Connor McDavid Stretches Assist Streak to 14 Games

Connor McDavid did it again. His setup on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' power-play goal late in the second period stretched his NHL-record season-opening assist streak to 14 games, and the Edmonton Oilers shut out the New York Islanders 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena.

That is 14 games, 14 nights with at least one helper, and the AP has McDavid with a league-best 29 assists and 37 points. No other player in the league even has 29 points. The Oilers are now 10-2-2 and a perfect 6-0-0 on the road.

How the Oilers Got It Done

Edmonton broke it open in the second period. Nugent-Hopkins scored at 8:42 off a feed from Kasperi Kapanen, then Leon Draisaitl made a perfect skate-to-stick pass to set up Vasily Podkolzin for his ninth goal into a wide-open net just 68 seconds later.

McDavid's moment came at 18:26 of the second, when he and Draisaitl set up Nugent-Hopkins again on the power play to make it 3-0. Draisaitl finished with two assists, and Jason Dickinson added an empty-netter late in the third.

The other story is in net. Tristan Jarry stopped all 18 shots he faced for his second straight shutout, and the Islanders never got much going. Their two-game winning streak is over.

A Rough Afternoon for the Islanders

It went sideways for New York early. Forward Emil Heineman was ejected less than two and a half minutes in for a knee-on-knee hit on Isaac Howard, who could not put weight on his left leg and did not return. Top defenseman Matthew Schaefer took two of the Islanders' five minor penalties, and Ryan Pulock was out after leaving Thursday's game at Minnesota with an upper-body injury.

Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves and did not have much of a chance on either Nugent-Hopkins goal.

Rangers on Sunday

There is no rest for the Oilers. They play the second game of a three-stop New York area trip on Sunday against the Rangers, with McDavid's streak on the line again. He is on pace for more than 200 points, so every game right now feels like it could be another one for the history books.

My Smacktok lean: back McDavid to record at least one assist against the Rangers. He has done it in all 14 games this season, and he is still sharing the ice with Draisaitl on a power play that just cashed again.