McDavid's effort 'from the heart' inspires Oilers heading into next round

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers head for their first Battle of Alberta series against the Calgary Flames in 31 years armed with a Connor McDavid who was a difference-maker in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Oilers and Flames begin the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN TVAS), the first time they've met in the postseason since the first round in 1991.
McDavid won his fourth Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader with a career-best 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists) in 80 games and followed it up with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in a seven-game first-round series victory against the Los Angeles Kings.
"I've seen him since his first day in the organization and he's come a long way," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "He is not only physically mature, but he's emotionally and intellectually matured as well. He's somebody who is not afraid to speak up and let his teammates know what he expects.
"I think the best teammates are the ones that it's not always from the throat but it's from the heart and in people that lead by example. So he backs up those words, and they carry a lot of weight. His play has been very inspired. It's inspiring his teammates. He's driving us forward."
To help the Oilers rally from down 3-2 in games against the Kings, McDavid figured in five of the six goals (two goals, three assists) Edmonton scored to win Games 6 (4-2) and 7 (2-0).

Part of McDavid's determination has been recent playoff failures, Oilers goalie Mike Smith said. After winning his first playoff series with Edmonton, a six-game victory against the San Jose Sharks in the 2017 Western Conference First Round, McDavid had been on the losing side of three straight series (the 2017 second round to the Anaheim Ducks, the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifier to the Chicago Blackhawks and the 2021 Stanley Cup First round to the Winnipeg Jets), and missed the playoffs entirely in two seasons (2017-18 and 2018-19).
"He feels an obligation to lead by example," Smith said. "His true character really came out in the first round here and everyone's seen how determined he was to go out there and put the team on his back and do what really good captains do. And that was put his money where his mouth is and he's gone out there and done that, and guys have followed his lead. And, and I'm sure he'll continue to do that."
Forward Derek Ryan, who signed with the Oilers on July 28, 2021 after playing three seasons with the Flames, said McDavid is not the only leader pulling them along. Rather, he's the central voice that is enhancing and inspiring other leaders on the team.
"I don't think that he's a lone ranger in there trying to lead this group," Ryan said. "I think there's a great group of guys in there that are trying to circle around him and around everybody else and bring everybody together, make sure everyone's on the same page. Connor is a great leader. It's an honor for all of us to play with him and go to battle with him. And he's obviously playing some of the best hockey that I've ever seen and, and it's fun to rally around him. But I think there's a good group of everyone that's taken on that job in there."
RELATED: [Complete Flames vs. Oilers series coverage]
Along with Ryan, four other members of the Oilers once played for the Flames.
Smith is in his third season with Edmonton after two with Calgary; defenseman Brett Kulak played parts of four seasons (2014-18) there and defenseman Kris Russell, who is in his sixth season with the Oilers, played for the Flames from 2013-16.
Assistant Glen Gulutzan, in his fourth season with Edmonton, coached Calgary from 2016-18.
Ryan acknowledged the rivalry was real, but he was downplaying the animosity of the Battle of Alberta on Monday.
"I don't think it was as much hatred or dislike that it likes to be built up to be," Ryan said. "Obviously as the season wears on, or the COVID season (2020-21) where we played each other 10 times, that just naturally, organically creates a little more dislike than normal. The games themselves, with the tenacity and the vibes in the rink and everything builds up that dislike as well but I think at the end of the day, we respect each other and we don't hate the guys over there. At least I don't. I don't know what everyone else feels."
Smith insisted that it's a good rivalry and said the province will be passionate about the series. But he said it's often wise to take the hype for what it is.
"The hype is real life," Smith said. "There's a lot of passionate fans in Alberta, whether for the Flames or for the Oilers. As players we're trying not to get consumed by that. There's a lot of extra noise but there's a focus with this group that we have a job to do and it didn't really matter who we were going to play against. It was just that we want to keep playing. It's an exciting time, obviously for this province. And sure, it'll be a fun show."
Woodcroft said that filtering out the noise to get to the proper preparation and focus for the series is the most important thing of all, whether it was the Flames or any other team the Oilers would play in the second round.
And he said the first round against the Kings was good in several ways.
"Just the way the Los Angeles Kings played in their adherence to their structure, forced us to do some things, forced us to solve problems to get out of our comfort zone," Woodcroft said. "I don't think anything great ever comes out of comfort zones. So it was nice to get pushed and forced to come up with different types of solutions to things. I think the Los Angeles Kings have some similarities to the Calgary Flames. So some of the things we saw in round one will help us help prepare us."
And in McDavid, Woodcroft said he saw someone who has evolved into the kind of player that can succeed in the playoffs.
"I saw a player really committed to the defensive side of things," he said. "Somebody who's prepared to pay a price physically and to do little things that don't necessarily show up on the final game sheet but they're key to winning. In order to win at this time of year, I think you need those efforts.
"As I said, the League is narrowed. It's not a first-effort league right now, it's a second- and third-effort league. And the most important thing is it's a find-a-way league right now. You've got to find a way to continue to improve you have to find a way to solve issues that other teams present you and we're lucky because our leader led the way."