Connor McDavid is still stinging from losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final by the slimmest of margins. Leon Draisaitl cannot keep thinking about it.
“I’m not sure it’s something that you ever get over, really," McDavid said. "And time kind of just moves on.”
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Vancouver Canucks' Ty Mueller (39) carries the puck ahead of Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during the third period of a preseason NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Amber Bracken/The Canadian Press via AP)
Vancouver Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs, left, watches Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) misses the net during first-period preseason NHL hockey game action in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
FILE - Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) congratulates Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) after Florida won Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Edmonton Oilers' defensive coach Paul Coffey stands with Connor McDavid (97) and Leon Draisaitl (29) during practice in Edmonton on Thursday June 20, 2024. The Edmonton Oilers take on the Florida Panthers in game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup final on Friday. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl celebrates his goal against the Seattle Kraken during the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The NHL now gets to see what two of the best hockey players in the world do now that they are more motivated than ever by the most brutal defeat of their careers.
McDavid, Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers are out to avenge losing to Florida by a goal after erasing a 3-0 series deficit, with their sights set on the championship that has eluded them. Draisaitl got a new contract to stay around nine more years, McDavid is expected to get extended next summer, but the focus is on getting the job done now and hoisting the Cup in June — and they are favored to do just that.
“We haven’t gotten the job done yet, which makes it even more special,” Draisaitl said. “We’re going to do this together."
The oddsmakers are on their side. BetMGM Sportsbook has from the middle of the offseason through opening night had Edmonton as the league's title favorite at 8-1, ahead of the defending champion Panthers and a pair of Western Conference rivals from the Central Division, Dallas and Colorado.
The Oilers are banking on their latest deep run paving the way to getting over the hump. Florida joined Pittsburgh in 2008-09 as teams in the last two decades to lose in the final and win the next year, which is now Edmonton's task at hand.
“There’s little learning lessons that they probably applied into the next season, and we’re looking to do the same,” Draisaitl said. “Hopefully we can follow into their footsteps a little bit: lose one, and then the next year win it.”
Longtime executive Ken Holland spoke to players after the final and said it still stuck with him when, as Detroit GM, the Red Wings lost to the Penguins in Game 7 in '09, even though they won the previous year. Holland and the team parted ways, and Stan Bowman took over running hockey operations in July.
Bowman's top offseason priority was locking up Draisaitl, which he did in early September for $112 million through 2033 with the highest salary cap hit in league history at $14 million annually. The job is to win now and worry about financial implications later.
“It’s our job to try to surround him with the best players we can and give our team the best chance to win,” Bowman said. “Certainly, there’s going to be challenges in the future, but that’s for us to figure out down the road.”
Edmonton kept most of the group that forged its way to the final, including Corey Perry and trade deadline pickup Adam Henrique, then added veteran forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner. An August surprise saw the departures of young defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Dylan Holloway when they signed offer sheets with St. Louis that the Oilers declined to match.
McDavid on July 31 would have called it a great offseason. By September, it was less of a ringing endorsement.
“We had to lose some guys along the way, and that’s unfortunate, but that’s the cap system,” said McDavid, who is coming off a 100-assist season and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as near-unanimous playoff MVP despite losing the Final. "Good teams have good players, and it’s tough to keep them all together and ultimately you lose guys to the system and we lost a couple of guys. ... We improved in some areas, and maybe we took a step back in different areas.”
Any step back from a return to the final would be a massive blow, but so would another loss like the one Draisaitl described as gut-wrenching.
“Obviously, there’s a sense of being proud of what we did,” he said. “But at the end of the day, nobody talked about the Edmonton Oilers, right? And our goal and what we all want is the last day of the season for everyone to talk about us.”
Until then, McDavid and Draisaitl plan to let their play do the talking.
“We’ve gathered a lot of experience, a lot of positive signs over our playoff run,” Draisaitl said. "We’re ready to to attack again and apply these messages and apply these moments that we’ve learned along the way last season, the last playoffs, into this season. But, of course, we all know that you have to get there.”
AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson and AP freelance writer W.G. Ramirez in Las Vegas contributed.
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Vancouver Canucks' Ty Mueller (39) carries the puck ahead of Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during the third period of a preseason NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Amber Bracken/The Canadian Press via AP)
Vancouver Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs, left, watches Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) misses the net during first-period preseason NHL hockey game action in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
FILE - Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) congratulates Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (16) after Florida won Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, June 24, 2024. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Edmonton Oilers' defensive coach Paul Coffey stands with Connor McDavid (97) and Leon Draisaitl (29) during practice in Edmonton on Thursday June 20, 2024. The Edmonton Oilers take on the Florida Panthers in game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup final on Friday. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl celebrates his goal against the Seattle Kraken during the second period of a preseason NHL hockey game Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike.
Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched more than 170 rockets across the border.
Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's acting leader, said its military capabilities remain intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days. He said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week.
Kassem, speaking by video from an undisclosed location, also said Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”
In a statement addressed to the people of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hezbollah “weaker than it has been for many, many years.” He added: “We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” without naming them.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a bunker in Beirut last month. Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of Nasrallah who oversees the group’s political affairs, was generally regarded as the heir apparent. But no announcement has been made on a successor, and Safieddine has not appeared publicly or made any public statements since Nasrallah’s death.
The Israeli military said it has dismantled militant infrastructure along the border and killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. On Tuesday, it said a strike in Beirut had killed Suhail Husseini, who it described as a senior commander responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the militant group.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and no way to confirm battlefield claims made by either side.
The Israeli military said it deployed a fourth division in southern Lebanon and that operations have expanded to the west, but its focus still appears to be a narrow strip along the border.
A day after marking a year of war in Gaza, Israeli forces fought heavy battles Tuesday with Palestinian militants in the north, where residents were ordered in recent days to evacuate.
Hezbollah's acting leader said Hezbollah backs efforts by Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to reach a cease-fire, but did not specify whether that means the group would be willing to accept a truce before there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, has been seen as the main interlocutor between the militant group and the United States, and has been trying to broker a cease-fire since fighting began in Gaza a year ago.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran. Most rockets have been intercepted or fallen in open areas.
The Israeli army on Tuesday said 170 projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel, with most intercepted. A 70-year-old woman was wounded by shrapnel, and Israeli media aired footage of what appeared to be minor damage to buildings near Haifa.
The military also said it struck Hezbollah targets in the southern Beirut suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh, where the militant group is headquartered. Israel says it will keep fighting until tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Lebanon and over a million displaced since the fighting escalated in mid-September.
Last week, Iran launched its own barrage of some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel, in what it said was a response to the killing of Nasrallah, along with an Iranian general who was with him at the time, and Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas, who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July.
Israel has vowed to respond to the missile attack, without saying when or how.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington this week to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The Biden administration says it is opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, which could further escalate regional tensions.
Heavy fighting raged in northern Gaza, the first target of Israel’s ground offensive in the war. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, and Israeli troops have largely isolated the region — which includes Gaza City — since last October, when up to a million people fled to the south following Israeli evacuation orders.
Hundreds of thousands have remained in the north despite the harsh conditions, and Israel ordered another total evacuation in recent days. Israel has barred residents from returning to the north.
Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Palestinian residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery were pounding Jabaliya as well as Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, towns near the border.
Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, posted on social platform X a renewed order for people in Jabaliya to move south, saying the military would soon “operate strongly” on the ground and from the air in the area.
The Israeli military said it killed around 20 militants in airstrikes and ground fighting in Jabaliya. It said troops located a large quantity of weapons, including grenades and rifles.
The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital said at least 15 people, including two women and four children, were killed Tuesday in the fighting in Jabaliya. It said the dead included four people who were trying to retrieve bodies.
“The situation is extremely difficult. The bombing and explosions haven’t stopped,” said Mahmoud Abu Shehatah, a Jabaliya resident. “It’s like the first days of the war.”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They do not say how many were fighters, but say women and children make up more than half of all fatalities.
Goldenberg reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
An officer from the home front command military unit examines the damaged apartment after it was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings stand in an area in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Israeli soldiers from the Homefront Command unit treat an elderly woman at the site that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers from the Homefront Command unit treat an elderly woman at the site that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinians mourn as they carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian man holds the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon, in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A man examine his damaged apartment that was hit by a rocket fired from Lebanon in Kiryat Yam, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man stand next to damaged cars near a building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man fixes power cables in front of a building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Destroyed buildings are seen after being hit by Israeli airstrikes in the village of Qmatiyeh, southeast Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Vehicles drive past a billboard on a highway in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, showing slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, center, late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, right, and the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The billboard contains a verse of Quran that reads: "We will surely inflict punishment upon the wicked." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Vehicles drive past a billboard on a highway in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, showing slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, center, late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, right, and the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The billboard contains a verse of Quran that reads: "We will surely inflict punishment upon the wicked." (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike hit in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man shows a burnt car to a girl, after a rocket launched from Lebanon, hit an area in Kfar Vradim, northern Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A man walks as smoke rises from destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, southeast of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
