Connor McDavid epitomized heartbreak on Monday night after the Oilers fell in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers.
With his head down by the Oilers bench, the sadness was evident even as he waited for each and every one of his teammates to skate off the ice after the postgame handshake line.
But he wasn’t the only one who felt the disappointment of the Game 7 defeat, with McDavid’s fiancée, Lauren Kyle, taking to Instagram to express her own “heartbreak” while thanking the fans in Edmonton for their support throughout the playoff run.
“As heartbroken [as] I am I feel so grateful to be in Edmonton with this group,” she wrote in an Instagram Story. “Just need to say how proud I am of everything we accomplished this year, win or loss. Seeing so many fans travel across the continent to support our team was so incredible. We have the BEST fans in the league and no one deserves it more. We will bring it to Canada soon!!”
The Oilers are the latest Canadian team to come up short in breaking the country’s Stanley Cup drought, which has not been broken since the Canadiens won the 1993 Stanley Cup.
The Flames (2004), Oilers (2007), Canucks (2011) and Canadiens (2021) fell short to various American-based teams.
McDavid simply said that “it sucks” when talking about his feelings after the Game 7 loss.
“We knew it was gonna be tight. Game 7 for the Cup,” McDavid said. “We knew it was gonna be a real tight game, it was gonna come down to one thing here and there.”
The NHL superstar, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the best playoff performer, and his fiancee have been together for more than eight years and got engaged a little over a year ago on June 22, 2023.
“I cannot put into words how happy I am to be spending the rest of our lives together,” Kyle wrote in part of a post announcing the couple’s engagement.
McDavid will have to wait to get the other ring, though.
