Home / News / Connor McDavid equals Alex Ovechkin’s 21st-century record of 69 total goals in a season including playoffs

Connor McDavid equals Alex Ovechkin’s 21st-century record of 69 total goals in a season including playoffs

By Chris Cerullo

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May 7, 2023 10:00 am

Connor McDavid did something extremely nice on Saturday night when his Edmonton Oilers took down the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 in Game Two of the two teams’ second-round series. McDavid potted two goals in the win, giving him 69 total goals this season including both regular season and postseason markers.

McDavid won this past season’s Rocket Richard Trophy for the top NHL goal scorer with 64 goals and has added five since the playoffs started.

That total equals Alex Ovechkin‘s 21st-century record that The Great Eight set back in 2007-08 when he scored 65 goals during the regular season and added four more in the playoffs in seven games.

McDavid scored his 68th of the season with his Oilers team shorthanded midway through the first period. The league’s best player stripped defenseman Shea Theodore of the puck at the blueline, used his all-world speed to race to the front of Vegas’ net, and finished with just one hand on his stick through Laurent Brossoit’s five-hole.

Per Sportsnet, with McDavid’s first goal, the Oilers scored a shorty and two power-play goals in the same period for just the fourth time in franchise history.

McDavid netted his 69th with the Oilers up a man. The 26-year-old superstar was fed down low by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, crept towards Vegas’ net, and beat Brossoit with a slick wrister shortside.

The tally was McDavid’s third point in the game which gave him six straight multi-point playoff games. Per Jack Michaels, McDavid is the first player in NHL history to have two such streaks in the playoffs (seven games, 2022).

To the surprise of probably no one, Wayne Gretzky holds the all-time record for the most regular season plus playoff goals. He set that mark during the 1983-84 campaign when he scored 87 regular-season goals and then added 13 playoff goals for an even 100.

In the 21st century, behind McDavid this year and Ovi’s 2007-08 is another Ovechkin season, 2008-09. Ovi put away 56 goals during that regular season and then added 11 in the postseason for 67 total.

That mark is probably going to be quickly surpassed by Edmonton’s other absolute machine at forward. Leon Draisaitl is already at 65 total goals after “just” scoring 52 during the regular season. He has 13 goals in the Oilers’ eight playoff games so far.

Here’s a sample of the sort of historic tear the big German is on right now.

The record for most goals in a single playoffs is 19 which was set by Reggie Leach back in 1976. Draisaitl has 13 after just his second game of the second round.

Safe to say Oilers fans are spoiled with oodles of offense. Time will tell if the team’s other side of the puck is good enough to overcome past playoff failures. Edmonton was swept out of the Western Conference Finals in 2022 by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB

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