EDMONTON — They may call him McJesus, but Connor McDavid doesn’t expect the seas to part every time he wants to take the puck to the net.
“I’m not expecting him to give me a free pass. He makes his decision, I make my decision, that’s just the way it is,” said McDavid after being driven into the goalpost by Anaheim defenceman Drew Helleson early in a thrilling 5-4 Ducks win. “You’re going to hit me like that and there’s going to be a response, that’s just the way it is.”
In this case, the response was twofold.
In-game, Vasily Podkolzin did what nearly every Canadian hockey fan deems appropriate when an opponent risks injury to your captain, the best player on your team — and in this case, the best player in the world.
Podkolzin beat the wheels off Helleson, coupling a bevy of rights with a passel of lefts. Given little choice but to defend himself, Helleson opted out.
Podkolzin politely declined to accept that decision, and was given an instigator and a game misconduct for his efforts.
“I’ve never seen that call before,” said McDavid.
“The instigation of the whole thing was when they run our guy into the net,” spat head coach Mike Babcock. “Is it within the rules to crosscheck the guy into the net? I thought it wasn’t.”
On the surface, this is the normal “we say, they say” of any hockey confrontation. It’s as partisan as a mother at the principal’s office, where little Johnny can do no wrong.
But this incident runs a little deeper for McDavid. And he was passionate in his post-game remarks.
“Obviously, it’s a play that is a little sensitive to me. Those are plays that I’ve been really, really hurt on before,” said McDavid. “Going into the end wall, going into the net… Those type of plays I find to be dangerous. Obviously, I didn’t love it.”
As a rookie, McDavid was run into the end board by Philadelphia’s Brandon Manning, resulting in a broken collarbone. Then, in the final game of the 2018-19 season, Calgary defenceman Mark Giordano took McDavid down on a net drive, sending him into the goalpost at top speed.
McDavid tore up his left knee and spent the entire summer recovering.
On this play, he stayed down for a while, taking stock before rising to have words with Helleson. Podkolzin finished the conversation shortly thereafter.
“I was just making sure things were good,” McDavid said. “I don’t think anyone really knows what it’s like to go Mach 1 into the net or into the end wall. It’s a play that is close to home for me because those are the plays that have really, really hurt me.
“Those are dangerous plays, in my opinion, in a situation I find myself a lot in. It was a close call for me.”
It was a rare display of post-game emotion from the Oilers captain, who briefly went to the dressing room before returning to notch a goal and three assists in the loss. The play set the tone for an emotional tilt between the team that knocked Edmonton out in Round 1 last spring and an Oilers team that is very sensitive about its captain’s well-being.
“I think people have me pegged as some type of robot, but I’ve got feelings and emotions too,” McDavid said. “When that comes out, it can rattle a game up. Obviously, I appreciate the response from Podzy. I thought it was an unfortunate call, I didn’t like the call, really, one bit.”
You may ask what McDavid expects opponents to do when he’s going to the net at top speed. But McDavid had safely made his way around defenceman Jackson LaCombe and had taken his shot on net when Helleson arrived late to the scene and drove him into the far post after the scoring chance had occurred.
What we read here is McDavid saying that if it’s a hit to stop a play, then fair game. If you beat me to the spot and we collide, that’s fine.
But if it’s a hit after the play has been made — in a situation known to cause injury — that is altogether different.
What does Helleson accomplish with the hit, well after his partner had been beaten?
“I think everybody understands what they are doing in that type of situation. I’m not expecting him to give me a free pass. He makes his decision, I make my decision,” McDavid said. “You’re going to hit me like that and there’s going to be a response, that’s just the way it is.”
The end boards became a player safety issue, resulting in no-touch icing.
“I wish that we treated the net like we treat the end wall,” McDavid said. “If I (hit Helleson) going Mach 1 into the end wall, that’s a five-game suspension. The net is just as dangerous in my opinion, with the goalie there, the post there. It’s just as dangerous — for me, and for the goalie.”
Just eight days after the Calgary Flames had stood around the ice at Rogers Place, looking at their skates after Colton Dach ran goalie Devin Cooley out of the game — then went hard into Dustin Wolf a period later — Podkolzin administered a lesson in what happens when people mess with McDavid.
It’s a small thing that isn’t going to alter the approach of players around the NHL much. But it’s a big thing within a team when a guy like Podkolzin does his job quickly and effectively.
“The reaction was what it should have been,” Babcock said. “That’s something we just have to look after.
SPEC’S CHECKS — With a short-handed goal and three assists, McDavid has a point — and an assist — in all 17 games this season. He’s got 10-34-44 in 17 games — more assists than anyone else in the NHL has points … With Tristan Jarry ill and everyone else hurt, EBUG Brett Epp dressed as the Oilers' backup Thursday, the first EBUG to get into action this season … Leon Draisaitl scored late with the goalie pulled, his 14th of the season.
