The roof on Rogers Place nearly blew off as Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid secured his 1,000th NHL point against the Nashville Predators.
You could feel the energy in the building during the leadup to the historic night, with 18,000 Oilers fans on the edge of their seat waiting for McDavid to reach the milestone. They had to wait a bit longer than they may have expected, but it eventually came in the second period.
Fittingly, it was Leon Draisaitl who had the primary assist as he found McDavid on a 2-on-1 who made no mistake. It was the Oilers captain’s 341st NHL goal and, of course, his 1000th point.
The Oilers bench immediately cleared as they went to celebrate with McDavid on the ice.
CONNOR MCDAVID LIGHTS THE LAMP FOR POINT NUMBER 1,000! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2k95cPPQlY
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 15, 2024
With the goal, McDavid becomes the fourth-fastest and the fourth-youngest player in NHL history to hit the benchmark. He joins an exclusive club of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Jari Kurri as the only Oilers to score 1,000 points in franchise history. It’s not a stretch that he will also someday have his jersey number hanging beside those all-time greats at some point as well.
Soon after the goal was scored, Rogers Place erupted in “MVP” chants to show their captain just how much it means for this accomplishment to happen on home ice. McDavid’s father, Brian was shown celebrating his son’s achievement in the Rogers Place stands.
It was not a throwaway goal at all for McDavid either, as it tied up the game and helped spark the team to take the lead a few shifts later off of Darnell Nurse’s first of the season.
The puck was also wrangled up by longtime Oilers’ head equipment manager Jeff Laing and will surely be prominently featured on the McDavid mantle, at least until he eventually brings a Stanley Cup to the Alberta capital.