Connor McDavid Says Loss To The Sharks Created Shift In Oilers Season

Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid recalled his team's loss to the San Jose Sharks at the beginning of the season after his team moved onto the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In an interview with The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun , McDavid called the loss to the Sharks a "low point in his career."

"That was a low point, I would say even in my career, it felt like," McDavid said Wednesday night. "We had a meeting the next day (after the loss in San Jose) and the meeting was, 'There's nowhere else to go. We're last.' That was a tough realization, you know?"

Related: Sharks Cause Chaos With Hockey World Watching; Beat Oilers 3-2

The Sharks victory was arguably when Oilers' head coach Jay Woodcroft thought he could be fired. Speculation surrounded Woodcroft as he walked off the ice at the SAP Center.

The Oilers were off to a putrid start, and their record fell to 2-9-1 after that loss. Woodcroft would coach one more game on the road against the Seattle Kraken before he and his staff were let go for new head coach Kris Knoblauch.

Looking back at the situation, Knoblauch helped turn the Oilers' season around. From the moment he was hired to the end of the season, Edmonton had the best record in the NHL at 47-18-5.

"But at the end of the day, it was a meeting that let guys let some things go that we were holding onto. This need, to have a great year and whatever, all of a sudden it just shifted to, 'Let's get ourselves back in it. A lot of guys were looking at, 'We want to win the division.' 'We want to be first.' 'We want to do all this," McDavid said. "But that forced us to just say, 'Let's win the next game. Let's win the next two. Let's have a good week.' I thought it was a good thing for our group. I think the start of the season really forced us to be short-sighted."

Now McDavid and the Oilers will play the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Sharks may have had a rough season, but they can hang onto the fact that McDavid still thinks about losing to them in November of 2023.

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