By Canadian Press

A look at McDavid’s magic moments as the Oilers captain closes in on 1,000 points

Nov 14, 2024 | 5:15 AM

EDMONTON — Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid enters the Oilers’ game Thursday night against Nashville with 999 points.

The 27-year-old could reach 1,000 in his 659th game, becoming the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to hit the milestone behind Wayne Gretzky (424 games), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656).

Here’s a look at some of the standout performances that got him to this point.

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Feb. 13, 2024 — McDavid had a career-high six assists as the Oilers thumped the Detroit Red Wings 8-4. McDavid reached the 600-assist milestone with his third helper of the night, but his fifth assist was one to remember. He spun to completely lose Wings defenceman Moritz Seider before feeding Evander Kane with a pinpoint pass that dominated the night’s highlight reel.

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Jan. 2, 2024 — McDavid surpassed the 900-point mark with a goal and four assists in Edmonton’s 5-2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. His goal came on a dynamic end-to-end rush, with McDavid turning on the jets and blowing by the opposition before beating Flyers goalie Carter Hart.

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Nov. 18, 2021 — Twenty-eight seconds after the Winnipeg Jets took a 1-0 lead in a tight-checking game, McDavid equalized for the Oilers in dramatic fashion. With the arena’s PA system at Rogers Place still announcing Winnipeg’s goal, McDavid danced through three defenders before snapping the puck past star netminder Connor Hellebuyck. McDavid, who would go on to score in the shootout in a 2-1 Oilers victory, extended his point streak to 16 games with the goal.

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Jan. 6, 2020 — McDavid had a goal and three assists as the Oilers down the Maple Leafs 6-4 in Toronto. McDavid, who grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, stunned the home crowd when he blew past Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly and easily outmanoeuvred goaltender Frederik Andersen.

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Oct. 19, 2017 — McDavid showed his elite playmaking prowess in a 2-1 win at Chicago as he backed down the Blackhawks’ towering defensive pair of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook before spinning around and backhanding a seeing-eye pass to Oilers forward Patrick Maroon for an easy tap-in. He also assisted on Mark Letestu’s overtime goal.

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Nov. 19, 2016 — McDavid might have called them “pretty lucky goals,” but his first career hat trick led the Oilers past the host Dallas Stars 5-2. Two of the goals were off rebounds and one was an attempted pass that deflected into the net, but McDavid ended a 10-game drought by showing he can score in dirty areas. “It’s a funny league that way,” he said after the game. “You get grade A chances and they’re not going in, then you start putting it there and they are going in.

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Feb. 2, 2016 — After a three-month layoff with a broken clavicle, McDavid returned to the Oilers lineup with a vengeance in a 5-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. McDavid scored the winner when he split the Columbus defence and deked out goalie Joonas Korpisalo, then added a pair of assists for good measure.

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Oct. 13, 2015 — McDavid scored his first NHL goal in his third game, a 4-2 loss at Dallas. While the goal itself was pedestrian by McDavid’s standards — a shot tipped past Stars netminder Kari Lehtonen — he gave a taste of what was to come earlier in the sequence by using his speed to get into the Stars’ zone and send the puck into the corner.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press