Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers takes a hit from Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey during Game Two of their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs series in Edmonton on May 21, 2021.Codie McLachlan/Getty Images
It shouldn’t be that big a deal that Connor McDavid hasn’t scored a point in two consecutive games. But the Edmonton Oilers are doing their utmost to make it seem like one. After McDavid was nullified in Game 1, the Oilers put Leon Draisatl on his line for Game 2.
There are two ways of looking at that move: you’re either highlighting your most attractive features or you’re in a state of high anxiety. Which of the two it is depends on how it turns out.
McDavid didn’t score again on Friday night. So that makes it anxiety.
As soon as something like this happens, everyone goes running for the advanced stats page. McDavid failed to score in two consecutive games only once this past season (in that case, it was three games in a row). He did it once last season.
If you’re an Oilers fan, these should be hopeful factoids. History and the law of averages are on your side. McDavid scores so often, he’s the only player in the NHL who makes headlines when he doesn’t do it for a couple of nights.
But as soon as you start talking about it, it’s a problem. The Oilers cannot stop talking about it. The players, the coaches, the mascot. Everyone should be punting on the question of McDavid’s struggles, and no one is.
“There’s no reason to panic,” McDavid said after Friday’s 1-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
That’s another thing you should never do – say the word ‘panic’. It means it’s rattling around in your mind. Which means you’re thinking about not panicking. Which is the first stage of panic.
“We know it’s not the end of the world,” said Tyson Barrie. That’s the sort of thing you might say when you’re wondering if this is the end of the world.
McDavid hasn’t played poorly, but no amount of heroic backchecking mitigates two pointless outings from the league’s scoring leader. It’s more a question of credit to the Jets, than blame for the Oilers.
But from the Edmonton perspective, that isn’t a decent enough excuse.
Plenty of guys reliably score points. McDavid scores a lot more than that, but he is still just one (remarkable) cog in the machinery of a team.
The real advantage to having McDavid is intimidation. The opponent expects him to score. At this time of year, they probably expect him to score more than once.
That psychological wedge operates like a lever. If they’ve already given you a goal or two in their minds because you have McDavid, you start each game with a lead.
But it works the other way around, too. If McDavid doesn’t tally, the opponent begins to feel like they have rolled the score back in their own favour without the hassle of putting the puck in the net.
If they manage to win a couple this way – which the Jets have just done – they start to feel like they’ve got a lucky charm. He wears number 97 for the other team and looks a little piqued.
You can see how quickly it gets going downhill from there. The media and fans pile in. The coach jumps to his star’s defence, which suggests he needs defending. The other guys in the locker room start looking around at each other like they’ve just landed in bizarro world. The longer it goes on – and we’re talking hours rather than days – the worse it gets.
This is the curse that comes with the blessing of having a towering superstar on your team.
It’s easier in, say, basketball. LeBron James might not put up his usual number, but he will score some points. That’s just how basketball works.
In baseball, Mike Trout can go 0-for-5, but then stretch out for a great catch and people will say that was a big moment. In football, as long as the quarterback doesn’t throw four interceptions, you can claim he was all right.
But if you play the centre position in hockey and are considered the best in the sport, it’s all about points. No points equals no good.
If you score no points and win, people will still say you look funny. If you score no points and lose, people will start making up stories about how you must be injured and covering it up.
The immediate concern for McDavid isn’t winning this series. That went out the door last night. His most pressing concern is not losing this series without scoring.
That would trail him and his team around like a bunch of cans on a string for the next calendar year. That’s the sort of thing that gets in your head, and every head around you.
Will McDavid score on Sunday? You’d bet money he would. That’s another part of the problem. Everyone will be staring at McDavid, waiting for him to do something amazing. Those are not the best circumstances under which to do amazing things.
One goal releases the pressure. One goal and a win makes everything alright again.
The Jets will have some say in this. They must feel like they’ve gotten at least part way into McDavid’s head. Now we’ll see just how far they’ve penetrated.
Weirdly, this may be the most fraught moment in McDavid’s not-quite-so-young-any-more career. This season, he elevated himself beyond best-in-game status. He’s begun to seem like a mythic talent, someone operating at a level others can’t fully comprehend, never mind match.
That makes it increasingly difficult to explain his lack of playoff success. If you’re so good, how come you never win anything?
Whatever happens, you don’t want to be the guy with all the gifts and none of the follow-through. That reputation has a way of becoming self-fulfilling.