Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid celebrates a goal against the Florida Panthers during second period Game 4 action of the NHL Stanley Cup final in Edmonton on June 15.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Connor McDavid’s accomplishments are so many that it is hard to lose sight of them. Among many other things, he racked up his 170th point of the season in his 98th game on Saturday night.
The Oilers superstar factored in four of his team’s goals in an 8-1 bushwhacking of the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final at Rogers Place. The victory breathed a little life into Edmonton, which now trails in the best-of-seven series 3-1.
It is still a very steep – nearly impossible – climb but let’s look past that for a moment and look at a piece of NHL history.
With three assists McDavid surpassed Wayne Gretzky’s record for the most in a postseason. The Great One had 31 in 1988 when the Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup. McDavid has 32 in 22 playoff games with at least one more game in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday.
McDavid, who also scored his first career goal in a final, now has 38 points in the playoffs. He is tied for the fifth-most in NHL history and the only guys ahead of him are Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
One more thing: 23 of his points have come in games after a loss – the highest total in one year during the playoffs.
A fellow of few words, after Game 4 McDavid seemed about as excited as if he had just come home from having a cavity filled. He said none of those things were his focus but, yes, he supposes it’s nice.
His teammates were more loquacious.
“Most of Gretzky’s records are considered untouchable but Connor’s right there,” said Dylan Holloway, who scored twice on Saturday. “That’s unbelievable. He leads our team every day on the ice and off. I couldn’t be happier for him.
“What makes him so great is that when the pressure is the highest and the moment is the biggest he shows up.”
McDavid finished the regular season with 100 assists and in doing so became the fourth player in NHL history to get at least 100 in a season. The others: Gretzky, Lemieux and some other fellow named Bobby Orr.
“Connor probably won’t admit it but he has to feel proud,” Edmonton forward Connor Brown said. “It’s not by accident. I’ve known Connor a long time and why he is the player he is. He works harder than anyone I’ve ever met. Night in and night out he competes as hard as he can. He is a lot of fun to watch.”
The Panthers did not seem to have much fun while being humiliated in front of families and friends who had travelled to Edmonton hoping to see them hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time. Down 5-1 in the second period, Florida totally unravelled.
In a melee behind the Panthers net, Matthew Tkachuk punched McDavid in the head three times and then Sam Bennett, a childhood friend, yanked him to the ice. Not one to put his dukes up, McDavid entered the fray after he saw Bennett sock Zach Hyman. He landed one good left on Bennett’s face before his long-time buddy took him down.
That was Connor, the unlikely protector.
“He sticks up for his teammates,” Hyman said. “He isn’t afraid to wade into a scrum.”
Led by McDavid, 15 Oilers players had points, tying the most in any game in Stanley Cup final history. Seven players scored. After netting just two goals in the first eight periods of the series, Edmonton now has 10 in the past four.
It is hard to imagine that would not at least create a bit of doubt in Florida’s players’ minds but neither Panther coach Paul Maurice nor Edmonton’s Kris Knoblauch thought it would.
“I don’t believe in momentum at all because I would have been wrong at 3-0 to have this one happen,” Maurice said. “You just re-establish and come back into the fight.”
Concurred Knoblauch, “I believe that momentum lasts about from shift to shift. Other than that I don’t think it exists.”
Both teams boarded flights to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, 5 hours 25 minutes one way. If Edmonton somehow manages to win Game 5, it will return to northern Alberta for Game 6 on Friday.
“The biggest thing for us is not to get too high,” Holloway said. “We still know what the circumstances are. We are down 3-1. We have to forget this last game and move forward.”