Who said shortened seasons were not conducive to big points?
On Saturday, in Winnipeg, Conner McDavid picked up two assists for 70 points so far this campaign.
The Oilers defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 3-0.
“It’s a massive win,” McDavid said. “Any time you’re coming down the stretch and you’re playing teams ahead of you, you want to beat them and tighten the gap. Tonight was a big win for that.”
Mike Smith made 26 saves to earn his third shutout of the season.
“Obviously you want to finish as high in the standings as you can,” Smith said. “More importantly, we’re building something here. We’re building something bigger than a regular season win. Are these wins nice and important? Obviously, they’re huge. But this team, we’ve talked about it all season long, we’re building for the most important games, and that’s the playoff hockey games.”
“It’s not a switch you flick on and off, it’s something that you earn and you build throughout the course of the season.”
The Oilers improved to 26-15-2.
“[McDavid is] obviously the best player in the world for a reason,” Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele said. “You just can’t give him time and space. He’s so tricky with the puck, he makes plays that a lot of people don’t make in this league and it makes it tough. You’ve got to be aware of him every time he’s on the ice, and that’s the tough thing.”
Tyson Barrie scored off the power play in the second period for a 1-0 lead.
Jesse Puljujarvi extended the lead to 2-0.
“I thought we didn’t move the puck particularly well,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s going to be a real key to keeping those two (McDavid and Draisaitl) quiet. But the rush game is going to disappear for just about everybody once the playoffs start.”
Alex Chiasson closed out the scoring with power play goal for the 3-0 final.
Connor Hellebuyck made 22 saves in the loss.
“They have a dynamic power play,” the Jets’ Adam Lowry said. “They’ve capitalized on multiple opportunities on that. Kind of just shutting down their two big guys [McDavid and Leon Draisaitl], they always seem to find the score sheet. That’s going to be one of our challenges moving forward, how to neutralize them a little bit.
“I think we have the guys in here, we have the team that can do that. It’s going to be working out those kinks moving forward and getting ready for the next two that we play them (April 26 and 28).”
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