The Edmonton Oilers held off the Florida Panthers again Tuesday night, taking Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final 5-3 to stave off elimination for a second straight game. After getting demolished in an 8-1 barn burner in Game 4, the Panthers put up more of a fight on home ice to bring the game within one goal in the third period, but it wasn’t enough.
Connor McDavid’s heroic performance led to Edmonton’s winning effort. With two goals and two assists on the night, McDavid recorded his second straight four-point outing and earned First Star of the Game honors. He now holds the record for most points (8) in a two-game span in the Stanley Cup Final, per Sportsnet Stats.
“Obviously he’s been driving the bus since he’s got here,” Zach Hyman said after the win. “Before I got here, since I’ve been here, he’s the guy who’s been leading this team and you kind of expect it from him. Obviously, you don’t want to put any extra pressure, but that’s what he does. He elevates his game at the most opportune times for us. And he’s been great.”
After assisting on Hyman’s goal early in the second period, McDavid scored one of his own just minutes later. Shooting from just ahead of the goal line, he beat Sergei Bobrovsky from a sharp angle to give Edmonton a 3-0 lead.
“I don’t want to give away too much,” McDavid said when asked about the goal. “There’s still hockey to be played. But coming down that side on the goal, I’ve gone short side lots. I would say that most people know that I look there. And he was standing, so I tried to — and [Hyman] is always around the net — and just tried to kind of put it there and found a way in.”
But McDavid’s most mind-boggling play of the night came on another assist. In the dying seconds of an Oilers power play, McDavid snuck past Eetu Luostarinen before stickhandling the puck through two Florida defenders, beating Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola before passing to teammate Corey Perry.
“I watched him go through three guys and pass over to me,” Perry said with a laugh. “I didn’t even yell for it, he just saw me going to the net. That’s just the type of player he is.”
McDavid got one more goal to seal Edmonton’s win in the final minute of regulation, sending the puck into an empty net just moments after Matthew Tkachuk’s diving save kept the score 4-3.
McDavid has 42 points (8g, 34a) in 23 games this postseason, ranking fourth in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (2x) and Mario Lemieux. He beat Gretzky’s record for most assists in a postseason in Game 4; now he’s five away from Gretzky’s career-high of 47 points in one playoff run.
Even McDavid’s teammates reacted with awe to his play on Tuesday night.
“It’s ridiculous,” Connor Brown said. “Just happy he’s on our team. I mean, it’s unbelievable to do what he’s doing. It’s one thing to do it Game 50 in the regular season, but to do it in the Cup Final, season on the line, and make the kind of plays that he’s making that nobody else can, it’s fun to watch.”
Hyman, who’s watched the postseason from McDavid’s wing, summed up his performance when talking to Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas after the win.
“Connor doing Connor things,” he said with a grin. “That’s what makes him special. He’s able to elevate his game at the most important times. And the biggest reason obviously why we’ve come so far. We’re not here without him. So he continues to drive the bus for us.”
