EDMONTON – That Connor McDavid has just a single assist in his past four games is somewhat criminal considering the quality of his play.
But you get what you earn, not what you deserve, which is why the Vegas Golden Knights are a playoff lock these days while the Edmonton Oilers went into their game Thursday with a less than two per cent chance of making the post-season.
McDavid setup his team’s only goal and Edmonton managed to beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 in a shootout. There’s not much left in this season – already – for the Oilers but beating an old foe in Anaheim, and a performance like this one from McDavid makes a few things better, if only for a night.
The reigning MVP created all night long, skating 100 miles.
“He skated 100 miles, going 100 miles an hour,” corrected his coach, Todd McLellan. “That’s not an easy team to play against, as we know from the past.
“Connor showed tremendous leadership tonight. He said, ‘Follow me. I’m going to do it right. I’m going to do it fast, and you guys come along.’ And they did.”
[snippet id=3636171]
Edmonton’s overall game has been shoddy. Back-to-back 5-0 losses at home are evidence of that, not to mention a penalty kill that is barely over 50 per cent at Rogers Place.
All the negatives this losing club had righted to become a winner a season ago have crept back into their game. Thursday was much cleaner, despite a power-play goal by Anaheim. It had better stay that way.
“It has to,” said defenceman Kris Russell, who buried a McDavid pass for the only Edmonton goal in regulation. “It’s that time of the year that we have to win games. We have to draw everything we can out of this game, get some confidence and take it on the road.”
The Oilers finally hit .500 before Christmas then watched it unravel after the break. Four straight losses before Thursday night, a win against Anaheim still leaves them an impossible eight points back of the wild-card spot.
The good news? They open a five-game road trip Saturday in Dallas and play in Chicago Sunday in back-to-back matinees.
“We are definitely comfortable on the road, I’m not sure what it is,” mused McDavid. “We seem to be able to find a way to put games together on the road. This is a big back-to-back here. Dallas is a team we have had trouble with in their building and Chicago as well. We have to find a way to put together two wins.”
[snippet id=3803149]
Out of the blue during the third period the Oilers and Montreal Canadiens announced a trade. The Oilers get veteran backup goalie Al Montoya, and give the Habs a fifth-round draft pick – which becomes a fourth-rounder if Montoya plays seven games this season for Edmonton.
Montoya makes $1.06 million and is signed through next season. While the Oilers are playing this as a chance for current backup Laurent Brossoit to go to the farm and get some games in, the reality is Montoya will be the No. 2 to Cam Talbot for the remainder of this season and next.
It’s unlikely the Oilers will re-sign Brossoit, who is a restricted free agent this summer. And even if they did make him an offer, the two NHL jobs are now taken.
“It was something we thought we needed to provide our group a while ago. It just doesn’t happen over night,” explained McLellan. “We’ve put ourselves in a situation now where Cam is going to play a ton of hockey and a young goaltender isn’t going to get as much as we originally thought he would at the beginning of the year.”
Montoya is said to be ready to come off injured reserve (concussion) as soon as this weekend. Brossoit was unavailable for comment post-game.
Barring injury, we’d wager he’s played his last game as an Oiler.
[relatedlinks]
