Connor McDavid proves to be a one-man team... again
Connor McDavid continued his blistering start to the season with a four-point effort against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night – a start so good that he’s setting records. And although it may have taken until the 13th period of their season, it looks like the work he’s been doing may have finally inspiring the rest of his team.
With a 5-4 overtime win over the Jets, the Oilers improved to 2-2-0 in 2018-19. Through their first four games, Edmonton has found the back of the net a total of ten times. The incredible thing is that their young captain had literally factored in on every one of those first nine tallies before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins set up Darnell Nurse for the overtime winner in Winnipeg.
As a result, McDavid is now in the NHL history books.
BREAKING: Connor McDavid sets new #NHL record by recording a point on #Oilers' first 8 goals of season. He now has 4G, 4A. Old record, Adam Oates – 7 for Detroit in 1986-87. https://t.co/UfIpYkMUoH pic.twitter.com/ZQsJsViosD
— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) October 17, 2018
There is literally no better definition of leaning on a guy for offence.
Down 2-0 midway through the opening period, the 21-year-old puck magician casually picked up a pass from Leon Draisaitl in the neutral zone and did this.
My goodness, McDavid! 😳 What a move. #IceSurfing pic.twitter.com/FwxpVtPv0C
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 17, 2018
The Jets responded, though. They scored one more in the first period and another in the second to give themselves a 4-1 advantage heading into the final frame. That is a pretty comfortable advantage if you’re not playing against Mr. McDavid.
He assisted on Ty Rattie’s first of the season only 18 seconds into the third period and then scored his fourth goal of the young season 130 seconds later. It was that marker, a prime example of his world-class release, that put him into the record books.
Connor McDavid brings the @EdmontonOilers within one! 🚨#IceSurfing ➡️ @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/0g63sCMdbt
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 17, 2018
After that, just to cement his new record, he picked up an apple on Jesse Puljujarvi’s tying goal late in the period. From there, the Oilers finally figured out how to put the biscuit between the pipes without McDavid’s influence. If you can believe it, he wasn’t even on the ice when it happened!
So, this all begs the question: has McDavid really been this good to start the year or have the rest of the Oilers been that bad?
The answer, I believe, is yes.