Ottawa Senators at Edmonton Oilers

McDavid has goal and 2 assists, Oilers sweep Senators

“Its big,” McDavid said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, it’s not easy to beat them three times, so credit to our group.”

Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said it was important his team come out strong against Ottawa.

“We wanted to make sure we come out and started the game quick,” he said. “We knew they were going to come at us pretty hard.

“I give them some credit, they rebounded right after that, they pushed back for the next 10 minutes or so pretty good. We got a lucky break ... but we’ll take all the breaks we can get right now.”

McDavid needed just 10 seconds after the opening faceoff to score his 17th of the season, beating Joey Daccord on the game’s first shot. McDavid pushed his NHL-leading points total to 51 in 29 games.

Leon Draisaitl and Tyler had a goal and an assist, Tyson Barrie, Darnell Nurse and Gaetan Haas also scored and Mike Smith made 23 saves.

Edmonton improved to 18-11-0 to take sole possession of second in the North Division, four points behind the idle Toronto Maple Leafs.

Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa.

Tkachuk admitted the Senators’ struggles against Edmonton have been frustrating, but he remains upbeat.

“They’re a great team, I mean every team in this division is a great team so there’s no easy night,” he said. “I think this is just going to help us out tremendously down the road.

“We’re a good team ourselves ... right now the record doesn’t show what we’ve put into this but I think every day we’re getting better. I think that’s definitely exciting for our team.”

Edmonton opened the series with a 3-2 victory Monday night and won 7-1 on Wednesday night. The Oilers have won four straight overall following three losses to Toronto. Edmonton is 8-3-0 in its last 11.

UP NEXT

Senators: Host Toronto on Sunday night.

Oilers: At Vancouver on Saturday night.

EDM leads series 7-0