Connor McDavid has further cemented his legacy in the NHL history books.
The superstar forward scored a goal to record his 1,000th career point and set up Darnell Nurse’s overtime winner for good measure as his Edmonton Oilers defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Thursday.
The moment the fans had been waiting for came when the teams were playing four players per side 2:44 into the second period. Fittingly, it was Leon Draisaitl who fed McDavid on a 2-on-1 break and he ripped a one-timer past Predators goalie Scott Wedgewood for his sixth goal of the season and the 1,000th point of his career. McDavid has notched nine points in his last three games.
“It is a special moment. I said it the other day, this is legendary stuff,” said Draisaitl, who has factored in on 446 of McDavid’s now 1,001 career points. “To witness that and to be a part of it and to have seen him grow up from when he was 18 and we first met him, it is pretty cool, pretty amazing to be a part of.
“I’m very proud of him, very happy for him.”
Playing in his 659th game, McDavid became just the 99th player in NHL history to hit the magical 1,000 points plateau for his career. The Oilers captain became the fourth-fastest player ever to reach the milestone — trailing only Wayne Gretzky (424), Mario Lemieux (513) and Mike Bossy (656). At 27, he also became the fourth-youngest player ever to reach 1,000 points.
“Just seeing the way the players reacted means the world to me. It means everything to me,” McDavid said. “To hear the fans, that stuff means more to me than any of the numbers. It was a really special moment.
“These milestones are a great time to reflect and look back. It’s been a good 10 years and hopefully 10 more good ones.
“Some of these things have kind of hit me a little more emotionally than I would have thought.”
To put the 1,000-point milestone in perspective, McDavid did it in 98 fewer games than Sidney Crosby. The last player to reach 1,000 points was Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares, doing so on Dec. 11, 2023, in his 1,109th game. It only took McDavid 58 games to go from 900 points to 1,000.
Of course, the question came out, can he possibly get to the 2,000-point mark in his career?
“If not him, who else? That is the only question I have,” Draisaitl said. “I never bet against Connor McDavid. I have learned that over the last 10 years. It wouldn’t surprise me.”
Nurse had two goals and an assist and Draisaitl had a pair of assists for the Oilers (9-7-1), who have now earned at least a point in 16 of their last 17 games against Nashville, going 14-1-2 in that span.
It’s pretty cool to be out there and be a part of something that Connor did and worked so hard for,” Nurse said. “As teammates, it’s amazing, it’s amazing what he does every night and it’s cool when he passes these milestones that he gets to celebrate for.”
Calvin Pickard made 21 saves between the pipes for the Oilers.
Michael McCarron and Cole Smith responded for the Predators (5-9-2), who have lost five of their last six.
“I think the one point’s huge,” said Smith, who scored with 2:38 left in the third to eventually send the game to overtime. “I think we’ve got to try to start getting two points here now.
“Wedgey kept us in it all night, and that was huge for us. To battle back and get at least one [point] is big.”
Wedgewood made 31 stops in net for the Predators.
Here’s a look at some of the standout performances that got No. 97 to this point:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- Jan. 6, 2020 — McDavid had a goal and three assists as the Oilers downed 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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