McDavid’s Scare Reveals Something the Oilers Will Remember

The Edmonton Oilers lost 5-4 to the Anaheim Ducks, but the final score wasn’t what most fans were talking about afterward. Their biggest concern was watching Connor McDavid go down after being driven into the goalpost.

Ducks defenceman Drew Helleson checked McDavid into the metal post, leaving the Edmonton captain on the ice holding his right knee. For a few moments, that’s all anyone in Edmonton wanted to know about. When your best player goes down like that, winning or losing suddenly seems pretty unimportant.

McDavid wasn’t happy about the play afterward, either. He questioned why there isn’t greater accountability when players are driven into goalposts, comparing the danger to collisions with the end boards. It’s a fair point. Those posts aren’t going anywhere, and a player’s body can take a serious hit when there’s nowhere to go.

But another part of this incident was worth noticing.

Podkolzin Wasn’t Going to Let It Slide

When McDavid was knocked into the post, teammate Vasily Podkolzin stepped in and challenged Helleson. The exchange brought plenty of penalties, including a game misconduct, but the message inside the Edmonton dressing room was probably more important than the numbers on the penalty sheet. Podkolzin wasn’t going to stand around and watch his captain take a dangerous hit without responding.

Now, nobody should confuse that response with a solution to dangerous plays. A fight doesn’t prevent the next collision, and the NHL still has to decide how it wants to deal with incidents like this. Still, teammates notice when someone steps forward. So do opponents.

There’s a difference between playing hard hockey and putting another player in a vulnerable position. McDavid will face plenty of physical attention. That’s part of being one of the league’s best players. But a dangerous collision with a goalpost shouldn’t just become another play everyone forgets.

The Oilers Need More Than a Good Response

Edmonton has bigger things to worry about than one confrontation with Anaheim. The team needs wins, consistency, and a healthy McDavid if it hopes to accomplish anything meaningful this season. But these moments can tell us something about a team’s character.

Podkolzin showed his teammates that he wasn’t going to ignore what happened. Now the league has a responsibility to review the play and decide whether further action is needed. For Oilers fans, the hope is simple: McDavid is fine, the team learns something from the incident, and nobody has to watch a similar scene unfold again.

Related: Podkolzin’s ‘One-Man Fight’ Penalty Exposes the NHL’s Biggest Officiating Problem