The hero of the Canada team, Connor McDavid, cannot find the game with Oilers

Article content

Sunrise, Florida.-The most recent moment of skating in the hockey’s air of Connor McDavid was only a few nights ago, but the reality of this season of the National Hockey League is that not everything goes on its way.

Article content

Article content

Article content

That is what is so difficult to explain and understand above all what McDavid can be. The best player in the game is not having the best personal seasons.

The overtime winner scored in the fabulous show that was the 4 -nations confrontation tournament and then returned to his Edmonton OilersBut the team has not registered a victory and McDavid has not scored a goal since the second unofficial half of the season began.

More than McDavid is always expected, for himself, of himself and now from a country for which he obtained the last goal where he had the goal.

The winning objective of the tournament, as short as it may have been, was his last moment forever. And now back at the Florida Panthers house on Thursday night, playing the Stanley Cup champions for the first time in Sunrise since the 2-1 defeat in the game 7 last June, it is a challenge to find the emotion of which it was part of Boston only one week ago.

Article content

Article content

“I would lie if I said that I had felt good there,” McDavid said in an interview on Thursday morning. “It has been difficult to get going, which is not an excuse. I have to find a way to get going. Obviously, it was a great emotional week, an exciting week, and has returned to reality quite fast.

“For me, it’s about returning to what I do, wanting the album, taking the boys, being assertive, there is definitely an element of physicality that helps me. He is not hitting guys, they are winning battles. He is returning to what I do and that is to create an offensive. If I am not touching the album, it is usually a sign that I am not playing very well. The more times I play it … “

The better he plays.

McDavid has not been close to the top of the NHL score this season, a battle that has been fought mainly between his teammate and the favorite of Hart Trophy, Leon Draisaitl, and the teammate of the McDavid team, Nathan Mackinnon, of Colorado Avalanche.

Article content

He has been closer to Mitch Marner in the list of annotations during a work season for the end of the Maple Leafs, his extra time friend, and a season below the average for McDavid in terms of numbers.

It is no different from most sensational players. He hopes to be great. He hopes to be among the leaders of the League. He says he doesn’t care how many points scores while Edmonton wins. But lately, in the midst of a solid season in terms of points, the oilers have been lousy.

They have been surpassed by 17-7 in their three losses since the Canada team wins in Boston. They have lost four consecutive games and have spent nine since they won in the regulation. His victory in more recent regulation occurred a month ago, on January 27.

“Obviously, the year has not happened as I wanted it to be personally, but I don’t look for personal success,” McDavid said. “I wish I was playing better. I wish I was playing better all year. Winning games is more important and we have not been doing it lately. “

Article content

In the last eight Oilers games, which stopped for four Games of the Canada team and three goals scored by McDavid, he has achieved only one goal.

This season is producing 1.46 points per game. For most players, life would change. For McDavid, it’s not good enough.

Last year, he had 1.73 points per game and 1.68 in the playoffs. The year before that, it was 1.86 per game.

Maybe he is waiting for the playoffs. He has done it the last three years. And scored three goals in the last three games for the Canada team.

This is the lowest regular seasonal score rate of McDavid in seven years. And, like most generational players, he knows his numbers my heart. He knows they should be better.

“It’s hard with yourself,” said the teammate of the Oilers, Connor Brown, the former teammate of Leaf and Junior of McDavid. “It has a different set of standards to which you want to play. He is always chasing being the best version of himself, that is what makes it so good. “

Article content

This is almost March. The playoffs begin in April. There is no fugitive team at the West Conference. Oilers have as many possibilities of making a playoff career as anyone in the west.

McDavid knows what follows and he knows what is coming after that. The winter Olympic Games are next February and for years it has been among the most open players about the best international hockey. He wanted it and now he has experienced it and wants more.

And he can’t wait for where he will take the Oilers this season and where next season he will take the Canada team in Italy.

“I loved every minute,” McDavid said about the 4 -nations event. “It was a lot of fun. Just to be part of that. Only the emotion of the games, the passion of fans.

“He felt we were going on the day of the year directly to the Stanley Cup final. And it is not that it is the final of the Stanley Cup, but that is what it felt. A really fun experience. “

With the perfect end. And this season still completes. And an Olympic tournament within a year.

Oilers need some victories. McDavid needs some objectives. Everything should happen on time.

[email protected]

twitter.com/simmonsteve

Article content