EDMONTON – Star players have a unique ability to magnify another team’s errors, even if they are miniscule. Connor McDavid is no different.
The league’s leading scorer set up the game-tying goal in the first period on Thursday night against the Sharks, and scored a stunning shorthanded goal later on in the opening frame. Edmonton never trailed after taking that 2-1 edge, going on to a 3-2 win and moving past the Sharks into second place in the Pacific Division.
The Sharks were complicit in both of McDavid’s first period highlights. The first came on a bad line change and a worse sort-out in the defensive zone by Joe Thornton and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, while the second featured another slow change and a puzzlingly stationary Patrick Marleau, who may need to be treated for windburn after having McDavid whoosh past him while the Sharks were on a power play.