Hockey

Western Final: a smoking Connor McDavid gives the Oilers the series lead
Félix Forget
Western Final: a smoking Connor McDavid gives the Oilers the series lead
Credit: This afternoon, the Stars and Oilers crossed swords in Game 3 of the Western Final. With the series tied 1-1, both teams had the opportunity to take the series lead. And this time, it was the Edmonton side’s turn to do battle. The Oilers, who had won Game #2 of the series, arrived with a […]

This afternoon, the Stars and Oilers crossed swords in Game 3 of the Western Final. With the series tied 1-1, both teams had the opportunity to take the series lead.

And this time, it was the Edmonton side's turn to do battle.

The Oilers, who had won Game #2 of the series, arrived with a ton of momentum… and clearly, it showed early in the game. Evan Bouchard opened the scoring… and Connor McDavid doubled his team's lead 36 seconds later.

An arena already filled with energy became very, very loud…

And that's not the start the Stars were hoping for.

But clearly, the story of the game was Connor McDavid, who was absolutely smoking this afternoon. The Stars showed their teeth afterwards and hit the target… but McDavid made sure to quickly close the door on a comeback.

He scored a big goal at the very end of the second period that really broke any kind of momentum the Stars had just found.

What's interesting, though, is that the Stars didn't have an ugly game. The club directed a ton of pucks at Stuart Skinner… but the Oilers goalie had a good one in the system.

He frustrated the Stars time and time again.

The brilliance of Skinner and McDavid was more than enough to give the Oilers a 6-1 victory.

Zach Hyman scored two insurance goals in the third period (and John Klingberg added another late in the game) to confirm the Oilers' victory.

The next game in the series is Tuesday night… and the Oilers will have the opportunity to push the Stars into the wire. And perhaps by then, the Panthers will have already secured their place in the final, opening the door to a repeat of last year's final.


Extension

– Ryan Nugent-Hopkins collected three assists in his team's victory.

– Connor McDavid is truly at the top of his game.

– It's his net now. He was incredible today.

– Elsewhere in the hockey world, the USA won the Worlds for the first time in 92 years thanks to a Tage Thompson goal in overtime. They won 1-0… and made sure to include Johnny Gaudreau in their celebrations.

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