McDavid says he �hated every second' of controversial penalty call
The first overtime period last night began with some stress and controversy for Oilers fans with a high sticking call on Connor McDavid.
Off the opening faceoff in overtime, McDavid did catch Matt Duchene with a high stick, but it initially went uncalled. The play completed, and the referees reconvened to give McDavid a double minor penalty. It really tested the Oilers penalty kill, who stood up to the challenge in the most clutch situation possible.
Referees can review double minor penalties at any time, but the officiating was already in heavy favour of the Dallas Stars. The Stars were only penalized for a single too-many-men call, and it's not like they played clean game. Multiple infractions were missed against the Oilers, but apparently none were worthy of a referee review. In the referees eyes, the Dallas Stars played a near perfect game!
On the first shift in the second overtime, Connor McDavid scored the winning goal, redeeming himself of the penalty call earlier. After the game he was clearly feeling pretty good about the winning goal, as he was cracking jokes about his penalty call and the late game. McDavid said he hated every second of sitting in the box for the penalty kill, and also apologized to the television broadcast for making the game go so late.
»It was long. Really, really long. Miserable. I hated every second of it. But you know, the guys did an amazing job. Truthfully, the penalty kill has been amazing.»
-Connor McDavid
-Connor McDavid
McDavid had one glorious chance to win the game in the first overtime, but was robbed by Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger. McDavid cracked a joke about keeping everyone up longer, but was really focused on the fact that he should've scored on the play.
»Yeah, apologies to everyone for keeping them up a little bit longer. It should've gone in, has to go in. He's a good goalie, and he scrambles to make good plays, but I mean it has to go in.
Thankfully for McDavid and the Oilers they got the resulted they needed, stealing home ice advantage back from the Dallas Stars. Now if they can just pull off a win in a critical game 2, they can take a commanding series lead with them back to Edmonton, and look to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in the McDavid era.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the referees benefitted the Dallas Stars last night with the penalty differential and this penalty on McDavid? | ||
| Yes, the refs were brutal | 203 | 75.2 % |
| No, Dallas played a fully clean game | 56 | 20.7 % |
| See Results | 11 | 4.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
MUST READ
TRENDING NOW
