EDMONTON — These are the games we remember from the last “best player in the world” in this town. The ones that, years from now, you’ll say, “I remember watching Connor McDavid one night in Edmonton when they played the Habs, and we all said … ”
“Geez, is he really doing that in an NHL game right now?”
That last quote comes from Drake Caggiula, the left-winger on the McDavid line whose only regret Tuesday night is that he was too busy trying to keep up with McDavid to get a real good view of the dominance and artistry on display in a 6-2 Oilers rout.
“When you’re not on his line, you see a lot more of the stuff that happens,” Caggiula said. “There are a few times when you say, ‘Geez, is he really doing that in an NHL game right now?’ Times when you see him make a play and you say, ‘My God, how does he do that? How does he make that? How does he see that?’”
In a time where we ponder who the best player in the game is, whether a fabulous young player in Vancouver should be compared to Wayne Gretzky after only a handful of NHL games, McDavid simply wins Art Ross Trophies and does the things that Gretzky once did in Edmonton.
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Granted, it is unlikely he will score 215 points in a season, or snipe his 50th goal in Game 39. With his team on a four-game losing streak however, McDavid absolutely dominated a hockey game in a performance that guaranteed the losing skein would not reach five.
“That’s what a good captain and the best player in the world does,” Caggiula said. “We’ve been on a bit of a skid here, and he said, ‘No, I’m going to take the game into my hands today.’”
Reunited with Leon Draisaitl on the top line, McDavid had three assists in a 6-2 win. He should have had five. He could have had seven — that’s how many Grade A chances McDavid furnished Draisaitl with, the big German’s luck matching his lack of finish at nigh zero, on this night.
“Definitely a game with the most chances I’ve had personally,” said Draisaitl, still shaking his tuque post-game.
McDavid had two assists, scored once, hit two posts, and watched Antti Niemi make three impossible saves on him while the Habs backup let in some softies on far less dangerous chances. “It’s been that way this year for me a little bit,” said Draisaitl, who has 20 points in 18 games this season.
With his team at risk of a free-fall, McDavid had stayed out late after practice on Monday to work on his game. Then he took an optional morning skate on Tuesday, a rarity.
On Tuesday he assisted on the game’s first goal, a lucky carom, at the 3:13 mark. Then McDavid blazed down the wing, somehow squeezing past Habs defenceman David Schlemko on the right-wing wall before feeding Draisaitl for a goal later in Period 1.
“I thought I had the right gap on him,” said Schlemko, an oft-recited anthem in these parts. “That’s the reason they call him the best in the world. He is a great player. It was one little stutter step and he is gone and he will burn you.”
On nights like this, even the players on the opposing bench catch themselves ogling McDavid’s game. They are all elite, world-class players — and then along comes one who is that much faster and better than each and every one of the other 36 NHL skaters who came to the rink that night.
“It’s never lost (on us),” Draisaitl said. “To me he is the best player in the world and it’s not even close. We’re very, very lucky to have him.”
“He is more than a special talent,” marvelled Montreal’s Jonathan Drouin. “He has that speed and holds on to the puck the whole game. Tonight, we didn’t counter or do anything against him and Draisaitl. You can see why we lost 6-2.”
Edmonton got three goals from defencemen Tuesday — Kris Russell, Matt Benning, Darnell Nurse — after having had just three from the blue line all season long.
And the Canadiens? They’ve been outscoring their mistakes thus far, building a 9-6-3 mark as the league’s highest scoring team at five-on-five.
Outshot 43-29 on this night however, they were flattered by a 6-2 count.
“A no-show on our part …” spat Montreal head coach Claude Julien. “We didn’t show up. It was a tough night, by far our worst game of the year. We have to hopefully write it off and move on.”
