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

The Oilers and Canucks in action Saturday night in Vancouver

Frustrations boiled over between the Canucks and Oilers on Saturday.

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

The Oilers' captain was handed a match penalty Saturday after he cross-checked Canucks winger Conor Garland in the head late in Edmonton’s 3-2 loss to Vancouver.

A match penalty is given when officials determine a player has intentionally injured — or tried to injure — an opponent. The sanction carries an automatic suspension until the NHL’s commissioner weighs in.

With less than 20 seconds left on the game clock and the Oilers looking to equalize, Garland poked the puck off McDavid’s stick and both players fell to the ice. The pair wrestled for a moment, then got up before Garland once again took down the marquee centre and tried to prevent him from getting back to his feet.

“I’m just holding him. I mean, he’s the best player to ever do it. So, the time’s running out. And I just thought that was maybe the best way for us to win a game was to do that,” Garland said of the battle. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

As the pair separated, McDavid slammed his stick into Garland’s head.

“Absolutely, there’s a rivalry and Connor gets frustrated. He gets his stick up, and he’s frustrated because we’re down one goal and the best player in the league is getting held for 15 seconds,” Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “And there’s frustration that’s allowed to happen, and the stick got up, and yeah, so that’s what happened.”

Several skaters from each side responded by jumping into a skirmish in front of the Canucks' net. Pushing and shoving ensued as officials worked to pull players apart.

“I get crushed in the head, so our team rushes to defend that, right? And that’s what good teams do,” Garland said.

As McDavid was led off the ice, Garland and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl exchanged heated words — and shoves — along the end boards.

“It’s hockey, it happens. It’s intense, it’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Draisaitl said of the game’s final moments. ”Obviously, couldn’t get (a goal) and then a little bit of fisticuffs, but nothing major.”

Nearby the melee, Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard approached Canucks blueliner Tyler Myers and Myers hit Bouchard in the face with his stick.

Myers also received a match penalty.

Every other skater on the ice received a minor penalty for roughing.

Don’t call it a comeback

Vancouver took a 3-0 lead in the first period before Draisaitl responded with a pair of goals in the second.

Edmonton (29-14-3) has made comebacks a staple in recent games, rallying from three-goal deficits to beat both the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild this week.

“Third game in a row we chased from behind, and that makes it a little more difficult,” Knoblauch said. ”I thought we had a pretty good push to make it 3-2 after the second period and we just couldn’t generate enough to get that third one.”

Rallying point?

The Canucks (20-15-10) came into Saturday’s with six losses in their last seven games.

Head coach Rick Tocchet said the victory could be meaningful for his group.

“We talked about certain things with our game, the consistency of it, how to handle pressure,” he said. ”We needed a bigger chunk of guys to really, dig in for us. I thought they did tonight. We need some good stuff to happen around here. We’ve got to get a little bit of momentum. Some bad luck, some self-inflicted stuff that we’ve done. … But this is a good win.”

-- Gemma Karstens-Smith

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2025.