EDMONTON – Connor McDavid became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to reach 900 career points, and he did so in style.
Connor McDavid, welcome to the 900 points club. 🎉
The @EdmontonOilers captain became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the milestone. #NHLStats: https://t.co/M3bpZmUWWl pic.twitter.com/iwpDEfNudN
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 3, 2024
“It’s another nice milestone,” McDavid said.
The Oilers had just killed off a penalty in the second period, which enticed coach Kris Knoblauch to load up with a line of McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman. The decision worked perfectly.
With the puck along the sideboards, Draisaitl chipped it down low to McDavid. Two Flyers, Sean Walker and Owen Tippett, converged on McDavid in an attempt to contain him. To no avail.
McDavid whipped a no-look, backhand pass to Hyman, who was in the slot and streaking towards the net. Hyman had a step on Flyers centre Ryan Poehling, fended him off and deked to his backhand before beating goaltender Carter Hart for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season.
The goal put the Oilers up 2-0 at 8:12 of the frame. They wound up winning 5-2 on Tuesday, their sixth straight victory, to improve to 19-15-1.
“I knew he saw me,” Hyman said. “I just went there because I figured he’s going to get it there somehow. He made an unbelievable play to get it there.”
This assist for his 900th career point is absolutely ridiculous. 😱 https://t.co/MfAtbjFXyc pic.twitter.com/wHyqqDUN1k
— NHL (@NHL) January 3, 2024
“The puck came down the wall and I saw him go to the net,” McDavid said. “I’m just trying to get it to him. I thought that was the best way to get it to him. He puts on a great move and scores a big goal.”
There was a loud gasp in the arena as Hyman finished off the play. With due respect to his move in tight, it was McDavid’s beautiful pass that truly got everyone’s attention.
“He does it all the time,” Hyman said. “You never know what to expect. It’s really fun playing with him. He just makes plays that nobody else can make.
“That’s why he is who he is.”
McDavid, who opened the scoring for his 14th goal, added three more assists after setting up Hyman to cap off his 10th career five-point game — the most of any active player. His last five-point game came on Nov. 26, 2023 against the Anaheim Ducks.
He’s now up to 53 points on the season. He also got primary helpers on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins power-play goal late in the second period, and Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins markers in the third.
“It’s quite remarkable what he was doing. Never surprises me. I’m over that phase of him surprising me, because he’s done it so much,” said Knoblauch, who coached McDavid for parts of three seasons in junior for the OHL’s Erie Otters. “You just look to enjoy it.”
“I’ve played with him for a long time,” Nugent-Hopkins said, “but he definitely always finds a way to bring something new to the table.”
The offensive explosion pushed McDavid to 903 career points. He’s 97 points shy of 1,000 with 47 games remaining in the Oilers schedule.
“It’s pretty mind-boggling to be able to do that in this day and age in (602) games,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “You guys see it every night, too. It’s pretty crazy to have the impact every night that he does.”
McDavid came into the season with 850 points. Hitting 1,000 this season was fully within reach considering he had 153 points last season. However, a slow start by his standards — 10 points in his first 10 games — and an injury that caused him to miss two contests means it’s probably unattainable for McDavid to get there before the Oilers’ regular-season finale on April 18.
Never say never when it comes to McDavid, though.
McDavid is chasing Mike Bossy for the third-fastest player to 1,000 points. Bossy accomplished the feat in his 656th game. Spots Nos. 1 and 2 belong to Wayne Gretzky (424 games) and Mario Lemieux (513).
For now, 900 points – really, 903 – is something to marvel at. Just ask Hyman.
“He’s a generational talent who’s able to do that,” Hyman said. “Pretty special for the era that he plays in to be in these (offensive) categories with these guys. I don’t know if anybody’s even close in recent memory.
“It’s pretty unbelievable and pretty special to have an opportunity to play with him.”
Required reading
(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)