Connor McDavid credits Auston Matthews for his own career year
Connor McDavid had the best season since Mario Lemieux in the mid-1990's when he registered 64 goals and 154 points this year. He and David Pastrnak were the only two players to top 60 goals this season, one year after Auston Matthews became the first player to hit the mark in a decade last season.
After losing in the Western Conference Final to Colorado last season, McDavid spent the off-season working on the little things in his game, including his shot, to make sure the Oilers would be better prepared this time around. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic sat down with McDavid to discuss how much he has grown this season as a player and how his historic season came about. The most impressive thing about McDavid's season was how much more he was shooting and scoring, something he credits the Leafs' Auston Matthews helping him with.
"I watched how he scores and goes about it. Lots of guys are scoring goals different ways, so it's just finding different ways to produce," said McDavid after spending the summer watching hours of video of Matthews shooting.
McDavid told Nugent-Bowman that he felt he needed to deke his way around defenders to get close to have any real chance to score and that's why it made it difficult for him to score. This season however, McDavid said he now shoots the puck at different times and places he normally wouldn't, and in places where he'd normally look to pass off.
With the Oilers set to face off against the LA Kings tonight in their first game of their round 1 series, McDavid will look to continue his dominant season and help the Oilers reach their first Stanley Cup Final since 2006.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 17 | 671 ANSWERS Connor McDavid credits Auston Matthews for his own career year Would you like to see a Matthews vs McDavid Stanley Cup Final? | ||
| Absolutely | 468 | 69.7 % |
| Not really | 74 | 11 % |
| I honestly don't care who the Leafs play | 129 | 19.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
