Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel ready for encore

What will Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel do for an encore?
We will find out Tuesday.
The first two picks in the 2015 NHL Draft will play against each other for the second time in their NHL careers when McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers play against Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, SNW, NHL.TV).
McDavid, the first pick of the 2015 draft, and Eichel, the second pick, staged a memorable game in their only head-to-head meeting in Buffalo on March 1. McDavid scored two goals, his second coming at 3:48 of overtime to win it 2-1 seconds after Eichel nearly won the game.

"I do remember that game," McDavid said Sunday. "It was definitely a good one for our team, but they gave us a pretty good thumping here when they played us earlier this year (a 6-2 Buffalo win on Oct. 16) so we owe them one."
Eichel missed that game because he sustained a high ankle sprain on Oct. 12, one day before the Sabres' season opener.

When the Sabres and Oilers played in Edmonton on Dec. 6, 2015, McDavid was out with a broken clavicle.
Three months later, they played against each other and staged a thrilling ending.
With 1:25 left in overtime, Eichel attacked with a quick rush and moved to get around Edmonton defenseman Andrej Sekera on the outside.
Deep in the Oilers zone, Eichel pulled up quickly and spun around with a backhand shot that narrowly missed on the far side.
McDavid picked up the puck out of the corner and rushed back up the right side of the ice.

His quickness got him around the outside of Buffalo's defense and he scored his 12th goal of the 2015-16 season with a backhand shot that went under Sabres goalie Robin Lehner.
McDavid and Eichel were on the ice together at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 playing for Team North America.
"He's a good guy," McDavid said of Eichel. "He was always kind of talking. He's the guy that's always kind of the center of attention. I definitely enjoyed my time with him.
"He's a little bit more animated than he leads on. He's definitely a good guy."

In their rookie seasons, McDavid had 48 points (16 goals, 32 assists) in 45 games and Eichel had 56 points (24 goals, 32 assists) in 81 games.
This season, McDavid leads the NHL in points with 34 in 27 games, though he is pointless in the past two games.
Eichel, who missed 21 games, played his first of the season on Nov. 29, scoring a goal and an assist in a 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators.
In his first four games after returning, Eichel has three goals and an assist, and the Oilers know he's an opponent that requires attention.

"He has a great shot and I think everybody knows that," Edmonton center Mark Letestu said. "He has the ability, especially on his team, to slow the game down, really hang onto the puck and force everybody on the ice to play at his speed, whether it's on the power play or 5-on-5. He has that ability to hold onto it.
"And then he still has the jets if he wants to pull away on somebody. You see Connor, he plays every night with that blast of speed and he's challenging [defensemen] every night. Jack, he's able to, from what I see, position himself well and he holds onto pucks and slows down the play sometimes, then can make a good play. When it's at his pace, he's in command of the game and that makes it very difficult [to play against]."
The Oilers (14-10-2) begin a three-game road trip against the Sabres (9-10-6), who were defeated by the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime on Monday.