McDavid doesn't sit out regular-season finale for Oilers against Canucks

Connor McDavid is playing the final regular-season game for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday even though the Oilers are locked into their Stanley Cup Playoff matchup and the center has all but clinched the NHL scoring title.

McDavid, who leads the NHL with 104 points (33 goals, 71 assists), 21 more than teammate Leon Draisaitl, did not want to sit out against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon. Coach Dave Tippett said one reason was because the Oilers do not play Game 1 of the Stanley Cup First Round against the Winnipeg Jets until Wednesday, meaning McDavid would not have played since May 12 if he sat out.
"When you only have one game within a week, you use that game to make sure your game's in order," Tippett said Friday. "It's an individual game, a team game. From Connor's perspective, I talked to him about whether this is a game he wants to play. He said, 'I want this game because it's one game in a week and I want to make sure I'm sharp.'
"We want our players dialed in to make sure they're at their best Wednesday night and we'll do everything in our power to make sure that's the case. So tomorrow's game is another chance to stay sharp."

Prior to a 4-3 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, Tippett was asked if the Oilers would rest players in a game of little consequence, similar to what the Boston Bruins did when they scratched 15 regulars in a 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday after their playoff seeding and matchup had been set.
"I don't know how [the Bruins] went about doing that," Tippett said. "I know we couldn't do that. We have [an NHL] salary cap issue and a roster issue so we couldn't do it even if we wanted to. So it's a moot question for me."
Tippett said McDavid, and Draisaitl, who has scored 83 points (31 goals, 52 assists), would not be rested.
"No, they both want to play the games," he said.
McDavid became the ninth player in NHL history to reach 100 points in 53 games or fewer, with four points in a 4-3 win against Vancouver on May 8, following Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Jari Kurri, Phil Esposito, Bernie Nicholls, Steve Yzerman and Marcel Dionne.
McDavid's 1.89 points per game this season is the best of his six-season NHL career. In the past 13 games, the Oilers have scored 48 goals and McDavid has scored a point on 72.9 percent of them (35 points; 10 goals, 25 assists).
He has won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion twice (2016-17, 2017-18) and has not finished lower than second in the past five seasons.