Mcdavid, Draisaitl get it done by themselves
Similar to Henry Winkler’s
Coach Klein character in The Waterboy, Edmonton Oilers head coach Dave Tippett is likely telling his team Connor Mcdavid and Leon Draisaitl can’t keep doing everything on their own — and then turning to the dynamic duo begging them to do it by themselves.
As the concern for lack of secondary scoring keeps growing, Mcdavid and Draisaitl continue to prove they can carry the Oilers on their own, and when required, pull them out of precarious situations.
Such was the case Thursday when the two decided they did not feel like losing to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, then took it upon themselves to turn a 3-1 third-period deficit into a 4-3 overtime win.
Draisaitl scored from Mcdavid to make it 3-2. Mcdavid scored as the extra attacker to tie it 3-3. Then the two combined to score the overtime winner with almost comical ease.
“You know in big moments like that he and Leon are going to make huge plays,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said of Mcdavid. “For us, we’re fortunate to have them on our team, because we know in moments like that they’ll make big plays and give us the opportunity like they did (Thursday) to give us that second point (in overtime).”
The Oilers took the day off Friday and will return to practice Saturday to prepare for the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) at Rogers Place.
Edmonton is on top of the Pacific Division with an 8-2-1 record, while Mcdavid and Draisaitl sat second and third in league scoring with 20 and 19 points, respectively, going into Friday’s slate of games.
Between the two, Mcdavid and Draisaitl have 14 goals in 11 games this season. James Neal has nine, Zack Kassian has three and Ryan Nugent-hopkins has one.
And the rest of the forwards, those on the bottom two lines, have one. That came courtesy of Joakim Nygard, who is out with a rib injury.
“It is a concern,” Tippett admitted after Thursday’s game. “Those guys are working hard. We are trying hard to improve our offensive game. I liked their work ethic, I liked their penalty kill, but at some point they have to start chipping in a little bit, too.”
Maybe they don’t.
Maybe Mcdavid, Draisaitl and Neal can score all the goals for the Oilers this season and get them into the playoffs for the second time in 14 years.
Mcdavid took his game to another level against the Capitals, surpassing Ovechkin, who had two goals and made an allworld defensive play in the third period, skating the length of the ice to take away an opportunity from Ethan Bear on a two-onone rush.
Of all the great periods Mcdavid has played since he fell into the lap of the Oilers in the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery, Thursday’s third might have been his best.
“They’re horses out there and they keep going and they push the pace and everyone had to grab hold and go with him,” Bear said. “You’re either the hunter or the hunted and they have that mindset to attack.”
Mcdavid has never gone more than three games without a point in his NHL career and will become one of eight players to do that through his first 300 games. He’s at 298 games and set to join a list that includes Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Mike Bossy, Sidney Crosby, Teemu Selanne and Joe Nieuwendyk.
“He was going in the third,” Bear marvelled. “At the same time, I was trying to make my own plays so I don’t really get a bird’s-eye view of it, but he really made a lot of good plays, and as a defenceman going against him in practice I know how hard those plays are when he’s going through your stick at that speed, he’s really hard to defend because you can’t really take a penalty on him.”
Mcdavid completely undressed Nick Jensen on a rush and came within a crossbar of making the Capitals defenceman the embarrassed party in a goalsof-the-year highlight reel.
On the overtime winner, Draisaitl and Mcdavid had Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov flopping around like Igor Stelnov in the 1987 Canada Cup facing Gretzky and Lemieux.
“Against that type of speed, you are not going to catch those players,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. “All you have to do is watch the highlights every night to know how dangerous that combo is.”