Dave Hyde: McDavid is McMagic again as Panthers lose Game 5 and series is on again
SUNRISE — So, yes, in case you wondered, that’s Connor McDavid.
That’s the King of the North. That’s the oil to the Edmonton Oilers’ engine. That’s the player who was everything the Florida Panthers feared coming into the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive game on Tuesday night.
And so for the second game in a row the Stanley Cup trophy came to the arena looking to go home with the Panthers and instead left on the shuttle between South Florida and Edmonton. It’s back to Edmonton for Game 6 on Friday night with the Panthers’ 5-3 loss, back to the Great Beyond of northwestern Canada, back to a series the Panthers hoped to avoid.
What happened Tuesday? Pick your poison. The Panthers gave up a short-handed goal for the second consecutive game to open the scoring. They were again uncharacteristically sloppy on their strength, which is their defense. They don’t usually win high-scoring games against teams. All true.
But the big reason they lost is McDavid was again McMagic. His stated goal before this game was to “drag them back to Alberta,” — but who knew he meant dragging them primarily by himself?
In a showcase second period, he had a goal and two assists, with each play better than the last. The first assist as a secondary one where, yes, he started the play on the way to the goal that made it 2-0.
Next came something more improbable: A billiard-shot angle where the 8-ball ricocheted off goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s skates into the net. No puck luck involved, folks.
“I don’t want to give away too much,” McDavid said. “There’s still hockey to be played. Coming down the side of the goal, I’ve gone short-side lots. … I look at how he’s standing.”
Finally, when the Panthers closed to within 3-2, McDavid skated between two Panthers defenders like a swimmer through water before dishing the puck in front of the goalmouth to fourth-liner Corey Perry for a tap-in goal.
“He puts this team on his back,” Perry said. “You see why he’s the best player.”
The Panthers knew the power of McDavid coming into the series. They were reminded in their 8-1 loss in Game 4 where McDavid had a goal and three assists. He broke Wayne Gretzky’s assist total for a postseason at 32 that game.
He added to it Tuesday. He now has 41 total postseason points to rank fourth in a playoffs behind Gretzky (twice) and Mario Lemieux. Do you see the rare air he’s breathing? And see what the Panthers must contend with now?
They tried mightily to come back Tuesday night. Matthew Tkachuk gave some life in a 3-0 game with his first goal in 10 games. Evan Rodrigues cut it to 4-2. Tkachuk fed Oliver Ekman-Larsson for a goal that cut it to 4-3 with just under 16 minutes to play and gave Amerant Bank Arena full life.
The Panthers haven’t come this far needing five and six goals to win games. Defense is their strength, their priority, the thing they do best. All playoffs they’ve shut down the opponent’s best player. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. Boston’s David Pastrnak. New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin.
Not McDavid.
Not that his game is any surprise.
“It’s what we expect,” Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said. “Connor doing Connor things.”
Even when his plays weren’t leading to Edmonton goals, they were helping it survive the Panthers’ big push in the third period.
“When a team has a push (like the Panthers) and is aggressive, you always want to make a statement,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You need to handle the puck. You need to transport the puck, getting into the offensive game, and I don’t think there’s anyone better at it than Connor. He alleviated a lot of the pressure. He gave us breathing room out there.”
All the questions entering Game 5 were what Game 4 meant. Edmonton’s 8-1 win kept them alive in the series. Did it do anything more? Would coming back to Sunrise settle the Panthers’ game? Would playing a second-consecutive game with the Stanley Cup in the building allow for calmer nerves?
Panthers coach Paul Maurice put Ryan Lomberg in the lineup for the first time this series. A small move, perhaps. But the message was telling about what Maurice thought this team needed beyond his speed and energy.
“How much does maybe his personality also help?” he said. “Obviously, I know he’s the guy that loosens up the rest of the guys a lot of the time.”
If they needed loosening up before, what now? Now they go back to Edmonton, back to a world against them, for Game 6. Now the debate is if Edmonton has the edge this series. Now the question is how the Panthers feel about a 3-0 series that’s now 3-2.
“You guys know what it’s like — it’s not the most enjoyable flight,” McDavid said before the game.
Yes, everyone who has made it once knows. Now it looms again. McDavid is waiting, too. He brought his magic on ice. He took over the night. And a series that looked over at 3-0 but for the coronation asks the Panthers for something more.
“I’m not deflated,” Maurice said.
No reason for him to be. They need one game, one night. The concern is the King of the North is taking over the stage.