But the Panthers haven’t come this far needing five and six goals to win games. Defense is their strength, their priority, the thing they do best. All playoffs they’ve shut down the opponent’s best player. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov. Boston’s David Pastrnak. New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin.

Not McDavid.

Not for how he’s changing this series.

All the questions entering Game 5 were what Game 4 meant. Edmonton’s 8-1 win kept them alive in the series. Did it do anything more? Would coming back to Sunrise settle the Panthers’ game? Would playing a second-straight game with the Stanley Cup in the building allow for calmer nerves?

“It feels different,’’ Aaron Ekblad said Tuesday morning. “It feels like another hockey game.”

Panthers coach Paul Maurice put Ryan Lomberg in the lineup for the first time this series. A small move, perhaps. But the message was telling about what Maurice thought this team needed.

“Obviously, we know his skill set and the speed and the energy and all that, but in a game like this was you know so much on the line — how much does maybe his personality also help?” he said. “Obviously, I know he’s the guy that loosens up the rest of the guys a lot of the time.”

If they needed loosening up before Game 5, what now?

Now they go back to Edmonton, back to a world against them, for Game 6. Now the debate is if Edmonton has the edge this series. Now the question is how the Panthers feel about a 3-0 series that’s now 3-2.

Now, too, the wonder is McDavid. He’s come alive the past two games. He’s brought Edmonton with him. And a series that looked over but for the coronation has the King of the North to talk about again.

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