Connor McDavid Continues To Grow More Powerful By The Day, And That Should Strike Fear In Everybody
As far as McDavid goals go, this one is relatively mild at first glance. Broken play, McDavid scoops up the loose puck, splits the D, makes the goalie look like an absolute fool. McDavid has 319 goals in his career so far, and it's been a rinse & repeat of that same sequence for probably 200 of them.
The goal itself was crispy. No doubt about it. But it's what we've come to expect out of Connor McDavid at this point. Water is wet, sky is blue, McDavid makes the other 6 guys wearing a different uniform than him on the ice look like absolute buffoons.
But where this goal should really strike fear in everybody is when he initially gets possession of the puck. You may recall earlier in the week, the Oilers got dicked over with a Zach Hyman goal getting called off due to an offside challenge.
Draisaitl gained possession of the puck about 1.5 centimeters too late before he had already entered the zone, Chicago challenges the play, the refs took a full 5 minutes to review the play, and the goal eventually gets wiped off the board. I wouldn't say McDavid was "pissed" about the review, but he mentioned how ridiculous it is to stop a game for "15 minutes" to determine if a play was offside by a fraction of an inch or not. Especially considering the Oilers were on the wrong end of this Cale Makar goal in game 1 of the 2022 Western Conference Final.
The play was ruled onside because Makar pushed the puck across the blueline and didn't technically have possession of the puck until Nichuskin tagged up.
Now the biggest fear about artificial intelligence is that it learns too quickly. It takes in all the information of the world and is able to grow more powerful by the day. Connor McDavid might just be a robot, because this man has now figured out a way to make the NHL rulebook his bitch. He's learned from the Makar goal. He's learned from the Draisaitl offside from earlier in the week. And you'll see him make sure he holds off on touching the puck until Nugent-Hopkins is able to tag up.
You see two different Red Wings players immediately throw their hands up calling for offside. Jake Walman completely gives up on the play thinking it's offside. But Connor McDavid knows. Because Connor McDavid is a robot, and he's the only being on the planet so far who has been able to fully understand the ridiculous offside/onside rule in the NHL. He's got that shit dialed now, and nobody can stop him.
P.S. -- 9 wins in a row for the Oilers. Top wild card spot in the Western Conference. Looks like all this team really needed to get their shit together was for Whit to jump off the bandwagon.