One McDavid’s stat plays against Oilers’ chances to win the Stanley Cup…

The Colorado Avalanche might have taken a 2-0 lead into the Western conference final against the Edmonton Oilers, Connor McDavid remains in the running as a worthy candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The captain propelled the Oilers to series victories over the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames and has been great to watch against Nathan MacKinnon in this series.

He’s more than halfway to Wayne Gretzky’s record for points in a single postseason through just 14 games, scoring eight goals and collecting 21 assists. While he was shut down during Game 2 on Thursday, the Avalanche constantly needs to keep an eye on him.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also noted how much time the Oilers’ superstar is averaging per game and it is impressive. Though he is not worried about McDavid’s ability to handle it and remain strong through the next round, if Edmonton reached the Stanley Cup final, Friedman offer some interesting stat that even McDavid might not be able to beat (the statistic was offered on Thursday afternoon, ahead of Game 2):

“McDavid is averaging 22:28 ice time per game. There’s no doubt he can handle it, none at all. It may not mean anything, but no team has won a Stanley Cup since 2012 with a forward playing 22 minutes per game. That was Anze Kopitar at 22:03. Others who have done it are Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour (23:52) in 2006; Tampa Bay’s Brad Richards (23:28) and Martin St. Louis (22:52) in 2004; Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov (22:20) in 2002; Dallas’s Mike Modano (24:40, what a number) in 1999; and Detroit’s Steve Yzerman (22:41) in 1998.”

McDavid was on the ice for 20 minutes and 43 seconds in Game 2’s 4-0 loss.

Games 3 and 4 head to Edmonton where the Oilers will hope to tie up the series to get closer to a chance to advance to the finals. Then maybe McDavid will get a chance to prove this stat wrong as he’s done with many previous records in the past!