One of the NHL’s most exclusive clubs needs to make room for Connor McDavid.
He became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season with two goals and an assist in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
His milestone day was capped with a video tribute in the Oilers locker room containing congratulatory messages from the other members of the 150-point club: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Phil Esposito, Steve Yzerman and Bernie Nichols.
Photo: AP
“I haven’t put a tonne of thought into it,” McDavid said about the milestone. “The guys kind of put a little video together of all the other five guys that have done it. It kind of hit me. That was special. To hear from all five was amazing.”
McDavid set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins early in the first period for his 87th assist and scored with 1 minute, 44 seconds left in the first period for his 63rd goal to reach the milestone last achieved by Lemieux when he scored 161 points in the 1995-1996 season.
McDavid added another goal late in the third period to give him 64 goals and 151 points with two games remaining in the regular season.
“A special player joined an elite group of players in the history of the game,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “Obviously what drives him is making sure that the team wins. That’s a big reason why we won today.”
McDavid needs five points in the final two games to pass the single-season highs for Esposito, Yzerman and Nichols.
He then would trail only Gretzky (nine seasons with at least 160 points) and Lemieux (four seasons with at least 160 points).
“I can’t say enough things about him,” linemate Zach Hyman said. “Obviously just the best player in the world, and just continues to push his own envelope and continues to make himself better and make our team better.”
Hyman, Derek Ryan and Philip Broberg also scored to help the Oilers win their seventh straight game. Edmonton, which began the day three points ahead of third-place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division, closed in on clinching home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Stuart Skinner made 22 saves.
Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks, who are assured of finishing in the bottom four of the league. James Reimer had 30 saves.
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
RSS