Connor McDavid is going to feel this one in the morning.
The Oilers captain was the victim of two vicious cross-checks following the conclusion of Game 3 against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night. The catch? McDavid started everything.
After Vancouver’s 4-3 victory to take a 2-1 series lead, a scrum broke out behind the Oilers’ net. McDavid slashed Canucks defender Carson Soucy before Soucy retaliated with a slash of his own on the Oilers phenom.
Following the exchange of slashes, McDavid was then “comboed” by two Canucks players. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov cross-checked him in the back before Soucy immediately cross-checked him in the face as he was falling. The Oilers captain fell to the ice in obvious pain.
Check out the sequence below, including the hits on McDavid:
A scrum ensues after the final horn. pic.twitter.com/Jxf59Jphif
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 13, 2024
Here’s a slo-mo replay of the two cross-checks:
Slo-mo replay of the double whammy McDavid received from Zadorov & Soucy at the end of Game 3 😳 pic.twitter.com/NKFQLT0fxf
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 13, 2024
McDavid immediately went to chat with the ref after picking himself back up, so we’ll see if any supplemental discipline comes from this. Many Oilers fans are calling for fines at minimum, while Canucks fans say McDavid got what he asked for.
It was a frustrating night overall for McDavid. Despite playing nearly 30 minutes of ice time in the game and the Oilers outshooting the Canucks 45-18, McDavid was held off the scoresheet as Edmonton fell 4-2.
Look, we don’t advocate cross-checks to the head and back, but McDavid had to know what he was getting into by causing a scrum after the whistle. The captain appeared to slash Soucy in between the pads where there is no equipment, so it’s understandable that the Vancouver blueliner retaliated.
You can tell we are living in a new era because if an Oilers captain got taken down like this back in the ’80s or ’90s, the Canucks player wouldn’t be skating off the ice with such little resistance.
Game 4 is shaping up to be a heated battle as the Canucks have garnered home-ice advantage in this second-round series. Will McDavid and the Oilers regroup and even the series on Tuesday night? Stay tuned.