McDavid and five point nights
By Jason Gregor
8 years ago
Last night Connor McDavid became the third rookie in Oilers history to score five points in a game joining Dave Lumley (February 1st, 1980) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (November 19th, 2011). RNH and McDavid tallied five points in their 19th NHL game. Lumley did it in his 50th game, and Wayne Gretzky (who wasn’t considered a rookie due to playing in WHA) had his first five-point game in his 49th career game on January 30th, 1980, the game before Lumley tallied five.
McDavid and his linemates, Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot, put on quite the show last night, and Oilers fans should get used to watching special performances from McDavid.
After the game I looked into the history of the Oilers, and reached out to Elias Sports Bureau to fill in the stats I couldn’t research myself. John at Elias is a wealth of knowledge and helped me find out some numbers connected to five-point games in Oilers history.
- Taylor Hall had the most recent five point game, April 3rd, 2013 versu. the Flames.
- Nugent-Hopkins is the second youngest player in NHL history to score five points. He was 18 years and 221 days young. Jack Hamilton was 18 years and 185 days when he tallied five points on December 4th, 1943. McDavid is now the ninth youngest.
- RNH and McDavid potted five points in their 19th NHL game, but many have done it quicker. Al Hill had five points in his first NHL game on February 14th, 1977. Hill would play 221 NHL games, and his best NHL season saw him scored 16 goals and 26 points. Joe Malone and Harry Hyland scored five goals in their first NHL games on December 19th, 1917.
- John told me McDavid became the 23rd Oilers player to score five, or more, points in one game. I researched and found McDavid, Hall, RNH, Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky, Dustin Penner, Doug Weight, Alex Selivanov, Jason Arnott, Petr Klima, Bernie Nicholls, Jimmy Carson, Esa Tikkanen, Glenn Anderson, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe, Pat Hughes, Lumley and Wayne Gretzky did. (I’m waiting for Elias to get me the other two).
- The most ridiculous stat involves Gretzky. He had a mind-blowing 79 five-point games with the Oilers in 696 games. He averaged a five point game in one of every 8.8 games. He averaged almost nine 5+ point games every year for nine years. He was so much better than everyone else in the high-scoring 1980s.He is a break down of Gretzky’s 79 games with 5 points or more:57 games with five points14 with six points6 with seven2 with eightHe also also had a four-point game 79 times! So in those 158 games he had a combined 743 points!!!
- Jari Kurri is second on the Oilers with 14 five-point games, and Paul Coffey did it ten times. Which is very good, but not close to The Great One.
- I had a good conversation with McDavid today. He was still excited about last night. He should be, he is only 19 years young and scoring five points against the team he group up cheering for was very special for him. I asked McDavid how many five-point games Gretzky had. He answered 20. I told him it was 79, “That is absolutely crazy,” he smiled. “That is pretty hard to even think about. In this day and age that is basically impossible, but even in a high scoring era that is amazing.”
- I’m not comparing him to Gretzky — it is impossible and unfair to do that to any player. McDavid is very special, however, and hockey fans should get accustomed to watching him light up the NHL.
- Eberle scored his first career hat-trick last night. He had 18 two-goal games before scoring into the empty net. He became the 55th player to register a hatty in an Oilers jersey. It was Eberle’s third four-point game.
- Benoit Pouliot registered his first four-point game. He had picked up three points five times previously.
- McDavid had his first of many exceptional nights. Get used to it Oilers fans, and be sure you enjoy it.
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