Connor McDavid has admitted he wasn’t good enough during the Edmonton Oilers’ power play in Game 1 against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Oilers ultimately prevailed with a 4-3 win, but McDavid looked a tad mortal as the Ducks penalty killers stripped him of puck after puck on his way into the offensive zone.
McDavid Acknowledges Need for Improvement
The Edmonton Oilers went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
McDavid said he was “just not being clean enough.” He added, “That’s an area we’re obviously very good at, (and I am) not too concerned about it. That being said, they threw some different things at us, and we’ll adjust.”
McDavid, who went pointless in Game 1, assessed the match: “The first period was good, the second period was no good, and (in the) third period we found a way to win a game. There’s positives in that, and lessons as well.”
Woodcroft’s Knowledge a Factor
Anaheim assistant Jay Woodcroft spent two-plus seasons as Edmonton’s head coach from 2021-23, and another three as Todd McLellan’s assistant in Edmonton (2015-18). McDavid agreed that “Woody” would provide the rest of Ducks staff with plenty of Oilers intel.
“They’d have lots,” agreed McDavid. “But I don’t think anything on our power play is hidden. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we know what we do really well. So I don’t know how many secrets you can really tell …”
Head coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t worried about McDavid’s ability to bounce back. “Anytime I see Connor do something, maybe not at his best, it usually doesn’t last very long. He usually finds a way to correct it,” Knoblauch said.
Knoblauch added, “I could see the frustration with him on the entries. Once we got set up, we had some looks. But I think there should be a lot of credit to Anaheim. They did a great job of making it hard for us to get into the zone.”
Injuries Impact Both Teams
Adam Henrique and Radko Gudas will both miss Game 2 for their respective clubs.
Henrique’s knee buckled when he ran into teammate Kasperi Kapanen in Game 1, while Gudas brought an injury into this series and likely aggravated it Monday.
- Rookie Josh Samanski will draw into his first-ever NHL playoff game for Edmonton, centring a fourth line with Colton Dach and Trent Frederic.
- Drew Helleson will take Gudas’ spot on Anaheim’s third pair alongside Gatineau, Quebec’s Tyson Hinds.
Samanski said that the experience of playing for Team Germany in the Olympics will help him handle the nerves on Wednesday night. “That was a big stage, playing with and against the best players,” he said. “It definitely help
Game 2 is Wednesday, 8 p.m. MT / 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.