Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft adopted a bold but successful strategy. By profusely using his best player, forward Connor McDavid, he greatly helped his team force a seventh and final game in the series against the Los Angeles Kings.
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“I’m at a loss for words against Connor McDavid. His game speaks for itself, it’s from another world,” Woodcroft said Thursday night after the Oilers won 4-2 in Los Angeles.
Otherworldly strategy, for an otherworldly player, one might add.
From the start of the match, McDavid was reunited on a line completed by Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto. He then, in the second minute, scored his third goal of the series by skillfully defeating goalkeeper Jonathan Quick.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, McDavid played just about every line on the team.
“For the start of the game, his appearances were not long, commented Woodcroft. We did things to help us, he was a leader for us by doing what we needed from the start of the first period.
It would have taken Anze Kopitar or Phillip Danault to also play on all the lines to contain the famous number 97.
In the end, McDavid was used for over 24 minutes in Game 6. No other player, or even a defender from either team, has been in more demand.
Already 12 points
In six games, McDavid has now totaled 12 points, which is a career high for him in the playoffs since the start of his career. In 2019-20, he had nine points, but in just four games.
Winner of the Art Ross Trophy, thanks to his 123 points in the regular season, McDavid is also among the candidates for the Hart and Ted-Lindsay trophies. If the Oilers were to continue their journey to the playoffs, it goes without saying that the forward would automatically become a possible choice for the Conn-Smythe. However, the Edmonton team will first and foremost have to beat the Kings this Saturday to advance to the second round.
“Someone said a few years ago Game 4 of a series was the hardest game to win,” Kings Kopitar said, citing his former coach Darryl Sutter, with whom he won twice. the Stanley Cup, in 2012 and 2014. We would have liked to end the series [Thursday evening], but it did not happen. We have to move on and think about Saturday.”
It will be interesting to see if, in Game 7, McDavid will be used profusely again early in the game.
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