Down in sunny South Florida, long after most of the snowbirds had turned in for the night, you better believe that Eddie Johnston was up late watching Wednesday night.
"Every minute of it!" E.J. reported, just a few minutes after Matt Murray had stopped Connor McDavid on a penalty shot, the defining moment of Wednesday night's nationally televised game, a rarity in the U.S. for any Canadian-based team.
Of course, it wasn't the Edmonton Oilers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins that was the draw. It was McDavid vs. Sidney Crosby. Best vs. Best.
The 83-years-young Johnston has an appreciation for the speed and skill of players like McDavid and Crosby. You see, he has a unique perspective on the game that few others possess.
For seven glorious seasons in Boston, he was Bobby Orr's teammate with the Bruins. He was there at the Garden when the greatest defenseman of all-time flew through the air like Superman in the spring of '70. Later, he was there in Montreal in '84 when the then-Penguins' general manager drafted another generational talent, number Soixante-Six, Mario Lemieux.
But Orr didn't just revolutionize a position, for 50 years he's been considered the gold standard when it comes to the ability to lug a six-ounce piece of frozen vulcanized rubber up and down the ice at speeds never before seen. Certainly, there was Pavel Bure and others, but Orr is, well, Orr. He's on the Mount Rushmore of hockey.
One day, McDavid might be too. In this era of speed and skill, he might be the fastest and most skilled.
"It can never be too fast, the game today is terrific," Johnston says.
So, E.J., Orr vs. McDavid in a fastest skater competition?
"It would be a contest, I'd tell you that," Johnston said.
While most NHL players, including Crosby and Murray, would concede that the 22-year-old McDavid is the best player in the world, Johnston believes the Penguins captain is still the league's torch-bearer. But even he says there's something special about McDavid, the two-time defending Art Ross champion.
"It'd be hard to say anyone's better ... with that kind of speed and skill he has," Johnston was telling me. "That combination ... He's just an unbelievable player. Guys like that come along once in a lifetime."
Or in Johnston's case, maybe more than once.
Wednesday night's game was the sixth installment of Crosby vs. McDavid, and though it couldn't recreate the drama of their Oct. 23 meeting at Rogers Place, it did not disappoint. As for the best player debate? Well, Wednesday probably only reinforced what you previously thought of each.
Both players came away with one assist, but Crosby came away with the all-important two points in the Penguins' 3-1 victory. That is nothing new for either player. Crosby's Penguins are now 6-0 against McDavid's Oilers. The last time Crosby lost a regulation game to Edmonton was Jan. 10, 2006. That was his rookie season, or when McDavid was a 9-year-old in the GTA.
Though Wednesday's game was the first Crosby-McDavid showdown not decided by a single goal, it's only because Jared McCann hit an empty net from 127 feet with 60 ticks left on the clock.
Of the two, McDavid certainly had the faster start, no pun intended. This was the Oilers' captain's second shift of the game:
McDavid skates around the offensive zone as Nick Bjugstad and Tanner Pearson helplessly give chase. Though McDavid manages just a relatively harmless wrister it helped create momentum for his team. Not 15 seconds later, McDavid helped put Edmonton up 1-0 when Leon Draisaitl converted on a 2-on-1 at 4:45 of the first period:
The play started when Pearson couldn't handle a Letang pass as he entered the offensive zone. Oscar Klefbom pushed the puck up the boards, catching the Penguins flat-footed. Give McDavid an inch and he'll take a mile. With only Brian Dumoulin back and Bjugstad trying in vain to get back, McDavid laid a flat saucer pass to Draisaitl, who beat Murray to the blocker side.
That, above, is one of only two goals that Murray has given up in the last two games. But McDavid certainly had other opportunities.
"We had a bunch of chances to tie it," he lamented. "I've got to find a way to bear down on a couple."
No chance was better than the one he had with 2:40 remaining in the second period. Trailing 2-1, McDavid did what he does better than anyone, including, arguably, Orr. And it started with a rare gaffe from Crosby (but a not so rare gaffe for the Penguins power play). With the man advantage winding down, Crosby, from behind his goal line, threw a pass into the slot that was easily intercepted by Draisaitl. That's all McDavid needed to see.
