2023-05-15 06:00:00
Connor McDavid once more pushed the limits of his talent during the season, but his fate remains the same in the playoffs. The Edmonton Oilers once once more suffered elimination, this time at 2e round, in Game 6, won 5-2 by the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night.
McDavid was equal to himself in the playoffs with 20 points in 20 games. However, it was not enough to allow the Oilers to reach the Western Conference Finals, the stage where the Oilers’ journey had stopped in 2022 once morest the Colorado Avalanche, who would then win the Stanley Cup.
The Oilers are tired of failures. While some speak of a mandatory passage to access success, McDavid hopes the team is ready to move to the next level.
“I feel like all the winning teams have had similar experiences to ours. Obviously, that’s not how we want to do it, we don’t want to feel like that. I feel that you have to go through this kind of ordeal to win. I hope it’s the last time, ”McDavid admitted minutes following a loss that will certainly leave a bitter taste.
During the regular season, McDavid reached new personal highs with 64 goals, 89 assists and 153 points, which will likely earn him the third Hart Trophy of his career.
But in the end, his thirst for victory has still not been satisfied.
” Certainly yes. You said it, [c’est une opportunité gaspillée] added McDavid, who wasn’t very forthcoming in his comments.
Pain hard to explain
If there is a player who has backed McDavid with exceptional performance, it is certainly Leon Draisaitl. The German scored 13 goals in just 12 playoff games and finished his playoff run with 18 points.
” It hurts. It’s hard to find the words right now. Obviously when you start a season, you do it to win. When you don’t win, it’s a feeling of failure and lost season, “said an emotional Draisaitl, who tried to put the right words on the pain felt.
“The feeling, how much it hurts…nobody here wants to feel like that once more.” We have to do what it takes personally to make sure we don’t feel like that once more. It’s frustrating, it’s painful,” Draisaitl added with the tremolo.
Defender Darnell Nurse shared the same opinion as Draisaitl. The Oilers had the opportunity to show they had learned from their past failures, but they didn’t.
“Every year it’s even more disappointing. We had a team capable of more, it’s a shame. »
While the stats say Draisaitl is blameless for the Oilers’ early exit, the man with 128 points this season admittedly takes some of the blame for the setback. Draisaitl was shut out in the Oilers’ most important game of the season.
“We mightn’t create enough five-on-five during the series. We scored twice at five once morest five tonight… sometimes it has to be enough. I have to take some of the blame, I wasn’t good tonight. […] It’s always difficult to produce. I have to find a way to be better. »
Jonathan Marchessault was the main architect of the Oilers’ loss thanks to a hat trick scored in the second period only.
“We haven’t been consistent enough,” Nurse said. When we give them chances, they make us pay for it. They found a way to seize their opportunities tonight…not us. »
“We win as a team and we lose as a team,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. We remain united. »
The same questions will therefore reappear in the entourage of the Oilers during the offseason. Once once more, the work of the goalkeepers and the lack of depth in attack will attract attention.
Back in net following being taken out in Game 5, Stuart Skinner once once more looked faltering as he yielded four times on 17 shots. Jack Campbell, who came to Edmonton last summer hoping to stabilize the Oilers’ goalie situation, came on as Skinner’s third relief in four games. He stopped the 4 shots aimed at him during the 3rd period.
Skinner did not show up following the encounter. He must take some of the blame for this failure.
“I don’t have clear thoughts. It’s hard to lose, the guys played well. I had to be better, I was taken out of a game several times. »
“I felt confident, I feel good no matter what. I know how to play the game, I did for several years. I have bounced back many times from goals scored once morest me in my life. Whether it’s bad luck, a good goal, a bad goal or it’s my fault…I’ve been through all those scenarios and I know how to stay focused and confident,” Skinner said.
Oilers general manager Ken Holland will be able to count on the return of all the core elements of his team for next season. Several support players like Derek Ryan, Mattias Janmark and Nick Bjugstad will become free as air, but the core of McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm are still under contract for the next two seasons, at least.
Among the priority issues, Holland will have to negotiate a new contract with defender Evan Bouchard who will become a restricted free agent on July 1, just like forward Klim Kostin.
At the Oilers, we believe in the still untapped potential of this group.
“It’s obviously a page from the book that we’re going to write one day,” Skinner said. It is a chapter which is unpleasant, which is painful. It’s my first year, we had a special group and I had the chance to help this group, but I didn’t. It’s part of the way. It’s hard to think regarding it right now. »
“I believe the team has gone through [des éliminations] enough times now. You have to learn to lose, but you also have to learn to win. You have to know how to do both. We have to work this summer to come back next year and know what we have to do: win the Stanley Cup. »
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