Edmonton Oilers
Babcock Points Out Unique McDavid Stat as Oilers Beat Mammoth
Connor McDavid piled up five points in a 6-2 win over Utah, reaching a mark no NHL player has hit in 31 years.
Connor McDavid is off to a start the NHL hasn’t seen in more than three decades. He never ceases to amaze, but his coach is most impressed not by his point total, but by how much McDavid seems to enjoy scoring while playing the right way and bringing his team into the battle with him.
The Edmonton Oilers captain recorded five points, two goals and three assists, in a 6-2 win over the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night. That lifted him to 23 points (six goals, 17 assists) through eight games, making him the first player in 31 years to reach 20 points in the opening eight games of a season. The last to do it was Mario Lemieux.
At that pace, McDavid is on track for 242 points over an 84-game season. Former Oilers star Wayne Gretzky holds the record for the most points in a single NHL season, with 215.
McDavid did it efficiently, too. McDavid played 19:52, well down from the nearly 26 minutes he logged two nights earlier. He scored early by blowing past Mikhail Sergachev and kept adding from there. Head coach Mike Babcock was just as impressed by McDavid’s all-around play. “Isn’t he plus-19?” he asked, adding that it’s “impossible to coach a team when your best player isn’t driving, and this guy’s driving.” Babcock added, “Lots of guys have points, or they have them all in power play, and still you look at them and they’re plus-3 or the minus, and he’s done everything that I’ve asked, and done it with a way that he seems to enjoy it.”
“It’s crazy. He’s flying,” Hyman said. “It looks like he’s hit another gear this year, finishing like crazy. So, it’s a good sign for our team.”
Edmonton also had some unfinished business. Utah won Thursday’s chippy meeting, and Saturday’s rematch was even more physical. Trent Frederic stood up for his teammates in a fight with Jack McBain, landing several uppercuts. “He’s a warrior,” Zach Hyman said.
The depth contributed as well. Hyman, Colton Dach and Jake Walman all returned to the lineup, with Hyman scoring in his return. Tristan Jarry made 26 saves for a .929 save percentage. Mathieu Joseph scored on a breakaway, Kasperi Kapanen buried a nice shot off the post, and Leon Draisaitl got another.
Edmonton improved to 6-1-1 and remains perfect on the road. Babcock said the team will “really grow” as it gets deeper, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson and Matt Savoie are still to come back.
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