'The best player in the world for a reason': Oilers' McDavid shines on big night

EDMONTON — Jeff Skinner had led a hockey life.

A product of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, a prodigal Kitchener Ranger with 50 goals, a Calder Trophy winner as the rookie of the year in 2011, and 1,000 NHL games later, teammate to Connor McDavid here in Edmonton.

On the night the Oilers celebrated McDavid’s 1,000th career point with a golden stick, a Rolex watch and a big, fat cheque for the Ben Stelter Foundation, Skinner did what we’ve all done for the past decade in these parts.

He marvelled at the game McDavid rolled out, with four assists in a 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. On this night, he could easily have had six points or more.

“You get a different level of appreciation for it, the more you see it,” began Skinner, when asked about McDavid’s game. “You see it more when you play with him: he’s such a handful for other teams to deal with, and it opens up so much space for everyone else.”

He’s seen some players over his 1,032 NHL games. But he’s never seen one quite like this, and on a night where Skinner quietly collected a goal and an assist, he had to admit, the closer he gets to the magic show, the more compelling it becomes.

We vow, here in Edmonton, not to take for granted the wizardry McDavid so often spins, the way we perhaps did with Wayne Gretzky a generation ago.

But all you have to do is ask a newcomer what he sees, to remember that a four-point night like this one — McDavid becomes the third player in Oilers history with 10 career four-assist games, joining Wayne Gretzky (51) & Jari Kurri (10) — is not something that fans across the league get to see from their captain every night.

“Everyone who makes plays, the other team has to react and send a guy to help,” observed Skinner. “But it seems like it happens to him much more often. He creates so much more space.

“You see it — he creates confusion in the other team's defensive zone. He’s so fast, so dynamic off the rush … You can go through the list of attributes.

“The whole package is pretty nice to watch.”

This was one of those nights where a younger Blue Jackets team did not execute the compulsory strategies that are required to at least slow McDavid down. He ripped through the neutral zone with speed, and on the rare occasion he was not afforded the middle of the ice to ply his trade, he simply took it anyhow.

It’s fun to watch, if you’re not a Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman on the night that McDavid’s parents, Brian and Kelly, plus wife Lauren and their dog Lenny are all at the rink for the 1,000-point celebration. These are the nights when the great players deliver, the evenings where the superstar greets the spotlight head on.

“You have to try and match speed as best you can,” reasoned Columbus D-man Damon Severson. But then he admitted, “Skating backwards, you’re never going to be able to.”

They used to say of Gretzky, “You can only hope to contain him.”

Then, for years, it became a press-box joke every time some third-liner scored. “You can only hope to contain Shjon Podein,” someone would wisecrack, and the boys would laugh.

Today, that line has gravitas again, with opponents in agreement that a one- or two-point night from McDavid gets you halfway to beating the Oilers, most nights anyhow.

“He’s the best player in the world for a reason,” said Severson. “You just try to maintain, keep him to the outside and trust your teammates to take care of everything that’s going on behind you. Because he’s going to make a great pass to the next guy, whether it’s one of their other top guys.

“You just try to limit his speed through the neutral zone, try to limit him from the middle stuff, and keep him to the outside. With him it’s tough, but it’s fun to get those opportunities to play against him. Obviously he had a great night and it wasn’t our best.”

The game opened with a pinball goal by Columbus, then two straight McDavid primary assists. He dangled through a Jackets defenceman then put the puck on a platter from three feet out for Zach Hyman, then McDavid circled the net, and as three Blue Jackets shaded away from the slot as if in his orbit, he fed a wide open Leon Draisaitl in the slot for a 2-1 lead.

Hyman would score twice — both assisted by No. 97 — as he walked off the injured list with a two-goal night.

“It is a privilege to play with him,” Hyman said of his captain. “When you’re out there, you’ve got to be at your best because he is always at his best.

“And even when he’s not, his not-so-best is probably better than anybody else’s best.”