Well, folks, for the first time since the Connor McDavid era, the Edmonton Oilers are headed to the Stanley Cup Final.
McDavid set the tone with a power play goal in the first five minutes as the Oilers beat the Stars 2-1 in Game 6 of the Western Conference final. Despite McDavid’s glory, the victory was the result of the same team-wide effort that made the difference all season for the Oilers.
A hell of a defensive performance, a great opener from McDavid, an insurance goal from Zach Hyman and a functional power play propelled the Oilers above the Stars with just 10 shots on goal.
Now, Edmonton will face the Florida Panthers as they look to win the Stanley Cup for their sixth franchise. If they beat the Panthers, they will become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1993.
Before we start focusing on the many storylines to come in the most geographically remote Cup Final in NHL history, we have to tip our hat to what a season it has been for the Oilers, who really could win a Cut to the McDavid era now.
If we’ve learned anything from the Edmonton Oilers this decade. In this case, we learned once and for all that you can’t win in the contemporary NHL without a complete team, even if you have the best player in the world and, sometimes, the second best player in the world. world.
The Oilers were different this year, and perhaps it took a test when McDavid got hurt early in the season and the team around him decided to step up. They went from a league-worst 2-9-1 start to the season’s best (.703) after hiring head coach Kris Knoblauch in mid-November.
“Everyone is buying in. Everyone is doing a lot of good things, and we’re getting some goaltending,” McDavid told TNT after the game. “It wasn’t the prettiest closeout tonight, but Stu closed it out, our guard blocked so many shots.”
The top four scorers in the NHL playoffs right now? McDavid with five goals and 31 points in 18 games. Leon Draisaitl with 10 goals and 28 points in 18 games. Evan Bouchard with six goals and 27 points in 18 games. The Oiler who suffered the most, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, with six goals and 20 points in 18 games. Top scorer in the playoffs? Zach Hyman has 14 goals in 18 games.
Meanwhile, on defense, Edmonton was perfect on the penalty kill in the Western Conference Final (more on that later), Stuart Skinner held his own in net, Darnell Nurse is turning the game around situation, and Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm were revelations.
Bouchard is the modern, coveted and elusive number one defenseman who was sorely missed in the Oilers’ Cup dreams during the McDavid era. His sixth multi-assist game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs made him the seventh defenseman in NHL history to record that many in a single playoff series. In Game 6, he also became the sixth defenseman in NHL history to record 20 assists in the playoffs.
Much of the focus will be on the Oilers’ power play exploding when it needed to in Games 5 and 6 – and rightfully so. But perhaps even more deadly against a team like the Stars was Edmonton’s ridiculously constant penalty kill.
The Oilers killed an astonishing 46 of 49 penalties throughout the playoffs, and they were a perfect 14 of 14 against the Stars, scoring more shorthanded goals than the Stars did power play goals ( 0).
Much like the best players driving the bus and being the best players, the power play finally showed up exactly when needed in Game 5, twice through Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Once it started, it didn’t stop, with both goals in Game 6 coming off the man advantage.
Special teams have decided close games in a playoffs filled with one-goal games (72 to be precise, tied for the second-most playoffs in NHL history). No problem for the Oilers, it seems.
Is Stuart Skinner the best goalie in the league? No, and no one has any illusions about that. In the third game of the second round, he had a save percentage of .877 and a goals-against average of 3.22, so he was benched for a few games.
But the decision to bring him back and the turnaround that followed were critical to the team’s success in these ridiculously close games. Call Skinner what you want, McDavid goes for “elite.”
“I think he learned a lot from last year’s playoffs and he’s putting it to good use,” McDavid told TNT after the game. “A lot of people doubt him, a lot of people say things about him. He’s an elite goalie, he really is. He was so good for us throughout the series. He gave us given a chance every night, he absolutely stole one for us, I really can’t say enough good things about him.”
The Oilers were outshot 35-10 in Game 6 and outshot Corsi by 73.75 percent. The math checks out considering both Oilers goals were in favor of the man, but the craziest part? Skinner held his own in the third period in a one-goal game as the Stars outscored the Oilers 91.67 percent according to NaturalStatTrick.com and fought for their lives. Still, Skinner only allowed one goal, finishing with a .971 save percentage. He also only allowed one goal in Game 5.
If we see a real heater emerge, this team feels unbeatable.
What else could we expect from McDavid? Well, there is one thing, but he’s officially done everything except The Thing and that makes you appreciate his path to potential GOATness even more.
McDavid enters the Cup Final leading the playoffs in scoring and adding other accolades to his ever-growing list. He has just recorded his sixth series with at least 10 points. The only others with as many 10-point streaks are Wayne Gretzky (21), Mark Messier (8), Denis Savard (7) and Mario Lemieux (6). He just became the sixth player in NHL history to record multiple playoff years with 30 points, following in the footsteps of Gretzky, Messier, Jari Kurri, Lemieux and Nikita Kucherov.
However, you’ve heard all the niche stats McDavid has been climbing the ranks in for years now, and you’ve been waiting for the biggest one. Him too, and he’s not mistaken.
There was something uniquely special about the milestone goal he scored less than five minutes after the faceoff, after arriving at the arena in the same costume for the third straight game.
It was a set-up and angle that only he could pull off. It was the first of 10 shots from the Oilers throughout the game. It happened during a power play he drew himself. There was no mistake: we were watching one of the GOATS, potentially the GOAT, rise to an occasion that ultimately means more.