What McDavid said before tonight's Edmonton Oilers must-win Game 3
Connor McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers are in a must-win situation tonight.
After dropping the first two games of their opening round series with the LA Kings, the Oilers now find themselves in a position where they could drop 3-0. It’s far from an ideal situation for the team, but players are not giving up hope quite yet.
McDavid met with the media at this morning’s skate at Rogers Place and gave an idea of where the team’s head is.
“We’ve been in desperate situations before; this would be one of them,” McDavid said. “We’ve been successful in these situations before, and we’ve got to find a way to do that again tonight.
“Starts with a big game tonight and go from there.”
"I think we need to clean up our puck play. They have a kill that you're not necessarily going to have a ton of zone time…. It's gonna be work… We gotta be ready to bear down."
Connor McDavid on the #Oilers power play. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/tyOvw8Gnof
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 25, 2025
The Oilers will be turning to Calvin Pickard between the pipes to help keep their season alive. He comes into tonight’s game with just two previous Stanley Cup Playoff starts under his belt after pinch-hitting for Stuart Skinner in last year’s second-round against the Vancouver Canucks.
Having your backup come in this early into the playoffs may shake a team, but McDavid said they have full confidence in Pickard to pick up the slack.
“He’s played well all year,” McDavid said. “He’s been solid for us, coming into big moments and did it last year in the playoffs as well.
“A guy we have a lot of faith in, and I expect him to play great tonight.”
While goaltending has been the story of the series for Edmonton so far, the special teams battle has been a close second. The Oilers are getting shredded on the penalty kill with five goals against in two games against the Kings and zero power-play goals for.
The Oilers captain didn’t want to comment on the PK, but he did analyze the struggles with the man-advantage.
“I think we need to just clean up our puck play,” McDavid said. “They have a kill that you’re not going to have a ton of zone time… you’re not going to massage it and pass it around. It’s going to be work, and the look that you do get is going to be a grade-A plus.
“We’ve got to be ready to bear down on that… I thought we found a way to generate chances, we just haven’t buried them.”
Tonight’s Game 3 at Rogers Place will dictate what kind of series this will turn out to be. Either the Oilers cut into the Kings’ series lead, or L.A. pushes Edmonton to the brink.
It’s up to McDavid and the rest of the Oilers as to where it goes from here.