Written by Frank Seravalli at TSN.com
It was the out-of-your-seat goal the Oilers and all of Edmonton had been drooling for all playoffs: Connor McDavid on full human video game mode.
McDavid sidestepped an attacking Sami Vatanen just inside the blue line with hockey’s version of the crossover, then lasered a perfectly placed snap shot over John Gibson’s left shoulder.
A jam packed Rogers Place was already building to a crescendo before that and McDavid sent 18,347 into a fever pitch.
It was not only McDavid’s first non-empty net, even-strength goal of these 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, but it brought the Oilers all the way back to level ground after falling into a 3-0 hole in the first 12 minutes of Game 3.
But before the Orange Crush could finish hailing McDavid with “M-V-P!, M-V-P” chants, the puck was in the Oilers’ back of the net. Again.
Cam Talbot misplayed a routine Chris Wagner shot from the half wall, sticking a dagger in Edmonton’s comeback bid just 48 seconds after McDavid made them whole.
The Oilers never recovered. Two nights after Talbot carried the Oilers’ water in Game 2, the Ducks hung six on him to tie a franchise record for most goals scored in one playoff game.
“That was a deciding moment in the game,” Talbot said. “We just tied the game and a puck goes in that can’t go in. That’s on me. It was just kind of a knuckle puck from the corner. I tried to punch it away, but it wasn’t going as fast as I thought.”
Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Kesler piled on with goals in the third period as the Ducks downed the Oilers, 6-3, to cut Edmonton’s lead in the best-of-seven second-round series in half at 2-1.
To continue reading this article, click here.
