GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Maple Leafs

TORONTO, ON – Beatdown on the Buds.

Leon Draisaitl had three assists to pull within one point of 1,000 for his career, while Connor McDavid contributed two goals and an assist and Vasily Podkolzin scored twice for the Edmonton Oilers, who scored five unanswered goals in a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.

"I thought the effort from start to finish was great," Darnell Nurse said. "Obviously, they had some pushes, especially early in the game. We were able to weather them and have our own pushes. I thought Jars made some big saves at key moments for us, and we were able to capitalize on the opportunities that came our way."

McDavid dazzled with another terrific solo goal in Toronto, only 3:25 into the first period, before the Oilers captain got credit for his second of the night, midway through the middle frame, when former teammate Troy Stecher put it into his own net to tie the game up at 2-2 after Toronto held the lead.

Defenceman Darnell Nurse notched his sixth goal of the season with 31 seconds left in the second period, ultimately opening the floodgates further for Podkolzin to score twice in 34 seconds early in the final stanza before Zach Hyman added another midway through the frame to cap off Edmonton's scoring.

Goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 25 of 28 shots in his Oilers debut following his acquisition from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, making a handful of terrific stops over a steady 60-minute performance to improve to 10-3-1 this season with his first victory in Blue & Orange.

"It's obviously a lot of emotions," Jarry said. "You never really think that this would happen, and you're obviously shocked when it does. The last game I played was in Pittsburgh, so you never really think that's going to end. But to be here and to be part of this group is special."

Defenceman Alec Regula recorded his first assist with the Oilers, while Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Matt Savoie each added solo helpers in the victory that improves their overall record to 15-11-6 this season.

The Oilers will continue their five-game road trip on Sunday night when they finish a back-to-back at the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens.

ANOTHER McDAVID STUNNER IN TORONTO

SHEEEEEEEEESH!

There went Connor McDavid again, scoring an absolute banger in his hometown.

Defenceman Morgan Rielly might've been having flashbacks when he turned and saw Connor McDavid racing towards him with speed through the neutral zone to score what would prove to be another incredible goal from the Oilers captain at Scotiabank Arena to open the scoring on Saturday night.

"You don't usually hear a crowd gasp when a guy accelerates like that," Nurse said. "I don't know. You don't hear that many times in the season, but you do hear that in Toronto when McDavid does one of those rushes."

We all remember McDavid's unforgettable tally in Toronto back on Jan. 6, 2020, shoulder-dropping with the puck to beat Rielly one-on-one before roofing it top shelf for one of his all-time signature goals, and another fantastic solo effort from No. 97 would open the scoring just 3:25 into the first period in this one.

"You're just happy you're on the right side of it," Jarry said. "I've been on the wrong side of that a lot of the time, so it's obviously special to be standing at the other end now. I think everyone can say that they're thankful that he's on this side."

Evan Bouchard broke up a pass at the blueline before catching McDavid coming through the neutral zone with speed, and with the puck on his stick, the captain cut through the middle of Calle Jarnkrok and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to draw a gasp from his hometown crowd before blazing past Rielly to tuck home his 17th goal of the season around Dennis Hildeby to make it 1-0 early in the contest.

"He's been doing it for us for a good stretch now, and it seems like each and every night, he's bringing the legs and pushing the tempo for our group," Nurse said. "Tonight was no different."

"He's a special player, and moments like that, it doesn't matter who you cheer for. As a hockey fan, it's cool to see."

The Oilers nearly increased their lead on their first power play that arrived only 13 seconds after McDavid opened the scoring when Max Domi was called for high-sticking Ty Emberson in the corner to send Edmonton to the man advantage.

McDavid connected on a cross-crease pass to Zach Hyman that was stopped in tight by Hildeby, but the netminder spun around in the blue paint and pushed a rebound out into the danger area for Leon Draisaitl, whose attempt at the loose puck was crucially blocked by former teammate Troy Stecher to prevent a goal.

After Hyman had another back-door chance fall to the wayside past the nine-minute mark, it became time for newly-arrived netminder Tristan Jarry to make his first real impactful save by stopping Matthew Knies on a partial two-on-one with a good right-pad save to keep the Oilers ahead.

"I think as the game goes on, it's a lot of the same game, just a different place with a different uniform," Jarry said. "I think that's the biggest thing, was just trying to settle in as quickly as possible and play my game and just kind of be sound for them. They obviously did a great job possessing the puck, checking, holding onto the puck, and I think that led to a lot of opportunities for us tonight."

But just over four minutes later, the Maple Leafs got on the board when neither Jarry nor Bouchard was able to clear the puck in front after Scott Laughton's shot from the left side, leading to Easton Cowan crashing the net and chopping a loose puck past Jarry to even things up 1-1 at 3:57 of the first period.

Before the break, Jarry bounced back with a great breakaway stop on John Tavares when Alec Regula lost control of the puck inside the Toronto blueline. Jarry made nine saves on 10 shots in his first period with the Oilers since being acquired from the Penguins on Friday morning.

"It's not an easy spot for him to come in and join the group and have to play a big game the next day," Nurse said. "He came in and he's fitting in seamlessly, and it just speaks to the character and the guy he is. I think he's gonna have a lot of fun with our group."

Jarry wasn't the only debut on Saturday after defenceman Spencer Stastney, acquired from Nashville at the same time, played 16:22 in a third-pairing role beside his former US National Team Development Program teammate Ty Emberson.

