EDMONTON — Only one skater in NHL history has won the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs, when his team lost in the finals. Reggie Leach won in 1976, even though his Philadelphia Flyers were swept by the Montreal Canadiens; he set a playoff record with 19 goals during the postseason that has been equaled once but never topped.
If Connor McDavid has his way, his Edmonton Oilers will beat the Florida Panthers in Friday’s Game 6 at Rogers Place, force the series back to Florida and pull off a reverse sweep for the ages with a victory in Game 7 on Monday. If that happens, there will be no question about McDavid’s claim to the Conn Smythe.
But even if the Oilers come up short of what they believe is their destiny, there may well not be a question, anyway. With Edmonton trailing the Panthers three games to none, facing elimination on home ice last Saturday, McDavid clicked into supernova mode, racking up four points in the Oilers’ 8-1 Game 4 blowout win to stay alive.
Advertisem*nt
Then he did it again in Game 5, becoming the first player in NHL history to record back-to-back four-point games in the Stanley Cup finals as Edmonton won, 5-3, to — as McDavid put it — drag the Panthers back to Alberta.
The eight points in two games brought McDavid to 42 points in these playoffs, only five points shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record from 1985. His 34 assists are already an NHL record; he broke Gretzky’s record of 32 in Game 4.
“He puts this team on his back,” forward Corey Perry said after Game 5. “When we’re against the wall, he puts us on his back and he plays. You see why he is the best player.”
To say McDavid has single-handedly brought the Oilers to this point, back from the brink with a chance to become only the third team to force Game 7 after going down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup finals, minimizes the impact of things such as Stuart Skinner’s performance in net or Edmonton’s third line, which has provided crucial depth scoring.
Advertisem*nt
But as the Oilers’ talisman, the face of the franchise, the one who they hoped would be their savior when he was drafted first overall in 2015, McDavid is at the core of this push to stay alive.
“He’s our Zlatan,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said Thursday in Swedish, comparing McDavid to the soccer icon Ibrahimovic. “He is as big, although being a totally different kind of individual. Zlatan was outgoing and somewhat co*cky and publicly self-confident. Connor is more restrained in that regard, but on the field (in the rink), they’re the same kind of player, who can take over entire games and totally dominate. He’s as big as you can be.
“I don’t know how big Gretzky was when he was playing here, but I assume it was kind of the same. He really deserves it, especially with how good he is in the really big games.”
Advertisem*nt
Edmonton Coach Kris Knoblauch has known McDavid since he was 15 years old and playing for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, where Knoblauch was coaching at the time. He has seen McDavid take over a game or a playoff series more than anyone else; he knows exactly how special McDavid’s current dominance, at the most difficult time of the year in a sport that isn’t designed for individual players to take over, is for the Oilers.
“I don’t think you can be exceptional at anything you do unless you absolutely love what you’re doing, and he loves playing hockey,” Knoblauch said. “Obviously there’s some talent that he was inherited. A lot of it he had to work at and improve. I think that’s the most important thing. I think he’s a very competitive person also. He wants to win, wants to be the best, so between his love and passion I think that just allows him to rise up and make those plays at significant times.”
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the way McDavid has used his unique gifts to turn a would-be sweep into a competitive series is the fact that he doesn’t find it remarkable at all.
Advertisem*nt
“You spend your life working to get into a position like this. You think that when you’re here it’s going to be some magic feeling, magic, I don’t know,” McDavid said. “You don’t know what to expect. To be honest, it’s all been pretty normal.”
For McDavid, it’s been pretty normal. For his teammates, who have watched him carry them into the fight, and for the city of Edmonton, where “Believe” signs hang in the windows and the fans are desperate for a return to glory, it’s nothing short of spectacular.
It will likely take another magisterial performance from McDavid in Game 6 to give the Oilers a chance to play for the Cup in Game 7. To do the unthinkable and complete the unlikeliest of comebacks, he will likely have to do the same again, for a fourth game in a row. His teammates have no doubt that he will.
“What Connor’s doing, he’s put this team on his back and really led by example,” Perry said Thursday. “The guy’s on a mission and we’re right there following with him.”
