He attended one playoff game in what he called the "glory years" - that franchise-defining run of 13 seasons after joining the NHL in 1979. What he remembers is how loud it was.

"There was just this continuous, continuous noise," the 40-year-old recalls. "It was super overwhelming as a 9-year-old. People stood for two-thirds of the game."

The Oilers were one of four teams to join the NHL from the WHA for the 1979-80 season, and they made an immediate impact. Bolstered by a kid phenom by the name of Wayne Gretzky - who, legend has it, was acquired in a backgammon game - they were the lowest playoff seed in their first season but truly announced themselves the next year by taking down a legendary but aging Montreal Canadiens team in the first round.

They didn't have to wait long to become legends in their own right: Between 1983-90 they appeared in six Stanley Cup Finals, winning five. They even managed to lock down a Cup without Gretzky, who had been sent to the Los Angeles Kings in one of the most stunning deals in sports history.

Of course, shortly thereafter, the dark ages fell upon the Edmonton faithful as their team struggled to reach those heights again. The Oilers have not hoisted the Cup in 32 years. Other than a flash of brilliance in 2006 when they made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, they've otherwise existed in what appeared to be a perpetual state of rebuilding. For those just slightly younger than Chris Davies, the "glory days" were little more than oral legends, highlight clips, and jersey retirement ceremonies.

"My dad was an Oilers fan growing up, and I remember him talking about Gretzky and Messier, all those guys. All those years (since), it felt like maybe we'd be at the bottom forever," lifelong fan Tyler Melanson, 28, said.

Perhaps as a sign of acceptance, the city meekly scrubbed the audacious "City of Champions" slogan from its branding in 2017. But help was on the way. A savior had arrived in Canada's gateway to the North. McJesus was drafted first overall by the Oilers in 2015, and with him came the hope of a new era.

Today's youngest Oilers fans have been spared the lifetime of angst that their millennial parents have endured. The only captain they've ever known is Connor McDavid, who seems to do something special every time he steps on the ice. With him, the once faraway dream of bringing the Cup back to Edmonton seems within the realm of possibility.

Chris Davies' 10-year-old son Sam, a self-proclaimed Oilers megafan, remembers well the first game he fell in love with the team. It was May 6, 2022, Game 3 of the Oilers-Kings Round 1 matchup. He didn't even watch it. His teachers provided updates during a school event. But the excitement of an 8-2 Oilers victory from the people around him left an unshakeable mark.

"McDavid is my favorite Oiler," Sam said. "Just, generally, the way he plays - I like how he plays a level of hockey above everyone else."

After watching McDavid in last year's playoffs, Sam begged his dad to let him sign up for youth hockey. "I used to think my goal was to be like McDavid. Now that I see just how good he is, I can see how hard that will be," Sam said. He became a goalie.

Winning the Hart Trophy as MVP twice and the Art Ross Trophy four times in his first seven years were merely the appetizer before the main McDavid show. This season, he ascended to hockey's throne room, becoming the first Oilers player since Gretzky to break 140 points. The last time someone approached a rate of two points per game was when the Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux recorded 2.3 per game (161 points in 70 contests) in 1996. McDavid is at 1.9 with six games left.

Over the last four years, Matt Laird has seen a lot of those points in person - he's only missed about four home games in his role as bandleader and sousaphone player for the Oilers Drum and Brass Crew. Perched with his band in the upper deck of Rogers Place, he has a unique gauge on the crowd.

On the nights when McDavid dazzles, the crowd pulses. "You can feel the energy is ... almost like a tangible thing," he said. Laird's band will often perform on the concourse during period breaks. "You can actually feel the floor in Ford Hall shaking when everyone's in there. It's pretty cool, but also a little scary."

McDavid's career-high 61 goals and 83 assists through 76 games are certainly giving fans something legitimate to get excited about. And some of those goals are notched in such exquisite fashion that they push the crowd to an even more feverish climax. His 60th goal was one such accomplishment, earned in overtime against the Arizona Coyotes while the Oilers are locked in a heated search for points down the stretch.

