Connor McDavid was set for a day’s worth of negative headlines after Dallas Stars’ goaltender Jake Oettinger made an incredible stick save on him with 5:21 remaining in overtime of Game 1.
Wide open in front of the net, McDavid held onto the puck a bit too long and Oettinger made a huge stop with his twig extending the game.
“Shoulda gone in,” McDavid said to TNT after the game shaking his head. “Shoulda gone in. Has to go in. He’s a good goalie. He scrambles to make a good play, but that has to go in.”
But 22 seconds into the second overtime, McDavid — the game’s best player — made instant amends, beating Oettinger with a redirect from the slot to give the Edmonton Oilers a thrilling 3-2 win. The victory gives them a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final.
“Apologies to everyone for keeping everyone up a little bit longer,” McDavid joked.
Connor McDavid scored his first career multi-OT goal just 32 seconds into the second overtime period to give the @EdmontonOilers a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final.#NHLStats: https://t.co/NbxCMEtHGf #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/pltT4gJ9su
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 24, 2024
McDavid was set up beautifully by defenseman Evan Bouchard, who found the other Connor Mc with a perfect indirect shot that kept Oettinger guessing in the crease.
The victory came after the Oilers surrendered a 2-0 two goal lead. Leon Draisaitl got on the board first, scoring 58 seconds into the second period from the bottom of the right circle. Three minutes and 19 seconds later, Zach Hyman tallied his league-leading 12th goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a two-on-one with McDavid went awry. Hyman found the puck near the crease and slammed it past Oettinger, putting Edmonton up by two.
But they couldn’t finish the Stars. Dalls got two straight goals from Tyler Seguin, including the game-tying tally with 3:23 in the third period to force OT.
“We felt like we played really well,” McDavid said. “We thought we did a lot of really good things. We thought we had good looks, defended well. Credit to them. They’re a good team. They throw pucks there and they got a bounce to tie the game.
“We stuck with it. We had a chance. I thought we were getting the better looks in overtime and the kill did an amazing job — I can’t say enough good things about them. That’s a big kill in overtime, tough to do. Gave us a chance to go get one.”
McDavid’s double OT thriller was incredibly only his third goal of the playoffs. He’s made teams pay in other ways, notching a league-leading 20 assists. His 23 points are second only to his running mate, Draisaitl, who has 25.
“I’m in good shape, I skate well,” McDavid said. “The minutes — it’s not tough to get up for these games, either. These are easy games to get up for, though. ”
The Oilers are now three wins away from making its first Stanley Cup Final appearance during the McDavid Era. Game 2 is on Saturday at 8 pm in Dallas.
