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5 THINGS: Edmonton Oilers set for Game 7 showdown vs. Canucks
Don’t muck this up. Everyone’s watching. And it’s anyone’s game at this point. After putting together their best effort of the playoffs, and finally looking every bit like their stacked roster oozing elite offensive talent backed by solid defence and reliable goaltending suggests, the Edmonton Oilers forced a Game 7 showdown against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. The winner moves on to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final, while the loser packs up their stalls and leaves the rink lamenting the one that got away and trying to avoid thinking, “There’s always next year.” Here are five factors to consider going into the big game: 1. A series of swings Saturday’s game was the first in the series that wasn’t separated by a single goal. The Oilers displayed a dominance they had been lacking since jumping out to a 4-1 lead midway through the opening game — one they somehow ended up losing 5-4 after surrendering four unanswered goals. After that, it’s been back and forth, with Edmonton keeping pace with the Canucks in back-and-forth fashion, and both teams doing just enough to win their piece of the pattern. Right up until Game 6, that is. The 5-1 score was the Oilers’ biggest margin of victory since defeating the Los Angeles Kings 6-1 in Game 3 of their first-round series on April 26, which also happens to be the last time Edmonton won by more than a goal until Saturday’s game. Just as long as they didn’t use up all their offence in that one. 2. Skinner back in there If you were looking for a redemption game by Stuart Skinner, you got one. Sure, he faced only 15 shots. But it’s not like he could do anything about that, other than make 14 saves for a .933 save percentage. And that’s barrels more than the .793 percentage he limped off the ice with after allowing 12 goals on 58 shots in his first three starts of the series, before being replaced by backup Calvin Pickard. And just like the Oilers did when Pickard came in, Skinner’s return to duty provided a much needed spark for the ones playing in front of him, leading to a win in both games the starting goaltender was changed. If nothing else, Skinner’s playoff performances here in his first two NHL seasons have shown he can’t simply be ridden the entire race, and is at his best with some built-in rest. It’s how the Oilers went on their incredible 16-game win streak to salvage a horrendous start to the season, and will be the way to go if they want to make it 16 more here in the playoffs. But first things first, they need to get win No. 8 on Monday. 3. Solving Silovs At the other end of the ice, the Oilers may have come up with the blueprint on how to beat Arturs Silovs. The 23-year-old Latvian netminder has been doing the yeoman’s work in the playoffs for the Canucks since being called up from the farm in the wake of injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith. This round, his legs have proven tough to beat, as he gets up and down and side to side with an efficiency belying any lack of experience. And while the Oilers have managed to find the five hole from time to time, it was the glove that let him down most on Saturday. 4. Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots … Evan Bouchard has stood out in this series unlike any other. And on a roster boasting the league’s top-two scoring leaders in the playoffs, Leon Draisaitl (eight goals, 15 assists) and Connor McDavid (two goals, 19 assists), that’s not always the easiest thing to do. The thing is, Bouchard is doing it. The defenceman is keeping pace with the potent pair, offensively, coming in at third overall with 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 11 games. He’s scored two game-winners so far in the series, both on blasts from the blue line, and earned another with a nail in the proverbial coffin to go ahead 3-1 midway through Game 6. What he’s been doing is putting shots on net, and the rest of the team is starting to follow suit, abandoning constant attempts at perfect passes around the net and carefully crafted set plays, in favour of just putting pucks on. The strategy is proving as sound as it is simple. Why abandon it now? 5. Enjoy this one In sports, winning and losing are two sides of the same coin. And it’s the price of being a fan. The good times for some must come at the expense of others. But instead of just flipping coin after coin and recording whether it comes up heads or tails, it’s important at a time like this to pause for a moment and consider how this one comes down to the final two Canadian clubs in contention for the Stanley Cup, which hasn’t made its way north in over 30 years. But let’s face it, the short-term bragging rights for one city are every bit as important as anything right now. E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge Related Game 6 rout doesn't mean Edmonton Oilers have solved Canuck riddle Oilers notebook: Holloway channels McDavid to put Canucks on their heels
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Oilers notebook: Holloway channels McDavid to put Canucks on their heels
Playoff hockey is about the small, dirty moments. As Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet so graphically put it after Game 6 Saturday: “If you have to eat the puck to get the puck out along the boards, you do it.” But the games are also for big, highlight reel stuff, like what Dylan Holloway offered up in the eighth minute. A bolt up ice like No. 97 has done so often, and a dazzling finish. Kind of McDavid-esque. “I don’t know if I’d compare myself to Connor,” laughed the Edmonton Oiler winger, who maybe didn’t go coast-to-coast like McDavid often does, but still delivered a province-to-province wow statement in which he eluded Vancouver’s best defenceman Quinn Hughes, then tucked the puck through the legs of goalie Arturs Silovs. It wasn’t like Connor going one-on-five with a thousand shimmy-shakes and scoring that incredible goal against the New York Rangers a few years back. But Holloway’s effort got the Oilers ahead in the elimination game , and calmed some early nerves. He had two goals against Los Angeles in a Game 2 loss in the first series — a coming-out moment — but this was a big-bang goal. He did his best to stay humble as he replayed it, trying not to smile. “I think they were kind of cheating, thinking Leo (Draisaitl) was going to pick up the puck and he did (at first),” said Holloway. “I