Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are headed to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Oilers shut the door on the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday night, propelling themselves to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2006.
McDavid led the charge offensively, providing two points, including a sublime toe-dragging goal in the first period, in order to lift Edmonton over Dallas, 2–1. The Oilers registered just 10 shots on target in the game, 25 fewer than the Stars and the fewest ever by a team in a win to clinch the Western Conference Final.
Despite their lack of shooting, Edmonton’s special teams effort was sensational. Both Oilers goals game on the power play and they denied Dallas on each of their man advantages on Sunday night. They’ve prevented a goal on 28 consecutive penalties.
It marks the first time in McDavid’s career that he’ll be playing in the Stanley Cup Finals, and he’ll be looking to help the franchise lift Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time since 1990. The Oilers have five championships in their history, and they’ll be looking to add a sixth, with the championship bout against the Florida Panthers due to get underway on Saturday, June 8.
An old hockey cliché says if you get pucks on net, you’ll give yourself a chance to win. Well, the Edmonton Oilers struggled mightily to get pucks on net in Game 6 of their series against the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, but they still came away with the victory and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers managed just 10 shots on goal, while the Stars recorded 35. But Edmonton won 2–1, becoming just the third team in NHL history to win a playoff game while recording 10 or fewer shots on goal.
When scoring chances are in short supply, it helps to have a player who’s capable of turning nothing into something—and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid does just that. McDavid scored the first goal of the game with an incredible display of individual skill, dancing through the Dallas defense with some spectacular stickhandling before burying a backhand shot. (McDavid also assisted on the Oilers’ second goal, scored by Zach Hyman.)
“Hockey’s hard, you know? You need a lot of things to go right,” Stars center Tyler Seguin said after the game. “You need to have the opportunity. We had the opportunity. We went through a gauntlet and beat some really good teams and knew we had something special.
“We lost to a team we thought we could beat, and sometimes that’s [the] playoffs. Sometimes it’s that one bounce, one goal, one save. It’s why we all love it and it’s why this is the hardest damn trophy in the world to win.”
The Stars had been carried during these playoffs by star goalie Jake Oettinger. Over the first 16 games of the postseason (through Game 3 of the Edmonton series), Oettinger had a 2.09 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. But he allowed four goals on 28 shots in Game 4 and three goals on 26 shots in Game 5 before getting beaten twice in 10 tries in the series-clinching game Sunday.
Oettinger’s counterpart, meanwhile, was fantastic in the final three games of the series. Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner allowed just four goals in the last three games (all of which Edmonton won) and had an impressive .948 save percentage.
With the win, the Oilers advanced to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2006. Despite employing the best player in the world in McDavid, Edmonton had repeatedly fallen short in the playoffs, only advancing past the second round once in McDavid’s first eight seasons. And at the beginning of this season, it looked like the Oilers were destined for more disappointment. They won just two of their first 10 games, leading to the firing of coach Jay Woodcroft. But then they got hot—really hot. They went 26–6 in their first 32 games under new coach Kris Knoblauch, a stretch that included a 16-game winning streak, one game shy of the all-time NHL record.
The Oilers are great, but they’ll have their hands full in a Final matchup against the Florida Panthers, who finished the regular season tied for the second most wins in the NHL. Game 1 of that series will be in Florida on Saturday.
Osaka was one of the standouts in the first week at the French Open. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
The Edmonton Oilers have won the Western Conference Final, beating the Dallas Stars in six games, and now advance to the Stanley Cup Final to face the Florida Panthers.
Despite the Panthers being favored to win the Stanley Cup, Connor McDavid opens as the top option to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the NHL Playoffs. Let's dive into the list of odds.
McDavid is set as the +250 betting favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is an implied probability of 28.57%. He's leading the playoffs in points with 31, three more than his teammate, Leon Draisaitl, whose odds are set at +650.
It's rare for the favorite to win playoff MVP is a member of the team that's set as underdogs, but it makes sense when you consider how even the race is amongst the Panthers' top players. If it's the Oilers who win the cup, there's almost no question it's going to be McDavid.
It's also possible for a member of the losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, as it's happened five times before. With that being said, four of the five times its happened, including the most recent (Jean-Sebastian Giguere in 2003), it was awarded to the opposing goalie. The only skater to win the trophy as a member of the losing team was Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.
Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky are the top options for the Panthers at +400 odds each. Barkov is tied for eighth in the playoffs with 17 points and Bobrovksy enters the final with a save percentage of .908.
The best value bet on the board might just be Carter Verhaeghe of the Panthers, who leads the team in goals with nine. He also has the same amount of total points of Barkov, whose odds are at +400, while Verhaeghe's odds are set at +2400.
A $100 bet on Verhaeghe would profit $2,400 if he's named the winner of the award.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
After two days off, the Stanley Cup Final is set to resume on Thursday night when the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers face-off in Game 3 with the Panthers holding a 2-0 series lead.
If you're looking for some bets to place for tonight's game, you've come to the right place. I have a bet locked in on the side, total, and a player prop. Let's jump right into them.
I'm going to bet the Oilers to get the job done and keep this series alive. They have been fantastic on their home ice throughout the postseason with a 6-3 record and an average goal differential of +0.99 per game. We've already seen they can dominate the Panthers between the blue lines. Despite losing Game 1, they were the better team from start to finish and had the advanced metrics heavily in their favor.
If they can repeat their Game 1 performance and find a way to pop a few goals, they'll be in a great spot to win tonight.
UNDER 5.5 (-115)
I've bet the UNDER in the first two games and I see no reason to back away from that. It's hit in both games and the advanced metrics so far this series have supported the idea both teams are playing a defensive style of hockey.
The Oilers have an expected goals mark of 2.4 per 60 minutes while the Panthers are at 2.33 per 60 minutes. That's a combined expected goals of just 4.73 per game, well below the set total for Game 3 of 5.5. Both teams are also averaging fewer than 10 high-danger scoring chances per game.
Connor McDavid OVER 3.5 shots on goal (-105)
Big players make big plays in big game and that's what I expect from Connor McDavid tonight. He has recorded at least five shots in four of his last six games and he needs to put his team on his back tonight if he wants to get them back in this series.
I'll bet him to record at least four shots on goal tonight.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
