Friday 6/21/24
I've not hidden my admiration for the Florida Panthers, but when my team is not in something, I will root for the team that is down 3-0. I root for the unlikely, I guess you could say, so right now I'm pulling for the Edmonton Oilers.
Connor McDavid has 42 points in this postseason. His Oilers trailed the Panthers 3-0, and have a chance to even the series tonight in Edmonton, as improbable as that would have seemed a few days ago.
Wayne Gretzky has the all-time mark for points in a single postseason with 47, achieved in 1985, when the Oilers sliced and diced there way through all comers, and weren't particularly challenged. Now, they weren't challenged in part because of how great they were. In large part, if you wish. But McDavid means more to these Oilers, this postseason, than Gretzky did to his in that postseason. Follow me?
The odds are that Florida will win. I'm not expecting the Oilers to win. I'm not expecting them to win tonight. But let's extrapolate anyway.
Let's say that the Oilers tie the series and go on to take Game 7 in Florida, and McDavid ties Gretzky's single-postseason points mark. What you'll have then is the most outstanding playoff performance in the history of the NHL. You may also have the single greatest achievement by a player in the history of the NHL.
That's the territory we're getting into here. Now, these things have to happen. But they are on the proverbial table. You're looking at someone now who is making a move on that so-called Big Four of Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe, and Mario Lemieux, which is the order I'd have them in. Can McDavid jump in front of any of them? How many of them? Can he jump ahead of all of them?
This is the first time I've thought, "Yeah, he could." When you're talking about bettering Gretzky in the postseason, I don't know what else you can do but give it to the man. He's not there yet. But if the Oilers were to pull off what would be an amazing comeback, I don't think they could do it without two more big games from McDavid.
I can be on the lookout for history and then see history as it happens, because I know the history, and that means I know what's at stake and on that table. So that's why I'm dialed in on this right now.
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