It was on Saturday (June 15), that Connor McDavid scored once and added three assists as the Edmonton Oilers staved off elimination and kept their championship hopes alive by defeating the Florida Panthers 8-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place.
Then the Oilers captain sat down for the post-game press conference and spoke those now-famous words that have become Edmonton’s rallying cry: “We got to go to Florida and do a job and drag them back to Alberta.”
On Tuesday (June 18), before 20,000 Panthers fans at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., McDavid delivered on his mission statement.
The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner had a pair of goals and two assists to lead his team past the Panthers by a score of 5-3, as the Oilers cut Florida’s lead in the best-of-seven championship series to 3-2.
Edmonton’s victory means the Panthers are taking a flight northbound to Western Canada, where these teams will face off in a sixth game at Rogers Place on Friday (June 21).
It was a performance for the ages from McDavid, who would not be denied on this late spring night in Southern Florida. The superstar centre did things on the ice that even after being seen are still hard to believe.
But our eyes weren’t deceiving us, because the Stanley Cup Final section of the NHL record book now lists five records broken by McDavid in Game 5:
Assists in a Postseason
McDavid continued to add to his own record of most assists in a single NHL postseason, with two more apples on Tuesday to bring his total to 34 in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Wayne Gretzky had the previous record of 31 apples, set with the Oilers in 1988, before McDavid surpassed it on Saturday when the current Oilers captain recorded his 32nd assist of this postseason.
Points in a Final by an Active Player
With three goals and eight assists through the first five games of the championship series, McDavid now has the most points in a Stanley Cup Final by any active NHL player. His 11 points in the Final are the most since Daniel Briere recorded three goals and nine assists with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010. The 27-year-old McDavid is now just two points short of equalling the record for a single championship series, held by Gretzky who notched three goals and 10 assists for the Oilers when they beat the Flyers for their fourth Stanley Cup in 1988.
Consecutive Games in a Final With 4+ Points
McDavid has become the first player in Stanley Cup Final history to record back-to-back games of at least four points at any point during a single championship series. Before Tuesday, Gretzky was the only player with multiple games of at least four points in a single series. In the 1985 Final against Philadelphia, he had three goals and one assist in Game 3, then notched one goal and three apples in Game 5.
Periods With 3+ Points in a Final
Edmonton tallied three times in the second period of Game 5. McDavid potted one of those goals and assisted on the other two, replicating his performance in Game 4, when he also scored once and dished out two apples in the middle frame.
That makes McDavid the first player in Stanley Cup Final history with multiple periods totalling at least three points in one championship series. Only two other players have recorded three or more points in one period of a Final game twice in their entire careers: Hall-of-Famers Bernie Geoffrion and Stan Mikita.
Points When Facing Elimination in a Final
McDavid’s total of eight points over the last two games is the most by a player when facing elimination in a single Stanley Cup Final series. The previous record of seven was shared by three players and was most recently achieved in the 1942 Final by Syl Apps and Don Metz of the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings.
Related: Epic Comebacks: History of Stanley Cup Playoff 3-0 Series Deficits
As the only team in Stanley Cup Final history to win the championship after trailing the series 3-0, those 1942 Maple Leafs have turned into a favourable reference point for this Edmonton team.
All of a sudden, the 2024 Oilers have a very real chance of doing something that hasn’t happened in 82 years. If McDavid can have two more games like his last two, it’s hard to imagine how the Oilers don’t end this postseason by hoisting hockey’s most famous trophy.
