SUNRISE, Fla. — The first scar of the Stanley Cup Final belongs to Connor McDavid. In a way, the trace of blood above his chin and below his lip was almost symbolic — he didn’t look at all like the winner he is after the 3-0 defeat in Game 1 of the Cup Final.
He didn’t look satisfied or happy, as some of his teammates seemed to be, with the Oilers inability to score a goal, to take advantage of three power plays, to solve, in the third period, the kind of old school hockey voodoo that is played by the Florida Panthers. It was All About Bob — at least from the beginning of Game 1. All about Sergei Bobrovsky, the leading contender today for the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in the playoffs.
And of course, that can change tomorrow. “He’s amazing down low,” said fellow goalie, Stuart Skinner. “He’s amazing up high.
He’s an incredible goalie.” And he lived up to his billing, all these years later shutting out the Oilers in Game 1 of the Final, the same way Billy Smith shut the Oilers out 3-0 in Game 1 of Edmonton’s first trip to the final in 1983. Smith won the Conn Smythe that year.
The Oilers don’t want to hear about that right now. There is too much to focus on, to clean up, to crisp up really, after the two most talented offensive players in hockey combined for no points in their championship debuts. It wasn’t that McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were terrible.
They weren’t. It was that the two legendary playoff performers weren’t able.
