GENE'S BLOG: Race To The Finish

Race means to speed or move quickly. A race is a contest to see who is moving the fastest.

The idea of a race is nothing new to Connor McDavid. One of the great moments in the season comes at NHL All-Star Weekend. It reminds me of the Summer Olympics. There are countless events that make up the Games, but there is one event that stands alone. It's over in less than 10 seconds. It's the 100m race to determine the fastest human in the world.

In Toronto, two months ago, the best on ice gathered to show off their skills, but the NHL's fastest skater competition was the highlight of the weekend as McDavid sped around the ice in just over 13 seconds (13.408) to reclaim his title as the world's fastest hockey player for the fourth time in his career.

It's not the only race the captain and his teammates find themselves in during the final two weeks of the 2023-24 regular season.

Let's start or continue with another individual race involving McDavid. This one is against two other superstar NHLers who. like Connor, are having incredible seasons.

On Saturday I tuned in to watch the matchup between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. I was curious to see if the Penguins could keep their charge towards a playoff spot alive, and I also had this curiosity to see what Nikita Kucherov was doing. Well, the Lightning forward struck for three more points.

On Sunday night, I was clicking on NHL.com to get updates from the Dallas vs. Colorado game. This was less about the score and more about who was doing the scoring, with Nathan MacKinnon putting up a pair of points.

Then there's McDavid who had an even pair of goals and assists in wins over the Avalanche and Flames to make it a four-point weekend.

The reigning league MVP is chasing a sixth-career Art Ross Trophy, which would give him more scoring titles than anyone in history other than a guy named Wayne Gretzky who won it 10 times. Connor would join two others, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux, with half a dozen points championships.

Amazing company to even be mentioned in, but with the games winding down the player who once sat 107th in league scoring begins the work week sitting third. Kucherov at number one with 136 points, MacKinnon right there with 133 points and McDavid at 130, though the Oiler does have two games in hand on MacKinnon and one on Kucherov.

His meteoric rise up the scoring ladder might only be the second-most impressive thing he does this season from an individual standpoint. The first is his race against history and the chance to join Wayne, Mario and Bobby Orr as the only players to ever have 100 assists or more in a season.

It really is a statistic that is hard to fathom. McDavid's assists alone would put him ninth in league scoring. It's another major milestone for him in cementing his spot as one of hockey's all-time greats. Everyone loves 99 in Oil Country, but 100 will be something extraordinarily special for the captain.

If the 97 in the Oilers lineup were to read this blog he would have preferred I start with the race the team is in and not his individual pursuit. Everything I just wrote about is nice, but what drives him is winning a Cup in June.

Before that can happen, Edmonton has a chance to win their division which, like Connor winning the scoring title, seemed unfathomable just less than five months ago. With a 2-9-1 record through the first dozen games of the season, the Oilers were in 30th place in the league. After going 44-15-4 under new bench boss Kris Knoblauch, they are all the way up to ninth.

Again, 99 is a beloved number here in Oil Country, but one more point and Edmonton will hit the century mark as a team. An amazing on-ice renaissance that has left them looking for a division title.

They are three points back of Vancouver but have a game in hand and a much-anticipated game against the Canucks coming up on Saturday. If Edmonton surpasses Vancouver, it would give the Oilers their first division title since 1987.

With a playoff spot clinched after Friday's win over Colorado, it will be a race to the finish for Edmonton in the Pacific and for their captain in the superstar showdown for the Art Ross Trophy.