If you hoped to see Connor McDavid score his 1,000th point Saturday night against his hometown team, you’re out of luck.
The Oilers captain reached the milestone Thursday night against the Nashville Predators, scoring a rare one-timer set up by none other than his best friend, Leon Draisaitl, and another teammate from the beginning, Darnell Nurse.
“It’s is pretty fitting, actually,” said Draisaitl after the game. “If there’s a third assist you’d like to get Nuge in there somewhere as well.
“All three of us kind of came in at the same time, year after year, three years in a row. Knowing each other for a long time, life long friends off the ice, it’s a good story.”
The buildup to the 1,000th point came quickly, with the two games prior seeing McDavid rack up two goals and seven points, his first games back from an ankle injury. The Oilers stayed afloat in his absence, and now, they’re starting to find their game.
It was an admitted slow start to the season for the Oilers after a trip to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, but slow starts aren’t exactly anything new for this team, either. They struggled out of the gate last year leading to the team firing head coach Jay Woodcroft after a 3-9-1 start to the year. Edmonton rebounded well, going on multiple long winning streaks that included a near NHL-record 16-game run.
Edmonton might be in tough to replicate such long of a streak this year, but the team’s three-game win streak they’re riding coming into tonight surely has them feeling well.
Lineup news
Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson missed Thursday’s game against the Predators with an undisclosed ailment, but head coach Kris Knoblauch indicated he would be able to return this weekend. The team rolled 11 forwards and seven defencemen that night, but there’s no indication at the time of writing about what the lineup could look like.
Who to watch
Connor McDavid
Who else but Connor? He’s been rolling since his return from injury, and always gets up for games against the Leafs. In his 10 games in Toronto, McDavid’s racked up three goals and 16 points. While he’s racked up goals and assists since his return from injury, now up to three goals and nine points in three games, he’s also firing the puck a ton, with 20 shots on goal in those games. That, for reference, is a significant increase from 2.9 shots on goal per game before his injury, skyrocketing up to 6.6 per game since his return.
Ex-Leafs updates
Zach Hyman
Hyman could easily fit in the “who to watch” section, too, but for different reasons. The start to this season has been far from ideal for the winger, scoring just three goals and seven points in 17 games. His dip in goal scoring and point production has been significant, and other offensive numbers have dipped, too. He’s taking just 7.6 shots per hour, compared to the 11.2 last year, and his scoring chance rates have dipped, too, falling from 14.5 per hour to 12 per hour.
His 7.1 percent shooting percentage is over half of his historical percentage with the Oilers, and Hyman is due for some goal-scoring regression to the mean sooner rather than later.
Connor Brown
After Connor Brown went scoreless through his first 54 games with the Oilers last year, the same can’t be said for this season, as he’s already racked up three goals in 17 games this year, one short of tying last season’s total.
Brown’s return from an ACL injury was a steeper hill to climb than many expected, but he really began to find his game late in last season and in the playoffs. That’s carried over to this season, as he’s been more engaged offensively.
Travis Dermott
Dermott arrived in Edmonton on a professional tryout, putting together an impressive pre-season that earned him a contract. He’s largely been in and out of the lineup this season as the seventh defenceman, and while he drew in as the seventh defenceman Thursday, he played just 5:44 of ice time.
That’s largely due to newcomers Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher finding their way on the blue line, and Brett Kulak taking a big step forward for the team.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
