Elliotte Friedman ditches Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl to crown $80,000,000 Golden Knights star as Game 2 MVP

In a surprising take, NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman crowned Vegas Golden Knights star Jack Eichel as the MVP of Game 2, despite Vegas falling 5–4 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers.

Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winner in OT off a feed from Connor McDavid, giving Edmonton a 2–0 lead in the second-round series as it heads home for Game 3.

On Friday, on his "32 Thoughts" podcast, Friedman explained his reasoning for picking Eichel, who has an eight-year, $80,000,000 contract, over McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers' superstar duo.

Friedman pointed out in the second period that the Oilers held a 15-8 edge in five-on-five goals even without Connor McDavid or Draisaitl on the ice. This was a rare shift, as they had been minus-20 in those situations during the regular season.

“But on that one play, Eichel, who had a phenomenal game like, I don't care how good a defensive player Eichel is, how good a two way player he is, and he's an MVP candidate, and he's a Selke candidate.” Friedman said.

“Even if you're one of the best skating defensemen in the NHL, if you get caught in open ice with him, you don't have a chance. It didn't matter.

Friedman further suggested that the Oilers' victory would have been a "huge loss" had they not come out on top, given that McDavid and Draisaitl were not major factors in the game and that the Vegas goalie was struggling.

Connor McDavid on Oilers 5–4 OT win against Vegas

The Oilers saw scoring contributions from Leon Draisaitl, Jake Walman, Vasily Podkolzin, Darnell Nurse, and Evander Kane. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights were powered by two goals thanks to Victor Olofsson, William Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo.

"It wasn't pretty. Not pretty at all. I thought Picks held us in. We were fortunate to find a way to be up two a couple of times there, and obviously, we didn't close it out,” Connor McDavid said.

“We found a way though, and we would've liked to score one on the power play there for five minutes. Not our group's best, but we found a way."

Calvin Pickard came up big in the net for Edmonton, turning aside 28 shots to secure the win. Adin Hill backstopped 32 shots for Vegas.