Blackhawks head into All-Star break with loss to Oilers

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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Tyson Barrie scored twice, Connor McDavid had his NHL-best 41st goal and the Edmonton Oilers headed into their All-Star break with a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had a goal and two assists, and Evander Kane and Ryan McLeod also scored for the Oilers (28-18-4). They are 7-0-1 in their last eight games.

“We took over in the second period, but there were still a couple of things I’d like to clean up,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “But our team is 10-3-2 since the Christmas break and you couldn’t script it better for us. I think we’ve taken a step here, it’s a credit to our players.”

Jason Dickinson, Jonathan Toews and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Blackhawks (15-29-4). They have lost three of their last four.

“We had a great start, but we maybe just stopped skating a little bit from what we had done in the first,” Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said. “It would have been nice to control it a little more in the second, those are usually make-or-break periods.”

Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner came down with a sudden illness, forcing them to activate emergency backup goalie Matt Berlin, a player from the University of Alberta Golden Bears. With the big lead, the Oilers put him in net with 2:26 to play, and he stopped the only shot he faced.

Jack Campbell started and made 25 saves for the Oilers.

Petr Mrazek scored 36 shots for Chicago.

UP NEXT:

Blackhawks: Host Anaheim on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Oilers: At Detroit on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

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