With the Edmonton Oilers having locked up a playoff spot, they’re shooting to get their captain to a significant individual milestone.
Connor McDavid goes into Thursday’s home game against the Vancouver Canucks with 93 points, with five games remaining in the regular season.
“We’d like to help him as much as we can,” said defenceman Adam Larsson when asked about McDavid getting to 100 points in a 56-game season. “I think it would be a cool milestone for him to reach — 100 in a season like this.”
“It’s a pretty incredible feat for him, but I think as a person and a player he’s more concerned about helping the team win,” added winger Josh Archibald. “The points are just something that comes along with it.”
McDavid is averaging 22:30 of ice time this season, though he played under 20 minutes in both games in Vancouver earlier this week.
“We’ll continue to play him. He wants to make sure his game is ready for the playoffs,” said head coach Dave Tippett. “We won’t overtax him, but we won’t hold him out or hold his minutes way, way down either.”
The Oilers and Canucks are on 630 CHED Thursday night with the Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. The game starts at 7 p.m. Their expected lineup is:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Puljujarvi
Kahun – Nugent-Hopkins – Yamamoto
Neal – McLeod – Chiasson
Archibald – Khaira – P. Russell
Nurse – Barrie
Kulikov – Larsson
Jones – Bear
Koskinen
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