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Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers scored early and often en route to reclaiming the lead in their Western Conference first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Friday night. As he often is for this club, McDavid was the catalyst in the convincing 6-1 victory, helping the Oil steal back home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series.
The captain also continued his torrid postseason start in 2024, which hasn’t been seen since the likes of The Great One over three decades ago.
“McDavid boosted his 2024 postseason-leading total to 1-8—9 and joined Gretzky (9 in 1987 & 8 in 1981) as the only players in NHL history with eight-plus assists through three games of a postseason,” wrote NHL Public Relations on Saturday. Gretzky recorded nine assists in the 1987 Smythe Division Semi-Finals, and eight against the Montreal Canadiens in the 1981 Preliminary Round.
McDavid scored a goal and added two assists in Friday’s triumph, giving him nine points through just three 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff games. That’s good for tops in the league.
“I thought it was a good win,” the superstar said afterwards, per NHL.com’s Dan Greenspan. “I thought we did a lot of good things. Obviously special teams was great. I thought ‘Stu’ was a rock back there. Penalty kill did its thing, and 5-on-5, we were solid, I thought, so a lot of positives. But it just counts as one win, that’s all. Got to be ready for a big one Sunday.”
The Oilers now have a fantastic chance to take a 3-1 stranglehold on the series on Sunday night, as they look to defeat the Kings in the first-round for the third consecutive year.
Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman also on the right side of history
Although McDavid continues to lead the way, the excellent play of Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman was also a big reason for success on Friday night — as it has been all season.
The former scored two goals and an assist, while the latter added two more tallies to his playoff-leading six goals. And both Draisaitl and Hyman made history of their own in the win.
“Draisaitl’s first point of the night was his 20th career road goal in the playoffs, while his second point was his 50th career postseason assist in just his 52nd contest – he became the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the mark, behind Wayne Gretzky (34 GP), Mario Lemieux (44 GP) and Connor McDavid (50 GP),” per NHL Public Relations.
“Hyman (6-1—7 in 3 GP) added to his playoff-leading goal total and joined Draisaitl (3 GP in 2022) and McDavid (3 GP in 2020) as the third Oilers player in the past 25 years to score a goal in each of his team’s first three games of a postseason.”
It’s been a terrific showing for Edmonton’s stars, who are desperate to bring a Stanley Cup to Alberta in 2024. And McDavid shared high praise for Hyman after the win.
“Obviously, Zach is always around the net and he’s always going to be there to bang those in,” said the captain, adding, “He gets us going on a big goal on a great play from [Mattias Ekholm]. It’s a big one, getting the first one on the road in their building, it’s big.”
The Kings need to find an answer for the Oilers’ stars — and right now, they clearly don’t have one. If that doesn’t change in Game 4, this could end up being a short series.
More must-reads:
- Maple Leafs fire HC Sheldon Keefe after another early playoff exit
- Panthers dominate Bruins to even series
- The 'Most three-pointers made in one postseason' quiz
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