49 of the second, and Travis Sanheim tied it 2-2 at 11:42 of the third, cutting in along the goal line and slipping the puck between Tristan Jarry’s pads, a goal that survived an Edmonton challenge for goaltender interference. Evan Bouchard ended it 47 seconds into overtime, taking a pass across the crease from Leon Draisaitl and sending it short side, off the right post and in. Jarry made 30 saves for the Oilers (14-3-3), who have won three straight and matched their second-best start in franchise history through 20 games; Dan Vladar made 21 saves for the Flyers (5-10-6).
Edmonton head coach Mike Babcock was honest about the performance level. “Obviously we weren’t as ready as we should have been,” he said. “You have to give Rick (Tocchet) credit, I thought his team played hard, they played fast. But good teams, what they do is find ways to win.”
Where The McDavid Streak Goes Next
The streak is now chasing names, not numbers. Heatley’s 22 games is the next mark in range, then Sundin’s 30, then Gretzky’s 51, a record that has stood since 1984. McDavid’s own career high for any point streak is the 20 games he has now matched, so the next Oilers game is a chance to set a personal best outright while the season-opening run is still perfect: 20 games played, 20 games with a point, 49 points on the board.
The streak has been built on playmaking. On November 1 at the New York Rangers, McDavid became the fastest player in NHL history to reach 30 assists in a season, as Field Level Media reported, and his assist streak only ended at 18 games, tied for the second-longest in league history, while the point streak ran on. Draisaitl quietly extended his own point streak to seven games (six goals, seven assists) with the overtime assist, and Edmonton is 12-0-2 when it scores first this season. For a Canadian captain on a Canadian team, leading the league in scoring while joining a four-man list in league history, this is the kind of start that gets remembered in June. The streak goes for 21 the next time the Oilers play.
