CONNOR MCDAVID IN OOOOOOOVVVEERRRRTIIIIIIMMMMEEEEEE. Final score: 4-3.

On a night the Oilers very well could’ve gotten goalie’d, they stuck with it and gutted out a massive two points. Plus, how can you not feel good for Brad Malone? What a night for him. BaggedMilk has the Wrap Up here.

On the game: “I don’t really think it has sunk in, to be honest. Feels pretty awesome to be honest. I was just really happy at the end of the game to get two points. It’s tough to have an individual game like that and feel good about yourself when you don’t get 2 points. I know that’s kind of the cliche thing, but in all honesty, you don’t want to be that teammate in the room. It’s awesome we got the two points.”

On who he is calling after the game: “It will be my wife and my kid Banksy, then probably my parents or my brother to be honest. It’s a little later out east, but I’m sure they’re up having a glass of whisky or something.”

On his family’s reaction to signing his NHL deal: “I think they were happy. We had a family vacation in August out in Florida and I told them I was kind of going to training camp with the idea of making the team. That’s been my mindset every year being a bubble guy, that’s kind of the approach you have to take. Whether it’s wisdom or opportunity, or some fortunate bounces that have went my way, here we are.”

On going seven years between NHL goals, his journey: “Well, probably a lot of outside criticism and doubters on my offensive ability. I can probably agree with them on some of those things, but you know what, I think it has been a really good journey to be honest. I think I understood who I was as a player and where I fit in things. I’ve been kind of repeating it the last couple of weeks: work ethic and detail, and I’m just trying to enjoy myself in a professional way, being a good teammate. You get to work with a lot of good people in Bakersfield and up here. If you just rub shoulders with them over a few years, you get better and they elevate you as an individual. That’s kind of my experience.”

On being a ‘good soldier,’ helping young guys make their way to the NHL: “I think I’m still trying to be a good soldier, to be honest. just with the role I’m in and the situation’s that I’m in, I’ll just go back to it: work and detail. I’m just trying to put my best foot forward and put the team first. It’s just work and attitude, I guess. you can describe it as a soldier, but that’s just the role I’m in, and really, I relish it. I enjoy it. It has been a lot of fun.”

On his father-in-law, Calgary Flames associate coach Kirk Mueller: “He’s been big for me. He’s been a really good support system and a big mentor. I’m sure he’ll be one of the guys I reach out to when I get off. He was definitely one of those guys (who told me to keep plugging along). being around each other all summer, the last couple years he keeps instilling my confidence in me as a player. He’s been around, he has seen it all. A little bit of an in on how to understand and approach things definitely helped. I talked to him the other night and he said ‘keep shooting the puck,’ and here we are.”

On Jay Woodcroft being a ray of light, of sorts: “We had a little team meeting after Woody got called up in Bakersfield. I just said ‘this is an opportunity that every guy in the American league wants.’ To have a guy that’s seen you every day when the cameras aren’t on whether it’s in practice, or on the bus, or however you wanna say it. He has a really good understanding of who we all are down there and our guys should be excited about that opportunity here. He’s been through all the test runs with us down in the American League. He’s got a good understanding of each individual and what they can bring to the table.”

On if in his wildest dreams he could’ve envisioned a night like tonight’s contribution offensively: “I mean, I wanted to be. I don’t show up every night and think ‘let’s dump it in and get a few hits.’ I still try to have the mentality to try and contribute offensively, but it’s a little different approach being on that side of the line, or whatever. You got to be a little more cautious. I’m just fortunate.”

On his goal: “That’s a great pass by Kass. We talked about before the game just to talk to each other, so I gave him a bit of a holler and that was right on the tee for me.”

On Brad Malone’s night: “He’s a guy that you want to cheer for. We like having him around. The game speaks for itself. He works hard, plays physical, does everything right. It was great to see him get rewarded.”

On what he liked from the Oilers’ game: “Special teams were good. I thought there in the second period we had two big kills to keep them at one. Powerplay finds a way to get a goal, which was important. I thought that really swung the momentum of the game. I thought we had a lot of guys step up like Buggsy and Kass. I thought they were great.”

On the missed hooking call, the end of regulation: “Yeah, I would say that could’ve been a penalty. That was a hook for sure. The refs missed it and that’s the way it goes. I think we found a way to get the two points which is all that really matters. It’s obviously disappointing giving up that goal, but it’s good we found a way to get a win.”

