McDavid, Draisaitl elevating game for Oilers on verge of 1st Cup Final

DALLAS -- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are one win from their first Stanley Cup Final.

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Friday and took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.

They can end it in Game 6 in Edmonton on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

What will the next day and a half be like?

“Pretty standard,” McDavid said.

For McDavid and Draisaitl in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the standard is historically high.

Each center had an assist Friday, increasing his incredible numbers. McDavid leads the playoffs with 29 points (four goals, 25 assists) in 17 games. Draisaitl is second with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 17 games.

Each has 104 points in 66 playoff games in his NHL career. McDavid has 33 goals and 71 assists. Draisaitl has 41 goals and 63 assists. Among players who have appeared in at least eight postseason games in NHL history, McDavid and Draisaitl (1.58) are tied for third in points per game behind Wayne Gretzky (1.84) and Mario Lemieux (1.61).

“I’m focused on the defense, but I’m still a fan,” said Oilers assistant Paul Coffey, the Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman who played with Gretzky in Edmonton from 1980-87 and Lemieux in Pittsburgh from 1987-92. “I was lucky enough to play with Wayne and with Mario both in their prime. Getting a chance to watch Connor and Leon and the rest of the team every single day, it’s pretty great.”

McDavid and Draisaitl each passed Coffey (103 points) on the Oilers’ all-time playoff scoring list, too, on Friday. They are tied for fifth behind Gretzky (252), Mark Messier (215), Jari Kurri (202) and Glenn Anderson (183).

Only Gretzky has had more assists in the playoffs in a season for the Oilers than McDavid and Draisaitl. Gretzky had 31 in 1988, 30 in 1985, 29 in 1987 and 26 in 1983. McDavid has 25 this season, Draisaitl had 25 in 2022 and Coffey had 25 in 1985.

“Remarkable is quite an understatement to see what they’ve done,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s harder to score in the NHL, especially nowadays. For them to elevate their game in the playoffs when every game is so tight-checking and then for them to produce like that, as a coach, it’s nice having those guys on your bench.”

That’s the thing. They aren’t just producing. They’re producing in the playoffs, and they’re doing it at an even higher rate than they have in the regular season.

That’s saying something. McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion five times and is averaging 1.52 points per game in the regular season. Draisaitl has won the Art Ross once and is averaging 1.18 points per game in the regular season.

Coffey has a simple explanation.

“They’re great players,” he said. “There isn’t a lot of space [in the playoffs]. That’s why a lot of players don’t put points up. But the greats do.”

Gretzky and Lemieux are two of the greatest of all time. Gretzky, Messier, Kurri and Anderson each has his number retired in the rafters of Rogers Place, and Gretzky has a statue outside the rink.

Of course, each solidified his legacy by winning the Cup. The statue of Gretzky depicts him holding it up in 1988 after the last of the four championships he won in Edmonton.

McDavid, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, is in his ninth season with the Oilers. Draisaitl, the No. 3 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, is in his 10th. The question has long been whether the Oilers can give them a strong enough supporting cast to reach the ultimate goal.

Well, maybe, just maybe, they have.

Defenseman Evan Bouchard is third in playoff scoring with 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) in 17 games. Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is fourth with 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 17 games. Forward Zach Hyman leads the playoffs in goals with 13.

Sixteen players have scored and 21 have recorded a point in the playoffs for Edmonton, including defenseman Philip Broberg, who scored Friday in his second game after being a healthy scratch for the first 15.

“We take a lot of pride in playing this time of year,” McDavid said. “It’s taken a lot for our group to play games this time of year, and the cliché is, your best players have got to be your best players.

“You know, Leon and I have played well, but we’ve honestly had contributions from everybody, from guys that are coming into the lineup that have been scratched. I think of so many different guys that we’ve got contributions from. It’s been a great display of our depth. A lot of talk was about Dallas’ depth, but I think our depth has really showed just what they can do.”

One more win, and McDavid, Draisaitl and the Oilers will be on display in the Cup Final.

“We’ve put ourselves in an opportunity heading home to win a big game, but that’s all we’ve done,” McDavid said. “A lot of work to do.”