Connor McDavid’s remarkable season is down to it’s final five games. Tonight, the Oilers will open a two-game homestand at Rogers Place against the Vancouver Canucks, and although a playoff spot is already clinched, there is plenty to play for. From a team standpoint, a win tonight locks up home-ice in the first round of the playoffs. From a personal standpoint, McDavid is just seven points away from hitting 100 in the shortened 56-game season.
Think it’s unlikely? Think again. In his last 25 games, McDavid has scored 51 points (17 g, 34 a). He’s on a different level right now, and has been racking up multi-point nights for fun the last few weeks. With three of five games remaining against the struggling Canucks, 100 points seems more likely than not at this stage.
McDavid has publicly downplayed the chase for the milestone, but his teammates have not.
“He does so much for our team on a nightly basis, the least we can do is help him out as much as we can,” fellow star Leon Draisaitl said of ‘the chase’ after Edmonton’s 4-1 win over the Canucks on Tuesday night. “It might not be that important to him, but it sure is important for us for him to get to that point. Our team really wants him to get it.”
In fact, Draisaitl went as far as to say the team was “playing for McDavid” to get the milestone when interviewed by Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy at the intermission on Tuesday night.
The captain may tell reporters and teammates that the personal milestone doesn’t mean much to him, and that team success is more important in the end. Still, what McDavid is doing right now hasn’t been seen in the NHL in quite sometime. The best player in the world is adding to his legacy, right in front of our eyes. His teammates, who he has helped immensely over the years, are pushing hard to repay the favor.
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