On the ot winner, if he wanted to find Leon Draisaitl: “You know me, I’m always trying to get him that puck. I always want to get Leo the puck in those types of situations. I thought Eller actually played it pretty well. We didn’t have a lot of speed all three of us, so just kind of stood in the middle and took a shot that was there.”

On the Oilers’ powerplay, Kailer Yamamoto getting the goal: “I thought he was great. He’s a guy that retrieves pucks and works so hard to get the puck back. That’s something that we needed. He came in, did a great job, and I liked our powerplay. We found a way to get a goal there. I thought our powerplay early in the third was good. It built momentum for our group even though we didn’t score.”

On how the team regrouped heading into overtime: “It’s always disappointing giving up the tying goal late in the game, especially that late in the game. We need to find a way to close that out. It didn’t hurt us, so that was good.”

On if he thinks the 5×5 game is becoming more consistent for the team: “I think so. Early in the year, we were probably getting away with a sloppy 5×5 and great special teams and now we’ve been playing better 5×5 and our special teams have been letting us down. We obviously need to find consistency throughout the game and throughout our different types, powerplay, penalty kill and 5×5. we did that tonight.”

On trending up in play, but not getting points, and if tonight could be a breakthrough game: “Yeah, it’s always good. These are big points and they all are from here on out.”

On what he liked from the game: “I thought the effort from the people we had dressed tonight was excellent. I thought we came out and tried to assert ourselves in the first period, we did that. Their goaltender played a heckuva game. We talked in-between that first and second period about outworking a goaltender and not hanging our head because he was making a few saves. I thought our group was resilient tonight and found a way to get it done against a really good hockey team.”

On what went through his head seeing Malone score: “Well, I’m happy for him, I’m happy for our team. I have a comfort level with Brad Malone. I think he plays the game hard, I think he navigates his way around the rink in the right fashion. I think he’s gotten better as a player over the last three years, I’ve seen it up close. He’s risen to the occasion in many big moments and that’s what leads to that comfort level — those shared circumstances we have. If I was going to give him any critique tonight it was his 0/3 in the faceoff circle (smirks).”

On hitting reset going into overtime: “I think we just collectively take a deep breath. We talked about how we’re here for the two points. The other team found a way to score a goal in the last few seconds of the game. They’re a good team. But for us, we kept our focus and found a way to win when it counted.”

On getting results from well-played games: “I thought it was a good sign. Our ‘stick-to-it-ness level’ — not being deterred by some of the circumstances from the game, including a goaltender who played very well, including maybe missing a few opportunities we could’ve beared down on, and then giving up a late goal. In the end, we found a way to win and that’s a credit to the players in our dressing room.”

On the OT winner: “I’ve had the experience of seeing them as an assistant coach in those circumstances, and I couldn’t name two players in the world you’d want on that occasion than Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They found a way to convert. I was quite pleased.”

On Kassian’s first game back: “I thought it was good. You can’t forget he’s missed some time here. Because we haven’t practiced as a team a lot, he’s missed some of those experiences of feeling some of the tweaks we’re trying to make. I thought he played simple, straight-forward, direct. that line scored a big goal for us and I trusted him down the stretch. I thought they were excellent.”

On Malone, the faceoff joke and chipping in with offence: “I would say I gave him a little shot about his faceoff performance tonight (smile), but heading into tonight he was 77%. I think it’s great when unusual suspects find a way to contribute to 5×5 offence. I think it fires the rest of the group up. Everyone is super happy. Malone was with (Devin) Shore and (Derek) Ryan on that second goal for us. It was a great track. That’s a classic example of making the other team work through five people. We ended up getting the turnover, going hard to the blue paint and Ceci found a way to come up with that goal. That was a great goal, and the type of goal we need to continue to see down the stretch run here. That third goal for us, what I really liked about it for us was it came after the other team had tied it up. Sometimes, it takes you a minute or two to recover. I just thought for that line to get a forecheck type goal where they got the puck below the goalline and convert like that, it’s great for team morale.”

On Malone’s hands in tight: “He has underrated skill. I think most of his goals would be of the blue-collar variety, but he’s scored some nice ones over the years. I’m happy to see him get it for us. It was an important goal for our team.”