The Oilers Finally, Finally Scored A Goal Without Connor McDavid

A lot of records are flukes. But some records, like, say, the one we’re going to start talking about in the next sentence, really do tell you everything you need to know about a player and his team, and about how it’s kind of a shame that that player is on that team. Last night, the Edmonton Oilers scored their very first goal of the season that didn’t involve Connor McDavid.

Until Darnell Nurse scored in overtime to beat the Jets 5-4, McDavid had been in on every single one of Edmonton’s nine goals this season—four goals and five assists (two primaries). That’s unbelievable! It took four games, 241:25 of game total time, 148:09 of game time with McDavid on the bench. Along the way, McDavid broke the old NHL record, when Adam Oates was in on the first seven goals for the 1986–87 Red Wings.

And McDavid did

“You know what? It’s whatever,” he said. “I’m not overly proud of it. I don’t think it’s a stat we should be proud of either. And we found a way to get a goal there at the end, so we don’t ever have to talk about it again.”

Nurse had the 3-on-3 winner, but this one wouldn’t have even gone to overtime if not for McDavid. He scored a pair of power-play goals—making both look just so easy—and set up a couple others, leading the comeback to erase a three-goal deficit in the third.

It’s almost as if the Oilers saw what’s going on with Auston Matthews and decided to show that McDavid is still the NHL’s best, and they could prove it by somehow offering even less depth scoring than Toronto. “What do you want me to say?” asked head coach Todd McLellan. “He’s the best player on earth.”

Edmonton is a merciful 2-2-0, which is exactly four more points and one fewer relocation to Seattle than they’d have without McDavid.