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The Day After 80.0: Connor McDavid scores 150th point as Edmonton Oilers roll San Jose Sharks 6-1

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Photo credit:Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Laing
1 year ago
Bernie Nicholl, Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Connor McDavid.
Those are the only six players in NHL history to score 150 points in a single NHL season with the Oilers captain hitting the mark Saturday afternoon in a 6-1matinee win over the San Jose Sharks.
McDavid kicked the afternoon off notching an assist on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal 5:46 into the first period, then added a goal of his own with 1:46 left in that same period.
We all know how incredible McDavid’s season has been up to this point and to a certain extent I think it’s easy to not think too much about it. It’s just automatic for him at this point to be producing points every single night with ease. Like he so often does, McDavid’s on another late-season tear. In his last 25 games, he’s scored 22 goals and 52 points — eight more than his next closest competitors in Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon, who each have 44 points. Next up is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 37, and fifth is another Colorado Avalanche in Mikko Rantanen with 35.
Let’s touch on a few notes from Saturday’s game…

Ice time spread out

Pretty impressive work from Jay Woodcroft in spreading the minutes out last night. Connor McDavid, who still had three points, played just 16:57 — the third-lowest total of his season. In fact, there was just one Oilers player who played over 20 minutes and that was Darnell Nurse at 20:14.

Philip Broberg scores

Great feel-good goal for Broberg yesterday afternoon. His goal was a great example of him just playing to his strengths out there on the ice. He broke the puck out of the defensive zone with a chip off the wall and joined the rush finding space and snuck in behind the Sharks’ defence.
He wasn’t expecting the Leon Draisaitl pass, but who would’ve? That was one heckuva feed from the big German and good on Broberg for sticking with it.
He’s had a bit of an up and down year, but I firmly believe in this player as a solid prospect for the Oilers defence. He does a lot of things right on the ice.

Demers hits 700

The Oilers made the classy move of recalling defenceman Jason Demers from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors ahead of yesterday’s game to give him his 700th game played. He’s been a great soldier for the organization this year playing down in Bakersfield as a veteran voice and helping guide the way for some of the young players down there.
Yeah, he had a tough go in the first coughing up the puck on what should be a simple play, but in a first intermission interview with Gene Principe you could hear the nerves in his voice. For a guy that’s played a lot of hockey in his life, it’s a reminder to all of us just how sacred getting to play NHL games is.

THE DAY AFTER IS PRESENTED BY BETWAY


Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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