Watch: McDavid responds to benching with venomous OT winner

Kyle Cantlon
·Writer


What often separates superstars from their lesser-light coworkers is the uncanny ability to respond to adversity.

True to his class, Connor McDavid bounced back from a benching just two days ago against the Detroit Red Wings with a gorgeous overtime winner against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. After picking up the puck in the Oilers’ slot, McDavid did what he does best and blazed up the ice before feeding it over to Leon Draisaitl who delivered a nasty spin-o-rama pass right back to the Oilers Captain who promptly buried.

McDavid was coming off a rare bad night when Edmonton got spanked 4-0 against Detroit on Sunday. The 20-year-old saw his ice time slashed to 5:09 and 4:25 in the second and third periods, respectively, while his 15:55 TOI for the game was almost five minutes less than his previous season-low.

The Oilers top unit of McDavid, Draisaitl and Patrick Maroon had combined for just one shot on goal through two periods against the Red Wings, and McDavid saw himself on the third line between Drake Caggiula and Jussi Jokinen for a brief stretch.

McDavid could hardly be blamed for having an off-night after carrying the struggling Oilers on his back for the early part of the season, and on Tuesday McDavid came back to life, ending a four-game goalless drought (though he has six assists in those contests) with a big overtime winner sealing a crucial win for Edmonton.

Form is temporary, class is permanent.

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