Connor McDavid reveals Oilers forced to change travel plans in Toronto due to Taylor Swift

Connor McDavid revealed that the Edmonton Oilers were forced to change their travel plans due to pop sensation Taylor Swift's concert.

Connor McDavid reveals Oilers forced to change travel plans in Toronto due to Taylor Swift

Connor McDavid (C) and Taylor Swift (R) [Image via CBC/Forbes]

On Saturday night, the Edmonton Oilers took on their Canadian rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Before the game, Connor McDavid revealed that the team was forced to change their travel plans due to Taylor Swift.

The pop sensation was in the city for the Canadian leg of her ongoing Eras Tour. She was about to perform at the Rogers Centre, a few distance away from the Scotiabank Arena.

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The game was a special one for McDavid. Having grown up in Richmond Hill, Ontario, which is 35 miles north of Scotiabank Arena, the Oilers captain had several friends and family watching from close.

In the pre-game post-conference, the forward was asked how the last 48 hours had been for him after he accomplished a huge milestone. In the Oilers’ 3-2 victory over the Predators, McDavid crossed the 1,000-point mark in the NHL. He became the 99th player in the league to do so and is the fourth fastest to complete this feat.

In his answer, the 27-year-old revealed that he was busy traveling with the team and they had to make a quick turnaround due to Swift’s concert.

It’s been just trying to get to Toronto. It was a quick turnaround, got on the plane early, trying to beat all the Taylor Swift traffic. It’s been a quick turnaround.

Connor McDavid said

When asked if he was a “Swiftie“, McDavid said, “She’s got some great songs, yeah.”

He scored and assisted in the game later on and took his season points tally to 21. However, the team were unable to claim a fourth successive win as they ended up losing 4-3 in overtime.

Kris Knoblauch claims Oilers’ mistakes cost them the match

In a highly-anticipated game between two inform Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs came away as the winners. Following the defeat, Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch admitted that they made some mistakes which cost them match.

Kris Knoblauch
Kris Knoblauch (Image via CHL)

With less than seven minutes left in the third period, the Oilers were leading 2-1. An error from them saw Evan Bouchard‘s pass deflected off his own teammate and fall straight to Matthew Knies. The opposition player made no mistake in putting it away to make it 2-2.

A minute later Bobby McMann found himself on the break and scored to make it 3-2. Nevertheless, the Oilers took the game to overtime with a goal from Leon Draisaitl. However, they ended up conceding an OT winner at the hands of Mitch Marner.

Overall I thought the first 10 minutes we were doing really well defending it. It was mistakes on our behalf. One, you know, loose puck that’s chased down and another one just a pass that goes off our players’ back end and stays in the slot. 

Kris Knoblauch said in the post-game conference

Another key moment from this match came in the second period shortly after Connor McDavid had given the Oilers the lead. Maple Leafs’ enforcer Ryan Reaves would land a vicious hit on Darnell Nurse, which saw him get ejected from the game. Nurse would withdraw from the game after that due to an upper-body injury.

This was the third successive time where the Oilers took a game into overtime. The third time did not turn out to be the lucky charm for them as they ended up losing which ended their three-game winning run. As for the Maple Leafs, this was the second time in three days where they won a game 4-3 in overtime.