MCDAVID: TWO ASSISTS IN OILERS “DEBUT”

EDMONTON (CP) -The Connor McDavid era has begun – unofficially.

McDavid recorded a pair of assists in his NHL pre-season debut as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Monday in a pre-season split-squad game.

Andrew Miller, Leon Draisaitl, Anton Lander and Nail Yakupov scored for the Oilers.

McDavid, the first overall draft pick this summer, was named the game’s first star, logging 20:59 in game time.

“There was obviously nerves and a lot of excitement going into the game and it takes a little bit to settle down,” McDavid said. “I thought I was a little nervous in the first period and wasn’t patient with the puck and wasn’t playing my game. I guess that’s to be expected, there was so much hype about playing your first NHL game, although it’s not really, it’s still kind of your first taste.”

Oilers new head coach Todd McLellan was suitably impressed with the play of McDavid, labelled by many as a potential future superstar.

“I thought he looked dangerous and played well on both sides of the puck,” he said. “He had a couple of good scoring chances. It was about what we expected for game one.”

At the same time the game in Edmonton was taking place, another split-squad game between the two Alberta rivals was played in Calgary, with the Oilers winning that game 3-1.

Notes: Among the Oilers suiting up for the split squad game in Calgary instead were forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, Benoit Pouliot and Ben Scrivens … The Flames kept many of their top players in Calgary, including the likes of Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Jiri Hudler, Michael Frolik, Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton … Mike Babcock won his Leafs head coaching “debut”, 4-1 over Ottawa.