March 24, 2023 by Eric Friesen

Connor McDavid clearly listened to Leon Draisaitl’s advice when he told him this past summer that he needs to score 60 goals this season.

McDavid scored twice, including his 60th goal of the season in the extra frame, to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind overtime victory over the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Place on Wednesday. McDavid became only the third player in franchise history to score 60 goals in a single season and the first since Wayne Gretzky had 62 in 1986-87.

In addition, McDavid became the fastest player to score 60 goals (72 games) since Mario Lemieux (62 games) in 1995-96. The 25-year-old also tallied his league-leading 10th game-winning goal of the season and franchise record 15th career NHL overtime goal, as the Oilers extended their home winning streak to a season-high six games.

McDavid, who typically loathes to talk about his personal achievements, acknowledged how special it is to join the NHL’s exclusive 60-goal club.

“At the end of the day, they’re all just a number,” McDavid said after scoring his 60th goal on Wednesday. “But 60, a lot of great players in the past have done it, and it feels good to join that list. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work left this year and we’re looking forward to putting ourselves in a good spot heading into the post-season.”

His 60th goal of the season was also the 299th of his NHL career, moving him past Draisaitl for fifth on the franchise’s all-time goals list. It seemed only fitting that Draisaitl, who insisted that McDavid had the ability to score 60 goals, set up McDavid for for the milestone goal.

Related: Can Connor McDavid win the Rocket Richard Trophy this season?

After intercepting the puck in the defensive zone, Draisaitl spun around and sent McDavid in alone on a breakaway with a tape-to-tape backhand pass in full stride. McDavid made a nice lateral move to outwait Coyotes’ goalie Connor Ingram, but hit the post. Frustrated, McDavid slammed his stick against the boards twice.

Fortunately, his stick didn’t break, because seconds later, Draisaitl won a puck battle along the half wall and set McDavid up for another breakaway. And despite his failed first attempt, McDavid went back to the same move, but this he placed the puck in the top corner of the net to reach the 60-goal plateau in dramatic fashion.

“Yeah, it’s pretty special,” Draisaitl said on Wednesday. “I mean, obviously he’s going to downplay it as we all know, but it’s pretty hard to score in this league and to score 60 in a season and still have 10 games to go is pretty remarkable. He’s just a special player.”

Thanks to his 13th multi-goal performance of the campaign, McDavid now has a 12-goal lead over David Pastrnak in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race. With just 10 games to play, McDavid is a lock to win his first goal-scoring crown. The four-time Art Ross Trophy winner would be the first player in franchise history to win the Richard Trophy (first awarded in 1998-99) and the first Oiler to lead the league in goals since Gretzky in 1986-87.

Now, McDavid begins his quest for 70 goals. While he would likely never admit that he wants to hit the 70-goal mark, McDavid appears determined to keep raising the bar higher for himself offensively. Only eight players in NHL history have scored 70 goals in a single season, and no one has done it since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne in 1992-93.

McDavid needs 10 goals in the final 10 games to hit 70. That’s not easy, even for a player with 18 goals in his last 15 games, like McDavid. I tweeted back in November that scoring 70 goals in this era seems like an impossible task, but I will never bet against McDavid.

Given his current goal-scoring tear and the Oilers’ relatively light schedule the rest of the way, I’m more confident than ever that McDavid will soon be joining the 70-goal club, too.