Game 2 on Wednesday night certainly didn’t go the way Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers would have drawn it up. A 6–4 loss on home ice to the Anaheim Ducks, with McDavid once again held off the scoresheet for a second straight game while being a -2 on the night.
That result was far from ideal to begin with, and when you factor in the injury scare the best player in the world had when colliding with his own teammate, Mattias Ekholm — who was battling with Ian Moore in the second period — it made for what felt like a nightmarish night for McDavid and company.
Fortunately, however, after a brief trip to the locker room, he was able to return and finish the game, and while he didn’t look fully like himself, McDavid ensured postgame that he is fine after all.
“It just got rolled up. It is fine,”
TSN reporter Ryan Rishaug then provided the update head coach Kris Knoblauch had regarding his captain on Thursday on X (formerly Twitter).
“Knoblauch says he’s not concerned about McDavids availability or effectiveness moving forward based on the time he missed in game 2,”
It’s been a rather strange start to the postseason for McDavid, who is coming off a 138-point (48 goals, 90 assists) regular season in which he won the Art Ross Trophy and is also in contention for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.
Rarely do you ever see him go consecutive games without a point, let alone look as off and make some of the mistakes he did, particularly in Game 2. The ankle was certainly nagging him throughout the night, but if he says it’s fine, then the expectation remains superstar-level performance that nobody else is capable of.
He and the Oilers won’t have long to dwell on the loss, as they will get right back on the horse in Anaheim on Friday night for a pivotal Game 3 as the series shifts to the Honda Center.
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