Ice Breaker: McDavid sets an assist record, Seattle stuns the Leafs late

Connor McDavid has an assist in all 13 Oilers games, and nobody in NHL history has opened a season like that. He passed the 12-game mark shared by Wayne Gretzky, Ken Linseman and Sebastian Aho in a 4-0 win over Calgary.

Out west, Seattle beat Toronto with 33 seconds left, which is a very Leafs way to waste a Gavin McKenna night.

The games

Oilers 4, Flames 0

McDavid set up Mathieu Joseph in the first and Kasperi Kapanen on a third-period power play. Mattias Ekholm and Alex Formenton scored the others, and Tristan Jarry stopped all 24 shots for his first shutout of the season.

Calgary lost Devin Cooley to a lower-body injury after a crease collision late in the first, and Dustin Wolf stopped 20 of 23 in relief. The Flames had won four straight.

Lind's read: McDavid played just 18:48, almost five minutes under his season average of 23.5, per NHL data. By our count he has a point in every game, 36 in 13, and Edmonton didn't need to lean on him to stop a two-game skid.

Kraken 5, Maple Leafs 4

McKenna scored two power-play goals and set up Auston Matthews for the tying goal at 18:30 of the third. Then Brandon Montour beat Sergei Bobrovsky with 33 seconds left. Seattle won on 17 shots, with Berkly Catton, Josh Mahura, Chandler Stephenson and Ryker Evans scoring before Montour.

Sully's chirp: Toronto tied it with 90 seconds left and was one shift from banking a point in Seattle. Then the Leafs remembered they were the Leafs. F-minus, as tradition requires.

Avalanche 5, Devils 2

Connor Brown scored shorthanded for New Jersey in the first, and it held up until Gabriel Landeskog's power-play goal in the second. Then Colorado scored four times in 9:45 of the third: Nazem Kadri, Parker Kelly, Nathan MacKinnon and Jaden Schwartz. Jake Allen made 39 saves and still lost by three.

Lind's read: Colorado outshot New Jersey 44-22, and Cale Makar alone had six shots in 25:54. By our count it snapped a four-game Devils winning streak.

Capitals 5, Flyers 2

Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Alex Tuch added two, one into an empty net. Dylan Strome had three assists, and Logan Thompson stopped 23 of 25. Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov scored for Philadelphia.

Sully's chirp: The Flyers had 19 giveaways. At that point it's not a turnover problem. It's a charity drive.

Three stars of the night

1. Connor McDavid, EDM — two assists and an NHL record nobody else has touched.
2. Tristan Jarry, EDM — 24 saves, a clean sheet and a bounce-back night for the Oilers.
3. Gavin McKenna, TOR — two power-play goals and the primary assist on the tying goal in the final two minutes.

Lind's number of the night

.871. That's Bobrovsky's save percentage over his last five starts, per NHL data, and he's at .885 on the season. Toronto's power play is converting at 31.3 percent, but a team can't score its way past a goalie who stopped 12 of 17.

Sully's take of the morning

William Nylander played 22:12 with three shots and no points. He's paid like a first-liner, and he spent the night as a very expensive witness.

Vinni Lettieri and Cale Fleury dropped the gloves at 12:37 of the second, and that was the most anybody in a Leafs sweater defended all night. Grade on Nylander's night: D. Buddy, I'm begging you, protect a tie for 90 seconds.

Gord's whisper

Bill Guerin said on Wednesday he hasn't talked to Quinn Hughes's camp about a contract "in a long time," and that "there's nothing really to talk about right now." File under Extension watch, graded On the record. Hughes can walk July 1, 2027, and the Wild host the Islanders tonight.

Meg's line

Canada beat the U.S. 5-3 in the first of two pre-worlds games, with 18-year-old Rosalie Tremblay and 20-year-old Caitlin Kraemer scoring, and Sarah Fillier breaking the 3-3 tie in the third. Game two is Friday in Plymouth, Michigan. The W read: Canada's kids showed up, and that matters for the worlds roster.

Tonight

Eleven games, no Panthers. The Jets carry a six-game losing streak into Tampa at 7, two nights before they visit Sunrise.

Capitals at Predators at 8 brings Ovechkin's farewell tour to Nashville. The Bruins visit St. Louis at 8, and the Wild host the Islanders at 8 with Hughes on the clock. Sabres at Ducks and Canucks at Sharks close it at 10.