Flames have no answer for Oilers’ Three-Headed Monster of McDavid-Draisaitl-Kane
EDMONTON, Alberta — You knew what was coming, Darryl Sutter was saying after Game 3, as Oil Country erupted into unadulterated bedlam outside Rogers Place.
Car horns honked endlessly, orange Oiler flags waved wildly, and fans climbed pre-greased poles with as much as ease as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane picked the Flames apart.
Yes, Sutter said, the Calgary Flames knew what was coming.
And yet they still got hit in the face with a two-by-four wielded by the Oilers’ three-headed monster on Sunday night.
The Flames had no answer, no pushback against Edmonton’s Triple Threat super line, the trio that has flipped this Battle of Alberta on its head.
You can throw out the narrative of better team versus best player.
Since Jay Woodcroft put Draisaitl-McDavid-Kane together to start Game 2, Edmonton has outscored Calgary by a 9-4 margin and now sits in the drivers’ seat in this best-of-seven series that has become an instant classic.
“The line was pretty effective tonight,” Sutter conceded.
That’d be like saying McDavid is just a good hockey player. Or Edmonton hospital maternity wards might be slightly overwhelmed in nine months if the Oilers can find a way to reign supreme in Alberta.
They’re on their way. They’ve got the Flames staring down one of the most lethal lines we’ve seen in the Stanley Cup playoffs in decades.
McDavid, Draisaitl and Kane have combined for 55 points in 10 playoff games. It’s the first and second leading point-getters of the playoffs coupled with the postseason’s leading goal scorer in Kane.
Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said: “We let one guy beat us tonight,” but it would have been fair to ask: Who? The whole line was ridiculous.
On the left side, Draisaitl set a 104-year-old Stanley Cup record for most assists (four) in a single period on Sunday. And the Deutschland Dangler did it essentially on one leg, looking more powerful each game as he navigates a painful high-ankle sprain.
It’s bizarre to think that Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson contorting Draisaitl helped create a super line. If Draisaitl isn’t injured, there’s a good chance Nos. 29 and 97 would still be skating on separate units.
“He’s been a horse for us,” goaltender Mike Smith said of Draisaitl. “He’s been banged up a little bit, I think everyone is pretty aware of that. It seems like he’s just played better and better as the playoffs have gone on.”
Down the middle, McDavid is authoring one of the greatest playoff stories hockey has ever seen. He was in pure video game mode in Game 3, beating Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin to a puck that the blue liner had a 40-foot head start on.
McDavid’s 23 points would have led the entire playoffs in scoring in 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019. We’re barely halfway through Round 2. You read that correctly.
His 2.30 points-per-game are second only to Wayne Gretzky’s runs in 1985 (2.61) and 1983 (2.31) and McDavid set a new NHL record with his ninth multi-point game out of 10 to start a postseason.
The way he dances and darts all over the ice, McDavid is as mesmerizing to viewers as he is to the Flames’ defenders, who seemingly could do little bit watch him.
If you want to invoke a heated debate in an Edmonton taproom, ask which game so far of the playoffs has been McDavid’s best. The answer will vary from Game 6 against the Kings to the series-clinching Game 7 to Game 2 on Friday … but Sunday’s Game 3 would be a great entrant in the argument.
“It shows,” Smith said, “that when your best players are playing the best hockey of their careers in the playoffs, your team has a really good chance to win.”
On the right side, and not to be overlooked, is Kane – who scored the seventh-fastest natural hat trick in playoff annals with his three strikes over six minutes in the second period.
Kane arrived in Edmonton with his career in question, jettisoned from the San Jose Sharks for an alleged breach of contract on behavioral grounds. But he joined the Oilers as a free agent only on the approval of Edmonton’s leadership group.
Because they knew Kane could help the Oilers win. Kane paces the playoffs in goals (10) after having McDavid and Draisaitl drop dimes on his stick in the slot.
Rogers Place exploded when Kane’s third goal hit the back of the net, the City of Champions holding the noise advantage among these Alberta archrivals. It chased Vezina Trophy finalist Jacob Markstrom from the net after the second period.
“I think a lot of our young guys who haven’t been in this situation before were a little intimidated by the atmosphere,” Sutter said.
Perhaps more impressive than the points that piled up was the way Edmonton’s three-headed monster dictated the style and pace of game. They forced a hard forechecking team to sit back out of deference – and for a squad that had started off seven of nine playoff games poorly this spring, the Oilers had the Flames on their heels.
“I think we set out with a gameplan to assert our game on the other team, just like we do every night,” Woodcroft said. “For me, I think it’s mindset. When your best players are leading the way mindset-wise and asserting our gameplan on the other team, I think it bodes well for our entire game.
“They’re driving us forward.”
They’re now also driving the Flames to question just about everything. How can Calgary slow down that trio? Are the Oilers in Markstrom’s head? What happened to the Flames’ identity over these last two games?
Loading up one line was not without risk, but the rookie coach Woodcroft’s lineup change has changed the series.
Your move, Darryl.