Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid brought the fans to their feet with a spectacular goal to open the scoring between Canada and the USA on Saturday.
Minutes after there were three fights in the first nine seconds of the game, the Americans dumped the puck into Canada’s zone to chase for a battle in the corner and goalie Jordan Binnington was able to get to it first and fire it around the boards. Defenceman Drew Doughty was able to collect it and assessed what was available for him before spotting McDavid, who was flying through the middle of the neutral zone, with a crisp pass. #97 did the rest was he flew by the American defence and fired a quick backhand that Connor Hellebuyck had no chance of stopping.
McDavid’s electrifying goal got the Canadian fans at the Bell Centre rocking and the noise was incredibly loud, a sight that has been missing from the sport for a long time. It was also a fitting first goal for him to score for his country since cracking the NHL in 2015. The last time he represented his country was at the 2018 World Hockey Championship where he was captain and led his team in scoring, so this was a moment he has been looking forward to for quite some time.
He was one of the more annoyed players when the NHL pulled out of the 2022 Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the 2021-22 season. Although the reason why that opportunity was passed was somewhat understandable, you can tell how much this meant to him with a euphoric celly that released years of frustration of failing to get many opportunities like this one as seen in the photo below.
Going into Saturday’s game against the USA, McDavid tallied an assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s opening goal in their overtime win against Sweden on Wednesday. He is in the midst of another strong season with 71 points (22 goals and 49 assists) in 49 games heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
McDavid will surely have plenty more moments like this one now that international best-on-best hockey is best, but he will never forget his first goal for his country in a meaningful game as a professional hockey player.
