EDMONTON — The affable John Tortorella had coached his Philadelphia Flyers to another loss, their fifth in six games, and he was sour. OK, even more sour than usual.
Connor McDavid has personally deconstructed Tortorella’s Flyers with a goal and four luscious primary assists in a 5-2 Oilers win. Most coaches might take the time to assess what we’d all just seen. The history we’re watching on a night like this one.
But not this coach.
“I’m not speaking about the other team,” he commanded. “Speak about my team.”
Sorry, Torts.
On a night like this, nobody left the rink talking about anyone from your team.
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It was the 10th five-point game of McDavid’s career, and on the night he recorded his 900th point in career game No. 602 — at night’s end he had 903 in total — his teammates took the moment to take another run at describing the indescribable.
“I have played with him for a long time. Six hundred games, that’s a lot of hockey,” began Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who finished two perfect feeds on a three-point night for the longest-serving Oiler. “He always finds a way to bring something to the table.
“You give him the puck and get open — that is usually the plan. He can usually find a way to beat one or two guys, so you have to find a way to get open for him and support him and do some work for him.
“It is mind-boggling to be able to do that in this day and age, in 600 games. It is pretty crazy to have the impact every night that he does.”
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McDavid opened the scoring when he and Zach Hyman criss-crossed off a two-on-two, zipping one five-hole on poor Carter Hart, who played his buns off here in front of family and friends but still let in five.
Then McDavid drew two checkers before depositing a puck right on Hyman’s tape with a no-look, backhand pass from the corner. Hyman (1-2-3 on the night) scored his 22nd.
The dagger came with 55 seconds left in Period 2, a deft feed that gave Nugent-Hopkins the tap-in that made it 4-2. In the third period, McDavid fed Leon Draisaitl for a one-timer and Nugent-Hopkins again on a two-on-one for point No. 903 in Game 602.
All of this, still 11 days before his 27th birthday — and behind only Wayne Gretzky (who took 385 games to hit 900 points), Mario Lemieux (463), Mike Bossy (582) and Peter Stastny (599).
“For him it’s just another number. He is just happy that we won, knowing him,” Hyman said. “He’s a generational talent (and) it’s pretty special in the era he plays in to be in categories with the guys he is. I don’t think anybody is even close in recent memory. It is pretty unbelievable and it is pretty special having the opportunity to play with him.”
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And like good ol’ Torts, McDavid didn’t want to speak much about himself afterwards, either. Instead, he went on about the finishers he is surrounded by, on an Oilers team that’s on another big heater, its second six-game winning streak of the season.
“It’s super important,” he said of having teammates who know what to do with his brilliant passes. “Scoring goals in this league is one of the hardest things to do. There’s a reason that guys who score goals get paid so much money. It’s a difficult job. Leon, Nuge, Zach — a lot of guys have been doing a great job scoring goals.”
The Oilers are the best team in the NHL since Nov. 24, with an .824 points percentage and a 14-3 record. They’re also the highest scoring team over that span, averaging 4.3 goals per game.
And when the straw that stirs the drink is stirring it the way McDavid was on Tuesday night, it’s hard to lose. He crawled into third place in NHL scoring (14 goals, 39 assists, 53 points), on a night when four of five Oilers goals came at even strength.
“He’s pretty insane out there, what he’s able to do and how he sees the ice,” said Flyers winger Joel Farabee. “He’s one of those guys, you’re probably not going to stop him. You just try and limit him.”
They used to say that about another guy in this town. We’ll let you guess who that was.
“I mean, there’s a reason why the league (NHL players) thinks he’s the best player in the league,” Farabee said. “I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some of the chances that we gave them, but at the same time, there’s a reason why he’s the best player in the world.”
The Oilers will enjoy a day off on Wednesday, with their next opponent awaiting on Saturday, when Ottawa rolls in. Then it’s a road trip through Chicago, Detroit and Montreal, followed by another string of six games from which only two opponents — Toronto and Nashville — currently hold down a playoff spot.
The Oil is rolling, the hottest team in the game and just a one point back of the second wildcard spot out West.
