Nowhere is Connor McDavid more comfortable than on his skates.The sight of McDavid blowing past defenders is an almost every-game occurrence for the Edmonton Oilers captain whose speed is the envy of the NHL. McDavid’s crossover moves that propelled him a league-high 108 points came from years of cruising around on rollerblades.“Even when I wasn’t on the ice Tobias Rieder Jersey Womens , I was always on my rollerblades,” McDavid said. “It’s what’s kind of got me here. I love training that way. It’s kind of just by yourself. There’s no fancy skill coach, there’s no nothing. It’s just on your rollerblades and working on some skills.”That work has paid off for McDavid, the near-unanimous choice as the fastest skater in hockey. His peers are in awe of the 21-year-old’s quick first step, even quicker second step and shake-your-head acceleration.“The way he skates, it’s something impossible, right?” Washington center Evgeny Kuznetsov asked.“He glides faster than a lot of us skate,” Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele said.“I don’t know how he does it,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said.McDavid credits roller hockey games against his dad and brother for refining his 1-on-1 skills. Growing up in Newmarket outside Toronto, McDavid was seen as hockey’s next generational star at age 14 but he didn’t spend so much time on the ice that he forgot his rollerblading roots.“The classic ‘Mighty Ducks,'” he said. “Put the garbage can there and just go out and play.”Some of the best in the league think long and hard about how to force McDavid to go the way they want him to go and toe the line between giving him too much space. There isn’t a simple way to stop McDavid because no one can keep up with him.“There’s not a lot of times where he toe-drags you or he over-under-arounds you kind of thing, where he turns you inside out,” Ducks defenseman Josh Manson said. “He just kind of puts it by you and his speed takes him and he makes you miss. Then he’s around you and he’s going in on the goalie and he’s probably going to score.”After his 41 goals were sixth-most in the league, McDavid said over the summer he will try to score more this season. Former Oilers teammate and 2018 MVP Taylor Hall thinks McDavid could do it.“When everyone thinks that he’s at his peak, he just keeps getting better and better Mike Hoffman Jersey Womens , whether it’s goal-scoring or leadership — whatever it is,” the Devils’ leading scorer said. “Everyone thinks that, ‘OK he’s got 108 points, he’s going to get around that next year.’ There’s a good chance that he gets 115 or 120 and I wouldn’t be surprised. Just with the sublime skill that he has and the athleticism is just out of control.”McDavid’s athleticism is different than Sidney Crosby’s because the Penguins captain derives his skating stride from lower-body strength. McDavid has quicker feet and the stick work to match.“When he gets the puck on his stick, his hands move as fast as his feet and it just looks so easy for him,” Kings forward Tyler Toffoli said. “The way he crosses over and gains so much speed on guys and he’s able to beat a whole team by crossing over and making one move, it’s incredible to watch.”McDavid won the fastest skater competition at All-Star Weekend the past two years. Even speedy contemporaries like Hall and Nathan MacKinnon consider him the standard.But to McDavid, there’s still another gear he can get to with his speed.“There’s always ways to improve,” McDavid said. “Guys that have the best shot in the world still shoot pucks, and that’s for a reason. You keep growing your game and finding different ways to produce. I definitely still work on my skating a lot.” TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Nikita Kucherov scored twice to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.Louis Domingue stopped 28 shots to help the Lightning end a two-game slide and move back to four points ahead of Boston for the top overall spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Victor Hedman also scored and Steven Stamkos added two assists.Tampa Bay killed off five Edmonton power-play chances and kept Connor McDavid off the scoresheet, leaving him four points behind Kucherov for the league lead in points.Ty Rattie scored for Edmonton and Al Montoya finished with 37 saves.JETS 4, STARS 2WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) – Patrik Laine scored twice to extend his point streak to 15 games and tie Alex Ovechkin for the NHL goal lead, and Winnipeg beat Dallas to match the franchise wins record at 43.The second-year sniper has 43 goals Peter Budaj Jersey Womens , matching the total from Ovechkin, the Washington star and Laine’s boyhood favorite. Laine’s point streak is the longest active run in the NHL and adds to his league record for the longest point streak by a teenager. The streak includes 18 goals and eight assists.Ben Chiarot also scored and Blake Wheeler added an empty-netter for Winnipeg. Mattias Janmark and Jamie Benn each scored for Dallas.Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets in the second game of a six-game homestand. The last time they reached 43 wins was 2014-15, when they made the playoffs for the first time since relocating to Winnipeg from Atlanta.GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, FLAMES 0LAS VEGAS (AP) – William Karlsson scored a natural hat trick to lead Vegas over Calgary.Colin Miller also scored as Vegas snapped a four-game home losing streak and improved to 25-9-2 at T Mobile Arena.Marc-Andre Fleury, who made his 20th start in 21 games, made 42 saves. In getting his 48th career shutout and fourth of the season, Fleury moved into a tie with Chris Osgood for 12th all-time among goaltenders at 401.Vegas improved to 3-0-0 against Calgary while outscoring the Flames 15-5. The teams meet once more, in the regular-season finale at Calgary on April 7.Mike Smith stopped 27 shots as the Flames, one of the league’s better road teams this season, dropped to 20-11-6 away from home.BLUES 5, BLACKHAWKS 4, OTCHICAGO (AP) – Patrik Berglund scored 3:31 into overtime, and St. Louis came from behind for a big victory over lowly Chicago.Defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn each had a goal and three assists for the Blues, who are trying to rally for a playoff wild card in the Western Conference. Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and Vladimir Sobotka also scored.St. Louis was trailing 4-3 with 1:22 left in regulation when Pietrangelo drove a long slap shot past a screened Jean-Francois Berube for his 15th of the season. Berglund then got the winner when his shot trickled under Berube in OT.Alex DeBrincat scored three times for last-place Chicago Andrew Hammond Jersey Womens , which has dropped five of six, including its first loss to Buffalo since December 2009 on Saturday. David Kampf also scored, and Berube made 36 saves.FLYERS 6, CAPITALS 3PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Wayne Simmonds scored two goals to help lift Philadelphia past Washington.Oskar Lindblom, Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov and Jakub Voracek also had goals for Philadelphia, which stayed in third place in the Metropolitan Division and moved within four points of the first-place Capitals (41-24-7, 89 points). The Flyers began play tied with Columbus, which was idle Sunday, but have a tiebreaker over the Blue Jackets.Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 43rd goal of the season, and Chandler Stephenson and John Carlson had goals for the Capitals, whose four-game winning streak was snapped.AVALANCHE 5, RED WINGS 1DENVER (AP) – Nathan MacKinnon kept up his torrid scoring with two goals and an assist, Semyon Varlamov was sharp in making 37 saves and Colorado extended Detroit’s skid to 10 games.Gabriel Landeskog, Blake Comeau and Tyson Barrie also scored to help the Avalanche remain in playoff position with 10 games remaining. The Avs have 86 points after accumulating a league-low 48 last season.Justin Abdelkader had a goal for the Red Wings J.T. Brown Jersey Womens , who fell to 0-9-1 during a winless streak in which they’ve been outscored by a 41-19 margin. It’s the team’s longest winless streak since a 12-game run in 1989.HURRICANES 4, ISLANDERS 3NEW YORK (AP) – Trevor van Riemsdyk scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period and Scott Darling made 26 saves as Carolina beat New York.Van Riemsdyk’s second goal of the season came on a long slap shot with 6:49 remaining to help snap Carolina’s three-game losing streak and continue the late season swoon by the Islanders, who have just one win their last 12 games.Jaccob Slavin, Lee Stempniak and Victor Rask also scored for the Hurricanes. Anders Lee scored twice and Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist for New York. John Tavares had three assists and Jaroslav Halak finished with 35 saves.DUCKS 4, DEVILS 2ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Brandon Montour scored a power-play goal, helping lift Anaheim into third place in the Pacific Division with a win over New Jersey.Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell each had a goal and an assist, and Jakob Silfverberg also scored for the Ducks, who lead Los Angeles by two points in the division. Anaheim won its third straight game and is 6-1-0 in its last seven at home. John Gibson made 15 saves, improving to 9-2-0 in his last 11 starts.Kyle Palmieri had a power-play goal and Patrick Maroon also scored for the Devils, who had won the first three games of their six-game road trip. Keith Kinkaid made 32 saves, ending a four-start winning streak. New Jersey holds the second wild-card in the Eastern Conference, five points ahead of Florida.—