Connor McDavid CALLED GAME In Overtime With A Downright Ridiculous 60th Goal Of The Season
GTFOH, Connor McDavid. The Oilers kind of fell asleep at times in this one, to the point where they were trailing the Coyotes 3-2 with less than eight minutes remaining. Phoenix's form has picked up a bit as of late, but it's not like they're a playoff team. Edmonton needed to take care of business and keep pace in the Pacific Division race.
What a surge these Oilers are making right now with a fifth straight win. McDavid's fellow superstar teammate Leon Draisaitl deserves a lot of credit, too. Draisaitl set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' equalizer in the third, and snapped the passes to set up both of McDavid's scoring chances in OT, the last of which he converted.
Four assists for Draisaitl on the night, which is perfect timing in light of the news that he was voted by his peers to be the best passer in the NHL:
Anyway, back to McDavid, who also opened the scoring in this game on the Oilers' league-leading power play. What a beast. This guy was so pissed that he hit the post with that first potential GWG that he slammed his stick into the boards in frustration. Then, he had the wherewithal to stick with the play, let Draisaitl dig the puck out to him, and watch him put on even cooler moves to go top shelf on Phoenix goalie Connor Ingram.
We're running out of superlatives and adjectives with McDavid at this point. Any blog starring him, you can almost certainly count on a sick highlight, and a blogger stumbling across their keyboard trying to find the words in a late-night stupor to describe what they've witnessed. Because, you know, to catch the fucking incredible thrill ride that is the McDavid-led Oilers means staying up super late here in the Eastern Time Zone.
So glad to have seen this happen in real time. The crowd in Edmonton gets so fired up. Any time the McDavid-Draisaitl line hits the ice, there's like this beautiful tension in the air where you don't know what the hell is about to happen. Any moment, those dudes could do something stupid good that expands your mind as to what's possible on an ice rink. This 3-on-3 overtime format is the dream scenario for unleashing what McDavid and Draisaitl can do with that much space to operate.
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It's such a tight, wide-open playoff situation across the NHL, particularly in the Western Conference. With the way McDavid and his team are playing of late, there's real reason to believe Edmonton can return to the Conference Finals — or perhaps go further this time. Most casual hockey fans should hope that's the case, because in terms of sheer entertainment value, there's no one you'd rather watch play in the NHL than Connor McDavid these days.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok