Connor McDavid, Oilers won't be denied in Stanley Cup Final rematch

Boston Globe

2 days ago

Remember, it was just a year ago that McDavid's
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It was only the second time in Stanley Cup history that a position player (read: non-goalie) from a losing team was named the playoff MVP. The other: ex-Bruins forward Reggie Leach, whose Flyers in 1976 were wiped out in the Final, 4-0, by the Canadiens.
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Look, I get it, the Panthers are deep, very deep, and extremely well coached by
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How well we know that here in the Hub of Hockey. We lived it. Repeatedly.
Orr had just turned 24, roughly the age of a senior in Division 1 college hockey today, upon winning that last Cup in '72. So while we may think of McDavid as a young'un at 28, he really isn't, not in a game that sucks youth and sinew and soul from the bones like a lost desert traveler swills down a chilled bottle of Poland Spring in the blistering sun.
Connor McDavid's highlight-reel game-winning goal on Thursday to lift the
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers)
McDavid, en route to being named the Conn Smythe winner last season, collected 42 points in 25 games, a 1.68 points-per game average. Only two players, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, ever collected more points in a playoff season.
This year, McDavid again is the league's top point-producer (26), his 1.6 points per game in virtual lockstep with his playoff production of last season. If the Oilers lose again, it's a better-than-even bet that McDavid will become the only player in NHL history to collect the Smythe twice on a team that didn't win the Cup.
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No idea here how Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch will plot his X's and O's for this series, but I have to believe he'll remind his charges the disservice they'll be doing to McDavid if they don't get the job done this time. That alone should be enough motivation for the Oilers to win their first Cup since 1990, and the first by a Canadian team since Montreal dismissed the Kings in five games in 1993.
Craig MacTavish and the Oilers left Bruins goalie Andy Moog dejected in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1990, winning the series in five games, the last time Edmonton won the Cup.
Globe File Photo
Man, Canada needs a break, which as any Bostonian knows, is a lot easier to say when we're talking Canadians and not Canadiens.
Reaching down into the nitty-gritty here, yes, the Panthers with Bobrovsky have the edge in net over the Oilers with Stuart Skinner. The edge in net alone can be, and often is, what determines who parades the Cup around the rink.
Bobrovsky finally won his first Cup last spring at age 35, which made it sort of a lifetime achievement award for the elite Russian stopper. Skinner, well, he's big (6-feet-4-inches) and young (26) and he just rattled off four straight wins over the Stars, but he's still more trick-or-treat than tried-and-true as a playoff tender. Tried-and-true is the much better place to be when needing four W's in June.
In the back, the Oilers have Evan Bouchard, the league's top blueline point producer (6-11-17) in the postseason, and the Panthers are led by veteran Aaron Ekblad (3-8-11). Yet through three series, Florida defensemen have outscored their Edmonton counterparts, 15-11. The Panthers have employed seven blueliners and every one of them has contributed at least one goal. Rare to see that kind of balance and punch from the back end, especially at this time of the season.
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As strong and as bulletproof as the Panthers look up front, particularly with ex-Bruins captain Brad Marchand adding to their feisty brew, no one has the scoring punch of Leon Draisaitl and McDavid (combined 13-38–51 in 16 games). That duo has outscored Florida's top three of Sasha Barkov, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Tkachuk (21-28–49).
For those who may have just wandered into the rink, what separates McDavid from everyone else is his combination of speed and execution. He reaches hurricane force in a blink, no one in the game's history can match his acceleration, while at the same time maintaining full puck-handling and shooting acumen. He is an AI version of himself, at times looking as if he has gone back to the future, everyone else padding around in leather boots and toting wooden sticks.
He routinely turns 50-50 puck races in the neutral zone into breakaways. Opposing defensemen, intent on maintaining tight gaps in the back half of the ice, hoping to cut off his advances before he gains the blueline, wither like balding, overweight beat cops just days from turning in their papers.
It is Connor McDavid's world now, he knows it, and he's playing like he wants everyone else to know it.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at