OILERS SWAMP FLYERS 6-3 — FOUR LOSSES IN LAST FIVE GAMES!

By Sam Bush

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists to regain the NHL scoring lead, and the Oilers beat the visiting Flyers 6-3 last night.

Matt Hendricks, Leon Draisaitl, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Oscar Klefbom also scored for the Oilers, who have won two straight and three of four. Edmonton moved into a tie with Anaheim for second place in the Pacific Division with 70 points.

Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby took over the scoring lead for a brief moment earlier in the night with his own three-point performance. McDavid has 66 points and Crosby has 64.

Radko Gudas, Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn scored for the Flyers, who have lost two in a row and four of their last five games.

Cam Talbot stopped 33 shots for Edmonton, and Michal Neuvirth saved 19 of 25 shots for Philadelphia.

“It’s not easy to see, but they took some penalties and I thought we could have scored some goals on those and it could have been a different game,” Gudas said. “Unfortunately we didn’t.”

Edmonton struck 2:14 into the first period when Hendricks elected to shoot on a 2-on-1, scoring his second goal in two games.

The Oilers made it 2-0 with five minutes left in the opening frame when Matt Benning made a beautiful feed in front to allow Draisaitl to direct in his 22nd goal of the season.

The Flyers cut into the lead just 31 seconds into the second period when Sean Couturier’s pass hit Gudas in front and trickled past Talbot.

Edmonton regained its cushion seven minutes into the second when Eberle cashed in on the rebound from McDavid’s backhand for his first goal in nine games.

It was 4-1 just over a minute later when Eric Gryba’s shot struck Nugent-Hopkins in front and got past Neuvirth.

Midway through the second period, Edmonton’s Patrick Maroon took it to Philadelphia’s Brandon Manning in a spirited bout. Manning had been embroiled in a war of words with McDavid since injuring the Oilers captain during his rookie season last year.

“He did a really good job and it’s something we’re going to drop now,” Maroon said. “We’re going to move forward here, and we’re not going to hear about it anymore.”

Edmonton took a four-goal lead with just over three minutes left in the middle period when Klefbom unleashed a cannon of a shot for the Oilers’ fifth goal on 17 shots. McDavid picked up another assist to move him back into the scoring lead.

Philly got one back with 45 seconds left in the second when Simmonds was left alone in front to score his 24th.

The Flyers made it 5-3 seven minutes into the third on Schenn’s power-play goal, but McDavid put the game away for good with his 19th goal of the season with five minutes to play.