"More aggressive": Miller praises Canucks' defensive changes on McDavid
Good Co. Bars is your home for the playoffs! Enjoy $5 beers, prizes, a full game-day experience, and the best atmosphere to catch the game. Join us at any of our five locations.
Through five games of their second-round series, the Vancouver Canucks have done a remarkable job at slowing Connor McDavid.
The Edmonton Oilers superstar has just six points in the five games so far, with four of those points coming in a single game.
The power of the Canucks strategy to slow down McDavid was on full display last night in a 3-2 victory.
“Without being disrespectful I find the last couple games me, Brock, and Suts have been kind of giving Connor too much respect,” said J.T. Miller after the final whistle. “We’ve been playing not to get scored on a bit, and when you do that, he just gets more time with the puck.”
McDavid had just two shots and no points last night. Miller and his linemates thoroughly outplayed the Oilers’ top trio when matched up.
“I thought we just went back to playing our game, being more aggressive, and whenever there is a situation where it’s time to be above him, we’ll worry about it when it happens,” continued Miller. “But I thought we were just a little more aggressive today, and we were able to extend some O-zone time.”
“I think we did a good job in the second of we didn’t cross our red line very often when they got it out. That’s how you get the momentum, and that’s what you want to do to teams. You want to shrink the ice and I thought we were able to do that.”
McDavid has just one point over the last three games, the first time that’s happened in the playoffs since 2019. His ineffectiveness has the Canucks just one victory away from advancing.
Connor McDavid has just one point in his past three games.
The last time he had just a single point across three playoff games was five years ago in the 2019 postseason. #LetsGoOilers #Canucks
— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) May 17, 2024
Follow Channels and Categories