LOS ANGELES — Kris Knoblauch is five months into watching Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl go to work.
The Oilers rookie head coach witnessed the dynamic duo drag Edmonton back from a disastrous start to the regular season, and they’ve elevated their game even further this spring.
McDavid leads the playoffs with nine points, joining Wayne Gretzky as the only players in NHL history with eight assists through the first three games of a post-season.
Draisaitl, meanwhile, has three goals and four assists to sit tied with teammate Zach Hyman for second in NHL playoff points. The Oilers, who lead their first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings 2-1, look ahead to Sunday’s Game 4.
“For them to show up and play as well as they have in the playoffs, it’s quite significant,” Knoblauch said Saturday of McDavid and Draisaitl. “It’s not an overstatement to say that is remarkable.”
Knoblauch replaced Jay Woodcroft behind Edmonton’s bench Nov. 12 when the Oilers ranked second-last in the NHL. The team turned its season around with 97 points in its next 69 games under Knoblauch, with McDavid and Draisaitl driving that comeback.
Playoff production is hardly new for Edmonton’s pillars.
With 82 points each in 52 career post-season contests, McDavid and Draisaitl rank second and third all-time in points per game. Their 1.62 average is a touch ahead of Mario Lemieux and trails only the Great One — two players who stacked jaw-dropping numbers in the high-flying 1980s.
“It’s remarkable to be mentioned with those two players,” Knoblauch said. “Then also to be doing it now when scoring is a lot tighter.
“So many players get a bad rap of, ‘Oh yeah, they do it in the regular season, but when things are tough and the checking’s harder and there’s not as much space, they fade away.’
“Those two have just elevated their play in the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, Knoblauch is getting his first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs as a head coach.
“It absolutely does feel different,” Knoblauch said. “The stress and the amount that goes into decisions, or thought that goes into every decision … there’s a lot on the line.
“But this is why we enjoy doing this.”
Knoblauch left Hartford in the American Hockey League to become Edmonton’s head coach. The 45-year-old was a Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach from 2017 to 2019.
Before that, Knoblauch coached major junior’s Kootenay Ice to a Western Hockey League championship in 2011 and the Erie Otters to an Ontario Hockey League title in…