Top 3 Oilers studs in dominant 6-1 win over Hurricanes
By Paul Taylor
2) Connor McDavid
For some reason Connor McDavid was not named one of the stars of the game, although we’ll accept there were plenty of worthy candidates on the night. Regardless, we are selecting him as one of our three studs versus the Hurricanes.
After a poor start to the season, McDavid is looking more like his usual superstar self. Although it speaks volumes about what’s expected of him, that 16 points through his first 16 games is considered subpar, albeit not helped by the team’s horrific record early on.
The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner is in a zone right now, as one of the main reasons the Oilers have won five games on the bounce. His latest effort saw him notch three assists against the Hurricanes.
On the first helper, McDavid made a nice run behind the back of the Hurricanes net. He collected the puck, made a smooth spin move on his marker and then perfectly set up Mattias Ekholm to shoot home for the 2-0 lead after just 41 seconds.
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The six-time All-Star had the secondary assist on the move which dissected the Hurricanes and made the score 4-0 in the first. However, it’s his third assist which everyone is quite rightly talking about.
If you wanted to pick just one moment to perfectly highlight the supreme talent of McDavid, his third helper against the Hurricanes would be right up there. Yes, it really was that special.
The 2015 first overall draft pick first stole the puck, and then went on a mazy run where he cut through three Hurricanes players with ease, like a hot knife through butter. He then calmly set up his teammate — who we’ll get to in just a minute — for the goal which finished the scoring at 6-1 on the night.
As a result of his performance, McDavid moved up to third all-time in Oilers history for assists, and overall has 16 points in his past five games. For what it’s worth in respect of 2022-23 being his most productive yet, he now has 32 points in 21 games, compared to 36 points at the same stage last season.