Connor McDavid’s April 8 masterpiece didn’t just light up the scoreboard. It ended up shaping the Oilers’ season.
With the 2025-26 campaign winding down and Edmonton dealing with a pile of injuries, McDavid delivered one of the most important five-point nights of his career in a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. It was enough to push him to his sixth Art Ross Trophy and lock in what stands as the third-best moment from the Oilers’ season.
McDavid had already put together two other five-point games by then. He had five assists in a 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames before the holiday break, and another five-point outing later got overshadowed by Evan Bouchard’s six-point night. But this one carried the most weight.
The stakes were real. Edmonton entered the game tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division, with the Anaheim Ducks still chasing.
The Oilers’ playoff position looked safe with four games left, but there was still plenty on the line in the standings. McDavid also had his own race to worry about, sitting in a tight battle with Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon for the Art Ross.
Even with Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman out of the lineup, the Oilers’ captain took over.
Macklin Celebrini opened the scoring for San Jose just four and a half minutes in, but McDavid answered quickly on the power play to tie it up. Late in the first period, he set up Vasily Podkolzin for his 19th goal of the season, another man-advantage strike.
The Oilers’ power play had been struggling, especially without Draisaitl, but McDavid kept it rolling early in the second period. Three and a half minutes in, he sprung Jack Roslovic on a breakaway for his 21st goal of the season.
Then McDavid did it himself. Just over a minute after the Sharks pulled back within one, he took a wide angle, blew past the defence, slipped around a pokecheck, and finished the play with a goal that looked almost unfair in real time.
Before the second period ended, he finished off the hat trick with a deflection on a pass he sent across on a two-on-one. That gave him a five-point night and sealed the win.
It also sealed the trophy race. McDavid entered the game with 44 goals and 128 points, then left with 48 goals and 133 points. Kucherov finished second with 131 points, and McDavid ultimately closed the season with 48 goals and 138 points, good for his sixth Art Ross.
In Other News...
McDavid Finally Opened Up About The Oilers Trading Darnell Nurse
Losing Darnell Nurse after a 12-year run in Edmonton was always going to leave a mark, and Connor McDavid made it clear the departure hits beyond the blue line. Nurse had been part of the Oilers core for years, including a stretch as an assistant captain, so his exit leaves not just a roster hole but a leadership one as well as the team heads into a new season with a different look.
McDavid also pointed to the other side of the change, saying the Oilers are encouraged by the additions around the roster and by the arrival of Mike Babcock behind the bench. With Babcocks long coaching rsum now part of the picture, Edmonton is betting that experience can help smooth out the transition while the club figures out how to replace Nurses presence both on the ice and in the room. [Read more 🡒]
One Oilers Roster Question Could Still Define Their Cup Chances
Edmontons top-end centre depth still looks like a luxury most teams would envy, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl driving the lineup and giving the Oilers a foundation few clubs can match. Even so, the roster picture is not completely settled, because the middle six still lacks a right-handed centre who can be trusted for second- or third-line minutes, and that kind of hole tends to matter more once the games tighten in the spring.
Stan Bowman may have to keep working the trade market to address it, especially with centre help getting harder to find and more expensive to acquire. The Oilers have been linked in the broader search to a few possible fits, but the larger question is whether Edmonton can land the right kind of piece without paying too steep a price, because this is the sort of roster decision that can shape a Cup run long before the playoffs begin. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Still Need To Solve Their Costly Trent Frederic Problem
The Oilers paid a real price to bring Trent Frederic into the fold, sending out draft capital and prospects in a three-way deal with Boston and New Jersey before committing further to him after his first postseason run in Edmonton. The hope was that a heavier, versatile forward could give the lineup more bite and some middle-six stability, but the fit has not looked nearly as clean as the investment suggested.
Frederics role has stayed pinned low in the lineup, with fourth-line usage limiting the chances to make a bigger offensive imprint. His numbers have followed suit, and for a team that already spent assets to get him, the question now is whether Edmonton can unlock more from a player it has already decided to build around for the long haul. [Read more 🡒]