Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid set another record during the win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series.
McDavid had two assists as Edmonton beat Vegas 4-2 to go on the front foot in the best-of-seven series.
Connor McDavid Leapfrogs Mario Lemieux in Playoff Assists Chart
McDavid notched his 90th and 91st playoff assists during the game at the T-Mobile Arena.
He took 81 games to reach the milestone, overtaking legendary NHL player Mario Lemieux, who achieved the feat in 97 postseason games. According to NHL Stats, only Wayne Gretzky has provided 90 assists in the playoffs in fewer games; “The Great One” needed just 63 games to rack up 90 assists.
McDavid has a record of 39 goals and 91 assists in the NHL playoffs. Per NHL Stats, he also became the fifth player in league history to record 10 or more assists in four consecutive postseasons. The only other players with longer streaks are Wayne Gretzky (seven), Jari Kurri (six), and Mark Messier (five).
During last year’s playoffs, the Oilers captain had 34 assists and broke Gretzky’s record of 31 assists in a single postseason campaign. He is currently the leading points scorer in the playoffs, with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points from seven games so far.
Recapping Oilers’ Game 1 Win
Late goals from Zach Hyman and Connor Brown sealed the Oilers’ victory over Vegas in Game 1. Hyman scored the tiebreaker at 16:58 in the third period and Brown sealed the win at 18:12.
Oilers Connor McDavid has 28 points (6 G, 22 A) in 14 career Game 1s.
His 2.00 points per game 1s are the highest in NHL history.
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats)
Vegas player Mark Stone scored twice on the night to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead before the Oilers’ comeback.
“Not the outcome we wanted,” Stone said via NHL.com. “There were some good parts of the game, some bad parts of the game. We’ll go over it and get ready for Thursday night’s game because it’s going to be a big one for us.”
Edmonton right wing Corey Perry made it 2-1 in the closing seconds of the second period, and Oilers center Leon Draisaitl scored his ninth career game-tying goal in the playoffs 57 seconds into the third frame.
“We’d like to get a better start, first goal, and cruise from there,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game. “We know that’s not the case, but we’re going to have to see what happens. I think if you can pick a period that you’re going to be the strongest in as a coach, you want to be best in the third period because that’s where it’s going to come down to.”
Game 2 will be played on Thursday, May 8, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, before the series shifts to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4.
