Oilers captain Connor McDavid gets match penalty for late-game skirmish

Frustrations boiled implicit betwixt the Canucks and Oilers connected Saturday.

Now Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid could miss games arsenic a result.

The Oilers’ skipper was handed a lucifer punishment Saturday aft helium cross-checked Canucks winger Conor Garland successful the caput precocious successful Edmonton’s 3-2 nonaccomplishment to Vancouver.

A lucifer punishment is fixed erstwhile officials find a subordinate has intentionally injured — oregon tried to injure — an opponent. The authorisation carries an automatic suspension until the NHL’s commissioner weighs in.

With little than 20 seconds near connected the crippled timepiece and the Oilers looking to equalize, Garland poked the puck disconnected McDavid’s instrumentality and some players fell to the ice. The brace wrestled for a moment, past got up earlier Garland erstwhile again took down the marquee centre and tried to forestall him from getting backmost to his feet.

“I’m conscionable holding him. I mean, he’s the champion subordinate to ever bash it. So, the time’s moving out. And I conscionable thought that was possibly the champion mode for america to triumph a crippled was to bash that,” Garland said of the battle. “I don’t privation to wounded him.”

As the brace separated, McDavid slammed his instrumentality into Garland’s head.

“Absolutely, there’s a rivalry and Connor gets frustrated. He gets his instrumentality up, and he’s frustrated due to the fact that we’re down 1 extremity and the champion subordinate successful the league is getting held for 15 seconds,” Edmonton caput manager Kris Knoblauch said. “And there’s vexation that’s allowed to happen, and the instrumentality got up, and yeah, truthful that’s what happened.”

Several skaters from each broadside responded by jumping into a skirmish successful beforehand of the Canucks’ net. Pushing and shoving ensued arsenic officials worked to propulsion players apart.

“I get crushed successful the head, truthful our squad rushes to support that, right? And that’s what bully teams do,” Garland said.

As McDavid was led disconnected the ice, Garland and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl exchanged heated words — and shoves — on the extremity boards.

“It’s hockey, it happens. It’s intense, it’s conscionable the mode it goes sometimes,” Draisaitl said of the game’s last moments. “Obviously, couldn’t get (a goal) and past a small spot of fisticuffs, but thing major.”

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Nearby the melee, Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard approached Canucks blueliner Tyler Myers and Myers deed Bouchard successful the look with his stick.

Myers besides received a lucifer penalty.

Every different skater connected the crystal received a insignificant punishment for roughing.

Don’t telephone it a comeback

Vancouver took a 3-0 pb successful the archetypal play earlier Draisaitl responded with a brace of goals successful the second.

Edmonton (29-14-3) has made comebacks a staple successful caller games, rallying from three-goal deficits to bushed some the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild this week.

“Third crippled successful a enactment we chased from behind, and that makes it a small much difficult,” Knoblauch said. “I thought we had a beauteous bully propulsion to marque it 3-2 aft the 2nd play and we conscionable couldn’t make capable to get that 3rd one.”

Rallying point?

The Canucks (20-15-10) came into Saturday with six losses successful their past 7 games.

Head manager Rick Tocchet said the triumph could beryllium meaningful for his group.

“We talked astir definite things with our game, the consistency of it, however to grip pressure,” helium said. “We needed a bigger chunk of guys to really, excavation successful for us. I thought they did tonight. We request immoderate bully worldly to hap astir here. We’ve got to get a small spot of momentum. Some atrocious luck, immoderate self-inflicted worldly that we’ve done. … But this is simply a bully win.”