EDMONTON, Alberta ( Associated Press) — Evander Kane scored three goals in a six-minute span in the second period, Leon Dracitel set an NHL record with four assists in a playoff period, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Sunday night. defeated. to take a 2–1 lead in their second-round playoff series.
Zach Hyman scored the second goal for Edmonton and Conor McDavid had three more assists. Mike Smith, who was briefly replaced by Miko Koskinen in the third period after being run over by Milan Lucic, made 31 saves. Koskinen was not forced to stop at just four minutes.
Oliver Killington scored the only goal for Calgary. Jakob Markström allowed four goals on 34 shots before being pulled for the Flames, who have been knocked out 8-1 since taking a 3-1 lead in the second period of Game 2. Dan Vlader saved seven in relief.
McDavid now has 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) through the latter 10 games of the season. The only players with more points in the same period in NHL playoff history are Wayne Gretzky (29 in 1983; 25 in 1985), Mario Lemieux (25 in 1992) and Rick Middleton (23 in 1983).
The Oilers will look to take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series in Edmonton on Tuesday night.
In the first playoff meeting in Edmonton to feature the Oilers and Flames since April 14, 1991, the Oilers scored four goals in just 12 minutes in the second period – including Kane’s second hat-trick of the month.
Hyman opened the scoring for his sixth goal later in the season from a setup by Draistale and McDavid in a span of 52 seconds.
Kane, who signed with the Oilers in January after the San Jose Sharks terminated his contract after a string of off-ice incidents, scored his first in 6:58 from a feed from Dracital.
Kane made it 3–0 only 53 seconds later after an impressive rush by McDavid after passing Calgary defenseman Noah Hannifein.
Kane completed his hat-trick—the seventh-fastest in NHL postseason history—with McDavid at 2-on-1 with his 10th goal of the playoffs at 12:58.
Kane, 30, is the third Edmonton player to score three straight goals in a postseason game, joining Gretzky (1983) and Petr Kilma (1991). Meanwhile, Dreysatel’s fourth assist in the second period set a playoff record for any period.
Markstrom, who allowed 11 combined goals in Games 1 and 2 after posting a .941 save percentage in the opening round against the Dallas Stars, got the hook for Vlader’s side to start third.
Lusik ran over Smith behind the Oilers’ net midway through third and scrambled to contain all 10 skaters. Edmonton Netminder was later dropped in favor of Koskinen, but returned shortly afterwards.
Kyllington got a consolation goal for the visitors – his first playoff – with less than five minutes to go.
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