Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate victory against the New York Rangers during overtime at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Nov. 5.Codie McLachlan/Getty Images
By now, everyone in the hockey universe has seen Connor McDavid’s otherworldly goal from Friday multiple times. It is just not possible to watch it only once.
With the Oilers trailing 5-4 late in the third period, Edmonton’s superstar centre danced around and through four New York Rangers before tucking the puck past goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
The Oilers, who at one point trailed 4-1, won in overtime on a shot by – who else – Leon Draisaitl. Between the two of them, McDavid and Draisaitl are on a pace to score 350 points this season.
Of course, that is impossible. Maybe.
Over his career, McDavid has scored too many highlight-reel goals to count. But this one – “To heck with it, I am just going to do this myself” – might be the best. Social media went bananas.
Barstool Sports called it “the most impressive hockey goal ever.”
The NHL Network said, “Are you kidding?”
Said The Sporting News, “We are not worthy.”
“Please” one fan Tweeted of the four victimized Rangers’ players. “They have families.”
McDavid has points in each of Edmonton’s 10 games. The Oilers are 9-1 for the first time in history. They have never previously won nine of their first 10, not even in the Wayne Gretzky era.
McDavid has 22 points already, which is second-best in the NHL, one behind Draisaitl. Clearly, at a combined salary of US$20.5-million a year, they are grossly underpaid.
For the most part, 2021-22 has been kind to Canada’s teams. The Maple Leafs dispatched the Bruins on Saturday and have now won five in a row. They sit comfortably behind the Florida Panthers in second place in the Atlantic Division.
Their past two victories have been very impressive – a last-minute great escape to beat Tampa Bay followed by a dismantling of old-nemesis Boston.
Mitch Marner had a goal and three assists on Saturday and has factored in 10 of Toronto’s past 12 scores, including the past six.
John Tavares scored for the Maple Leafs at 12:21 of the first period and posted his second goal of the game at 2:53 of the third. He also posted the primary assist on Marner’s third-period goal. Tavares has nine points over the past five games.
Auston Matthewsscored on two power plays and has multipoint outings in three consecutive games.
“The big dogs are starting to hunt,” said Jack Campbell, the Toronto goalie.
He had 42 saves against the Bruins and has stopped 119 of the past 124 shots. In nine starts he has only allowed more than three goals once.
The Maple Leafs are 7-4-1 and will try to extend their winning streak to a half-dozen on Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena against the Los Angeles Kings. They are rising after a lukewarm start.
“I think the highs can get real high here and the lows can get real low and I think sometimes you’ve just got to take a step back and take a breath,” Matthews said. “A couple weeks ago we weren’t playing at a level we were happy with and I think it’s kind of come full circle.”
Calgary, meanwhile, is cruising along at 7-1-3. The Flames’ only loss in regulation time came in their opening game against the Oilers. The Battle of Alberta should provide plenty of thrills from here on in.
The Winnipeg Jets started the season badly with three losses but are 6-1-1 since then. They are well positioned at third in the Central Division.
The other three Canadian teams have had a difficult time. The Ottawa Senators are seventh in the eight-team Atlantic at 3-7-1. The Montreal Canadiens are last – a hot mess at 3-10 – but they will have Carey Price back in net in the near future. He is to rejoin the team on Monday after spending four weeks in the league’s player-assistance program.
The Canucks are a Rubik’s cube seemingly impossible to figure out. They entered Sunday with four wins – same as the first-year Seattle Kraken.
For the time being at least, McDavid and his remarkable goal – and the Oilers – will be the talk of the NHL, at least in Canada.
“I don’t know if you were watching the bench, but the bench went crazy [when McDavid scored],” Zach Hyman said late Friday. The former Maple Leaf has seven goals in his first 10 games with Edmonton. “Only he can make a play like that. It’s just Connor being Connor.”
McDavid, who generally loathes to talk about himself, appraised the goal afterward. As he spoke, fans in the streets outside in Edmonton chanted “MVP.”
“I kind of just tried to pick my way through, and thankfully I did,” he said. “I’m paid to score big goals, and I’m paid to do that type of stuff. I’m just doing my job. It’s probably not the best idea to take four guys on every night, but I thought the situation was kind of weird. Everyone was kind of coming up, I was coming down the pipe, and I just tried to make a play.”
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
