Don't adjust to McDavid, Draisaitl - just trust they'll find you
Mattias Ekholm knew the pass was coming. Or maybe he didn't. With Connor McDavid, it's hard to tell.
The feed, threaded past five players scrambling to get to the front of the Florida Panthers' net, survived a tip by goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and landed on Ekholm's stick in perfect rhythm. The Edmonton Oilers defenseman sent it home to tie Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final with 13:27 to play.
It was McDavid's first of two assists Wednesday night - and one of those moments that shows just how much teammates need to recalibrate in real time to keep up with Edmonton's two superstars.
"I know from playing with him if he has the puck low, he probably has some defenders locking eyes on him, so I tried to sneak on that backside," Ekholm said. "I don't know if he sees me or not, but great pass - puts it on a platter for me."
With a smile on Friday, McDavid would only say this to reporters when asked to clear up the mystery of whether the pass was meant for Ekholm or Evander Kane: "All that matters is it ended up where it needed to be, and we scored."
Ekholm acknowledged that sometimes it feels like McDavid has eyes in the back of his head when it comes to finding guys on the ice.
McDavid and Leon Draisaitl don't just skate faster. They process faster. The game bends to their timing.
"They're obviously very creative players and they make everyone around them better," Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said. "They like to look for each other … little give-and-gos, things like that."
The pressure they apply forces opponents to chase. For teammates, the challenge is more subtle: adjusting their own pace, spacing, and decisions to match players who are already several moves ahead.
Kane has spent enough time with McDavid and Draisaitl to know the learning curve is real. Still, he said the key to success might not be chasing them, but trusting they'll meet you halfway.
"They both play the game very differently," he said. "Specifically, if you talk about Connor, he can really change the pace, whether it's speeding things up or slowing things down. As wingers, it's pretty easy to read off that, and it allows you to get the puck with time and space.
"With Leo … he's so big and so strong, and he can handle sometimes one or two guys on the defensive side of the puck and create space for his linemates by drawing people to him and then distributing.
"In terms of changing your attitude, I think you adapt to kind of how they play a little bit. But at the same time, I think what makes you the most successful is when you continue to play your own game because they are smart enough players to understand the people they're playing with and make those adjustments."
Jolene Latimer is a feature writer at theScore.