McDavid and Draisaitl Flex Their Superpowers as Oilers Earn OT Win
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl embrace after the Oilers' game 2 win over the Canucks Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
"There were a lot of storylines in this game," said coach Rick Tocchet after the Vancouver Canucks lost 4-3 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday. "But I think the top storyline is, McDavid and Draisaitl were terrific tonight."
Even from the opposing bench, there was no denying the world-class performances from two top talents, which levelled the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
Forming a powerful five-man unit along with right wing Zach Hyman and defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl contributed on every Edmonton goal, each finishing with a goal and three assists.
"They're the top two players in the world, in my mind," said Ekholm, whose second of the playoffs was assisted by both forwards. "When they put on a show like they did tonight, when they bring their 'A' game, it's hard to stop."
McDavid was coming off the first night in 55 career playoff games that he failed to record a single shot on goal. Draisaitl had two assists and three shots on goal in Game 1. But he left the game for half of the second period and didn't seem like himself in the third, as the Canucks were turning a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 win.
Though the Oilers declined to offer any real details on Draisaitl's injury, he didn't practice and was a game-time decision until after warmup on Friday.
Once it was determined that he was game-ready, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said that he slotted Draisaitl onto the left wing with an eye toward protecting him.
"To not have to play heavy minutes in the middle, faceoffs, it's a little more physical, a little more demanding," Knoblauch said. "But there was no need to protect him, the way he played tonight. Obviously, the way that line was playing, we weren't going to put him back to center. We just continued to play them."
And even though he wasn't playing in the middle, Draisaitl still took more draws than any other Oiler, ultimately going 9-for-19 in the circle. He also had 11 shot attempts in 27:05 of ice time, with only Bouchard (29:59) and McDavid (28:12) playing more.
"We had that first penalty kill, and the face-off's on the one side," Knoblauch said. "He's looking over like, 'Do you want me to take it?' and as soon as he gave me that look, I knew that, 'Okay, we're going to be fine.'"
Seeing Draisaitl hit beast mode while injured is nothing new.
Two years ago, when he suffered that high-ankle sprain in Game 6 of the Oilers' first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, he still chipped in an assist on what proved to be the series-winning goal in Game 7. Then, he went off for 23 points in the next nine games before Edmonton was eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final.
On Friday, the Oilers were down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, but rallied each time before Bouchard banked a shot off defender Ian Cole and past Arturs Silovs to give Edmonton its first win of the year in six meetings to date against Vancouver.
After Elias Pettersson opened the scoring on an early Vancouver power play, Draisaitl replied on an Edmonton man advantage, shooting from the slot off a give-and-go with McDavid.
He then went on to assist on all three of Edmonton's other goals.
One of the most impressive aspects of Draisaitl's close friendship with McDavid is that the two seem to bring out the best in each other. For his part, McDavid went 8-for-15 on face-offs on a four-point night of his own. And as the Oilers started to tilt the ice in their favor as the game wore on, he turned a steal into a breakaway for a tying goal at 5:27 of the third.
In overtime, McDavid's wind-up from the defensive zone gave the Oilers the speed they needed to bear down on the Canucks and set the stage for Bouchard's game winner.
With just seven games played, McDavid and Draisaitl have perched themselves atop the NHL's playoff scoring race, with one point separating them from each other and a multi-point cushion over third-place Matthew Tkachuk.
Now with more than 90 points each in 56 career playoff games, they've also joined some esteemed company.
As the series shifts to Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday, Knoblauch should have an even easier time getting the matchups he's after. With a 5-2 record seven games into his NHL playoff career, the rookie bench boss has already made plenty of sharp decisions.
Your move, Rick Tocchet. We've got ourselves a series.