"First of all, anytime you add somebody to the team that adds a little juice or a little excitement to the group is great," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Spencer and Tristan played really well tonight, and hopefully we can continue building on that. Overall, I thought our team played well, and of course, Leon and Connor took over and were part of the scoring and really got us on the scoresheet. But I'm very happy with the group."

OH NO, STECH!

Stecher might've saved a goal in the first period against his former side, but he threw his head into the air from redirecting McDavid's second of the night into Toronto's own net after the Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead in the first five minutes of the middle frame.

The Maple Leafs went up by a goal at 4:54 of the period, taking the lead on a one-timer from Ekman-Larsson between the circles off a pass from Matthew Knies that fell to his stick after Jarry made a great save the second before against Max Domi in the slot.

The Oilers fell to 0-for-2 on the power play a few minutes later, but they were given a gift in the form of McDavid's second goal of the night and 18th of the season past the 10-minute mark when a feed from the captain below the goal line was put into the Toronto net off the stick of Stecher to make it 2-2.

McDavid now has seven goals over his last five games and nine goals over his last nine, having now passed Leon Draisaitl (17) for the team lead in goals.

His first goal of the night was also his third game-opening goal of the season and the 62nd of his career, moving him past Ryan Smyth (61) for the second most in franchise history. Only Leon Draisaitl has more with 68.

Exactly nine minutes later, the Oilers were able to take the lead before the second intermission on a pretty passing play that started on the stick of McDavid before moving through the hands of Draisaitl to land onto the stick of Nurse for a one-timer.

McDavid skated through the neutral zone while shrugging off two Toronto defenders, crossing into the Maple Leafs' zone and dropping it back to Draisaitl for the German to make a cross-ice pass to Nurse for a one-timer that he lifted over the outstretched left pad of Hildeby for a 3-2 lead with 29 seconds left.

Nurse's goal was his sixth of the season, pulling him ahead of Bouchard (5) for the team lead in goals by a defenceman. The Oilers now have 18 goals this season by their blueliners, which ties Seattle, Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Dallas for the fifth most in the league.

The Hamilton, Ont. product was one of three local talents to score in front of friends and family close to their hometowns.

"It's nice to score a goal. It's nice to score a goal in a building where you grew up," Nurse said. "I grew up 45 minutes from here, and there are a lot of hockey players that I played with in the GTHL that had tickets. I used to be able to go watch a few games with them, so when you grow up and go to the games in the building, and you're able to score, it's always a good feeling."

RUNNING AWAY WITH IT

The Maple Leafs simply had no answer for what the Oilers delivered out of the intermission.

Edmonton scored twice through Vasily Podkolzin in 34 seconds early in the frame, while Leon Draisaitl added two more assists to record a multi-point night and put the German on milestone watch with his 999th career point as the Oilers ran riot in the third period with three unanswered goals for a 6-2 win.

Off an offensive-zone draw in the opening two minutes of the frame, Podkolzin went to the blue paint and had his deflection off Draisaitl's turnaround effort in the right circle get pushed off his left leg by Hildeby and into the back of the net to extend Edmonton's lead to two goals in Toronto.

Notably, the second assist was picked up by Alec Regula, who put in a terrific performance on Saturday night for the Oilers. The assist marked the 25-year-old's first point with the club in his 18th game for the Blue & Orange and his 40th career NHL game, with Podkolzin going to get the puck from the official in acknowledgement of his milestone.

Just over half a minute later, a terrific knock-down of the puck by Matt Savoie in the neutral zone started the ensuing rush that saw Draisaitl throw a diagonal pass across the Leafs' zone to the stick of Podkolzin to deflect it past Hildeby and make it 5-2 with over 18 minutes still to play in the third period.

"We're very dangerous now, seeing Podkolzin starting to score, which is very nice," Knoblauch said. "He's been going hard to the net. He's been working on his shot, and he's always had a good shot, but now he's just driving the net a little bit more and trying to get available. If you're playing with a guy like Draisaitl, he's gonna find you a lot of times, so we need more secondary scoring from guys like that, and it's nice to see him step up."

The helper was Draisaitl's third assist of the night to put him on notice for his 1,000th career point, sitting on 999 thanks to Saturday's performance.

The Maple Leafs would mercy pull Hildeby in favour of Artur Akhtyamov before the midway mark of the third period after Hyman managed to score off a scramble beside the Toronto net, making it 6-2 for the Oilers with his sixth goal of the season that Nugent-Hopkins assisted at 9:28 of the frame.

A few minutes later, a two-on-one between McDavid and Draisaitl had it looking like the German would be hitting 1,000 points tonight, but McDavid managed to fan on his pass to let the chance go to the wayside in what quickly became a blowout in favour of the Oilers.

The Leafs added a consolation goal through Steven Lorentz with 48 seconds left in regulation, but the damage was already done, with Draisaitl posting three assists, McDavid tabulating two goals and an assist, Podkolzin contributing two goals, and Jarry stopping 25 shots in his Oilers debut.

The Oilers are now 5-1-1 in their last seven games.

"We're finding our game," Nurse said. "I think we've been consistent with our game, believed in ourselves to this point, and we're starting to put that foundation and those pillars that we've been trying to build to this point. We're starting to put them together a little bit, so there's still a lot of room for us to grow and get better, but it's a good start."

The Oilers will head to Montreal to continue their road trip and wrap up a back-to-back at the Bell Centre against the Canadiens on Sunday.