I know it’s weird to say, but Connor McDavid has arrived. The Edmonton Oilers MEGA-Star is now on par with NHL legends Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, and Mario Lemieux. To my knowledge, those are the only other three players that had the ability to make the rest of the league look like they were still in junior.
The way McDavid was stickhandling through traffic as if the Canucks were 9yr olds skating with their hockey hero is something I haven’t seen since Mario was doing it in the early 90s. His speed… He’s faster… Everything is happening! It’s all coming together and I don’t know what to do with myself knowing that he could get even stronger, smarter, and be able to process the game even quicker than he already does. I mean, the guy is on par for 116 points right now FFS and it doesn’t look like there’ll be anybody to stop him or even slow him down.
Well, that’s not entirely true… The Oilers have yet to play the Flames…
Let’s talk about the game though. Here are some of my observations,
- As fun as it was to watch McDavid, Leon, Yamo, and Nuge pick apart Vancouver, the team still allowed WAY too many shots on net (40). It was just the team’s dumb luck that the Canucks couldn’t bury the puck on one of their five powerplays.
- As good Connor was on the first line, Jesse Puljujarvi was a GD wrecking ball on the third line. Who gets seven shots in 11 minutes of TOI? The ketchup will flow eventually… You’ll see. He’s going to break out soon.
- The best shot might’ve been the one that set up the face-off at the end of the 1st period which resulted in Connor McDavid scoring that last-second goal.
- I’m usually pretty hard on Darnell Nurse, but he’s been really solid so far. I’m enjoying his performances. He’s been hard on the opposition physically and quite good at moving the puck offensively.
- Mikko Koskinen had himself a night. He made some real highlight-reel saves to keep the Oilers in that game. I loved the one early on where I think it was Horvat shot the puck off of a rebound from the backboards and it got behind Koskinen but he played a little “Twister”, spun around, and batted it out of the air.
- Was it Jay Beagle who speared Koski in the balls later on in the game and felt the ire of the 6’7″ Finn’s massive battle axe?
- Connor stopping in the middle of a powerplay to tell Caleb Jones to get off the ice was humorous. The guy is on another level of existence…
- Zack Kassian finally throwing a big check in the opening minutes of the match was what everybody was waiting for, right?
- Adam Larsson and Slater Koekkoek combined for 11 blocked shots… Today’s off-day couldn’t have come at a better time.
- Josh Archibald was his old self dishing out seven body checks and excelling on the penalty kill.
- Speaking of excellent penalty killers, Kyle Turris! Come on down! Much better performance from him.
- Devin Shore… He was in the lineup, right? Did the Oilers make the right move signing him and sending Tyler Benson to Bakersfield?
- It might be time to sit Caleb Jones for a game… He’s not started the year well and the former Portland Winterhawk hasn’t even played 70 games in the NHL yet. Sitting him for one wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It would also get Kris Russell into the mix which might be something you want with the Montreal Canadiens coming to town.
- I was so happy to see Jack Michaels get promoted to the television broadcast for regional broadcasts! He has been a grinder for some time now and Sportsnet has themselves one of the better PxP broadcasters on their roster now. I can’t wait until he’s calling games nationally.
- That said, the fella they chose to sub-in for Michaels, Cam Moon, is fantastic! As I was listening to him last night, I was reminded of the great Rod Phillips who called many-an-Oilers game in the dynasty days. We could be heading into another dynasty and wouldn’t it be fitting if it were a local product, like Moon, who was the one saying, “The Edmonton Oilers have won the Stanley Cup!”
My Three Stars:
- Connor McDavid – Tough not to give this to him on a night when he went supernova.
- Jesse Puljujarvi – He was all over this game and simply unlucky not to walk away with a point.
- Leon Draisaitl – Quietest four points I’ve seen him rack up to date.
Next up is Montreal on Saturday night!
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