Connor McDavid sat in the same locker room where his heart was broken last year. One year later, the pain felt just as raw.
The Edmonton Oilers watched once again as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman handed the Stanley Cup to the Florida Panthers, who clinched a second consecutive title with a 5-1 win in Game 6 on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena.
“It’s heartbreaking,” McDavid said. “We lost to a really good team. Nobody quit, nobody threw the towel in, but they’re a heck of a team. They’re back-to-back Stanley Cup champions for a reason.”
Hoping to force another Game 7 like last year, Edmonton instead fell behind 2-0 early and never recovered. Despite showing resilience with comeback wins in Games 1 and 4, the Oilers couldn’t find a way to stop Florida’s relentless pressure.
“Their forecheck was great, they tilted the rink,” McDavid said. “They were on top of us all over the place. We kept trying the same thing over and over again, banging our heads against the wall.”
Mistakes cost Edmonton. Two first-period turnovers at the blue line led directly to goals. In the second, a routine save by Stuart Skinner rebounded perfectly for Sam Reinhart, who extended the Panthers’ lead to 3-0.
“They have great players. How many guys had 20-plus points in the postseason?” McDavid said. “They’re as deep as it comes.”
This run to the Final had seemed unlikely. The Oilers limped into the playoffs with injuries to key players, including McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They dropped their first two games against the Kings but stormed back to win four straight. They then breezed past the Golden Knights and Stars in just 10 games combined.
It wasn’t enough.
“There’s no silver lining to this,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s still heart-wrenching. It’s very difficult to handle right now.”
Game 1 brought hope, a 4-3 overtime win. But Florida responded with a double-overtime victory in Game 2 and a 6-1 blowout in Game 3. Edmonton’s Game 4 rally kept the series alive, but Game 5’s flat 5-2 loss at home shifted the momentum back to the Panthers.
On Tuesday, trailing 3-0, Skinner was pulled with seven minutes left. Reinhart added two empty-netters before Vasily Podkolzin scored to end Sergei Bobrovsky’s shutout bid.
“The takeaway is that we didn’t win,” Draisaitl said. “Nobody cares. Like, nobody cares. We didn’t win, so try again next year.”
There is hope. Draisaitl’s eight-year, $112 million extension kicks in next season. McDavid is expected to follow suit. Most of the core will return.
“I think so,” McDavid said. “We still have a lot of confidence and belief. I don’t think people thought we were going to make it this far. We believe and we came up just short again.”
For the Oilers, another offseason begins with the same question: how to turn heartbreak into glory.
“Letting it happen two times in a row is devastating,” Skinner said. “We need to learn from this right away.”
Photo: Mike Carlson/Getty Images
