Article content

All eyes at Rogers Place were on Connor McDavid as he continues a fast-and-furious push for what could be his fourth-consecutive Art Ross Trophy.

Two goals and an assist had him briefly at the top of the pile Saturday, on the way to a 6-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Article content

But the captain wasn’t the only Oilers player to come away with three points in the game, as the home team teed off on a Ducks squad that lamed its way into Edmonton losers of 10 of their previous 11.

Article content

Defenceman Mattias Ekholm scored a goal and two assists on the way to a game-high plus-5, as he sits second overall with plus-40 on the season behind only Florida Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling.

And Ekholm got himself there not only with the defensive effort that has been his first and foremost duty on Edmonton’s blue line, but also by scoring eight goals and 31 assists for a 39 points on the season — the second best of his 14-year career.

For as much as his defence stands at the forefront this season, no one in the Oilers room is surprised by Ekholm’s value-added offensive output.

“No, he’s a smart hockey player,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You saw the play he made to (Warren) Foegele for his (breakaway) goal, making that pass through all that traffic.

“The goal he had, you could see him pull the puck off the wall, shoot through traffic. He’s got a heavy shot. It’s not an outlier. Sometimes players have an unbelievable year offensively because everything lines up and every break goes their way. For me, it’s not luck.”

And Ekholm still has 10 games to go to try and eclipse his career-high 44 points from the 2018-19 season with the Nashville Predators.

Article content

Article content

“I try to play the same way every game, but I think a big part of it is that I’ve been feeling pretty good lately,” said the 33-year-old native of Borlange, Sweden. “I had some bumps and bruises to start the season and those have kind of faded away a little bit.

“To be able to skate well out there and kind of just work on it and, obviously, when you get a couple of contributions offensively you tend to get into the zone a little bit and find the puck better and you shoot it more when you’re supposed to, and they’ve been finding the net. I’m happy to contribute, but I think my game is not focused on the offensive side, it’s a two-way game and I’m trying to help as much as I can.”

His offerings have been considerable compared to the next teammates on the plus-minus list, which has both McDavid, the points leader with 125, and Zach Hyman, the goals leader with 52, tied for second on the team at plus-33.

Ekholm’s plus-5 from Saturday moved him out of a tie for second overall at plus-36 with Quinn Hughes, whose Vancouver Canucks sat idle.

“I think a good start helps for sure. I thought we came out flying in the first, played really well,” Ekholm said of Edmonton’s 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. “When the game gets out of hand early, obviously it’s easier to manage them. Their team is usually one that will stick around if they can, but I thought we did a good job of managing in the first and we kind of did a good job of putting them away early and then just went from there.

Article content

“It’s 82 games in a season and we’re not going to be perfect throughout all of them and there’s going to be time where we start slow, times where we finish slow and what have you, so I think it’s nice to see that we’re getting closer to a full 60 minutes coming down the stretch and we know how important that’s going to be coming down the playoffs. I’ve liked our starts here lately.”

RODRIGUE RE-SIGNED

It was a banner day for Edmonton’s goaltending depth Saturday.

Before Calvin Pickard made 22 saves to deliver his 11th win of the season in relief of starter Stuart Skinner, the club announced Olivier Rodrigue, currently playing on the farm with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League, was signed to a one-year, two-way contract extension to carry him through 2024-25.

The 23-year-old has a 17-10-4 record with a 2.72 goals-against average and .915 save percentage on the season.

Originally taken by the Oilers in the second round (62nd overall) in the 2018 draft, Rodrigue has appeared in 85 AHL games over four seasons with a 41-34-8 record, a 2.83 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

E-mail: [email protected]

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

Article content