POST-GAME: The makings of McDavid's first 60-goal season

EDMONTON, AB - What goes into scoring 60 goals in a season?
The materials of the first 60-goal campaign of Connor McDavid's career can be seen, heard and felt in the milestone marker's make-up and the motions to which the moment was experienced by the captain, his teammates, coaches and the whole of Oil Country on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.
There have been the ones who said he couldn't do it. There's been plenty of adversity. There have been late nights in the gym, early mornings for practice, frustrating moments, missed chances and sticks slammed into the backboards for not finishing a golden opportunity.
But there have always been believers. There's always been another opportunity for McDavid to score that sublime goal, and it's almost always connected to an equally awe-inspiring pass from his ride-or-die in Leon Draisaitl.
"It's pretty special," Draisaitl, who provided the primary assist on McDavid's 60th goal and is one of his biggest supporters, said post-game on Wednesday. "Obviously he's going to downplay it as we all know, but it's pretty hard to score in this league and to score 60 in a season. To still have ten games to go is pretty remarkable. He's just a special player."
Wednesday's overtime winner for McDavid in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Arizona Coyotes encapsulated just what's gone into the journey to 60 goals for the world's best player, who has been redefining this season what it takes to reach that milestone and carry that title.
"He's obviously doing it and he's worked extremely hard at it," Draisaitl added. His captain has been near unbeatable this season, and McDavid's first 60-goal campaign in the eighth year of his generational career felt like an inevitable reality for everyone in the Oilers organization and the rest of the NHL.
"I think what a lot of people don't really see is he put so much work into every little detail of his game and at some point, it was going to happen that way regardless," Draisaitl added.

To begin talking about 60 goals for McDavid, let's take you back to number 59. We've seen it before this season when it comes to McDavid reimagining ways to score goals, and on Wednesday, the captain was in the midst of one of those magical performances.
McDavid thought two steps ahead of Arizona netminder Connor Ingram, who looked to block the cross-ice feed to Draisaitl for the one-timer on the power play, but didn't account for his own mask that the Oilers captain would use to bank one in from below the goal line in the first period of Wednesday's win.
"That was where I was aiming. I've done that a couple of times," McDavid recalled. "Everybody's so worried about Leo on the backside there that sometimes, even the goalie can get caught kind of reaching and trying to block that pass. Just something that I've tried before and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work."
"Tonight was the night of trying the same thing a couple of times, but I felt like I had a lot of good looks and was disappointed to miss some of them."

None more disappointing for McDavid was his first opportunity to claim his 60th goal and put the game to bed in overtime when he was sprung on a breakaway by an extraordinary backhand feed from the best passer in the League as voted by the NHLPA. The captain went around Ingram on his forehand but rang it off the inside post before taking two whacks at the boards in frustration for a golden opportunity to win it gone by.
"Really, really weird play," McDavid said. "Obviously, Leo makes a great play on the first pass. I felt like I was kind of pressing for the 60th all night, and at this point not to bury that one, you're not going to get many better looks than that."
"He obviously missed the first one and he was just telling me that he slammed a stick against the boards after," Draisaitl said.
But before he could almost even finish resetting himself from the previous play, Draisaitl's incredible steal on Coyotes forward Travis Boyd and pass from his knees along the boards had McDavid back 1-on-1 with Ingram on a breakaway that surely wasn't about to be denied.
"It's not every day you get two breakaways back-to-back like that, so he made two unbelievable plays. Just ridiculous," McDavid said. "Just a guess that he's not going to think I'm going to do it twice. So thankfully, it worked out."
"I just saw their guy bobble it, so I tried to strip him and obviously saw Connor again," Draisaitl added. "Crazy to try that same move again and score on it the second time, but that's just what he does I guess."
With a mirror dangle to his first attempt seconds earlier, McDavid went up and over on his forehand, sending his 60th goal of the season into the roof of Arizona's net and his reputation as the best in the game into hockey's upper echelons.

"I've not seen him score an overtime goal like that, or anybody, because it came off an all-world pass out of our end from Leon," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "He went down on a breakaway, which normally is money in the bank for him. The goal didn't go in. He kind of turned one way, was upset that it didn't go in, and then sure enough Leon found him again right down Main Street and he made no mistake on it."
McDavid became the first Oilers player to 60 goals since Wayne Gretzky did it in 1986-87, and fourth active NHL player alongside Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews and Steven Stamkos to accomplish the feat. What's even better is that he did it in 72 games -- one better than Matthews in 2021-22 when the Toronto forward won the Rocket Richard and Hart Memorial trophies as the League's top scorer and MVP.
I don't think there's going to be any debate over those accolades this season with McDavid's current 28-point lead on his teammate Draisaitl with 138 points, including the 60-goal mark that even has number 97 overjoyed to reach the milestone.
"At the end of the day, they're all just numbers," McDavid said humbly. "But 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it and it feels good to join that list. Obviously, we've got a lot of work left on this year and looking forward to putting ourselves in a good spot heading into the postseason."

Draisaitl, who's ridden alongside McDavid as the other half of the Dynamic Duo, always knew his captain had the ability in him and would consistently pump his tires that scoring 60 goals wasn't out of the realm of his possibilities.
"I told him in the summer, there's no reason why he can't. He's so special," he said. "He creates so many opportunities for himself that he has enough looks to get there. So obviously, very happy for him and proud of him."
"He's said that all along. He's always said that," McDavid replied. "We skate a little bit together in the summer. He's kind of back and forth between Europe and the Toronto area, so it's great to hang out away from the rink. When we're away from the rink, we still manage to talk a little bit about hockey. It's tough to get away. He's mentioned that a few times and I kind of just laughed it off, so pretty cool to get there I guess."
At the heart of McDavid's drive for 60 goals is his willingness to sacrifice them all for the greater good of the Oilers collective success. Being able to reach the mark off the feed from one of his closest friends and teammates, while securing two important points for his team in the Pacific Division playoff race, is the ultimate outcome for the generational talent.
"60 goals in that short time span is amazing," Woodcroft said. "You guys (the media) have heard me say this a million times, but I keep going back to the fact that what drives him is team success. He'd be most happy not with his two points or his two goals, he would be happy with the team's two points tonight on a non-perfect evening."

Scoring 60 goals and game-winners like Wednesday night only fuel the hunger for an Oilers captain solely focused on bringing a Stanley Cup to Edmonton with his Oilers teammates.
"It's insatiable. It's what gets him up in the morning," Woodcroft added. "It's what he dedicates his life to and we get to see those highlight-reel goals. Every moment in his day is geared towards being the best that he can be, and we're in the NHL. These are the best players in the world. A lot of people do that in the NHL, but he takes it to a different degree."
"What we're seeing is unbelievable, but the way he goes about it, it's very impressive to see from my vantage point."