Oilers Mocked by Fans for Wasting Connor McDavid's Prime After Loss vs Golden Knights

Another season has come to a painful end for Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.

The Oilers couldn't take advantage of having the best player in the world in his prime as they fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 at Rogers Place in Game 6, cutting another stellar McDavid campaign short.

A year after making it to the Western Conference Finals, Edmonton has fallen short of that mark.

Much like Game 5, the first period seemed to go completely the Oilers' way as McDavid and Warren Foegele helped give them a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission.

They just weren't able to carry that performance all the way through.

Vegas turned up the pressure in the second 20 minutes as Jonathan Marchessault continued his incredible postseason by coming up with a hat trick in the period to give the Golden Knights a 4-2 lead that they would never relinquish.

Even in a game with McDavid on the ice, Marchessault looked like the best player by a wide margin.

In the series against Edmonton, the 32-year-old forward had eight points with five goals and three assists.

The performance of Vegas goalie Adin Hill also can't be overstated either, as he stepped up once again in place of the injured Laurent Brossoit. Hill saved 38 shots and finished with a .950 save percentage in the biggest game of his career.

As for the Oilers, they'll have a lot to think about this summer as they look for a way to maximize the team around McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

NHL Twitter chastised the organization for wasting the superstars' prime years.

At the end of the day, McDavid is still only 26 years old and is the best player in the NHL by a solid margin. But every year that the Oilers don't seriously compete for the Stanley Cup feels like a huge missed opportunity.

He still has three years remaining on his contract, but Edmonton shouldn't give him any potential reason to want out before then.

As for the Golden Knights, their dominant run continues as they return to the conference finals for the third time in their six-year existence. They are looking to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final since their inaugural season in 2018.

Vegas will face the winner of Monday night's Game 7 matchup between the Seattle Kraken and Dallas Stars .