Seattle Kraken try to agitate McDavid all night and he snaps

As the Oilers sought to keep their winning streak alive against the Seattle Kraken last night, and the Kraken clearly came armed with a game plan to get under Connor McDavid's skin.

All throughout last night's game, McDavid was the target of some dirty plays from the Kraken, being followed with chirps, cross checks, holds, and face washes. One of the more prominent players for the Kraken last night was Yanni Gourde, who can be seen in this clip following McDavid and chirping him, diving off the faceoff to draw a penalty, and then getting into another scrum near Stuart Skinner after a dirty hit on Ekholm.

McDavid scared to drop the gloves with Yanni Gourde so instead Gourde takes a run at Elkholm. This is what happens when McDavid tries to agitate other players all game and isn't willing to answer for his actions. McDavid with a slashing and roughing penalty prior to this pic.twitter.com/664fbDNnl6— Dennis Wideman (@widemanden) January 19, 2024

In the highlight pack of clips above, McDavid clearly doesn't back away from the clear attempts to agitate him. In all examples, McDavid immediately made a point to get in some shoves and face washes of his own - and when Gourde was in front of the Oilers net, McDavid was the first one in the pile.


In another example, Kraken forward Ty Kartye took a late hit towards McDavid in the corner after he had played the puck. McDavid complained to the refs about this one, but also immediately followed Kartye with a face wash and grabbing him by the collar.


It's rare to see the Oilers captain respond this physically and emotionally out of retaliation,but he's had to endure so much already in his career that he's clearly defending himself now. Despite the Kraken's best efforts to agitate McDavid, the Oilers still found a way to come back from an early deficit of two goals to win their twelfth straight game. At this point, their winning streak is reaching truly historic levels and it feels like the team may never lose again.