Matthew Tkachuk on Tuesday night took off at full speed from basically center ice, chasing a puck that had sailed over his head and was heading directly toward an empty net.
He dove. He outstretched his stick. He swatted and barely, just barely, knocked the puck away to keep the Florida Panthers’ hope of forcing overtime alive. The problem was, the next person who got to the puck was Connor McDavid — who scored to put the game away.
Such was how Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final went for the Panthers. Even when they were good, it was not good enough, and another long flight to Alberta awaits, with this title series suddenly looking tight.
Photo: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY
The Panthers gave up two power-play goals and a shorthanded score, got into a 3-0 hole before trying to rally and wound up falling 5-3 to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 of the title series. It was the second consecutive time Florida were thwarted in a chance to win the Cup, after an 8-1 embarrassment in Edmonton over the weekend.
Game 6 is there tomorrow night.
“I’m not pumping tires. I’m not rubbing backs. I don’t think we need that at all,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Everybody feels probably exactly the way I do right now. I’m not feeling deflated. Neither’s the hockey team. They’re not feeling deflated. Little grumpy.”
Maybe a lot grumpy.
“We’re going to turn the page,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “We’re going to learn from this one.”
Rodrigues and Tkachuk each had a goal and an assist for Florida, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for the Panthers.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots for Florida, who would see their 30-years-and-counting wait for the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title last at least three more days.
“We get another crack at it on Friday,” Tkachuk said.
McDavid had two goals and two assists to become the first player in NHL history to have back-to-back four-point games in the Stanley Cup Final, and Evan Bouchard added three assists for Edmonton. Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry also had goals for the Oilers, while Stuart Skinner stopped 29 shots.
McDavid said it was a total team effort.
It was, but it was also another superhuman effort from McDavid, the game’s best player who is doing things never before done in the title series.
The four points gave McDavid 42 in these playoffs, the fourth-most in a single post-season in NHL history. The only players ahead of him are the ones everyone would expect: Wayne Gretzky had 47 points in 1985, Mario Lemieux had 44 in 1991 and Gretzky had 43 in 1988.
McDavid would have at least one — and, he hopes, two — games to add to that total. If there is a Game 7, it would be in Sunrise on Monday night.
“Anytime you’re in the same realm as those two, it’s always a good thing,” McDavid said.
Rugby organizers in Taiwan hope that a tournament in Singapore next week would be the catalyst to boost the sport in the nation. However, with a team of mostly university students up against more experienced players from their two opponents, Taiwan face a stern challenge at the first edition of the Unions Cup. Taiwan coach Huang Chi-hsang at a training session at the University of Taipei yesterday said that the other two teams — Singapore and Thailand — can draw on a wider pool of players, including those with overseas experience. Taiwan captain Chien Tzu-fan is one of the older hands on the
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Wednesday said that she wants to have children once she retires, and added that a trip throughout Taiwan was in her plans for when she lays down her racket. Tai, who turned 30 yesterday, has said she plans to retire at the end of this year. In an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA), she said that “there’s still a lot of places in Taiwan I haven’t visited,” adding that she also wants to rest and enjoy life without having to set an alarm. Tai first picked up a racket at age five and began training
Former NBA players Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and Quinn Cook are to play together for the Taiwan Mustangs at The Asian Tournament, a newly formed league, starting next month. Howard, who is now part owner of the Mustangs after playing with the Taoyuan Leopards in the T1 League during the 2022-2023 season, said during a videoconference on Wednesday that he would return to the court in Taiwan with the Mustangs, and his former teammates Cook and Cousins would join him. The eight-time NBA All-Star had previously said on social media that he has become one of many shareholders in the new league,
The New Taipei Kings on Thursday captured the 2023-2024 P.League+ title after defeating the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots 103-97 in overtime. The win gave the Kings a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven series and their first championship in the league that began in the 2020-2021 season. The Kings made the P.League+ Finals last year, but lost 4-2 to the Taipei Fubon Braves, who won the league’s first three championship series. Facing an elimination game at home, the Pilots went for broke, including Treveon Graham in the starting five along with the league’s regular-season Most Valuable Player Lu Chun-hsiang and Import Player of the Year