The third time came Thursday, when he had two goals and three assists in a 6-5 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes. With that effort, he joined Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mario Lemieux as the only other player in NHL history with three five-point games in their first 10 games of a season.
He also joined Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers, Lemieux and New York Islanders great Mike Bossy as the only players in NHL history to reach 30 points in 10 games or less.
Outrageous.
But Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft one year after McDavid was the Oilers’ No. pick in 2015, has come to expect what seems like supernatural production from McDavid.
Since McDavid entered the League in 2015-16, he has 1,251 points (417 goals, 834 assists) in 804 games, 186 points more than second-place Draisaitl (1,065). Only Alex Ovechkin (455), Draisaitl (442) and Matthews (436) have more goals than McDavid since the start of the 2015-16 season. Nikita Kucherov is second in assists in that same time frame with 687, 147 behind McDavid.
“I don't think it's really too surprising,” Matthews said. “Since he came in the League, he's been the standard. Obviously, a fantastic player and not too many people in history have done what he's continued to do, so it's obviously really impressive. I have a lot of respect for him. It’s a very, very big challenge.”
The Maple Leafs (6-4-2) and Oilers (8-1-1) each enter the game on three-game winning streaks. It will feature four No. 1 picks in the NHL Draft, Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011), joining McDavid, Matthews and McKenna.
“It's going be tough,” McKenna said. “I think you see what (McDavid) is doing right now. He's obviously very confident so it's going be a challenge, but I think with this team and how we've been playing defensively, I think we can step up and do a job.”
Matthews is not naïve enough to think McDavid can be entirely shut down.
“Same thing when we were in Colorado a couple weeks ago,” Matthews said. “A lot of nights you're going to play some really good players, some really elite players, you just try to limit their time and space as much as possible, but they're very good. They're going get their chances, they're going get their opportunities, and they're going to make something out of nothing sometimes. So just trying to limit that as much as you can.”
In that game, Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, but Matthews had four points (two goals, two assists) and teammate William Nylander tied a single-game career-high with five points (two goals, three assists) in a 6-3 Maple Leafs win.
For Roslovic, even though he knows the Oilers present a daunting offensive attack, the chance to go head-to-head against McDavid is one he relishes.
“God-given skill, it’s pretty deadly, so as a player, it’s fun to watch and play,” Roslovic said. “It’s an enjoyable challenge. I mean you get to go against the best, so it's fun to test yourself. It's fun to hold yourself up to that.”
