In Edmonton, the Oilers’ Zach Hyman scored in the first period to give them a 1-0 lead on Saturday over the Anaheim Ducks.
That was more than enough for the game, but for good measure, Leon Draisaitl added a hat trick in a 6-0 win over the Ducks.
Draisaitl now has 50 goals on the season.
“It was a good night. There were lots of great plays by the guys around me, looking for me,” Draisaitl said. “I am proud and very fortunate to have done it. I was probably being a little too selfish in the third [period], I was shooting it from everywhere. I think that is all right, usually I tend to overpass it so, for once in my life, it is OK.”
The Oilers moved to 45-23-9, and clinched a playoff berth with the win.
Jack Campbell made 36 saves for the shutout.
Draisaitl pushed the lead to 2-0 with his first of the game in the middle frame.
Daniel Nurse extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:03 of the second.
The Ducks dropped to 24-43-10off their seventh straight loss.
“Edmonton has a top-notch, explosive team,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “I thought we had a really good first period, maybe one of our best periods of the year. But I think the discrepancy in finish on the two teams — they’re loaded with guys that can finish and we’re challenged with it. We just couldn’t get anything past their goaltender tonight.”
Draisaitl’s second came 11:44, off the power play for a 4-0 advantage headed to the third.
“I used to be pretty easy to read entering the zone, or wherever I was, it was always pass,” Draisaitl said. “Coming here and being able to play with some amazing passers — Connor, [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins] is a very underrated passer — you have to learn to get away from the puck sometimes and find that part of your game as well.
“Those two guys are just so good at passing the puck, it is crazy. They make my life pretty easy at times.”
Connor McDavid added his 62 of the campaign for a 5-0 lead early in the third period.
Draisaitl finished his hat trick with a shorthanded goal for the 6-0 final, and his 50th of the season.
“You don’t see it every day that someone scores 50 and gets 100 points pretty much every year they have been in the League. It’s really, really impressive,” McDavid said. “I can’t say enough good things about [Draisaitl]. He has been on a real tear and tonight was no different.
“It’s been amazing to watch the evolution over the course of our careers. He went from being a pass-first kind of guy to a little more of a shooter, to obviously being both. He can beat you either way.”
John Gibson made 31 saves, yielding five goals before leaving the crease in the third period with an apparent lower body injury.
“We have to stick together as a team, through the ups and downs no matter what, and it seemed to get away from us in the third period,” Ducks forward Max Jones said. “I thought we played well in the first period, but we need to move through the ups and downs of the game better, sticking together. It seems like we kind of lost the team values that we should hold through the entire game.”
Lukas Dostal made eight saves in relief.
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