"It sucks": McDavid speaks after Oilers' Stanley Cup heartbreak

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid won something in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, but it was hardly the award he wanted.

The Oilers fell 2-1 to the Florida Panthers in the winner-take-all game down in Florida, though McDavid still picked up the Conn Smythe Trophy for being the playoffs’ most valuable player.

McDavid was actually off the ice when the trophy was awarded, but the Edmonton captain stuck around long enough to see all his teammates head back to the locker room.

So close, yet so far. pic.twitter.com/M3WOjGZYfc

— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) June 25, 2024

Connor McDavid waited for every Oiler to go through the handshake line before leaving the ice.

Left it all out there 🔥 pic.twitter.com/w7iKgeQuO8

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 25, 2024

And eventually, the face of the Oilers, and for all intents and purposes, the National Hockey League, met with the media postgame to discuss one of the most crushing defeats in recent Stanley Cup Final memory.

McDavid, as expected, wasn’t exactly a man of many words, though he did stick around for about five minutes to answer questions about the crushing loss.

“It sucks,” McDavid said with a shrug. “We knew it was going to be a real tight game and it was going to come down to one thing here or there. We were an inch away from going ahead 2-1 right before they went ahead 2-1. It’s tough.

“They did a good job of shutting things down and we had our looks, just didn’t find it.”

McDavid noted the “resilience” of his team. The Oilers turned their season around in November after Kris Knoblauch took over as head coach. They also staved off elimination five times in the playoffs, including three games in the Cup Final.

“The resilience of the group, we went through a lot. Ups and downs. Came that close… Really proud. Proud of the way we fought all year.”

"The resilience of the group, we went through a lot.”

McDavid speaks about what he will remember about this #Oilers team after a Game 7 defeat to the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/5IWxQ4rjfW

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 25, 2024

McDavid finished the playoffs with eight goals and 34 assists along the way, the latter of which set an NHL postseason record, besting Wayne Gretzky’s 31 in 1988.

For McDavid, it’s hard to imagine a tougher defeat for a generational player who has not won a title since the 2016 World Championships with Canada. Though the Oilers captain made a historic run through the postseason, the result ultimately culminated in a ninth NHL season that ended without glory at the end of it.

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