Ice Breaker: Draisaitl's four helpers sink the Ducks, Jets steal one late

The Oilers went to Anaheim, fell behind 2-0 on two Beckett Sennecke power-play goals, and then scored five straight in the second period like the first period was a rumor. Leon Draisaitl had four assists, and Evan Bouchard now has six goals in four games for a defenseman who is supposed to be the one passing.

Only three games went on Wednesday, and Edmonton took most of the oxygen. Meanwhile, Winnipeg stole one it had no business winning, and Washington beat Pittsburgh in a game that didn't feel close by the third.

Oilers 5, Ducks 2

Sennecke scored twice on the power play in the first, both set up by Leo Carlsson. Then the second period happened, and the Oilers decided the game was over before the Ducks got the memo.

Bouchard scored 11 seconds in, Kasperi Kapanen added one on the power play, Bouchard scored again, and Vasily Podkolzin and Connor McDavid finished it. Lukas Dostal was pulled after 40 minutes with five goals on 17 shots.

Devon Levi made 29 saves, and he's now 3-0 as a starter, per NHL data, even if his .863 save percentage suggests the skaters in front of him are doing the heavy lifting.

Sully's chirp: Anaheim outshot Edmonton 31-19 and lost by three.
Both goals came with an Oiler in the box. At even strength they couldn't have scored on an empty net with a map.

Jets 3, Avalanche 2

Colorado outshot Winnipeg 34-19 and still went home with nothing, which is a miserable way to spend a Wednesday in Manitoba. Jaden Schwartz and Fedor Svechkov scored for the Avs, Svechkov tying it at 2-2 with 7:25 left.

Kyle Connor won it with exactly one minute to go, his second of the night, off a Mark Scheifele feed, and Stuart Skinner stopped 32 of 34 to make it stand.

Lind's read: Skinner is the whole story here, because Winnipeg turned 19 shots into three goals, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 16 of 19 at the other end. That kind of efficiency rarely repeats over a full season, which is exactly why the Jets should enjoy this one quietly.

Capitals 5, Penguins 3

Anthony Beauvillier scored 23 seconds in, and Tom Wilson ran the night from there with a goal and two assists. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Tuch made it 4-1 in the second.

Pittsburgh got two back late in the period through Tommy Novak and Nick Robertson, but Ryan Leonard's power-play goal early in the third, assisted by Jordan Kyrou and Cole Hutson, effectively ended the comeback. Logan Thompson made 27 saves, and Washington is 2-0 with him in net by our count.

Sully's chirp: Sidney Crosby finished minus-4 in 19 minutes with no points.
Sid, buddy, I'm begging you. That's a Leafs stat line, and you're better than that.

Three stars of the night

1. Leon Draisaitl, EDM: four assists, plus-4.
2. Evan Bouchard, EDM: two goals and an assist from the back end.
3. Stuart Skinner, WPG: 32 saves on 34 shots in a game his team was outshot by 15.

EDGE of the night

One NHL EDGE season best fell last night. Hardest shot: Cale Makar, COL, 101.9 mph.

By our count

McDavid has a point in all four Oilers games and 12 points total, per NHL data. Draisaitl has 9 and Bouchard 11 in the same stretch, but it's four games, so call it a hot week rather than a season.

Lind's number of the night

64.3. That's Edmonton's penalty-kill percentage through four games by our count, and the Oilers are 3-0-1 anyway. Anaheim converted both of its chances in the first period last night. A team can outscore a leaky penalty kill in October. The question is whether it still can when the goals stop coming in five-goal bunches.

Sully's take of the morning

The Avalanche are the best team that lost last night, and it isn't particularly close.

They had Makar shooting 101.9 and 34 shots on goal, and they lost to a team that put 19 on net. Now they play in Calgary tonight on no rest, which is a terrific idea for a team that just got stonewalled by one goalie. Good luck, boys.

Tonight

There are ten games on the schedule. Colorado is in Calgary at 9 PM ET on the back end of a back-to-back, and that's the one to watch to see if last night's 34 shots were a warning or a fluke.

Elsewhere, the Leafs visit Vegas at 10 PM ET, and the Lightning host Minnesota at 7 PM in the only Florida game of the evening. The Panthers are off until Saturday, when they host the Wild at 6 PM ET at Amerant Bank Arena.