Connor McDavid admired and looked up to Sidney Crosby as the kind of player he wanted to become one day.

But when McDavid was pretending as a kid to score the goal to win the Stanley Cup, he always imagined himself being in that position.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e not sure you鈥檙e ever going to get that opportunity,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淗ere we are with that opportunity.鈥�

That opportunity is only possible after McDavid led the Edmonton Oilers back from a 3-0 deficit in the final to set up Game 7 against the Florida Panthers on Monday night with hockey鈥檚 hallowed trophy at stake. He and his teammates are now on the verge of completing one of the biggest comebacks in sports history, attempting to block out the ramifications to focus on accomplishing something not done in the NHL since 1942.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not your ordinary game, everybody understands that, but you鈥檝e got to make it as ordinary as possible in your head,鈥� McDavid said after practice Sunday, the Oilers鈥� final one of the season. 鈥淥ur room has done a great job of being at our best in these big moments, and I would expect no different.鈥�

McDavid has been at his best in the biggest moments of his first trip to the Cup final, recording four points apiece in Games 4 and 5 to keep Edmonton from getting swept and then dragging the Panthers back across North America to Alberta for a Game 6 the Oilers won on home ice without him getting on the scoresheet.

The reigning and three-time league MVP has not been held without a point in back-to-back games this entire playoff run, and McDavid is the biggest X-factor on the big stage. Veteran winger Corey Perry, a Cup champion in 2007 who鈥檚 in his third final in four years, said McDavid 鈥渃an do magical things at any point in the game.鈥�

鈥淓very game we go into, we know we have the best player in the world on our side,鈥� said Leon Draisaitl, McDavid鈥檚 longtime running mate and an MVP in his own right who assisted on the opening goal in Game 6. 鈥淏ut this league is really, really hard to just go through one player or two or three players. You need a whole team, and I think we鈥檝e shown that.鈥�

Forward Mattias Janmark called McDavid the catalyst and the face of this rally in the final, but with Selke Trophy winner as the best defensive forward Aleksander Barkov on the other side, along with elite goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, it will likely take more than just their captain鈥檚 magic to finish a job last done more than 80 years ago.

Draisaitl acknowledged being human comes with thoughts drifting to the big picture, the idea of joining the 鈥�42 Maple Leafs in the record books. Teammate Connor Brown called it 鈥渁 chance to finish the script that we鈥檝e been writing.鈥�

It鈥檚 a script the Panthers would love to flip after taking the first three games of the series and being one win away from sweeping their way to the first championship in franchise history. Not much has gone right since.

鈥淒oesn鈥檛 matter how it鈥檚 gone or how you draw it up,鈥� Florida winger Matthew Tkachuk said. 鈥淭his is an absolutely incredible, incredible opportunity. So, yes, you want to recognize or remember some of the good things that helped you beat these guys earlier in the series, but I鈥檓 trying to forget all of it. Just go in there and win one game. This is what it comes down to.鈥�

Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch foreshadowed this the morning of Game 4, when he said he was 鈥渞eally excited for the next 10 days鈥� hours before his team faced elimination for the first time. What sounded delusional then has now become prescient: wins of 8-1, 5-3 and 5-1 to outscore the Panthers 18-5 and send the series back to South Florida, where few expected more hockey to be played this season.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there was ever a moment in that dressing room that they didn鈥檛 think they had a chance,鈥� Knoblauch said.

Here is that chance, for McDavid to hoist the Cup in the same building he was drafted in nine years ago, to end Canada鈥檚 title drought at 31 years and 30 seasons and to varnish a legacy as hockey鈥檚 greatest player that is missing only being atop the NHL for the first time.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited about it,鈥� McDavid said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e worked hard to put ourself in this position, and it鈥檚 a great opportunity for our group and we鈥檙e looking forward to it.鈥�

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Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press