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Reunited: Draisaitl and McDavid combine to power Oilers past Canadiens 6-2

Nov 13, 2018 | 10:31 PM

EDMONTON — Tinkering with the top line paid dividends for the Oilers on Tuesday.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists and Connor McDavid had three assists in their reunion as linemates as the Oilers snapped a season-high four-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

“Leon probably could have won the scoring race tonight, alone, had he found a way to finish on some of his opportunities,” quipped Oilers head coach Todd McLellan. “Connor, Leon, Drake (Caggiula), a real good night there. They shared the puck well.”

Caggiula, who also scored, said that McDavid in particular looked like he had more than enough of their losing skid.

“We’ve been on a bit of a skid here, and he said, ‘No, I’m going to take the game into my hands today,’ ” Caggiula said. “There is a few times when you say, ‘Geez, is he really doing that in an NHL game right now?’ “

Matt Benning, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse and Kris Russell also scored for the Oilers, who inched back over the .500 mark at 9-8-1.

“It’s big,” Russell said. “We have a few days between games and now the mood’s going to be a lot better.”

Max Domi and Andrew Shaw replied for the Canadiens (9-6-3), who have lost three of their last four.

“It was called a no-show on our part,” said Montreal head coach Claude Julien. “We are a fast-skating team so it wasn’t about speed, but their team looked pretty fast when you give them the room that we did tonight. We didn’t show up. It was a tough night, by far our worst game of the year.”

Edmonton kicked off the scoring on a fluke goal three minutes in as Benning’s point shot was off the mark but came off the boards and hit Montreal goalie Antti Niemi from behind and caromed in.

Montreal drew even a couple of minutes later just after killing off a penalty when Domi came in with a head of stream and picked the top corner past Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen for his 10th of the season.

The Oilers regained the advantage with three-and-a-half minutes left in the opening frame as McDavid shrugged off a defender and fed it over to Draisaitl, who scored his 11th goal.

The Habs tied the game again just over a minute into the second period when Jonathan Drouin fed it from behind the net to Shaw, who trickled a shot past Koskinen.

Caggiula fished a puck out of the air and then scored for Edmonton two minutes later on a knuckleball of a shot.

Nugent-Hopkins scored on a deceptive wrist shot 5:36 into the third to make it 4-2 for the Oilers.

Edmonton added to their lead on a long shot by Russel with eight minutes left and they got their third goal from the blue line with two minutes left on a goal by Nurse, matching the number of goals they have had from defencemen in the entire season thus far in one game.

Both teams next game takes place in Calgary with Montreal playing the Flames on Thursday and the Oilers off until heading to Calgary on Saturday.

Notes – It was the first of two meetings between the two teams this season. Edmonton won both encounters last season… Draisaitl’s goal was his seventh in the last 10 games… Canadiens captain Shea Weber (knee) skated for the first time this in Edmonton on Monday, but didn’t take part in contact drills.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press