Anaheim's relentless swarm strategy suffocates McDavid, forcing turnovers and disrupting the Oilers' attack. This game plan is proving a masterclass in neutralizing hockey's top talent.
The Anaheim Ducks have done an incredibly effective job of neutralizing the greatest hockey player on the planet. Connor McDavid scored his first points of the series on Friday, but the Ducks, once again, kept his impact to a minimum in a 7-4 win to take a 2-1 series lead.
Everyone is asking what's wrong with McDavid. Not enough people are giving the Ducks credit.
Sure, McDavid might be playing through something. And yes, he's a plus-minus -13 in his last seven playoff games (meaning it's not just the Ducks he's struggled against). That said, the Ducks have a strategy against the Oilers' captain, and it's working.
Perhaps credit should go to Anaheim's Joel Quenneville for outcoaching Edmonton' Kris Knoblauch. That's been obvious to this point in the series.
From there, it's important to note that former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is now an assistant in Anaheim. Woodcroft knows a thing or two about McDavid, including how to throw him off his game.
We'll also give some credit to a star in the making in Jackson LaCombe, but whoever is steering the ship when it comes to covering No. 97, the game plan has paid off.
The Ducks Are Swarming McDavid
The swarm that is sending two or three players immediately to McDavid has worked. That constant pressure has gotten to a player who appears to be playing like he has to will the Oilers out of this hole all by himself.
Known to dangle three or four defenders in the past, the Ducks are playing the odds that he can't repeatedly do so. Applying a full-court press on Edmonton's superstar has thrown him off. He's turned the puck over repeatedly, struggled to enter the zone effectively, and made plays he would never normally make.
In Game 2, he coughed up the puck on a power play, leading to a short-handed goal against. In Game 3, he simply dumped the puck in and gave it to the Ducks, giving up on a play. When does McDavid do either of those things? The answer? Never.
McDavid is flustered. There's no two ways about it.
The risk for the Ducks is that other Oilers are left wide open. If McDavid can see the triple coverage coming, suck the Ducks in and deliver a pass to a teammate, those teammates are open. Kevin Bieska likened it to an NBA star kicking the ball back out and hitting the guard at the three-point line when he's double-teamed.
It worked a couple of times on Friday when other Oilers figured it out. Leon Draisaitl, who the Ducks tried to swarm on the wall, made a sweet play to a wide-open Kasperi Kapanen for a goal.
For McDavid, he's continued to try to dance around the defenders. Only when he stops and then makes the simple play will the Ducks potentially have to make a change.
Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn ImagesFor now, Anaheim isn't about to fix what isn't broken. Press McDavid. Force him to make the simple and technically correct hockey play. If he refuses to do so, the Ducks will dance all the way to the second round while the Oilers will spend the summer trying to figure out what went wrong.
It's too early to suggest the Ducks have figured out the Oilers. It's only a 2-1 series, with plenty of hockey left to play. However, Anaheim's strategy to vigoursly over-defend McDavid, with the theory that he's too big a part of what makes the Oilers click has been a smart one.
Expect them to double a triple team him until he adjusts.
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