"That was my favorite goal that I've ever seen him score," Laird says. "Such an amazing pass from Draisaitl. He strips the goalie. Misses the net on his own accord. Then Draisaitl fights it back off the boards and another insane pass to Connor who does the exact same move. He strips the goalie again. On the same move. And puts it in the net. I had a tough time sleeping that night because I was electric."

After that goal, even McDavid's right-hand man had to acknowledge there's something different about him. "Crazy to try that same move again and score on them the second time, but that's just what he does, I guess," Draisaitl said. "It's pretty hard to score in this league. To score 60 in a season and still have 10 games to go is pretty remarkable. He's just a special player."

Even the characteristically understated McDavid himself admitted that goal was pretty cool.

"I felt like I was kind of pressing for the 60th all night. At this point, not to bury that one in ... I couldn't get many better looks than that. Not every day you get two breakaways back-to-back like that. Just ridiculous," McDavid said.

Surrounded by his mere mortal peers, some nights McDavid looks like a man among boys. Sam compared his own experiences on the ice playing with his younger brother to describe it. "He's playing at a level of hockey above everyone else. He just needs a little bit more competition. He just needs to play with other people at his level."

It's not just the atmosphere inside Rogers Place that's building, the crowd's momentum is overflowing into nearby bars. "I think people recognize that they're watching - or potentially watching - history happen," said Taylor Iwaasa, owner and operator of popular downtown Edmonton hotspot Greta. "Milestones. Records. The things (McDavid) does on the ice. I think people are in awe of that part of it aside from the records. We're going into another playoff season with a lot of high hopes, and I definitely see a lot of rejuvenation with people starting to come out."

But behind all the excitement lurks anxiety. It's not just the 32 years of Cup futility. Oilers fans recognized McDavid's rare talent from the outset. But for the last seven years, the organization has struggled to surround him with the right pieces to make a deep playoff run. McDavid and Draisaitl can't accomplish the feat on their own. Whether it be goaltending, lack of scoring depth, or defensive holes, something has always scuttled the team's chances. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Not only will McDavid not be young forever, he's already more than halfway through his eight-year deal.

Chris Davies said it like a grizzled vet: "Part of my heart does not want to be ripped out again."

Melanson, with the realism of an Oilers fan who has lived through the dark times, said: "I feel like it's a bit of holding our breath." He then guessed that even McDavid himself might say something akin to, "It's great to do well, but if he doesn't win a Cup - was it worth it?"

Fans can be thrilled with McDavid's personal accomplishments and the opportunity to see one of the most spectacular seasons in more than a century of NHL hockey. But, ultimately, they want the same thing their McJesus does.

"At the end of the day, (the milestones) are all just a number. ... Obviously we've got a lot of work left this year," McDavid said.

Jolene Latimer is a video producer and feature writer for theScore.

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Philadelphia Flyers leading scorer Travis Konecny will return to the team's lineup Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres, head coach John Tortorella confirmed, according to The Athletic's Charlie O'Connor.

Tortorella also announced forward Sean Couturier won't play this season.

Konecny hasn't played since Feb. 20 after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Calgary Flames. Despite missing 16 contests, the 26-year-old still paces the Flyers with 27 goals and 54 points.

Couturier has been sidelined due to a back injury. He last played for Philadelphia on Dec. 18, 2021.

Tortorella noted that Couturier didn't sustain a setback in his recovery, but that the decision was made to not risk bringing him back for the final eight games of the season, according to O'Connor.

"I said to (Couturier), why don't we use the next few months to get even more ready?" Tortorella said, per O'Connor.

"This guy's a whole different animal, he wants to (play)," the coach continued, according to NBCS Philadelphia's Jordan Hall.

The Flyers are seventh in the Metropolitan Division with a 29-32-13 record.

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Like most superstars, Auston Matthews' game appeals to the masses in part because what you see from the stands or the couch mirrors his statistical profile.

For example, Matthews didn't ride some unsustainably hot shooting percentage to 60 goals last season. The gaudy goal total was accompanied by excellent underlying numbers and a highlight reel documenting how cleanly he was beating goalies. Matthews, in peak form, was an offensive tornado.

