How much pressure is Connor McDavid under to make sure Oilers Stanley Cup dream stays alive?
Sunrise, Fla. — As the best player on the planet, Connor McDavid is the brightest star, and he would clearly move heaven and earth to drag this Stanley Cup final back to his Edmonton home for a Game 7 and a chance to lift the cherished mug over his head.
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And as much as we drag out the yellowed cliché that hockey is a team game, that no one player can will a team to the Cup, nobody is under the suffocating pressure of expectations more than 97 to keep the dream alive Tuesday night in Game 6 with the Oilers down 3-2 to the Florida Panthers.
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'I don't think about it that way. If you think about it that way, you'd probably be pretty crippled in terms of how you prepare and how you prepare,' he said.
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'It's a big game, everybody knows that. I know that. And I'm looking forward to it,' said McDavid, who has the most points amongst active players in elimination contests (55 in 30 games) but unfortunately didn't get anything in Game 7 last June 24 in Florida as hard as he tried.
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'This is fun hockey, it's been a fun series to be part of. The Cup will be in the building. These games are what you dream of. Obviously it's not for us (just staying alive to fight another day in Edmonton) but anytime the Cup's in the building and you're playing…it's a good sign.'
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And McDavid is right. The Cup was in the house in Game 5 last June, with the wives and other loved ones at Amerant Arena, but the Oilers spoiled the storyline here. They did the same in Game 6 at Rogers Place with the wives flown in for the party.
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And Connor is right that it shouldn't all fall on him. He's got Leon Draisaitl, too. He has 51 points in the same 30 Oilers elimination games. Leon is certainly in the same constellation as McDavid as stars go. Just as Evgeni Malkin was to Sidney Crosby when the Penguins were trying to win their first Cup.
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Yeah, let's look at how that played out.
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Instead, Tyler Kennedy was the hero in Game 6 with the game-winner in a 2-1 result, and the fourth-line centre Max Talbot got the only two goals in the same 2-1 finish in Game 7. So, maybe Vasily Podkolzin will get the Oiler winner in Game 6 Tuesday and Mattias Janmark will pop two in Game 7, if it gets that far. As much as Crosby was under the gun, you can win without your best player being the best in Prime Time.
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Oilers vs. Panthers Game 5 Florida Panthers centre Aleksander Barkov (16) gets checked by Edmonton Oilers right wing Connor Brown (28) during first period of game five NHL Stanley Cup hockey finals in Edmonton, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS) 'When we're moving like we are, we're supporting the puck both offensively and defensively. That's when we're at our best,' Reinhart told reporters after his team's win Saturday. 'We've talked about taking away their time and space, making them as uncomfortable as we possibly can, and that leads to a lot of our offence. 'That's what our focus is.' Case in point: Saturday's Game 5, never mind Game 3, of this year's Final. McDavid was dangerous on Saturday, don't get me wrong, but he had to work for his goal and his team-leading number of scoring chances in the 5-2 Oilers loss that has put the Panthers on the verge of repeating as Cup champs. 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Oilers vs. Panthers Game 5 Florida Panthers' Gustav Forsling (42) checks Edmonton Oilers' Corey Perry (90) in front of Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (72) during second period of Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup final, in Edmonton, on Saturday, June 14, 2025. (DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS) And their and their teammates' air-tight defensive and forechecking efforts allowed them not only to give McDavid, with the aforementioned Game 5 goal, and Draisaitl, who went without a point Saturday, little time and space to make magic, but to jump on even the slightest Oiler mistake and make something out of it. 'Their whole team defends really well,' McDavid told media Monday in Sunrise, Fla., a day before Tuesday's do-or-die Game 6. 'Whether you're out there against Barkov or anybody else, it's difficult. They play a really solid brand of hockey. 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After Tuesday's game, she plans to go on a walk with her husband and their dog, Leonard, in the city's lush river valley, like usual. 'We'll usually do a loop around the neighbourhood after games. And then we usually watch a show and we chat.' They talk about their day, the game, what went right and what went wrong. They like to focus on ways of improving, she said, following a piece of advice they were once given. '(We were told) don't be afraid of a massive mistake ... just lean into it,'' she said. 'We both are leaders in a sense. He's a captain on his team. I manage different employees. And although our careers are so different, the principles are the same ... Mistakes are great. They expose gaps. And then you work on constantly improving and finding gaps.' After the series, the couple plans to spend the summer doing what they usually do: attending weddings, spending time at their cottage in Muskoka, Ont., hosting parties, and playing pickball, cards and trivia games. 'I'm super competitive. Anyone who knows me would say that about me and Connor,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025. Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
