McDavid: Oilers' form 'more important' than reaching 70 goals

Connor McDavid only needs to score 10 more times in Edmonton's nine remaining regular-season games to become the first player to hit the 70-goal mark since 1992-93, but the Oilers superstar has his eyes on the bigger picture.

"Obviously, you need to go on a big run (to reach that landmark), and certainly anything is possible," he told NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger on Friday.

"Is it something that I'm going to be looking for or pressing for? Probably not," McDavid added. "It's more important how our team is playing heading into the playoffs. That's the most important thing, the thing we work all season for."

Edmonton was swept out of the Western Conference Final by the Colorado Avalanche last season despite a gargantuan effort from McDavid. He put up seven points in that four-game series and ended up leading all skaters with 33 points in 16 playoff games.

Since 2015-16 - McDavid's first season in the NHL - the Oilers made the playoffs four times, advancing past the first round twice.

Heading into Sunday's slate, they sat in third place in the Pacific Division with a 41-23-9 record. McDavid's hunt for 70 goals largely stabilized what's otherwise been a roller coaster of a campaign for Edmonton.

If he accomplishes the feat this campaign, he'd become the ninth player in NHL history to pull it off, joining Phil Esposito (1970-71), Wayne Gretzky (1981-85), Jari Kurri (1984-85), Mario Lemieux (1987-89), Bernie Nicholls (1988-89), Brett Hull (1989-92), Alexander Mogilny, and Teemu Selanne (both 1992-93).

With 60 goals and 139 points in 73 games so far, McDavid is 11 tallies clear of David Pastrnak in second place of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy race and 27 points ahead of teammate Leon Draisaitl for the Art Ross Trophy.

McDavid's next chance to extend his runaway leads will come Monday against the Arizona Coyotes.