Connor McDavid torches Detroit Red Wings with record 6-assist night in Wings' 8-4 loss

The Detroit Red Wings kept Connor McDavid, the reigning NHL MVP (and All-Star Skills Competition winner), from putting the puck in the net Tuesday night in Edmonton.

That’s about all they managed to prevent at Rogers Place, however, as McDavid became just the fourth player with a six-assist game against the Red Wings franchise (and the first in more than three decades) in the Edmonton Oilers’ 8-4 victory.

McDavid joined Pat Stapleton (March 30, 1969, in a 9-5 Chicago victory), Paul Coffey (March 14, 1986, in a 12-3 Edmonton victory) and Tomas Sandstrom (Oct. 9, 1993, in a 10-3 L.A. victory) with the only six-assist games against the Wings. And he did so despite not getting an assist on the Oilers’ first goal, which came just under nine minutes into the first period.

“He was one of the few guys who was skating for a full 60 minutes," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters, "and the plays that he made tonight were pretty phenomenal. If he’s not on top of his game, we’re probably not winning that one.”

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Indeed, McDavid set up the goals that gave Edmonton a 2-0 lead in the first, a 3-1 lead in the second and then leads of 4-3, 5-3, 7-3 and 8-4 in the third.

“It’s unbelievable. You can only dream of a game like that,” Oilers forward Dylan Holloway told reporters. “It’s pretty incredible. It’s fun to watch. He deserves it, too. He brings it every day in practice, brings it every game. He had a great game tonight.”

Holloway scored on McDavid's third assist of the night, and No. 600 of his career. At 616 games, McDavid became the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to 600 assists, behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr.

It was the opposite kind of night for the Red Wings who fought back from the early two-goal deficits to tie it at 3-all on Patrick Kane’s goal with 5:30 remaining in the second period (which itself came off a pretty backhand pass from J.T. Compher low on the lefthand side of the zone). The third period didn't go as well, however.

“We just lost it in the third, which is really disappointing,” Wings defenseman Moritz Seider said. “Up to that point, I thought we had the better chances, we were rolling and in the end, it’s a devastating result with a lot of mistakes we have to correct.

“It’s still a long road trip and hopefully we can flip the switch here pretty quick.”

Adding injury to goal-riddled insult, Alex Lyon — who allowed seven of the goals — was only playing because starter Ville Husso, making his first NHL appearance since December, departed 8:48 into the game, with a lower-body injury suffered on the unsuccessful stretch to stop the first goal, scored by Leon Draisaitl. Husso stopped the first six shots he faced before going down.

Lyon finished with 22 saves in just under 52 minutes of work, but it definitely wasn’t his night, as the Oilers’ seventh goal came on a soft tip-in through his legs by Zach Hyman (Michigan), finishing off a rebound from a shot by, who else … McDavid.

McDavid passed the credit on about as well as he did the puck, telling reporters, “I play with some good players, obviously, and tonight was a good night."

The Wings didn’t make the night of Stuart Skinner easy in the other crease, however, as Alex DeBrincat scored late in the first period on a power play and Joe Veleno continued the rally with a power play goal of his own midway through the second period. The goal was Veleno’s 10th, giving the Red Wings 11 players with double-digit goals. That’s the franchise’s most since the 2017-18 season.

In all the Wings took 38 shots, with David Perron adding a fourth goal — his second point of the night after assisting on Kane’s goal — with less than five minutes to go. The momentary narrowing of the deficit kept McDavid on the ice deep into the third.

“I think his stats sheet says it all: Six assists, plus-six, no power-play time and he was skating,” Knoblauch told reporters.

Next up for the Wings, the opponent will change — the Canucks, rather than the Oilers — but the home ice will have a familiar sound, as they go from Rogers Place in Edmonton to Rogers Arena in Vancouver for a matchup on Thursday night (10 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit).

Thankfully for the Wings, the Canucks — though they lead the Western Conference, with one of the league's best offenses — have no one that sounds (or scores) quite like Connor McDavid.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings scorched by Connor McDavid & Edmonton Oilers, 8-4