Featured Columnist IVJune 19, 2024
Dave Sandford/NHLI by way of Getty Photographs
The Edmonton Oilers’ dream of a 3-0 comeback remains to be alive and nicely.
Edmonton defeated the Florida Panthers 5-3 in Tuesday’s Sport 5 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Remaining at Amerant Financial institution Enviornment and now trails simply 3-2 within the collection with the chance to power a decisive contest if it capitalizes on house ice in Sport 6.
The Sport 5 win might be outlined by two phrases: Connor McDavid.
B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce
CONNOR MCDAVID JUST WENT THROUGH TWO FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN 🤯
WHAT AN ASSIST 🍎 pic.twitter.com/4bsl5Dg8iK
B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce
CONNOR MCDAVID PUTS THE OILERS UP 3-0 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XDk389015X
Edmonton’s celebrity was unstoppable within the newest victory with two objectives and two assists. It seemed like he was toying with Florida defenders for prolonged stretches of the competition, together with when he fully took over the sport within the essential second interval.
Social media reacted accordingly:
B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce
Connor McDavid simply turned the third participant in NHL historical past to attain 40+ factors in a postseason 🔥
Gretzky, Lemieux, MCDAVID… GOAT issues 🐐 pic.twitter.com/IhpgEN3MgG
Yahoo Sports activities @YahooSports
Connor McDavid has seven factors over his final two video games within the #StanleyCup Finals🤯 pic.twitter.com/kFnUSLRU85
Alex Kirshner @alex_kirshner
Watching McDavid, I really feel myself turning into an NBA-style ringzzzzzz man so I can fake he is not nearly as good as Crosby regardless that fairly clearly nobody since Lemieux was something like this
Elden Lord Seany Salami @Seany__Salami
Connor McDavid is one of the best participant I’ve ever seen.
The one ones which are even shut are Crosby, Kakko, and Ovechkin.
Adam @OilersAdam
I like how surprised Corey Perry was after Connor McDavid carried out absolute magic to set him up for the aim pic.twitter.com/Hw3jawFIVd
Pierre LeBrun @PierreVLeBrun
McDavid, simply wow. Perry makes it 4-1.
That is a spotlight they’re going to be displaying for years.
Justin Bourne @jtbourne
The whole stream of the sport trails McDavid’s wake when he is on the market. He is the lead goose within the Flying V and everybody else is simply tryna catch a little bit of the slipstream.
CJ Turtoro @CJTDevil
Think about if Connor McDavid breaks the all time playoff level report en path to solely the second comeback from 3-0 down in Stanley Cup historical past.
How excessive does he launch up the GOAT listing if he does it?
SportsCenter @SportsCenter
Connor McDavid proper now: pic.twitter.com/wdpVkCvAvU
Faizal Khamisa @FaizalKhamisa
Look, I do not know if the Oilers come all the best way again and win 4 straight, however by no means has “if theres any staff that may, it is this one” rung extra true due to Connor McDavid. Actually one of the best.
McDavid was the star, however the Oilers additionally acquired objectives from Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry. Goaltender Stuart Skinner allowed objectives to Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Oliver Ekman-Larsson however nonetheless saved 30 of the 33 photographs he confronted.
It was extra of the identical for the Oilers, who had loads of momentum regardless of the collection deficit following a dominant 8-1 win in Saturday’s Sport 4. Florida pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky throughout the earlier loss after he and your entire staff was overwhelmed by the Oilers’ offensive assault, and the beginning of Sport 5 did nothing to quell any lingering considerations.
Brown intercepted a move and scored a short-handed aim on the breakaway he created to open the scoring within the first interval.
B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce
CONNOR BROWN GETS A SHORTY 🤯
OILERS TAKE A 1-0 LEAD IN GAME 5 pic.twitter.com/kDzEwpeNXn
B/R Open Ice @BR_OpenIce
IT’S A POWERPLAY GOAL FOR THE OILERS 👀
2-0 EDMONTON pic.twitter.com/7dsnnv2tgK
That was simply the beginning of the preliminary onslaught for the Oilers, as McDavid shifted into takeover mode within the second interval with assists on objectives from Hyman and Perry to go together with his personal aim. He glided by defenders with ease in a show of particular person celebrity brilliance that few in NHL historical past may have pulled off.
But the house staff lower into three-goal deficits on a number of events with objectives from Tkachuk and Rodrigues to maintain the group totally engaged and apply stress on an Edmonton staff preventing for the survival of its championship goals.
By no means was that stress extra obvious than when Ekman-Larsson buried a aim on a Tkachuk help lower than 5 minutes after the beginning of the third interval.
To the Oilers’ credit score, they withstood the stress due to sturdy protection and play from Skinner. Fittingly, it was McDavid who scored the open-netter within the remaining seconds to clinch the win and power the collection again to Edmonton for Friday’s Sport 6.
