Connor McDavid adds another element for Oilers to celebrate in Game 3: Multiple goals

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EDMONTON – There isn’t another hockey player on the planet like Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.

When he’s at his best, he’s akin to a cheat code in the easy mode of a video game, darting around the ice with speed only a few can match and with edgework that’s second to none. His former general manager with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, Sherry Bassin, likes to say he has a two-second advantage because of how quickly he can process the game compared to his peers. Such skating and vision make him arguably the most dangerous offensive threat in NHL history.

But the thing about McDavid, dating to the time he tore up minor-hockey circles in the Greater Toronto Area with and against kids a year older, is that he’s long been known as a selfless teammate when in control of the puck. Zipping around, putting opponents in fear and on their heels, is so often to the benefit of the linemate to whom he’s passing the puck for an amazing scoring chance.

That’s why he had 100 assists last season, becoming one of just five players in NHL history to accomplish that feat. That’s why he had 34 helpers in last year’s postseason, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s single-season record in the progress as part of a Conn Smythe Trophy run. That’s why he leads the league with 17 assists this spring, too.

But Game 3 of the Western Conference final was a scary reminder that McDavid has another side to his offensive arsenal.

“We know he’s a good goal scorer,” linemate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said, chuckling. “He scores a lot of goals at big moments for us all the time. He’s so good at creating space for other guys that you see him dish it off a lot. But we know when the time’s right that he’s going to puck them in.”

The time was right Sunday. McDavid scored twice as the Oilers crushed the Dallas Stars 6-1 to take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference final.

The sixth multi-goal effort of his playoffs career has McDavid up to 22 points in the postseason, one point ahead of teammate Leon Draisaitl and the Stars’ Mikko Rantanen for tops in the scoring race.

Those goals were just the fourth and fifth in 14 games this spring. You wouldn’t know it based on the decisiveness with which McDavid scored them.

“I think people forget he’s a 60-goal scorer,” linemate Zach Hyman said. “He’s an underrated goal scorer. He can score goals. He just makes the right play, whether it’s a pass or a goal. He’s the best player in the world. When he has an opportunity to shoot it, and he shoots it, there’s a good chance it goes in.”

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger had no chance on either of McDavid’s shots, which followed his typical flash and style.

McDavid’s three-on-one marker featured him knocking over and bursting past Thomas Harley after an ill-advised pinch by the Stars defenseman. He then ripped a one-timer over Oettinger’s left shoulder after he received a return feed from Nugent-Hopkins.

GOTTA SEE IT: NO. 97 SCORES 36 SECONDS LATER ‼️

Connor McDavid buries a beauty to extend the Oilers’ lead ⛽️

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That put the Oilers up 2-0 at 14:38 of the first period, 36 seconds after their opening goal.

His second goal was one Dallas coach Pete DeBoer called a “back-breaker” since the Stars had cut the Oilers’ led in half four minutes earlier and were pressing for the equalizer.

After missing a wraparound chance, McDavid gobbled up a puck that was kept in the Stars zone by Evan Bouchard. He skated in and ripped one stick side that beat Oettinger just 18.8 seconds before the second intermission.

“That changed the temperature in the dressing room and on the bench, just knowing that we had that two-goal lead,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.

CONNOR. MCDAVID. 🔥 #StanleyCup

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McDavid’s goal-scoring paced the attack, but this game was about more than that. In fact, he had the fewest number of points of any of his linemates, since Hyman and Nugent-Hopkins recorded three apiece. Hyman was plus-5 and had 10 hits to up his league-leading total to 109.

The Oilers were led by goalie Stuart Skinner, who arguably had his best performance of the playoffs, which is saying something considering he posted shutouts in three of his last four starts before Sunday. Skinner made 33 saves — including some momentum-swingers — as the Stars had 14 high-danger chances and a 70 expected goals percentage at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick.

The Oilers don’t win this game without Skinner, who’s had four outstanding outings out of six since he replaced Calvin Pickard because of an injury in Game 3 in the last round.

They don’t win this game without their top line going, either, though. And that means McDavid putting the puck in the net – to say nothing of the rest of his game.

“He was fantastic,” Skinner said. “The way that he plays in all three ends of the ice has been very impressive through the whole playoffs.”

Hyman referenced McDavid’s 64-goal campaign from 2022-23, which earned him the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL’s top sniper. McDavid had 79 goals in 183 regular-season and postseason games since then before Sunday, as his penchant for setting up others shone through.

Hyman himself scored 54 times last season and another 16 in the playoffs, the latter of which led the NHL, while mostly anchored to McDavid’s wing. To a lesser extent, McDavid was part of Leon Draisaitl’s Rocket-winning act this season.

But the goals have always been on McDavid’s stick, even if they haven’t resulted in the red light going off with the same frequency of late. The way he blasted both shots past Oettinger was so reminiscent of many of the goals he scored two seasons ago. He looked sure in his decisions and forcefully picked his spots.

Knoblauch knew the tide would eventually turn for McDavid and his wingers, citing their remarkable underlying numbers. Per Natural Stat Trick, they have a 63 expected goals percentage in 69 minutes together at five-on-five but had outscored opponents just 2-1 before Sunday.

“I was a little surprised that we went through the playoffs and (for) as many shots and quality opportunities that he’s had, he hadn’t had more goals,” Knoblauch said. “There’s the luck effect. Sometimes they go in; sometimes they don’t. You knew at some point it was going to break through, and they were going to going to start producing. It was just a matter of time.”

The Oilers’ balanced offensive attack was on display in Game 3. A late power-play goal by John Klingberg made him the fifth different defenseman and 18th different skater to score a goal through 14 games. They’ve won games – and a lot of them – without McDavid or Draisaitl taking over the way they so often have in the past.

But this might have been McDavid’s best offensive performance of the playoffs since the opener against the Los Angeles Kings. He had three beautiful assists and a jaw-dropping goal that night as part of a miraculous third-period comeback that went for naught when Phillip Danault netted the winner in the final minute.

McDavid had scored just twice since that game on April 21, once into an empty net and once when he tried to center a pass to Hyman only for it to go off a defenseman’s skate. For all his contributions to this Oilers team, for all the dazzling rushes, for all the sublime setups, he’d yet to show that wonderful goal-scoring prowess.

Until Sunday.

That could be the cherry on top of the sundae for the Oilers, who seem to have the Stars figured out in almost every way.

“Good players can play well and not score,” Knoblauch said, “but it’s not going to be very long. It’s a matter of time before they start going in. Tonight was the night.”

(Photo: Perry Nelson / Imagn Images)

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