In what was in most people's opinion the best hockey game of the year, in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, we saw Connor McDavid put on a masterpiece of hockey theatre. But once again they are in need of some short-term memory loss.
The Oilers are getting away with some not so good stuff, that in my honest opinion is a part of their DNA now and is unlikely to disappear overnight magically. Therefore it's incumbent on them to keep their pedal to the metal on what works and I am not confident it's sustainable.
With that said, McDavid, the penalty kill, and powerplay have all gone on brilliant stretches at different times this season. So it's certainly within the realm of possibility and those attributes, along with the great play of Stuart Skinner, were the keys to their victory in game 5.
Connor Brown has had back-to-back monster games with a goal and an assist alone on the penalty kill. It's certainly doable that he can replicate that again, but it's not a good game plan to rely on it. They won't, obviously, but this factors into my theory, which is that they are being let off the hook by some unsustainable factors.
The final 35 minutes of game 5 really tilted in Florida's favor as Matthew Tkachuk in particular checked into the series beyond his goal the first of the Panthers night. He started to give Darnell Nurse and Philip Broberg fits below the goal line, absorbing contact and leveraging it to make plays towards the slot and he assisted on the Oliver Ekman-Larsson goal to make it 4-3.
Ultimately, the Panthers did not have enough time to make it a tie game and Tkachuk made a miraculous save on the now notorious highlight of him diving for the puck and the empty net. But the effort was moot as McDavid potted the goal a mere seconds later after Ekman-Larsson had given up on the play.
A Look Ahead At Game 6
The Oilers have the opportunity to stifle that momentum with their home crowd and last change, which were both keys to their game four outpouring. It's going to be electric and I cannot wait to see the building Friday night.
The Panthers are going to be coming out guns blazing and my sense is that the Oilers are going to have to weather a storm. Skinner is going to have to be excellent again early to make sure they're not chasing the game.
There's one huge key that has yet to unlock the Oilers' full potential and it's going to be my biggest focus during the game: Leon Draisaitl.
Draisaitl had two assists in game 4 of course, but otherwise has looked pedestrian and, to my eye, clearly injured. There are two ways to look at this. Either the Panthers are happy that he's not his total self, because it's one less weapon they have to worry about. Or they're terrified that he hasn't been a factor yet and the Oilers are starting to cook offensively anyway.
If Draisaitl gets going on top of the other men who are starting to click, that is a horrifying prospect if you're on the other side of this series. And my sense is that the Oilers are going to need him in a big way like Zach Hyman in the last game. My prediction is that he will.
Draisaitl's the best playoff performer of his generation and he's not going to go out quietly in his first ever final. If he doesn't find the board, he will have considerably more jump in his step.
Have fun Oil Country, enjoy it and let's hope they can extend it one more time.