McDavid fastest to 30 assists as Oilers beat Rangers 4-1

Connor McDavid became the fastest player in NHL history to reach 30 assists and scored 50 seconds into the game as the Edmonton Oilers beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, NHL.com reported.

McDavid got there in 15 games, breaking the mark of 16 games set by Wayne Gretzky in 1984-85, the league said. He also extended his NHL-record season-opening assist streak to 15 games.

The win was Edmonton’s third straight and left the Oilers at 11-2-2, including 7-0-0 on the road. The Rangers fell to 7-7-1 with a fourth straight loss. The matchup drew more than 20,000 searches in Canada on Google Trends over the past day.

McDavid’s goal also moved him up the franchise lists. It was the 418th of his career, which passed Glenn Anderson for sole possession of fourth on the Oilers’ all-time list behind Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Leon Draisaitl. It was also his eighth goal in the opening minute of a game, one more than Mark Messier for the most in team history, NHL.com said. He leads all scorers with 39 points, The Associated Press reported.

He took a short pass from Evan Bouchard in his own zone, banked the puck off the boards to himself, went around defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov and beat goaltender Dylan Garand.

“That’s your job as a leader to get us started on time,” Oilers coach Mike Babcock said.

Colton Dach made it 2-0 at 6:19 and later added an empty-net goal for his first multi-goal game in the NHL. Bouchard scored once and had two assists, giving him 26 points. He is the fourth defenceman to reach 25 points in the first 15 games of a season, joining Bobby Orr, Al MacInnis and Denis Potvin, NHL.com said. Draisaitl had two assists, and Pavel Dorofeyev scored for New York.

Matt Tomkins made 27 saves in his first NHL start since April 17, 2024, and the seventh of his career. The 32-year-old grew up in Sherwood Park, just outside Edmonton, and started for Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the AP reported. He got the chance because of injuries to Devon Levi and Frederik Andersen and the second game of a back-to-back.

“It’s been a long road, for sure,” Tomkins said. McDavid called him “an unbelievable dude” who had worked hard over the summer. The AP said he had played 74 AHL games in the 928 days between NHL starts. The Oilers waived him before the season opener.

Garand made 21 saves and said he had let his team down early. “You can’t spot those guys two goals,” he said. Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said he did not think a lack of readiness was the reason for the slow start, but New York has allowed the first goal in all four games of its losing streak.

The game came a day after Edmonton shut out the Islanders 4-0, when McDavid’s streak reached 14 games. It stood at 13 after the win over Calgary.

Sources: NHL.com, The Associated Press via The Canadian Press, The Associated Press on Tomkins.

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