BLOG: Holloway hopeful to stick on McDavid's wing

SAN JOSE, CA - Dylan Holloway doesn't want to give up this spot.
He's currently holding down one of the most coveted positions in all of hockey, riding shotgun on the left side of Connor McDavid on the Oilers top forward trio that also includes Kailer Yamamoto.
The new-look line lit the lamp twice in the first period of Wednesday's 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks, including McDavid setting up Holloway for a one-timer in the slot just 3:24 into the game for the rookie's third goal of the season and second in his last four appearances.
"Any chance you get to play with the best player in the world, it's pretty awesome," Holloway said, beaming, following Thursday's practice at SAP Center in San Jose.

The former University of Wisconsin Badger also noted he received some advice from Oilers Assistant Coach Glen Gulutzan that has prompted him to take more of a shoot-first mentality, as evidenced by his two recent goals that came on hard one-timers.
"He told me to kind of switch my mindset to be like a 70 percent shooter and 30 percent passer, because this league is so quick and guys are so fast to close that if you take that extra half a second, they're going to close on you," Holloway said. "If I can kind of find a spot, get open and just look to be a shooter, I think that's a big thing, especially with the two guys I'm playing with. Just get open and shoot everything."
The two guys he's playing with like what they've seen so far in their game and a half together after Holloway replaced Klim Kostin midway through their visit to Los Angeles on Monday.
"He skates really well and you can see his confidence growing," McDavid said. "I think that's the main thing. He's wanting the puck, holding onto the puck, winning battles and making plays like we saw early in the year. It's a hard league and certainly not a developmental league, so he's worked through some things and you can see him start to feel better about himself."

"Davo is the best player in the world, he can pretty much play with anybody, but playing with Holloway is just fun," added Yamamoto, who also has two goals in the last four games.
"He likes to work, really skilled guy. He has a great shot. Things were clicking last night in our first game, so we can't really get too over-hyped, but it's fun playing with them."
Holloway came in hot during the preseason with four goals and two assists, including a hat-trick at home against Vancouver. Thanks to Wednesday's goal, he's now also up to six points in 39 games during the regular season, which he says is a testament to how tough the NHL can be for a rookie.
"I felt good in preseason," he said. "The puck was going in a little bit more, but I think early on there's a lot of stuff I just had to learn. You're going up against the best players in the world, so any little mistake kind of can bite you a little bit and it did there at the start for me. The biggest thing is I got to learn from that and I think I've been able to kind of build my game a little bit more to gain a little bit more trust with the coaches and a little more confidence in myself as well."