What scoring drought? What losing streak?
Connor McDavid took care of his recent individual slump, which had reached 10 games, by scoring his first career NHL hat trick to help the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
For the Oilers, who made some significant changes to the lineup, with the NHL debut of Drake Caggiula, this snaps a five-game losing streak that followed an otherwise great start to their season.
It also puts the Oilers back into a tie with the Anaheim Ducks in points (21) for top spot in the Pacific Division.
McDavid busted out of his slump in the first period, as his cross-ice pass for Milan Lucic deflected in off the stick of Stars defenseman John Klingberg.
“Three pretty lucky goals... It’s puck-luck I guess. You go to the net and good things happen,” said McDavid, per the Oilers.
With this win, the Oilers were able to salvage two points from this three-game road trip through California and Texas.
They host the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, so consider that another difficult test for an Oilers team looking to prove it can contend for the playoffs.