Why bring all of this up? Well, the Toronto Maple Leafs center has looked like his 2021-22 self of late. His one-time blast Wednesday against the Florida Panthers gave him five goals in four games, the best seven-day stretch in a season that's produced "only" 37 goals. (Matthews' per-game rate has dropped from 0.82 last year to 0.55 this year. He's on pace for 41 goals in 75 games.)

The visual cues that were absent for a significant portion of the season - No. 34 marching through the neutral zone, dangling defenders in tight spaces, deceiving goalies with that all-world shot - have returned. Now healthy, Matthews' name has been climbing the charts in the various statistical categories in which he tends to rank highly. The moments of dominance are adding up.

At a basic level, Matthews has simply been firing more pucks. Three of his six highest shot-attempt totals this season were recorded in March. He had a career-high 19 last week against the Carolina Hurricanes, 13 on March 11 against the Edmonton Oilers, and 11 on March 2 against the Calgary Flames. Plus, he recorded either eight or nine attempts in four other March games.

At a granular level, Matthews has been terrorizing defenses.

According to Sportlogiq's Jan. 30 leaderboards, Matthews ranked first in the NHL in scoring chances generated off the cycle per game, fifth in slot shots per game, 10th in inner-slot shots per game, and 10th in chances off rebounds per game. He'd appeared in 47 games at that point in the season.

Obviously, impressive rankings. But not quite up to Matthews' lofty standards.

As of Thursday morning, exactly two months and 20 games later, the 25-year-old was still leading in chances off the cycle. Notably, he'd jumped to second in slot shots, fourth in inner-slot shots, and eighth in chances off rebounds while wiggling into the top 10 in chances off the forecheck (ninth).

Matthews has found good health and his version of beast mode. As a leader on a team desperate for a playoff series win, the timing couldn't be better.

Suter's penalty-killing clinic

The Detroit Red Wings are 17th in penalty-kill percentage. Yet they may have the NHL's best shorthanded forward in the versatile Pius Suter.

Suter, who at even strength can fill a top-six winger spot or center the fourth line, is among the league leaders in Evolving-Hockey's catch-all metric for shorthanded defense. Yanni Gourde (2.2 rating), Suter (2.1), Jake Evans (2.1), Ty Dellandrea (2.1), and Brandon Hagel (2.0) pace the 100 forwards who've logged at least 100 shorthanded minutes this season. (Dylan Larkin is the next Wing on the list. He ranks 49th out of 100 with a minus-0.2 rating.)

Detroit coach Derek Lalonde lauds Suter for his hockey IQ and hockey sense. His anticipation and positioning - both his body and his stick - are exemplary.

As for strategy, Suter tries to straddle the line between being passive and aggressive.

"You have to focus on the (other team's first zone) entry. You want to put pressure on them as soon as you get a chance," the Switzerland native told theScore. "Guys are so skilled, so good on the power play now that you want to at least make them go all the way down the ice and skate up again. Then they get a higher pulse, and, hopefully, more mistakes happen."

Cheating for offense is a deadly sin for NHL penalty killers, Suter added. It's a selfless - not selfish - role. "You can't blow the zone," he said. He's found that simply pressuring the puck carrier shift after shift leads to favorable bounces.

Like on Feb. 21 against the Washington Capitals, for example:

A shorthanded goal against can deflate one bench and fire up the other. "It gives you different momentum. You're trying to fend a goal off, and then you score. The crowd just loves it," said Suter, who's potted three in his career.

Suter, a pending unrestricted free agent who turns 27 in May, has 13 goals and 10 assists in 72 games. It's his third NHL season and second in Detroit.

"He likes it a lot in Detroit, but we will see after the season where things will go," Suter's agent, Georges Muller, said when asked about the forward's future.

New union boss introduced

The NHL Players' Association held a press conference in Toronto on Thursday to officially introduce Marty Walsh, the union's new executive director. While the gathering produced little news, it certainly set the tone for Walsh's tenure.

The 55-year-old Bostonian said all the right things: He pledged to represent not only the union's members but their families too. He vowed to help market players better. He promised to work with the league office to expand the sport's presence globally. He detailed how he's long been a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community but also believes every NHLer has the right to make a personal decision with respect to wearing a Pride Night warm-up jersey.

He touched on a few more topics, but you get the point.

