Photo Courtesy of Kate Frese
The Flyers topped the Edmonton Oilers in thrilling fashion on Thursday night (see recap), and rather than overcoming two two-goal deficits or Michael Raffl's late heroics, the big story is Connor McDavid's postgame comments about Brandon Manning.
Manning, allegedly, made comments on the ice that referenced his hit on McDavid last season — the hit that cost the prolific forward 37 games of his rookie year. That didn't sit too well with McDavid, who called Manning out in his postgame meeting with reporters.
"I did all I could defending him last year in the media. He wanted to say some comments today about what went on last year, I thought it was one of the classless things I’ve ever seen on the ice. He said some things, and our guys responded accordingly.
"I guess we can put the whole 'if he did it on purpose' thing to rest, because what he said out there kinda confirms it. Shows the kind of guy he is — he doesn’t step up and fight one of our guys."
Sure, McDavid's coming from a place of frustration. His team blew a two-goal lead in the third period, for their sixth loss in their last eight games. But to make these terse remarks after the game shows a pure lack of responsibility on McDavid's part, and is acting in a matter not befitting for an NHL captain. Being a first-year captain will certainly come with some bumps — especially at 19-years-old — but to expect special treatment from an opposing player is just pure balderdash.
(I guess between this, and the Ric Flair-esque "Woo!" chants that have dominated the Wells Fargo Center in recent weeks, the Flyers are slowly yet surely becoming theNHL's answer to pro wrestling heels for this season. Not bad!)
With 38 points through 29 games, McDavid is already the NHL's leader in points. He's well on his way to becoming the league's best player, yet still has a bit of a ways to go before he gets to that point. And if he keeps acting like a petulant child like this — which has been so uncharacteristic for him — it will take him longer than expected to get there.
Both teams will meet for the second time this season on Feb. 16 in Edmonton — just a little over two months away. It's a game that may be likely to re-hash some of this bad blood, and if last night's barn-burner is any indication, it'll be another fun game to watch. Of course, given the myriad of other little things that pop up over the course of a season, this skirmish could be rendered to be nothing more than a mere afterthought.
Yes, an incident between Manning and McDavid 13 months ago did happen, and yes, it was an accident. Manning has expressed regret for it, but that's not going to prevent him from snide on-ice comments. On-ice chirping is as much of a part of the game as anything else, and if there's anything McDavid doesn't need, it's to show the rest of the league how easy it can be to get in his head.
McDavid may be a prolific, young forward, but to Manning and the rest of the Flyers, he's an opponent. Their duty is to shut him down as best they can, and come away with two points at the end of the night. Just because Manning hurt McDavid last year, doesn't mean he owes him any special courtesies. And it certainly makes one wonder why McDavid was expecting any.
