Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid wins Conn Smythe Trophy after Game 7 loss
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the NHL playoffs after an incredible post-season that finished just short of a Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Oilers dropped Game 7 of the Cup final 2-1 to Florida on Monday night as the Panthers won the best-of-seven series 4-3.
McDavid did not go back out on the ice to receive the individual award.
Edmonton was attempting an improbable comeback, winning Game 4 and Game 5 of the series after falling behind 3-0 in the final.
The end result didn’t take away from McDavid’s stellar, record-breaking performance across the post-season.
The 27-year-old superstar had eight goals and 34 assists to lead the playoffs with 42 points.
McDavid is just the sixth player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy but not the Stanley Cup.
He joins the likes of Roger Crozier (Detroit Red Wings, 1966), Glenn Hall (St. Louis Blues, 1968), Reggie Leach (Philadelphia Flyers, 1976), Ron Hextall (Philadelphia Flyers, 1987) and Jean-Sebastien Giguere (Anaheim Mighty Ducks, 2003).
He’s also the second skater of a Stanley Cup-losing team to win the award after Leach.
McDavid broke Wayne Gretzky’s playoff assists record of 31 and fell five points shy of the Great One’s points mark of 47 in a single post-season.
He had four points (one goal, three assists) in Game 4, then did it once more (two goals, two assists) in Game 5 to become the first player in Stanley Cup final history with consecutive four-point games.
McDavid was also the first in league history with eight points in a two-game span of the same series.
The six-foot-one, 194-pound centre is the first player to have four different four-point games in a single Stanley Cup playoff run
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