MCDAVID REACHES YET ANOTHER MILESTONE

Oilers captain nets 60th goal of season, the first time a 60th has won an OT game

Everything seems to be going Connor McDavid's way this season.

When McDavid failed to score on a breakaway in overtime against the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers captain slammed his stick against the corner boards in frustration.

Fortunately for McDavid, the stick didn't break and seconds later, he got another breakaway opportunity as Leon Draisaitl fed him again. McDavid made the same move on Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram for the game winner and his 60th goal of the season to give the Oilers a 4-3 victory. It was an exciting end to an otherwise sloppy affair.

“Leon makes a great play on the first pass, and I felt like I was kind of pressing for the 60th all night and I was disappointed not to bury that one. You're not going to get many better looks than that,” McDavid said after the game. “It's not every day you get two breakaways back to back like that. He made two unbelievable plays, just ridiculous.”

McDavid would not have had the second opportunity to score the winner if he had broken his stick after the first. He became the first player in NHL history to collect his 60th goal of the year in overtime.

“He obviously missed the first one and he was telling me he slammed his stick against the boards after,” Draisaitl said. “I just saw their guy bobble it, so I tried to strip him and I saw Connor again. It is crazy to try that same move again and score on it the second time, but that is just what he does, I guess.”

What McDavid is doing this season is starting to defy logic, as he became the fastest player to reach 60 goals since Mario Lemieux in 1988. Lemieux reached the milestone in 70 games, while it's taken McDavid 72, one game faster than Auston Matthews did it for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season before going on to win the Hart Trophy.

This year, there is little debate who the Hart Trophy winner will be, though there will be some voters among the Professional Hockey Writers' Association who will try to justify voting for someone else.

It's almost as though McDavid took getting snubbed for the Hart last year personally, deciding he was going to score more goals than anyone this season while running away with the scoring title.

“I told him in the summer that there was no reason that he can't (score 60),” Draisaitl said. “He is so special and creates so many opportunities for himself and has enough looks to get there. I am obviously very happy for him and proud of him. He is just a special player.”

McDavid, like greats before him, is the most talented player in the game, and strives to work the hardest. His goal is to bring a Stanley Cup back to Edmonton and with a strong supporting cast, which includes Draisaitl, the Oilers are considered legitimate contenders this season.

“He has an unbelievable desire to add layers to his game, so the goals he's scoring now are much different than the ones he's scored earlier in his career,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I think that's part of his evolution as a player. He's not somebody who stands still and relies only on old habits and old pathways; he's constantly searching for new ways to do things.”

Oilers fans are fortunate for the opportunity to watch McDavid on a daily basis. Despite everything he's accomplished, he still manages to surprise and come up with something new and innovative, such as banking a shot off the back of a goaltender's mask and into the net. McDavid's first goal of the night was scored in such a manner and he tried it a second time later in the game.

“That was where I was aiming; I have done that a couple of times,” McDavid said. “Everybody is so worried about (Draisaitl) on the back side there that sometimes even the goalie can get caught kind of reaching, trying to block that pass.

“It is something I have tried before and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It worked ( Wednesday).”

Before this season, McDavid had never scored more than 44 goals in a year. But the gushing over Matthews and his 60 goals last season seemed to motivate him going into this year.

Draisaitl also had a part in convincing McDavid he could reach the milestone.

“He (Draisaitl) has mentioned that (60 goals) a few times and I always kind of just laugh it off. It is kind of cool to get there, I guess,” McDavid said.

“At the end of the day, they are all just numbers, but 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it and it feels good to join that list. We have a lot of work left on this year and I am looking forward to putting ourselves in a good spot heading into the post-season.”