Vancouver Canucks forward Ilya Mikheyev (65) watches as Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) scores on goalie Arturs Silvos (31) during the third period in game two of the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Arena on May 11, 2024.Bob Frid/Reuters
On Tuesday, Connor McDavid was named an MVP finalist for the fourth consecutive season, after winning two of the past three years. In the first round of this spring’s playoffs, as the Edmonton Oilers cruised by the Los Angeles Kings, McDavid had barrelled onwards, playing MVP-level postseason hockey with one goal and 11 assists in five games.
On Wednesday, however, Edmonton faceplanted on the road at the start of an all-Canadian second round series against the Vancouver Canucks, transforming a 4-1 lead into a 5-4 loss. McDavid, for the first time in his playoff career of 55 games, did not manage a single shot on goal.
One of the main benefits of experience is it provides lessons in adversity. You’ve been there before. The Edmonton Oilers have served themselves a steady diet of postseason adversity, in the 2022 and 2023 playoffs. In five rounds, they lost the first game each time – but won the second game four times, led by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
On Friday night in Vancouver, it was McDavid and Draisaitl again, in dominant fashion on the same line, as they carried the Oilers to a crucial 4-3 overtime win in Game 2. Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said after the game that it was a must-win before slightly adjusting his statement, saying: “Not must-win – but close to it.”
The Oilers have been on a roll for months. The Canucks have a third-string rookie goalie in net, yet it required every ounce of MVP quality play from McDavid and Draisaitl to shake off a determined Canucks squad.
The Oilers’ win sends the series tied back to Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday night. Edmonton had been the heavy favourite among pundits, but the series – so far – has proven closer than predicted. It’s great playoff hockey, two fast and fun one-goal games. The pressure on Edmonton, had Vancouver scrambled to a second win, would have been considerable. Instead, Edmonton can now try to capitalize on two home games.
McDavid’s showing on Friday could set the tone. The Oilers fell behind three times and three times evened the score. Each time, it was McDavid and Draisaitl.
The Canucks scored first, on a power play; the Oilers responded on a power play, one in which McDavid’s line ended up on the ice for a truly epic shift, 2:40. He fed the puck to Draisaitl for the goal. It set the tone. Edmonton needed a goal and McDavid gave it everything.
In the third period, it was a full-on assault from McDavid and Draisaitl. McDavid scored on a breakaway five minutes in, after seizing on a loose puck at centre ice. Even so, Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs reeled off a bunch of big saves. Vancouver was lucky to make it to overtime. But a little more than five minutes into the extra period, McDavid’s line delivered for a fourth time, getting lucky when an Evan Bouchard pass/shot deflected off Canucks defenceman Ian Cole’s stick and slid in.
McDavid had logged 26:23 of regulation ice time and finished with 28:12. It was the type of response that separates great players from the rest – following an underperformance with not only a return to form but an MVP outing.
For the Canucks, with their relative inexperience in the playoffs, they acquitted themselves well enough but if it keeps looking anything like the third period on Friday night, the series will not be a long one. Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said some of his players have to bring more to the ice and the team has to calm down. On Friday, they threw around the puck like a hot potato, feeling duress when they should not. “When somebody’s on your back and you have the puck, your heart rate should never be 200,” Tocchet said after the game.
When another of his answers revolved around the challenges of containing McDavid and Draisaitl, Tocchet stepped back for a second and said: “But, hey, lose in overtime, beat ‘em last game, we’re in this series, it’s going to be a” – he stopped before repeating: “We’re in this series.”
It is true, for now. Two close games could mean more to come. But if McDavid keeps playing like he has, the Oilers are formidable. McDavid is putting up some gaudy postseason numbers. After Friday’s night outburst, he has 17 points in seven games, two goals and 15 assists. It is a historically great start to the postseason. Only one other person has recorded 15 assists in the first seven games of the playoffs, Wayne Gretzky in 1987, when he led the Oilers to the third of four Cups he won there.
When McDavid was asked after the game if there was a feeling that he had to – in part – carry the team, considering the long shifts and continual comebacks, the 27-year-old parried the observation. “That’s not the case at all,” McDavid said. It was a team effort, he insisted: “12 forwards, six d-men and a goalie. And everybody that was here in our room, it was everybody. Everybody was pulling on the rope tonight.”
This is technically true. When McDavid wasn’t on the ice, the Oilers outplayed the Canucks. But when McDavid was on the ice, it was wave after wave of Oilers’ attacks. His line generated half the team’s offence. Everybody pulled the rope but McDavid was at the front of the line.