McDavid Fighting Something As Oilers Drop Game 2 To Ducks

He proceeded to take a glass-is-half-full approach and added, "There are stretches during the season that he hasn't been the best player, you know, there are nights that he hasn't been outstanding. It doesn't happen very often. I'm certain he's going to find his game."

McDavid has struggled in two games vs the Ducks Photo by © Perry Nelson Imagn Images

The Oilers had better hope so, because this was another game where the top line, led by the best player in the world, wasn't anything close to the best line on the ice. Worse yet, the almost always-deadly power play looks like it has very little life. They don't have a goal on the man advantage, and most of the players on that unit aren't producing... in any capacity.

McDavid said that people need to remember that the Oilers just got Leon Draisaitl back and Zach Hyman was out. It will take some time for that group to click again, he suggested. Ironically, McDavid was the least effective of the five. He was dancing, but often by himself and into a crowd. He struggled to handle the puck, find the open pass, or get through the Ducks' defenders. He coughed up the puck several times, and zone entries?... that's another story altogether.

The one-man entry machine looks like it could use a repairman.

The Oilers Aren't Helping Themselves

When asked how his team was effectively shutting down McDavid, Ducks' head coach Joel Quenneville said after the game, "Our guys have done a nice job either eliminating him getting the puck or being above. We still need the goalie to make saves as well, but he's [McDavid] got that look down the middle in the series, three or four good opportunities down the gut, and it's dangerous."

As much as Anaheim has done an admirable job on No. 97, the Oilers are not helping themselves with a series of unforced errors leading to chances and goals against. McDavid was by far the biggest culprit.

An exclamation mark was stamped on his night when a terrible breakout on the power play resulted in McDavid passing the puck to an area where no one was. Alex Killorn skated back into the zone and hit Ryan Poehling with a pass for the tip-in past Connor Ingram.

McDavid and the Oilers continue to struggle to find their footing in this series. Perhaps lucky that it's only 1-1, the Ducks have frustrated Edmonton, and the series goes back to Anaheim tied. The good news is that it could be a 2-0 series lead for the Ducks.

The bad news is that McDavid doesn't look like himself. Why that is remains a mystery.

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