Florida Panthers Need To Contain Connor McDavid To Win Stanley Cup Finals | Deadspin.com

Stop Connor McDavid; win the Stanley Cup. Florida Panthers Need To Contain Connor McDavid To Win Stanley Cup Finals | Deadspin.com

Both tasks are formidable for any hockey team, even the Florida Panthers. The urgency for the Panthers to do both as soon as humanly possible has ratcheted up in a big way heading into Friday night’s Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.Florida Panthers Need To Contain Connor McDavid To Win Stanley Cup Finals | Deadspin.com

One week ago, the Panthers were firmly in the driver’s seat of the finals, having staked a 3-0 lead over McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. It appeared the Panthers could start planning their parade, wherever that would be held, be it downtown Fort Lauderdale or near the rink in Sunrise and the Everglades.Florida Panthers Need To Contain Connor McDavid To Win Stanley Cup Finals | Deadspin.com

Instead, with the puck ready to drop in Edmonton, it is the Panthers who are feeling the pressure. Thanks to a pair of consecutive four-point performances by McDavid in a couple of victories, Florida’s lead in the best-of-seven series is now 3-2.

The Oilers are on a mission to become the fourth team in history to force a Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Final when trailing 3-0 in the series, with the quest to join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the lone team to complete the comeback and claim hockey’s Holy Grail. 

You can bet your bottom dollar the Panthers have almost no interest right now in seeing this affair go to a seventh and deciding game, even if it will be in their home.

The question is whether the Panthers can seal the deal. First and foremost, the task will be to corral McDavid, who has joined Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the only players to net 40 or more points during a single playoff year and and destined to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP regardless of the outcome.

Since “struggling” with only a trio of assists in the first three games of the series, McDavid has taken over the series. With 11 points in the finals (three goals and eight assists), he has the opportunity to reach the record for most in the Stanley Cup Final, held by Gretzky, and the 11 points he netted in the 1988 run to the title.

Those numbers are a byproduct of McDavid’s ultimate goal, victory.

“He’s a very competitive person,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said of his team’s captain. “He wants to win. He wants to be the best.”

All that said, Florida is still the odds-on favorite to claim the Cup and is still in control. As impressive as the Oilers have been in clawing back—winning two games by a combined 13-4 margin—they must turn their two-game streak into a four-game run to complete the comeback. 

We have seen how difficult it is to win four straight games in the finals. Even though they are essentially playing with house money after being all but written off one week ago, completing that feat will be no easier for the Oilers.

Florida has shown plenty of prowess to reach this point. The Panthers exorcized some of their own demons by eliminating the rival Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round before knocking out the Boston Bruins and then the regular season-champion New York Rangers to reach the finals. Curiously, Florida vanquished the Bruins and Rangers in six games.

Florida, which boasted an impressive 7-3 road record during the playoffs, has not once faced elimination this year.

Understandably, the message remains to stay calm and focus on the task at hand: contain McDavid and the Oilers and win the Cup.