Duhatschek: Connor McDavid puts on show-stopping performance in opening night win over Flames

EDMONTON — The first outbreak of the Battle of Alberta was a fascinating bit of theatre Wednesday night, which is not the same as saying it was a good game. It wasn’t. It had its moments, most of them provided by the Edmonton Oilers’ transcendent talent, Connor McDavid, and the man trying to keep him off the scoresheet, goaltender Mike Smith of the Calgary Flames.
Overall, these were two teams, in the early stages of trying to get their games in sync, and the Flames were especially sloppy in their execution. The summer’s rust hadn’t completely flaked off the majority of players, but it didn’t make much of a difference to the Oilers, who relied on McDavid for much of what went right for them last year – and it doesn’t look as if the script is going to vary much in 2017-18.