Oilers' Connor McDavid nets natural hat trick, scores one of the most ridiculous goals you'll see

Jackie Spiegel

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Oilers' Connor McDavid nets natural hat trick, scores one of the most ridiculous goals you'll see image

The Flames needed a win Saturday night. Connor McDavid had other ideas.

"You have some nights where the puck just goes in for you and you don't feel all that good and you have nights where you feel amazing and it just doesn't go," McDavid said postgame. "Hockey's a crazy game like that. Felt good tonight, went in for me. I thought our team played really well."

After being held off the scoresheet in a Battle of Alberta showdown the night before, the Oilers superstar said "Not again" and proceeded to put on a clinic in the rematch. He potted five points, including a natural hat trick, in a 7-1 Edmonton win. 

McDavid began the night with primary assists on the team's first two goals, by Alex Chiasson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and then went on a goal-scoring tear.

With the Oilers up 2-1 in the first period, McDavid scored a basic deflection goal in the slot on the power play. 

His next goal, which came 66 seconds into the second period, was anything but basic. First, he stole the puck from Noah Hanifin and used his skate to kick it to himself while turning on the jets. He then skated in down the right wing and, while watching a crashing Nugent-Hopkins the entire time, whipped a wrister past netminder Jacob Markstrom. 

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Honestly, you need to watch this one again. Maybe a few times, because it's . . . just . . . unreal.

"I don't want to give away too many of my secrets," McDavid said when asked about the no-look shot. "But 2-on-1s haven't necessarily been my friend this year. I'm looking to pass and I've made a couple of mistakes on those, so I'm just looking to make it a little bit easier and just shoot it at the net and, obviously, five-hole is a good shot, I think. I think it was fortunate to go in."

His third goal of the night, which completed a natural hat trick, wasn't too shabby, either. He walked out from the goal line and scored top shelf, blocker side.

"He's so good every night," said Oilers head coach Dave Tippett. "I think there's some nights that the puck seems to follow him around. He's around it a lot and when he's got it he makes great plays. He can make stuff happen. There's some nights that it goes in for him. That's the one thing that was different tonight. He's been getting lots of chances and nothing going in the net for him. He capitalized on chances tonight."

The hat trick is the ninth of his career and second of the season; the first was in January against the Canucks. That one also came after he was kept off the scoresheet; Vancouver had held him without a point on opening night.  

This was also the second natural hatty of his career. The first one was also against the Flames, on Oct. 4, 2017. He joined Glenn Anderson and Craig MacTavish as the only Oilers with multiple hat tricks against the franchise's Alberta rival.

McDavid now has 12 points and 25 assists on the season, giving him 37 points — the most through a team's first 20 games since Mario Lemiuex's 41 in 2002-03.

 

Jackie Spiegel