Oilers' Connor McDavid returns from injury in Heritage Classic - ESPN

EDMONTON, Alberta — Captain Connor McDavid returned from injury on Sunday night, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the rival Calgary Flames 5-2 in the NHL's Heritage Classic outdoor game.

McDavid, 26, a three-time Hart Trophy recipient initially thought to be out for one to two weeks with an upper-body injury, returned early and rejoined a struggling team that had lost four in a row before Sunday's offensive breakout.

«It's such a unique experience, maybe it's something you get to experience once or twice, if you're lucky,» McDavid said of the outdoor atmosphere. «You just try to soak it all in. And obviously, it was a big win for our group.»

Evander Kane had a goal and two assists, and Brett Kulak, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Vincent Desharnais also scored for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner stopped 24 shots in net for the home team.

A.J. Greer and Nazem Kadri had goals for the Flames in their fifth straight loss. Jacob Markstrom had 29 saves.

It was much warmer (about 37 degrees at puck drop) than at the original Heritage Classic in 2003, where the temperature reached minus-22 with the wind chill.

The Oilers started the scoring as Markstrom allowed a big rebound on an opportunity by Kane and defender Kulak was down deep to sweep in a backhand shot 4:19 into the game.

Edmonton made it 2-0 midway through the first period right after killing a two-man disadvantage as Leon Draisaitl came out of the box and waited for Hyman to catch up on a 2-on-1 before passing it to him for his third goal of the season at 9:38.

Calgary got one back with 5:05 remaining in the period and just 1 second remaining on yet another two-man advantage as Kadri's high shot deflected off Skinner's blocker and into the net. It was Kadri's first goal of