McDavid leads Oilers past Bedard, Blackhawks
EDMONTON, Alberta — Connor McDavid had two assists and the streaking Edmonton Oilers overcame an early goal by rookie Connor Bedard to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Tuesday night in the first NHL matchup between the young stars.
McDavid, a three-time MVP, was the No. 1 draft pick in 2015. Bedard was selected first this past summer.
“The first (period) was not bad, but when you kind of keep it a track meet against them it’s obviously hard with those guys,” Bedard said. “We created a bit and I thought it wasn’t terrible, but definitely some things to clean up.”
Sam Gagner had a goal and an assist in the highly anticipated “Clash of the Connors,” helping the Oilers (13-12-1) win their eighth game in a row. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, and defenseman Evan Bouchard added a pair of assists.
“Anytime you win it is fun, and it is fun doing it the right way, with the goals against and limiting chances and things like that,” Hyman said. “That’s the key to success and is something we have harped on and is the reason we are on this little run.”
Stuart Skinner made 22 saves for his seventh consecutive victory in net.
“I’ve seen him be able to absorb the spotlight and put any distractions behind him,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “From what I’ve seen here, he looks like an elite goalie. I can see why he had the season he did last year and he’s come up with some really big saves for us during this stretch.”
Bedard gave the banged-up Blackhawks (9-18-1) a 1-0 lead with his 12th goal 3:21 into the first period, but Chicago lost its seventh consecutive road game.
The 18-year-old center scored on the second shot of the night. He took a long pass from Alex Vlasic for a partial breakaway and unleashed a deceptive shot that beat Skinner glove-side to the top corner.
“He made a really nice move, a very quick release,” Skinner said. “He placed it really well, too. It’s pretty hard to move it that fast and still pick a corner.”
Another top overall draft pick tied the game midway through the opening period as Nugent-Hopkins took a saucer pass on a give-and-go with McDavid and beat Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek for his sixth of the season.
McDavid extended his point streak to 10 games, and Bouchard got the secondary assist to stretch his point streak to 12 games. It is the second-longest run by a defenseman in Oilers history.
Edmonton took the lead with 1:41 to play in the first as Derek Ryan sent a backhand pass from behind the net to Gagner, who chipped it in for his fourth goal.
The Oilers got a gift with 6:36 remaining in the second when Chicago defender Nikita Zaitsev deflected Draisaitl’s pass into his own net. The goal was Draisaitl’s 12th of the season.
Edmonton made it 4-1 just 43 seconds into the third with a power-play goal. Hyman had an easy tap-in of a perfectly placed feed from McDavid for his 16th goal.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “If you take the goal that went in off of Zaitsev’s stick and you take away their power-play goal, I thought we were right in that game.”
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Kristen Shilton
The Vancouver Canucks have come to terms with forward Brock Boeser on a new seven-year contract, carrying a $7.25 million AAV.
Canucks GM Patrik Allvin announced the deal on Tuesday during the first hour of NHL free agency. Boeser, 28, was an unrestricted free agent on a previously expiring contract.
Drafted by Vancouver 23rd overall in the 2015 NHL draft, Boeser has collected 204 goals and 434 points in 554 games with the Canucks to date. A top-six scoring threat, Boeser has elite playmaking skills and the potential to produce big numbers offensively. He had his best year offensively in 2023-24, producing 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games.
Boeser didn’t hit those marks again last season — settling for 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games — but was still second amongst teammates in output. He also plays a prominent role on Vancouver’s power play and when he can generate opportunities at 5-on-5, he is a true difference-maker up front for the Canucks.
The extension is a happy ending for Vancouver and Boeser. When the regular season ended, Boeser admitted “it’s tough to say” whether he’d be back with the Canucks. Boeser reportedly turned down a previous five-year extension offer with the club and Allvin subsequently looked into deals for him at the March trade deadline, with no takers. Boeser looked — and sounded — poised to explore his options on the open market.
Ultimately, Boeser decided to stay put by committing the best years of his career to the Canucks.
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Ryan S. Clark
Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary signed a seven-year extension through the 2032-33 season that is worth $6 million annually, the team announced Tuesday.
Fehervary, who had one year of team control remaining, will enter the final season of a three-year bridge deal that will see him make $2.675 million before his new contract begins at the start of the 2026-27 season.
He finished the season with five goals and a career-high 25 points while logging 19 minutes. Fehervary also played a crucial role in the Capitals’ penalty kill by finishing with 245 short-handed minutes for a penalty kill that was fifth in the NHL with an 82% success rate.
Securing the 25-year-old Fehervary to a long-term deal means the Capitals now have seven players who have more than three years remaining on their current contracts.
It also means the Capitals front office has one less decision to make ahead of what is expected to be an active offseason in 2026 that will see the club have what PuckPedia projects to be $39.25 million in cap space.
That’s also the same offseason in which captain and NHL all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin‘s contract will come off their books along with that of defenseman John Carlson.
But until then, the Capitals have their entire top-six defensive unit under contract as they seek to improve upon a 2024-25 season that saw them finish atop the Metropolitan Division with 111 points before they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinal to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.
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