"He's so quick, his first three strides are so powerful," Bryan Rust was telling me before the game. "He gets up to top speed so quickly. While he's doing it, he's stick-handling the puck 100 mph and making plays."
Rust's words proved prophetic as McDavid flew the zone and took the pass from Draisaitl at center ice and split the defense of Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang, a pretty strong skater himself:
Fortunately for the Penguins, it did not turn out to be the 13th short-handed goal that they surrendered this season. But it was the first penalty shot that has been called against them after Letang was whistled for the hook on McDavid, preventing a shot attempt.
With PPG Paints Arena -- and Johnston's Sunshine State residence -- at a fever pitch, Dean Morton immediately pointed to center red, giving McDavid the third penalty shot of his four-year career, and first this season.
Inexplicably, the fastest man in the world on skates forfeited his greatest advantage: His speed. McDavid skated in slowly and deliberately, swinging wide to the left before dragging the puck behind his body as he cut across the crease. On his forehand, he attempted to beat Murray to the glove side. But Murray, whose glove has been questioned more than once, snared it.
"It was a move I've been trying to do," McDavid said when I asked about his shot selection. "I think maybe he knew I was going to do it. So, have to find something new."
And why not show forehand and go to the backhand as he's done with great success in the past?
"I've done both, so," McDavid said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Goalies are smart guys. They've watched before. I'm sure he had an idea what I was going to do."
That was news to Murray. He said he wasn't locked into any particular move.
"You can pre-scout all you want, but he's not necessarily going to do what he does in the pre-scout," said Murray, who stopped 38 of 39 shots. "He's got a hundred different moves in his arsenal. He's the best player in the world."
Mike Sullivan called Murray's save on the penalty shot "a game-changer," but the BPITW still had one more glorious chance to tie the game.
With 13:50 remaining, the Oilers' top line -- Ken Hitchcock barely used his third or fourth -- generated an opportunity down low. From the left half-wall, Draisaitl found McDavid by himself at the right side of the net with not a Penguins defender to be seen. This time, McDavid went backhand to forehand and appeared to have Murray down and out. But as McDavid looked to pot his 32nd of the season, Guentzel got a late stick on it:
"Thought I made a good move, thought I had it," McDavid explained. "The guy (Guentzel) just came back last second. Credit to them."
In the much-hyped head-to-head matchup, Crosby and McDavid were on the ice together for 15:16 in all situations. Crosby won the possession battle with a 54.29 Corsi For percentage to go along with nine high danger chances for to just one against, according to naturalstattrick.com. McDavid, whose two-way game is still a work in progress, did manage to win six of eight faceoffs against Crosby.
However, Wednesday only underscored the Oilers' bigger problems. McDavid is third in the NHL in offensive points shares at 7.7. But unlike Nikita Kucherov and Patrick Kane, he doesn't have a Steven Stamkos or a Jonathan Toews. When McDavid doesn't score, as he didn't on Wednesday, the Oilers don't win. He has 36 points in 36 losses and 46 points in 24 wins.
In that respect, these Oilers are much like Johnston's Penguins of the mid-1980s. It's a one-man team. Lemieux didn't play in a postseason game until his fifth season, didn't win the Stanley Cup until his seventh at age 25.
McDavid, 22, has appeared in the playoffs just once (2016-17). But with the Oilers falling six points out of the final wildcard spot in the West with Wednesday's loss — they are 1-6-2 in their last nine — it's hard to envision them reaching the postseason this year. Or anytime soon.
Not that Johnston feels sorry for McDavid.
"Mario didn't have the best supporting cast around him," Johnston was saying. "But then we were able to get (Kevin) Stevens, we made the deal for (Paul) Coffey. McDavid's had talent around him. You look back at Edmonton, they had four or five first-round picks. (Taylor) Hall was there. Early in his career, Mario never had that luxury of having those types of guys."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Oilers, PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 13, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS____________________
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