NHL's Connor McDavid shines:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hockey's history books are filled with the same title once more and once more - Wayne Gretzky. His records have long been thought to be out of reach until presently. This evening, in amusement six of the Stanley Glass last, all eyes will be on one player making a run at one of Gretzky's most amazing records. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: I'm going to begin by telling you approximately this one minute from Diversion Five on Tuesday.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Foggy (ph) moves through a twofold group, and Perry scores. What a play by McDavid.
SULLIVAN: The Edmonton Oilers are spread out over the ice. There are five players the Florida Pumas might be guarding, but all of them collapse on fair one fellow - Connor McDavid.
STEVE Require: Four Florida Puma shields are all encompassing McDavid. McDavid is the as it were Oiler. McDavid's got the puck.
SULLIVAN: This is ESPN's Steve Levy.
LEVY: And McDavid still, clearly, by one means or another was able to get through all four of those Florida Jaguars and at that point beat the goalie and set up his buddy for a tapping.
SULLIVAN: McDavid cut through the shields like they were fair cones on an deterrent course, flicked the puck to his partner for the objective, taking off everybody - the broadcasters, the fans, the Florida Jaguars - stunned.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: For the win, the Oilers - a brilliant piece of work, McDavid to Perry.
SULLIVAN: After the amusement, the colleague who scored the objective, Corey Perry, told columnists it was fair another Tuesday for McDavid.
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COREY PERRY: He puts his group on his back. When we're against the divider, he puts us on his back. And, you know, you see why he is the best player.
SULLIVAN: Not fair the best player on the Oilers, the best player in a era, the kind of skater so electric that when he touches the puck, fans of his rival get out of their seats to witness what might happen, Require says.
LEVY: You do not indeed have to know it's him. You do not have to know it's his uniform number. He bounced off the tv screen, off the ice. He fair looks so diverse than everybody else.
SULLIVAN: Individuals have been anticipating awesome things from Connor McDavid for a long time. He's been a star ever since Edmonton chose him with a best draft choose in 2015, but the Oilers fair weren't exceptionally great for a part of those a long time. So McDavid didn't have a reasonable chance at the Stanley Glass until presently, and he's making the most of it, says Sean McIndoe, a hockey author for The Athletic.
SEAN MCINDOE: What we're seeing from Connor McDavid in this year's playoffs is truly one of the most prominent exhibitions ever by an hostile player.
SULLIVAN: McIndoe says Gretzky's records were set in the '80s and '90s, when there was a parcel more scoring, portion of the reason why those records have stood for so long.
MCINDOE: However here we are in 2024, in an time where it's much harder to score in the NHL. The groups are so much way better, and however Connor McDavid is chasing a record that's held by Wayne Gretzky.
SULLIVAN: That record is focuses in a single playoffs run, focuses meaning both objectives and helps. McDavid right now has 42. Gretzky's record is 47. McDavid has tonight's Diversion 6 to chase it and, if the Oilers win once more, a choosing Diversion 7. There's one other thing at stake, McIndoe says. Whereas McDavid is hockey's greatest star, he's not all that well-known exterior of the wear, and his execution is an opportunity both for him and hockey.
MCINDOE: The level of execution that he's at - you do not have to take after hockey. You do not have to get it or indeed like hockey to be able to appreciate genuine greatness.
SULLIVAN: He says the marvel around the ball player Caitlin Clark demonstrates American gatherings of people can, in truth, appear up for a don they customarily haven't cared so much approximately. Possibly hockey may be another. Becky Sullivan, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF LIL WAYNE Tune, "SHOOTER FT. ROBIN THICKE") Transcript given by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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