There's no bigger fan of Connor McDavid than former Oilers great Wayne Gretzky, and last night, the two almost shared a telepathic connection of great hockey sense.
Gretzky has stuck behind the Oilers all season to win the Stanley Cup, even as they entered the playoffs as underdogs. Now, he's clearly cheering to see McDavid win his first Stanley Cup.
Wayne Gretzky directly predicts exact Connor McDavid move to score
In the second intermission with the Oilers needed a goal, Wayne Gretzky noted a strategy the Panthers were using to shut down McDavid in the offensive zone. Gretzky saw one weakness behind the net, and McDavid saw the exact same one.
[Florida's] got that forward in the middle, they're giving him outside. Connor's going to have to take it around the net, stop up, and hit the late guy.
Sure enough, McDavid must have seen that exact same opportunity, and he took it. On a controlled zone entry, McDavid made a beeline down the wall, received a puck, and hit Mattias Ekholm for a perfect tying goal.
Gretzky in the broadcast afterward was obviously excited to see his prediction come true, but only called it luck. There's definitely some circumstance involved, but it also shows the connection of two elite hockey minds reading the game in real time.
So much of this Stanley Cup run is the result of the deepest Oilers team in history, but also the building of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. These two superstars, and especially McDavid, will cement their legacies as one of the best players of all time if they can capture the Cup - and bring Stanley back to Canada for the first time since 1993.