McDavid delivers another moment to remember in Toronto

TORONTO — It was yet another one of those “Wow” goals from Connor McDavid, a generational player who has made a living producing them.

And that it came at Scotiabank Arena, just 45 miles south of his hometown of Newmarket, in front of friends, family and a national television audience on Hockey Night in Canada, well, it was the type of big stage the Edmonton Oilers captain embraces with pizzazz.

“He’s a special player,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse summed up after Edmonton’s 6-3 victory against the host Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday. “And when he produces a moment like that, it doesn’t matter who you cheer for. It’s just cool.”

Nurse was referring to the play in which McDavid opened the scoring just 3:25 into the game. And for those in the building, not to mention those watching at home, this was no ordinary goal.

Indeed, when McDavid took a short pass from defenseman Evan Bouchard just on the Edmonton side of center, he turned on the jets. If this was a video game, it was as if someone had just hit the speed-burst button.

As a murmur rippled through the crowd, McDavid zipped through the middle of the ice past four Maple Leafs before finishing off a beautiful deke on goalie Dennis Hildeby to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. He made Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly appear as if he was standing still. The other Maple Leafs defenseman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, had his back turned to McDavid on the play in a futile attempt to skate back into the defensive zone on time.

For Jeff Jackson, Tristan Jarry, Zach Hyman and Kris Knoblauch, they all had seen these snippets of greatness from Edmonton’s No. 97 before. For each of them, it never gets old.

Not many people have seen McDavid play as much as Jackson. He had, after all, been McDavid’s representative dating back to the forward’s teenage years with Erie of the Ontario Hockey League, a gig he held until being hired as the Oilers CEO on Aug. 3, 2023.

Sitting up in the Oilers managerial box with Edmonton GM Stan Bowman, Jackson had a great view of the heroics produced by McDavid below. All he could do was smile.

“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “It’s up there (among his best). But I’m never surprised any more about his goals.

“I mean, the sea parted for him on that goal. But he’s so fast, no one knew where he was.

“It was great.”

Jarry certainly thought so.

The Oilers goaltender, who had just been traded to Edmonton by the Pittsburgh Penguins one day earlier, had a wry grin behind his mask at seeing McDavid work his magic on the play. After spending his career as a teammate of future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with Pittsburgh, here he was making his debut for a team led by greats McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

“It’s special,” said Jarry, who made 25 saves in the victory. “Obviously, standing on the other side of it for a lot of years, you kind of know what to expect. But I think being on the right side of it now, you appreciate it.”

Especially when McDavid does McDavid things.

“I’ve been on the wrong side of that a lot of the time,” he said. “And I think everyone (in this room) can say that they’re thankful he’s on this side.”

McDavid, who finished the game with three points (two goals, one assist) is now on a five-game point streak, a run in which he has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists). He had four assists in a 4-1 victory against Detroit Thursday, a game in which he helped set up Hyman for a hat trick.

Two days later, Hyman was on the ice and had a birds-eye view of McDavid’s spectacular goal.

“I mean, he’s got jump, obviously. He’s fast, no matter what,” the Oilers wing said. “But he was flying out there tonight. And when he’s feeling it and he’s on his game, you can’t stop him.”

The Maple Leafs certainly couldn’t.

“I mean, I don’t know if saying I’m surprised at what he does anymore is the right word,” Hyman continued. “You just try to get him the puck and create space and let him do his thing.”

This was not the first time McDavid had produced an electric goal like this in Toronto.

On Jan. 6, 2020, he deked around Rielly without ever looking at the Maple Leafs defenseman before beating Toronto goalie Michael Hutchinson in a game the Oilers would go on to win 6-4. It was the type of remarkable play that even left the legendary Wayne Gretzky, who watched the game from a private box, shaking his head in disbelief.

“He brought me out of my seat,” Gretzky told NHL.com that night. “I've told him before that he does that to me. And he did that tonight.

“It was one of those special moments by a special player.”

Knoblauch, who coached McDavid in Erie, has seen plenty of them. Just add Saturday’s to the list.

“I said this when I was in Erie that I try not to be surprised when he does something I haven’t seen him do,” the Oilers coach said. “He’s always full of surprises. He’s just electric, with the speed and the vision with which he makes plays.”

He chuckled.

“Even as a coach, it’s nice to see. Especially if you’re on the right bench.”