Connor McDavid is on fire, Leon Draisaitl’s goal heater, and Devon Levi vs. Jesper Wallstedt
After a decisive win over the Mammoth on Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers were back at Rogers Place to kick off a five-game home stand against the Minnesota Wild. And from my side of the TV screen, I have to say that this game was about as good as it gets for two of the top teams in the Western Conference. You know, if you take out those two horrible minutes of passy passy that the Wild were doing when the game bled into overtime. The game may have been a rollercoaster, but the bright side is the Oilers still managed to pull off the 4-3 OT win anyway.CONNOR McDAVID MAY LITERALLY LIGHT ON FIREDid you ever play NBA Jam on SEGA? Do you remember when the player would hit a bunch of shots in a row and would get “hot” to the point of literally lighting on fire? That’s what Connor McDavid looks like to me right now. He looks like he could literally catch on fire at any moment, and it would somehow make sense. With the three points he picked up against Minnesota, McDavid has already amassed a mind-boggling 26 points (6G, 20A) through nine games, which puts him on pace for 233 points over an 84-game season. I know that logic, math, and common sense would suggest that he’ll never get to that number, but I’m also not willing to bet against him when he’s playing as out of his mind as he is right now. You think I’m joking, but I’m worried about spontaneous combustion.
Regardless of where he ends up when the year is all said and done, I think it’s important to flag how insane what we’re watching has been. Even though we’re used to instances of him being compared to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux over the last decade, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still mark these moments of brilliance anyway. The guy is putting up points at a rate not seen in decades, and that’s something I think we should all savour as best we can. While there’s still plenty of season and runway left for him to extend this heater, I want us all to lock in as many memories as we can from a time in his career when he’s somehow gotten better. In the 25:31 he played, McDavid finished with the three assists, four shots on goal, one block, and two hits. That’s a pretty special night from a beyond special player. I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.
LEON DRAISAITL, OUR BELOVED POWER PLAY MERCHANTI know there are a lot of fans from other fanbases that like to call Leon Draisaitl a power-play merchant, but that is the last thing I could care about when we’re watching him fill the net. That’s why nothing made me happier than to see him erase the Wild’s early lead and wrestle it into his team’s favour with PP goals number 180 and 181. Two power-play goals in 1:06 of clock time? Cinema! And while Draisaitl’s power-play heroics may be a sore spot for anyone not smart enough to cheer for this team, they are absolute magic to me. Even more special is how Leon has quietly put himself on a four-game goal streak, picking up five goals and seven points over that stretch. I know Connor McDavid is rightfully getting a lot of the attention right now for the insanity he’s pulling off, but let’s not forget how well his running mate is playing too. It’s an embarrassment of riches, friends.But over and above the points he’s racking up, the more interesting thing about Leon Draisaitl’s game is how much more active he is on the defensive side of the puck. Not that he’s ever been bad in his own end, but it really seems to me like he’s cranked that aspect of his game up by a quarter turn. I know he said he wants to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look like he’s started to put that plan in motion. I know we’re still early in the year and thousands of things can change between now and the end of the season, but I think the way Leon Draisaitl has gotten better in his own end of the rink is a part of the story we shouldn’t forget. He’s always been one of the best offensive players in the NHL, but he may become truly unstoppable if he can add that same polish at the other end of the ice.DEVON LEVI VS. JESPER WALLSTEDTI really didn’t want to have to complain about Xavier Bourgault vs. Jesper Wallstedt again, but it’s really hard not to after seeing him start against the Oilers again last night. As much as everyone is tired of hearing about it, I just cannot seem to shake the anger that lives deep inside me about Ken Holland and Co. not taking the chance on a goaltender like that when literally everyone was screaming for them to do it. Instead, they traded down at the 2021 NHL Draft and scooped up Xavier Bourgault and an extra pick. You know the story. You were there. Well, the years the Oilers didn’t want to wait for that goalie to develop have passed, and the kid they passed on has turned into a stud, while the player they did choose is still plugging away in the minors. Thanks, Ken.The good news and most important part of the evening is that our hot, young, new friend managed to outduel the guy Old Dutch passed on all those years ago. Nothing makes you forget about an old sports crush quite like your new man showing him up, you know? As much as Wallstedt was annoying me with his clutch saves early in the game and throughout the evening, Devon Levi not only matched him but ended up being the last man standing. Given how even the shot count was for either side, both goalies were called upon to make key saves at big moments, and it was our guy who made the extra save needed to close out the win. I think of that stretched-out pad save Levi made in the third period, and how a goal there could have easily turned the chance for a win into a crushing blown-lead loss. Even though Levi’s .900 save percentage isn’t the sexiest number we’ve seen from him, it’s objectively true that that was still better than the .875 from Wallstedt. The Wallstedt grudge may live on, but Devon Levi is sure doing a great job of helping us forget.PRESENTED BY YELLOW CAB
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