Oilers’ Connor McDavid drops truth bomb on what he’s ‘paid to do’

The Edmonton Oilers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in overtime on Thursday night. It gives them a 2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup Playoffs series as it heads back to Edmonton. All of that has been without Connor McDavid scoring a goal for the Oilers in the first two games. He picked up his third assist of the series on the game-winner and spoke with The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman after the game.

“Not our best, not my best, but we found a way,” McDavid said. “That’s what we get paid to do, paid to score goals in big moments.”

The Oilers have been losing at some point in each of their playoff games so far. Yet they have won six consecutive games since going down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Kings. McDavid was massive on their comeback trail against LA and helped make the play in overtime on Thursday night. But that does not reach his lofty expectations.

Last year, McDavid won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP despite the Oilers losing Game 7 to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final. He set the record for assists and points in a single postseason and nearly carried Edmonton back from 3-0 down in the Cup Final.

So far in this postseason, McDavid has just two goals but a league-leading 12 assists in only eight games. The Oilers have been staying above water when he and Draisaitl are off the ice, which is imperative to their success. That was true last postseason, but it was not the case for most of this regular season. Evander Kane, Connor Brown, and Zach Hyman all have big goals so far against the Golden Knights to start the series.

The Oilers will be back at home on Saturday night with a 2-0 series lead and a chance to put Vegas on the brink.