The very best participant in hockey is having a record-breaking run within the postseason. May a Stanley Cup be sufficient to make him a family identify within the U.S.?
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hockey’s historical past books are crammed with the identical identify many times – Wayne Gretzky. His information have lengthy been regarded as out of attain till now. Tonight, in recreation six of the Stanley Cup ultimate, all eyes shall be on one participant making a run at one among Gretzky’s most spectacular information. NPR’s Becky Sullivan studies.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: I will begin by telling you about this one second from Sport 5 on Tuesday.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Misty (ph) strikes by a double staff, and Perry scores. What a play by McDavid.
SULLIVAN: The Edmonton Oilers are unfold out throughout the ice. There are 5 gamers the Florida Panthers may very well be defending, however all of them collapse on only one man – Connor McDavid.
STEVE LEVY: 4 Florida Panther defenders are all surrounding McDavid. McDavid is the one Oiler. McDavid’s bought the puck.
SULLIVAN: That is ESPN’s Steve Levy.
LEVY: And McDavid nonetheless, clearly, one way or the other was capable of get by all 4 of these Florida Panthers after which beat the goalie and arrange his buddy for a tapping.
SULLIVAN: McDavid sliced by the defenders like they have been simply cones on an impediment course, flicked the puck to his teammate for the purpose, leaving everybody – the announcers, the followers, the Florida Panthers – surprised.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: For the win, the Oilers – a superb piece of labor, McDavid to Perry.
SULLIVAN: After the sport, the teammate who scored the purpose, Corey Perry, informed reporters it was simply one other Tuesday for McDavid.
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COREY PERRY: He places his staff on his again. Once we’re in opposition to the wall, he places us on his again. And, you realize, you see why he’s the most effective participant.
SULLIVAN: Not simply the most effective participant on the Oilers, the most effective participant in a technology, the form of skater so electrical that when he touches the puck, followers of his opponent get out of their seats to witness what would possibly occur, Levy says.
LEVY: You do not even must know it is him. You do not have to know it is his uniform quantity. He jumps off the tv display, off the ice. He simply seems so completely different than everybody else.
SULLIVAN: Folks have been anticipating nice issues from Connor McDavid for a very long time. He is been a star ever since Edmonton selected him with a prime draft decide in 2015, however the Oilers simply weren’t excellent for lots of these years. So McDavid did not have a practical probability on the Stanley Cup till now, and he is taking advantage of it, says Sean McIndoe, a hockey author for The Athletic.
SEAN MCINDOE: What we’re seeing from Connor McDavid on this 12 months’s playoffs is traditionally one of many best performances ever by an offensive participant.
SULLIVAN: McIndoe says Gretzky’s information have been set within the ’80s and ’90s, when there was much more scoring, a part of the rationale why these information have stood for therefore lengthy.
MCINDOE: But right here we’re in 2024, in an period the place it is a lot more durable to attain within the NHL. The groups are so significantly better, and but Connor McDavid is chasing a report that is held by Wayne Gretzky.
SULLIVAN: That report is factors in a single playoffs run, factors which means each targets and assists. McDavid at the moment has 42. Gretzky’s report is 47. McDavid has tonight’s Sport 6 to chase it and, if the Oilers win once more, a deciding Sport 7. There’s one different factor at stake, McIndoe says. Whereas McDavid is hockey’s greatest star, he isn’t all that well-known outdoors of the game, and his efficiency is a chance each for him and hockey.
MCINDOE: The extent of efficiency that he is at – you do not have to observe hockey. You do not have to know and even like hockey to have the ability to recognize true greatness.
SULLIVAN: He says the phenomenon across the basketball participant Caitlin Clark proves American audiences can, actually, present up for a sport they historically have not cared a lot about. Possibly hockey may very well be subsequent. Becky Sullivan, NPR Information.
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