"I bring a different perspective than probably every single one of my predecessors," said Walsh, a lifelong union guy who was the mayor of Boston for seven years and recently served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

The collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players doesn't expire until Sept. 15, 2026, so Walsh and commissioner Gary Bettman aren't starting their relationship with a stretch of contentious negotiations.

In this honeymoon period, Walsh needs to hammer home the importance of international hockey to Bettman and the 32 owners. It can't be just another agenda item during meetings. He spoke only in generalities Thursday, but Walsh did say that it's a high-priority issue for him.

I'm of the belief that it's absolutely essential for the NHL and the players' association to stage a World Cup tournament in 2025 (the ship has sailed on 2024). If it makes sense to ban Russia for geopolitical reasons, then do it. That's a separate matter. You can hold a World Cup without Russia. It won't be perfect - heck, the 2016 version certainly wasn't with Team North America and Team Europe - but the point is to not let the 2026 Olympics be the next opportunity for a big event.

Star players, including Connor McDavid, have been clamoring for best-on-best hockey - or something close to it - for years. Hockey fans across the world are equally annoyed by the wait. Enough excuses. Make it happen.

Point always 'knows where to be'

Brayden Point has a one-track mind - and that's a compliment, not an insult.

If the Tampa Bay Lightning gain possession and Point's on the ice, you can almost guarantee the 27-year-old center will be making a beeline to the inner slot. You'd be hard-pressed to find an NHLer - let alone one with a relatively small stature - more obsessed with wheeling to the net-front area at all costs.

Seriously, check out Point's five-on-five shot chart at Evolving-Hockey (goals are the yellow dots, shots on goal are green, and missed shots are orange).

Heavy action below the hash marks. Virtually nothing outside the middle lane.

"Undercover, one of the best players in the world," Lightning teammate Victor Hedman told theScore last week. The veteran blue-liner later added, "I don't think Pointer gets talked about enough. His edge work, his speed - it's out of this world, and he can really put the puck in the back of the net. I swear, 95% of the goals in his career have been from the slot. He knows where to be."

Point, who's tied for fourth in the NHL in goals, scored his 47th of the season Tuesday in a 4-0 victory over the Hurricanes. Hedman's bang-on: What a weirdly quiet march to 50 goals for a notable player who's never reached the milestone. This fast-break tally was a perfect example of his one-track mind:

Parting shots

Kent Johnson: The Columbus Blue Jackets rookie hit the proverbial rookie wall about three-quarters of the way through the regular season but is working on a strong finish (nine points in his last 11 games). Around the dressing room, Johnson has become known for being very coachable. He's a sponge. The 20-year-old's developed an on-ice reputation for being a "dangerous player who is very tough to read as an opposing player," Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner said. "He's very shifty and elusive, and he creates a lot by just having the puck on his stick and drawing guys towards him and finding that open guy." Confident kid, too, as evidenced by last week's viral dangle and snipe:

2017 draft: Nico Hischier, Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, and Elias Pettersson were all top-five selections in 2017. None of them took particularly long to break through. Cody Glass (sixth overall) and Owen Tippett (10th), on the other hand, needed a few years of marination before announcing their arrival this season. The playmaker Glass, the first-ever draft pick by the Vegas Golden Knights, is thriving with the Nashville Predators, posting 12 goals and 18 assists in 64 games. He played AHL games in the previous four seasons while also grinding through a significant knee injury. The sniper Tippett was part of last year's Florida-Philadelphia trade involving Claude Giroux. After rounding out his game under coach John Tortorella, Tippett's enjoyed a career year, sitting second on the Flyers in goals (23) and third in points (42).

Erik Karlsson: The race to 100 points is most definitely on for the San Jose Sharks star defenseman. Karlsson's amassed an eye-popping 91 points through 75 games, which means he needs nine in his final seven games to hit the milestone. It's doable considering his rate of production this season, and you know San Jose will be peppering him with passes. The 29th-place Sharks don't have much else to play for down the stretch, anyway. Karlsson's point total is already tied for the 24th-highest in NHL history. The last blue-liner to reach 100 was Brian Leetch, who put up 102 in 80 games in 1991-92.

Takes, Thoughts, and Trends is theScore's biweekly hockey grab bag.

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).

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