Oilers Notebook: Connor McDavid sets record many thought unbreakable

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When Wayne Gretzky picked up his 31st assist of the 1988 playoffs, Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins — a shot that current CBC analyst Craig Simpson tipped in from his usual position in front of the net — we all figured that was another, ho-hum No. 99 record nobody would break.

But now we’ve got the newest Oiler hero, Connor McDavid, with 32 assists in a single playoff season. No. 97 surpassed No. 99 on Saturday by sliding the puck over to young Dylan Holloway, who beat Florida backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz late in the third period of Edmonton’s 8-1 victory in Game 4.

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It’s not clear what’s harder to believe, that anybody could break a Gretzky playoff record, or that the wheels had already been set in motion by former Oilers owner Peter Pocklington on that 1988 night to sell Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings.

Gretzky’s final assist that night, in what turned out to be his final game as an Oiler, gave him 43 total playoff points that year as Edmonton won its fourth Cup in five seasons.

McDavid has 38 points now, with up to three more games to play. That ranks fifth highest after Gretzky’s 47 points in 1985, Mario Lemieux’s 44 in 1991, Gretzky’s 43 in 1988 and Gretzky’s 40 points in 1993 with Los Angeles.

(McDavid has 19 points after a loss this post-season, which is the highest in NHL history).

In the victorious Oilers dressing room Saturday, Zach Hyman tried to put McDavid’s 32 assists into the right context.

“I mean, Gretzky’s The Great One,” he said. “And Connor’s putting together one of the best post-seasons. He’s the guy who sets everybody up.”

That is exactly what was said about Gretzky back in the day. Gretzky to Kurri, Gretzky to Coffey, Gretzky to Messier and Anderson.

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There was no argument from Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who first coached McDavid in his junior days with the Erie Otters.

“Where does this rank? Very high, just because of what was at stake. You’re in an elimination game, you’re in the final,” he said.

“Yeah, he just continues to impress everyone. Quite a night for him to set the record. He just keeps on making plays, scoring goals, making assists, whatever. Yeah, it was a great performance.’’

McDavid is the first player in 37 years to get four points in an elimination game. The last one to do it was Brian Propp for the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers in 1987.

Taking some punishment

It was interesting to watch Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk grabbing McDavid in a scrum and punching him a few times.

Even more eye-popping was seeing McDavid tussling with one of his oldest friends, Sam Bennett, teammates for quite a while in minor hockey back in Ontario. The whole thing started after Hyman was plowed to the ice by Bennett outside the Florida crease. 

McDavid had a sly grin on his face as Bennett was trying to engage in some fisticuffs.

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“That’s not my job to really do. I was just there to make sure nobody was outnumbered. I thought Zach was getting doubled up by Bennett. Everybody’s got to jump in there in those moments,” said McDavid.

Biggest beatdown

The 8-1 pasting of Florida wasn’t the most lopsided Stanley Cup Finals result in history but it was close. In Game 6 in 1991, the Pittsburgh Penguins hammered the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 behind Mario Lemieux’s goal and three helpers to win the Cup. Current Oilers defence coach Paul Coffey was on that Pittsburgh team.

A seven-goal margin of victory has been accomplished four times in the Final, twice by the Colorado Avalanche. They beat Tampa 7-0 in Game 2 in 2022 and the Panthers 8-1 in 1996, also in Game 2. In 2011, Boston hammered the Canucks 8-1 in Game 3..

Finding his wheels again

Connor Brown’s skating in this playoff has been much better than it was for much of Oilers regular season as he was coming off a torn ACL the year before in Washington. He’s had an excellent post-season after being a healthy scratch in the first round against Los Angeles.

“I feel good again. My turns are fast, my first couple of steps, my starts and stops, everything,” said Brown, who has five playoff points.

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“Absolutely my confidence is better. I can jump on pucks. My skating’s always been my best asset and at the beginning of the year it wasn’t. But now it’s back.”

This ‘n that:

• Knoblauch said Evander Kane, scratched for Games 3 and 4 because he’s hurt, travelled with the team to Florida on Sunday in preparation for Game 5. “Yes, there’s a possibility he might play,” said Knoblauch. Kane has got a sports hernia or maybe something worse.

• With the Oilers avoiding a sweep Saturday, the 2024 NHL playoff will end with only one — the Rangers four-gamer over Washington in the first round. That’s the fewest sweeps since since the NHL expanded in 1967-68.

• Stolarz played six games for the Oilers in 2019 after they got him from Philadelphia in the Cam Talbot trade, with Keith Gretzky as interim GM back then. What does he remember of his time here? “I remember it was really cold,” said Stolarz.

• When Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after giving up five goals Saturday, he had played 1,243 straight playoff minutes for Florida. There was a nice photo-op of Bobrovsky sitting at the end of the bench, gloving an errant Bennett clear in the second period. He gave the puck to a Florida fan behind the glass. “Well, Bob had had enough. He’s played an awful lot of hockey. My number on Bob’s (to pull or not) is probably five (goals), so that was the decision,” said Florida coach Paul Maurice.

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• Oilers winger Corey Perry is now tied with Rocket Richard for career playoff points at 136. Next up is Luc Robitaille, Yvon Cournoyer and Patrick Marleau at 127. Perry has played 212 playoff games, just behind Kevin Lowe and Ray Bourque at 214.

• Adam Henrique’s game-winner Saturday was his second in the Finals. His last one was with New Jersey in 2014 against Los Angeles. He’s the first player to get two Finals game-winners since Marty St. Louis, whose big goals came in 2004 for Tampa and 2014 with the New York Rangers.

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