Leon Draisaitl had two goals and three assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-5 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place on Thursday. Connor McDavid had exactly the same, which is why every question afterwards was about McDavid.
Draisaitl has been fielding that particular question his entire career. This time he went further than usual with it.
“What do you want me to say? It’s just not real,” Draisaitl said. “He’s maybe the greatest player to ever play, in my books. It’s a pleasure to share the ice with him, a pleasure to learn from him every day. He deserves everything.”
He also offered something more specific than admiration, pointing out what has actually changed about a player who turns 30 in January.
“When he was 24, he was just as flashy, just as fast. But there are little details that maybe weren’t as great,” Draisaitl said. “Now, his game is as complete as it gets, and he hasn’t lost a step offensively. I mean, you really just run out of words.”
Connor McDavid’s last three games:
| Date | Opponent | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 17 | at Utah | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Oct 20 | Minnesota | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Oct 22 | Carolina | 2 | 3 | 5 |
How many points does Connor McDavid have this season?
He has a point in every game Edmonton has played this season, eight goals and 23 assists across the ten of them, 18 of those assists primary. That adds up to 31, and the company it puts him in is thin. Only Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky had previously reached 30 points inside ten games.
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Thursday was also his 17th career five-point game, moving him past Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman and Jari Kurri into fourth on the all-time list. It extended a 10-game assist streak, the fifth of his career, which takes him past Dionne and Lemieux into second behind Gretzky’s 13.
The Oilers are 8-1-1, having won three in a row and seven of eight. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the shootout winner in his first game of the season, and Devon Levi made 22 saves and stopped everything he faced in the shootout.
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