McDavid Assist Streak Hits 13, Breaks NHL Record

The McDavid assist streak just rewrote the NHL record book. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid collected two more helpers on Wednesday night in a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames, giving him an assist in all thirteen games to start the season, the longest run of its kind in league history.

Passing Gretzky, Linseman and Aho

According to NHL.com, McDavid passed the twelve-game mark shared by Sebastian Aho in 2018-19, Ken Linseman in 1985-86 and Wayne Gretzky in 1982-83. Any time a name gets compared with Gretzky in the record books, hockey fans pay attention.

The record-setter came early. McDavid reached the mark seven minutes and forty-six seconds into the first period, when he set up Mathieu Joseph for the opening goal of the night at Rogers Place in Edmonton. He then added a second assist on a Kasperi Kapanen power-play goal in the third period.

The numbers look like a typo

Through thirteen games, McDavid leads the NHL with thirty-six points, made up of eight goals and twenty-eight assists. That works out to roughly two and three-quarter points per game. According to CBS Sports, he remains on pace to challenge Gretzky's all-time single-season point record, a mark many believed was untouchable.

The streak is also speeding up. Over the last five games, he has piled up eleven assists and thirteen points, per Marker Zone. Earlier this month he became the fastest player in league history to reach twenty assists in a season, doing it in his ninth game, and then broke Mario Lemieux's record for most assists in the first ten games with twenty-three.

A shutout that snapped a skid

The win mattered for Edmonton, too. The Oilers came into the night off consecutive losses for the first time this season, including a 7-2 defeat in Toronto on Saturday. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made twenty-four saves for his first shutout of the season, and the team improved to nine wins, two regulation losses and two overtime losses.

Mattias Ekholm and Alex Formenton also scored, along with Joseph and Kapanen, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins chipped in two assists. Edmonton now sits atop the Pacific Division, and McDavid has carried a lineup that is missing winger Zach Hyman, according to NHL Insight.

Bad night for Calgary

The Flames dropped to five wins and seven losses after their four-game winning streak ended. Goalie Devin Cooley left the game late in the first period after he was run over in the crease by forward Colton Dach. He had stopped eight shots, and Dustin Wolf stopped twenty in relief.

The Battle of Alberta always brings heat, and a lower-body injury to a starting goalie adds a new storyline for Calgary. The team has not shared a timeline in the recaps reviewed, so fans will be watching the next injury update closely.

Why playmaking is the real flex

Goals get the highlight reels, but assists show how a player makes everyone around him better. McDavid has long been known for threading passes through traffic at full speed, and this run proves it is not a hot week. It is a month of linemates finishing chances he creates, night after night.

Younger fans who grew up watching him know the feeling: every shift feels like something could happen. Thirteen games in a row with a helper means opponents know exactly what is coming and still cannot stop it, which is the rare kind of dominance that turns a season into a story people retell for decades.

It also shows how deep the Oilers have become around him. Nugent-Hopkins, Ekholm, Joseph, Kapanen and Formenton all figured in the scoring, so the streak is not just one man. It is a whole group finishing the plays he starts.

What comes next for the streak

Records are meant to be extended, so the next question is how far the McDavid assist streak can go. Every new game adds to a total that nobody has ever reached, and the longer it runs, the more it becomes a measuring stick for the rest of the league.

The streak also gives Canadian hockey fans a reason to tune in all winter. For more on the country's biggest stories, check our Canada coverage and our sports section, and keep an eye on the McDavid assist streak the next time Edmonton hits the ice.