When describing Connor McDavid in playoffs, full psycho comes to mind.
Ok, maybe full psycho is too strong a phrase.
Quietly intense? Slightly unnerving to be around? Not who you want to talk to post game?
Or, down to business? There we go.
The Edmonton Oilers superstar, alongside Leon Draisaitl have settled into a “whatever means necessary” approach to playoffs this spring.
Understandable given last years heartbreak and unsurprising given their approach to the game.
“I see their demeanor being almost the same,” according to Kris Knoblauch on McDavid and Draisaitl. “They want to win. They want to do whatever it takes to get the job done. It just might be more (about) doing it over again, a little bit of Groundhog Day.
“But I don’t think their attitudes have changed at all. I think they want to win, and it’s business as usual. So I think it’s just that (it’s) nothing new.”
Such is life, such is playoffs, and such is the life of the NHL’s best players.
Forever doomed to be in the top five of playoff scoring — 17 and 16 points respectively during the first two rounds.
But let’s get specific here; McDavid registered six points in round two (1 goal, 5 assists) alongside Draisaitl’s six points (2 goals, 4 assists), placing them five and four points short of their round one performance, albeit with one less game.
Yes, McDavid and Draisaitl still led all Oilers in points from the second round, but they were on par with the rest of the lineup in terms of goals — just one and two.
Again, whatever means necessary.
McDavid might have only put one past Adin Hill, but he’ll went mock three the into the boards just to break up a play in front of his net.
We asked, he’s fine.
Draisaitl is content to assume a checking role with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen as a method to control line matching, and it works.
McDavid regularly jumps onto the penalty kill — something he didn’t do in the regular season, and again, it works.
And each player is content to fill a more defensive role as a shut down guy in an effort to aid the back end — don’t ask McDavid about that though.
So where they’re trending down in points per round — still more than most — they’re making up for in checking, penalty killing, physicality, and adopting a different role each game.
Of course this works because the bottom six understands what clutch means and when to use it.
If Draisaitl can check, it’s because Adam Henrique can score.
“Our depth is probably our greatest strength right now. To get everyone involved and everyone going,” added Zach Hyman. “Knobber does a good job of evaluating our team needs in a specific game or a specific shift, and I think that poses another thing we can do.”
“We have a lot depth because we’ve made a lot of changes,” continued Knoblauch. “During the playoffs, it’s a grind. It’s physical hockey. It’s 100 per cent effort every time you’re on the ice.”
But it’s also 100 per cent effort from players that touch every single part of the game.
McDavid and Draisaitl are many things, and goal scorers are just one of them.
Edmonton Oilers expected Lines
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Kane – Henrique – Brown
Frederic – Janmark – Perry
Kulak – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Klingberg
S. Skinner
Rodrigue
Connor Brown has been labeled as a game-time decision and would likely be replaced by Victor Arvidsson (0-2-2 in three games against Vegas).
