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7 years ago

The first meeting between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 1 this season was hyped as a showdown between blue-chippers Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, the first overall picks in the 2015 and 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

McDavid and Matthews instead got upstaged at the Air Canada Centre by Nazem Kadri, who stole the show. Kadri not only drove McDavid to distraction in a way that would make Esa Tikkanen proud, he scored two goals, including the winner 12 seconds into overtime, as the Maple Leafs beat the Oilers 3-2.

The final touch in a performance by Kadri that I thought was masterful but that had many Oiler fans howling in indignation came when Kadri pushed through McDavid to snare a loose puck – Oiler fans say he held McDavid, tugging on his right arm – before breaking in and depositing it behind Cam Talbot for the winner.

The rematch goes tonight at Rogers Place when the Maple Leafs come calling on the Oilers, and I’m guessing that McDavid, who was held scoreless in that OT loss in Hogtown, won’t be lacking motivation. Likewise, I’d be willing to bet Toronto coach Mike Babcock will be doing his best to get Kadri on the ice whenever McDavid is out there, even though he won’t have the last change.

SHOULD BE FUN

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“We just tried to get in his way, be physical, be hard on him,” Kadri said of getting the better of McDavid the first time around. “Obviously, he’s a great player. He’s got a great skill-set, so if you’re anything but hard on him, he’s going to make plays and he’s going to embarrass you and do what he wants. We want to prevent that because we know he’s a guy who you have to key on.”

Kadri and the rest of the Maple Leafs did exactly that. McDavid played 22:46, including 1:50 on the power play, and had four shots on goal in the first meeting. Kadri, meanwhile, played 14:05, had six shots and scored twice. He also poked and prodded McDavid at every opportunity. It was a vintage pest performance.

“We were making him skate through us,” said Toronto forward Connor Brown. “We weren’t letting him build his speed. If he gets to top speed he’s tough to stay with, so you’ve got to stick with him before he gets there and kind of take away his ice early.”

Match-ups like we saw between McDavid and a shadow like Kadri Nov. 1 are the game within the game that make things interesting, especially when they directly impact the outcome, as was the case in the first meeting. It’ll be interesting to see if Oiler coach Todd McLellan attempts to get McDavid away from Kadri with the last change or if he just turns the NHL’s leading scorer loose.

THE REMATCH

“When you’re as talented as he is and motivated as he is, you want to be there for your team every single night and be a guy you can count on,” Kadri said of facing McDavid again. “He definitely is that type of player. I’m sure he’d going to be eager to get after us like no other game.”

With Round One going to Kadri and the Maple Leafs, I won’t be the least bit surprised to see McDavid at his very best tonight. In fact, I’ll be stunned if McDavid doesn’t come up with one of his best performances of the season given that, the Kadri factor aside, the Oilers have dropped two straight games with back-to-back losses to the Arizona Coyotes.

I’m not sure if you look forward to Kadri and McDavid going nose-to-nose again as much as I do – perhaps some of you would just as soon see somebody punch Kadri out if even gets close to McDavid in the encore – but I hope Babcock tries to work his line changes to get that match-up again and that McLellan lets it unfold that way and lets the chips fall where they may.

I give Kadri all the credit in the world for getting the better of McDavid the first time out in Toronto. That said, when we’re talking about a straight up match-up between No. 97 and Kadri – or pretty much anybody, for that matter — I’m taking McDavid 99 times out of 100. Kadri already has his one in the books.

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.

YOU AGAIN?

SHOULD BE FUN

THE REMATCH

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