If the Edmonton Oilers are going to win their first division title since 1987, it will likely be the result of Connor McDavid’s play.
McDavid is red hot heading into Edmonton’s road matchup on Saturday afternoon against the Los Angeles Kings.
He’s coming off a five-point effort in a 5-2 win against the host San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
McDavid also has 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in his past eight games, helping the Oilers go 6-1-1 in that span to retake first place in the Pacific Division by one point over the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks with three games remaining for each.
“He’s the best player in the league, and he’s also the fastest, so if you don’t really slow him down or get in his way, he’s just going to skate by you,” Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini said. “You’ve seen it his whole career. I mean, I watched it. I loved watching it when I was a fan, but super frustrating when you play against it.”
Edmonton (40-29-10, 90 points) will round out the regular season next week with home games against the teams with the most points in the NHL, the Colorado Avalanche, and the fewest, the Vancouver Canucks.
Edmonton moved atop the division despite losing winger Leon Draisaitl to a lower-body injury on March 15 against the Nashville Predators. Draisaitl, who has 35 goals and 97 points this season, was quickly ruled out for the rest of the regular season, and he could miss some playoff time as well.
“If he gets in that first (playoff) game, that’s great,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said this week.
The Oilers are also waiting on an injury update for goalie Connor Ingram, who left after the second period against the Sharks because of discomfort. Knoblauch wanted to see how Ingram practiced Friday before deciding whether to recall Calvin Pickard, who has started 13 games for the Oilers this season.
The Kings are facing a tough goalie decision as well, but it’s only because Anton Forsberg has played so well.
Forsberg had 24 saves in a 4-1 win against the visiting Canucks on Thursday, which allowed the Kings (33-26-19, 85 points) to move back into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference by one point over the Predators with four games left for Los Angeles and three for Nashville.
Forsberg has won all three of his starts this month and allowed a total of four goals in that span.
Darcy Kuemper had been pegged as the No. 1 goalie in Los Angeles for most of the season, but he has surrendered 15 goals in his past three outings.
“We’ll make the best decision for the organization,” Kings coach D.J. Smith said of the goalie rotation. “Give Forsy credit. He’s playing some net right now, and the guys are playing in front of him, so we’ll do what’s best for us to win, and we’ll do what’s best for us to make the playoffs.”
The Kings continue to get most of their offense from the top two lines, but the third line of Joel Armia, Scott Laughton and Jared Wright have been playing a major role in the recent success as well.
“I don’t know how many games in a row they’ve scored off a neutral-zone transition,” Smith said. “The first guy hounds, the second guy picks one off and away they go. That line’s been really good for us.”
–Field Level Media
