Connor McDavid drops a single emoji as he reacts to teammate Leon Draisaitl’s 50th goal milestone

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid took to social media on Sunday to congratulate his teammate, Leon Draisaitl, on reaching 50 goals this season. Draisaitl scored his 50th and 51st goals in Saturday’s 3-2 win against the Calgary Flames.

McDavid, who is currently out injured, reshared a post on Instagram celebrating Draisaitl’s achievement. He added an emoji to share his reaction.

(Credit: IG@mcdavid97)

The original post was shared by the Edmonton Oilers’ official Instagram account:

“5️⃣0️⃣‼️ #LetsGoOilers,” read the caption.

Draisaitl has become the first NHL player this season to cross the 50-goal milestone. He has been one of the most consistent players for the Oilers this season and is currently third on the NHL point scoring chart behind Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov.

“I work on it (shot) daily. I put myself in different situations in practice and sometimes it’s instinctual a little bit. Just constantly trying to improve it,” Draisaitl said via NHL.com.

This season is the fourth in which the German center has scored 50 goals or more. Draisaitl was returning to the lineup after missing four games due to an injury.

Other Oilers players congratulated Draisaitl as well on the occasion, including left winger Evander Kane, right winger Connor Brown, forward Zach Hyman, defenseman Darnell Nurse and Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.

“If you saw his stick, you’d be surprised that he could shoot at all,” Knoblauch said via NHL.com. “It’s a stick that I’ve never seen before. His shot is very deceptive, it does have some velocity, but I wouldn’t say it’s overpowering. I know goalies find it difficult to pick up his shot and are unsure where it’s going to go.”

Oilers without Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl for only third time in a decade

Draisaitl and McDavid were both out injured for four games for the Oilers. Drasiaitl was injured on March 18 in the game against the Utah Hockey Club. McDavid left the ice with a lower-body injury during a game against the Winnipeg Jets three days later.

Knoblauch shared an update about when McDavid might be returning while speaking to reporters after the game on Saturday.

“While we feel it should be before the regular season ends—so we're looking at one, two, and, at the most, three, because that's what we have left to our season. But he'll be, like I said, before the regular season is over," Knoblauch said.

The Oilers head on a road trip and will face off against the Vegas Golden Knights next on Tuesday.