For Connor McDavid and the Oilers, a new ‘dig in' moment arrives

New York Times

a day ago

SUNRISE, Fla. — A year ago, Connor McDavid stood inside this building and channelled a lifetime's worth of hopes, dreams and frustrations into a rallying cry he delivered to his Edmonton Oilers teammates, peppering in 14 F-bombs behind closed doors while urging them to 'Dig! In! Right! Now!'
With the Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Florida Panthers spinning in a similarly unfavorable direction following Monday's 6-1 loss, the Oilers captain sounded a different note of defiance.
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'Obviously it wasn't our best. Not our best at all,' McDavid told reporters, his team trailing 2-1 in the Final. 'I don't think our best has shown up all series long, but it's coming.'
While not nearly as visceral a reaction as the one caught by Amazon's embedded cameras last spring, it was the kind of comment that made your ears perk up and take notice.
When the best player on the planet starts making statements that sound like promises on a stage as critical as this one, it would be unwise to ignore them.
Especially since McDavid was speaking after a Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena where the Oilers could not have played worse. He showed some jump on the game's opening shift, only to return to the bench in time to see Florida make it 1-0 on the one immediately following. Then the penalties started and we were well into 'garbage time' before the third period devolved into a misconduct-fest.
'I don't think we lost our composure until maybe the very end there,' McDavid said. 'We're trying to show a little bit of fight back, but I don't mind the fight back, obviously. I think that's what good teams do.'
Along the road back to this second consecutive Final, McDavid has spoken about how much more even-keeled the trip has felt. While his desire to get his hands on the Stanley Cup has only deepened since falling one goal short in Game 7, he's not ridden the cresting waves of emotion that mark every team's ascent toward the summit.
In some ways, the moment of truth has already arrived for Edmonton and its beloved star: Can they square this series back up here on Thursday?
The Oilers need to win at least one game against the reigning champions in this building in order to dethrone them. It's telling that the team turned a planned day off Tuesday into a practice day following the lopsided Game 3 loss.
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They have to find some answers against a gold-standard opponent in a place where those answers haven't been readily available to them. The Oilers' lone road win against the Panthers during last year's Final came in Game 5, which Florida coach Paul Maurice believes, in hindsight, may actually have been his team's best singular performance of that series.
Guess what happened that night? McDavid had a four-point performance in Edmonton's 5-3 victory.
While it's unreasonable to call on any one player to go out and solely win his team a game, even if you're talking about that sport's greatest talent, it's notable how much emphasis McDavid was already directing toward Thursday.
'Game 4 is a really big game,' McDavid said. 'You go back home at 2-2, or down 3-1. It's a big swing game. If you win Game 4, you're going home with a lot of momentum, just like them. They find a way to win Game 2, they come home with a lot of momentum.
'It's a pivotal game. There's no doubt about it.'
The kind of game that calls for a team to dig in.
McDavid was held off the scoresheet in Game 3 and sits at five assists so far in the series. His 13 shots are the second-most on the Oilers — trailing Evan Bouchard's 24! — and have him tied with Florida's leader Sam Reinhart.
While those numbers suggest a breakthrough is coming, there was a poignant reminder midway through Monday's game about what a tough battle this is for McDavid. Somewhat stunningly, he was sent to the ice by Aaron Ekblad's punishing open-ice hit as he crossed into the offensive zone skating at top speed.
That briefly sent McDavid back to the Oilers' dressing room. He returned and finished off another 20-plus minute night, and didn't seem any worse for wear afterward.
If anything, a man that Edmonton GM Stan Bowman said was 'on a mission' entering this series seemed more focused than ever following a disappointing loss.
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This time, when it came time for something to be said behind closed doors following the final buzzer, those words came from Leon Draisaitl, McDavid's close friend and longtime running mate in Edmonton.
'Yeah, it was a little quiet, obviously, at first because we obviously got it handed to us,' goalie Stuart Skinner said of the post-game vibes. 'But I think after that, Leo gave us some really good words of wisdom, gave us some motivation, and we know what we have to do and we're still talking a lot.
'Actually, just before I came out here, there's a lot of conversations going on just on how we got to just show up better.'
You can be sure No. 97 will want to let his play do the talking before the return flight to Edmonton.