Connor McDavid is something else, man. He is the talk of the sports world even for fringe hockey fans at this point. Even ESPN has to give alerts on the guy after what he did on opening night in the NHL season at Rogers Center.
Connor McDavid had two goals and an assist last night. Milan Lucic got in a fight to defend the Edmonton captain, and the Oilers are 1-0 in their new arena and with McDavid wearing the 'C'.
Here's McDavid's game-winning goal against Brian Elliot on a penalty shot:
It was a weird night, featuring many weird goals. The Oilers once again got behind early because of the poor play of Goalie Cam Talbot; and overcame a 4-2 deficit behind the phenomenal play of Taylor Hall and Leon Draisatl to tie the game 4-4.
It's a shame, because it wasted an effort from Taylor Hall who scored a goal and had two assists. Connor McDavid's point streak ends at seven games after a goal that he had an assist on was waived off.
It could have been a memorable, special hockey night in Edmonton. Instead, just a frustrating heartbreak that had me turning off the game.
Leon Draisatl had two assists and a goal. He's done some serious damage in two games.
Connor McDavid was named the first star on enemy ice in his first Battle of Alberta; how very special. He scored two goals and recorded an assist. He was a really good save away from what would have been his second goal of the night and a hat trick on the night. He has four points now in five games. His first goal was absolutely beautiful. He finished.
Taylor Hall was the second star, and he played all night like a man possessed. He recorded what went down as the game-winning goal for his 2nd tally of the season. He also recorded two assists, drawing multiple penalties, and skated all over the ice with command, leadership and power.
Scoring was kicked off by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the first period. All four first overall picks scored tonight. The OILERS are on Sportscenter right now as I type this. That's the first time in years.
This might go down as McDavid's finest game all season long. It was my first great Connor McDavid memory.
Taylor Hall's season likely ended tonight in the Battle of Alberta that Edmonton won 3-1. If so it's another season ended on the injury list for Taylor Hall. And if that's the case, I'll check out for the spring and see you all next fall.
Last night after my 3 mile run, I decided it was time to dedicate the night to some NHL hockey. I had the Red Wings/Blackhawks tilt on my television and the Oilers/Flames going on my computer.
Things started off looking bleak, with Devin Dubnyk giving up an early goal to get down 1-0 to the Flames. Taylor Hall minutes later fed Ales Hemsky on a breakaway that opened up Oilers scoring and they did not look back from there.
It was a banner night from Hall--and I noticed before the game that he was not great in his brief history playing against his hometown team. He had never logged a point and was -6 for his career against Calgary. Things would change on this night. Here's a synopsis of Hall's night from the Edmonton Journal's Cult of Hockey:
Finally played his first game of the season in his home town, and it was a doozer. Set the tone with an early breakaway which, while repelled by Kiprusoff, stated that Oilers had brought their skating legs and were open for business. Led all forwards in ice time just a couple of ticks below twenty minutes, during which time he was personally involved in 10 scoring chances between even strength and powerplay. Made a superb pass to Hemsky on a fast-developing 2-on-1 for the game winner. All 9 of the shots he attempted were on target, and the last of these (barely) beat Flames backup Henrik Karlsson for a well-earned goal that was the cherry on top of a great night’s work.
I'm fighting to get into my fantasy hockey playoffs and there's a week after this one to lock up the 6th and final spot. Last night was a huge night for me, netting tasty results from Jordan Eberle (1 goal, 2 assists, +3) and Dubnyk's win aside from all the saves he tabulated. Of course there was also Hall's nice game.
This was the Oiler's first win in Calgary since 2008--since before I was even really following the sport and the Oilers. It was the first win since the opener of last season, dating back to October of 2010. This was an important win for the franchise and the fan base. And it's on nights like these where you want to hold on to the Smyth's, the Sam Gagner's, and the Hemsky's. It's tough to imagine breaking this team up when they play like this.
Here's Taylor Hall's 21st goal of the season, the first he's ever scored against the Calgary Flames:
In Saturday night’s dismal 6-2 loss to Calgary, what the fans were glued to, above all, was the passion and competitive fire of winger Taylor Hall, and not merely because of that raccoon-like shiner on his left eye.
Even as the seconds were ticking away in the third period of the club’s latest loss, there was Hall on his knees in the Oilers net, trying to stop a shot by Lee Stempniak, who buried the puck in the empty net for his third goal of the game.
Hall cursed, picked himself up, skated back to the Oilers bench, broke his stick and hollered at no one in particular and the whole team in general something to the effect of “Why don’t we have a goalie?”
Oh boy. The Oilers better turn things around and start developing a winning culture at all costs here soon.
I went to bed with the Oilers up 1-0 on the strength of a Tom Gilbert goal. Then I realized that Taylor Hall had the flu and got the DNP.
After that I decided that I wasn't going to watch the game. And when I woke up in the middle of the night and refreshed the NHL app scoreboard on my iPhone, I was not surprised to see the '1-0' lead morph into 2-1 Calgary.
The Oilers are 2-2-1. And they're showing that they're just slightly improved rather than a legit playoff team.
Hopefully Taylor Hall is back from the flu on Thursday evening.
