Now would be a good time for Connor McDavid to show up

NHL

Only one player has more points in this Stanley Cup Final than Connor McDavid's total of seven, and it's Leon Draisaitl eight.

That kind of production hasn't really worked out in the Edmonton Oilers' favor in the series, which their team now trails 3-2 heading back to Sunrise. And the big reason why? McDavid's ultimately meaningless goal to cut into the Florida Panthers' big lead midway through the third period was his first tally of the series, and just his second point since Game 2.

Draisaitl rescued the Oilers to tie the series late last week, doing the Draisaitl thing where he casually pulls a goal and two assists out of his hat to pick up an overtime win and prevent the series from becoming a runaway. McDavid hasn't really delivered that kind of performance in this series, at all. Five points in the first two games, sure, but they were all assists and only one was at 5-on-5. It's nice to score on the power play — and he had a point on the OT game winner in Game 1 — but when you're the best player in the world you frankly need to be doing more. Even if it's on the road and even against a team that can absolutely suffocate you. Except of course that only Games 3 and now 5 were the ones where the Oilers offense was especially quiet.

This isn't meant to be a hot take or anything, either. "Old 97 doesn't have it when it counts!" would be an idiotic view, because we all saw what he did last year against this same team. The guy has 1-6—7 in five games, which is very good. But "very good" isn't quite what we expect of McDavid.

Indeed, you can't ask for much more than 16 goals in five games against a team as good as the Panthers, obviously. And usually so much of the Oilers' offense flows through McDavid that he picks up a ton of points by happenstance even if he has an off night. One could argue that happened early in the series, but the number of games where he's been the driving force is probably just the first one.

This also isn't intended to put the blame on McDavid for the Oilers staring into the abyss once again. He can't make Stuart Skinner (.860 save percentage in the Cup Final) look like a No. 1 goalie. He can't make it so the Oilers' depth score more often when he, Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard are off the ice (they've been outscored 5-2 when that Big Three is on the bench). And he's not even the guy wearing a C on his jersey who has been more visibly absent for long stretches of this series (Aleksander Barkov is 0-3—3 and a minus-2).

It's not like this is uncharted territory for McDavid or his team. It's happened plenty of times that if he's not scoring, no one else is either. But when McDavid is on the ice with no-Draisaitl-no-Bouchard, Edmonton has been outscored 4-0 in only about 21 minutes.

The Oilers were kind of a no-show two games in a row until they got down three goals. Shocking stuff for a team that made the offense look so easy in the first three rounds. McDavid of course was the conduit. They're scoring in bunches at times, but Brad Marchand (6-0—6, plus-6) and Sam Bennett (5-1—6, plus-4) have been way more visibly impactful than the guy who deservedly won the Conn Smythe in a losing effort.

You could call this bad luck because it's not like McDavid isn't getting to the net — he's second on the team in both individual scoring chances and expected goals at 5-on-5, only trailing linemate Corey Perry in both categories. When he's on the ice, the Oilers only have nine goals on a little fewer than 12 expected (and 104 shots on goal). How much would that extra three goals help in a series that's often felt really tight? But you can't sit around and wait for regression to pull into the station at this time of year, either. It's never a more results-oriented business than the Stanley Cup Final and the results aren't going McDavid's way; he's been outscored 11-9 in all situations and 6-3 at full strength. When the rest of the team who aren't wearing Nos. 2 and 29 barely produce, that's just not good enough. Maybe he's playing hurt. Then again, maybe Barkov is, too. And who isn't at this time of year, anyway.

The good news? No one on earth has more capability to take a game by the scruff of the neck and casually throw out an insane, high-scoring performance. In McDavid's playoff career, he has six different games with at least four points, and six different games with at least two goals. There's only one game that falls into both categories, which means he's really gone off 11 times in his 95 postseason appearances. And that one game? It was Game 5 of last year's Cup Final. In Florida. With the Oilers down 3-1 in the series. Just something to think about.

He knows he needs to pick it up. And his teammates know they need to pick it up as well. If the Oilers want to stay alive and come home for the decisive Game 7, now's the time for the best player in the world to deliver a McDavid Goes Psycho game.

What We Learned

Edmonton Oilers: For the third game in a row, the Oilers get to ask the question, "Who's gonna be our starter?" It was nice when everyone got to pretend maybe Calvin Pickard had figured out some kind of formula to have success but at the end of the day the Panthers pantsed the Oilers' defense just as much as when Skinner was in there. So now it's back to the drawing board. Do you stick with the guy who just gave up four on 18 shots, or go back to the guy you decided you couldn't give the start at home in the most important game of the season? No good answer to that one! And if you wanna say that, more than the whole McDavid thing, is the difference in the series, who could argue? Not the most interesting take in the world but you don't get points for being tricky this late in the season.

Florida Panthers: A win away and it really looks like they're rolling. I'm usually pretty quick to dismiss "they know how to win" talk and all that but the number of guys on this team without their name on the Stanley Cup is something like three or four I think. It's insane. Basically no turnover from last year plus three guys who improved their depth. And the thing that I'm really impressed with is the professionalism to just be like, "Okay we absolutely blew it on home ice a couple days ago, so let's not let them even come close to doing that again tonight." And they didn't. Just a very efficient, comprehensive no-go for the Oilers because the Panthers decided that's how it would go. Not really a lot else to say; is Tuesday gonna be a coronation?

Gold Star Award

I know Bennett has all the goals but Marchand winning the Conn Smythe basically makes

him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. We need voters to do the right thing here.

Minus of the Weekend

One last troublesome stat for ya.

Amount of time Edmonton has played with a lead of any kind in this series: 33:51

Amount of time Florida has played with a three-goal lead in this series: 50:14

That kinda tells the story, hey?

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Mackiaveli" is gonna make some writers in Pittsburgh really mad:

Who says no?

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