was able to gain some speed and Leo made a nice play to me. I kind of caught their D flat-footed. I was happy for that one to go in, it felt pretty good.” More than pretty good. Related Game 6 rout doesn't mean Edmonton Oilers have solved Canuck riddle Edmonton Oilers put boots to Vancouver Canucks to force Game 7 “What an unbelievable individual effort from a guy who came up, really for the playoffs,” said Zach Hyman. “He’s had big moments here, but that was a huge goal to get us up, to settle the team down.” At the trade deadline when Holloway was sent down to Bakersfield as the Oilers added Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick, it was Evander Kane trying to settle down the hugely disappointed young player after the demotion. “If you had told me when I got sent down that I would be where I am at right now … I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Holloway. “Kaner told me to keep my head up high and learn as much as I could (in Bakersfield) and that he would see me soon. In a sense, I guess he was right. It is pretty cool playing on his line, with Leo.” “I’ve been on Dylan for two or three days, saying he’s going to score, that it’s right there, keep shooting, he’s so talented. But I’m not going to lie, I didn’t think it would be that nice a goal,” said Oiler defenceman Vincent Desharnais. Reaching the century mark Draisaitl, who has a point in all 11 Oiler playoff games, had two assists in Game 6. That included a clean faceoff win over J.T. Miller right to Evander Kane in the third period, to give him exactly 100 points in his first 60 playoff games. Draisaitl, with 23 points in 11 games this post-season, is the third fastest to get to 100 behind Wayne Gretzky (46 games) and Mario Lemieux (50). “He’s always been good in the playoffs from day one. He’s always been one of the best players in the world and on many nights he is the best player,” said Connor McDavid, who has 96 career playoff points in 60 games. Bearer of bad news Corey Perry has played 206 playoff games (two behind Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr) but he drew the short straw Saturday as coach Kris Knoblauch put Derek Ryan in Perry’s spot on the third line and Sam Carrick played fourth-line centre. How tough was that on Knoblauch to tell a possible hall of famer he was out, even if Perry hadn’t recorded a point in the previous 10 playoff games? “Very difficult, especially with what he provides to our team,” said Knoblauch. “Not just on the ice but helping the rest of the team, whether it’s with composure, motivating, the intangibles. All the things that don’t show up on the scoresheet. Corey brings a lot of that. But we needed to try and do something different, adding something that Sam was able to do.” Perry’s effectiveness has been hamstrung to a degree because he has no real cycling-the-puck line partner, so he can’t do what he does best, plus he is getting no power play time. Carrick played 10:29, had six hits and won seven of 12 draws. He also got into it with Nikita Zadorov with the six-foot-six defenceman drawing a holding penalty, knocking Carrick’s helmet askew. Zadorov remains a character. He walked into Rogers Place before the game wearing shades as an accessory to his spiffy suit. “I loved Sammy’s game,” said Knoblauch. “It’s been tough keeping him out as long as I had, but the fourth line had been playing so well with Janmark, DR (Derek Ryan) and (Connor) Brown. We trusted them in a lot of key (penalty killing) situations. But Sammy moved right in, with no problem, and the other thing he did was win faceoffs (58 per cent).” No thought of coach’s challenge? Referee Garrett Rank, one of the world’s best amateur golfers — and once on Canada’s national team with PGA winners Corey Connors, MacKenzie Hughes and Taylor Pendrith — waved off a last-second goal by Evan Bouchard in the first period. The cancer survivor ruled that McDavid had interfered with Silovs even though Teddy Blueger also shoved the Oiler captain. Knoblauch looked at the video replay with the game tied 1-1 and decided to let it go. “I saw last night’s goal that was called off (Dallas’ Matt Duchene was called for a highly-debatable interference on Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev) and I knew there was no chance they would overturn this one,” said Knoblauch. This ‘n that : While Stu Skinner only had 15 shots on the night, his fantastic blocker stop through heavy traffic on Quinn Hughes on the Canucks’ 5-on-3 late in the second was a life-saver with Oilers up 3-1. While Thatcher Demko (lower body injury) has been taking shots in practice, there will be no ride-in-on-a-white horse start in Game 7, according to Tocchet. It’s Silovs all the way. … Hughes continues to play huge minutes (26:12 in Game 6) but the 175-pound likely Norris trophy winner has been pounded physically throughout the playoffs. In this series, despite the CanucksNation howls from the West Coast, he’s being outplayed by Evan Bouchard, but for the Bouchard giveaway that Phil DiGiuseppe scored on in Game 5. Bouchard has outscored Hughes 4-0, is ahead 9-4 in points and is plus-7 while Hughes is plus-1 in the first six games.
Game 6 rout doesn't mean Edmonton Oilers have solved Canuck riddle
The Edmonton Oilers versus the Vancouver Canucks is getting what it, and everyone watching it, deserves. A Game 7. This compelling theatre of epic momentum shifts, dramatic mood swings and last-second heroics all comes down to one final act Monday evening in Vancouver. And despite six games worth of hard evidence, we have no way of knowing how this thing is going to turn out. The two best teams in Canada are answering each other punch for punch After Vancouver held Edmonton without a shot for over 20 minutes to win Game 1, the Oilers respond by outshooting Vancouver 15-2 in the third period to win Game 2. After Evan Bouchard scored with 39 seconds left to win Game 4, J.T. Miller responded by scoring with 33 seconds left to win Game 5. After five one-goal games there was nothing to choose between them. And then came Game 6 . The Oilers seemed on the verge of a night like that in Game 3, where they outshot Vancouver 45-18, hit four goal posts, and somehow lost 4-3. This time they connected on their chances and ran Vancouver out of the rink. Have they finally broken through? After five games of missing chances, hitting iron and being stymied by a Cinderella netminder, is Edmonton ready to pull away for good? Has the law of averages caught up with a Vancouver team that’s been outshot 174 to 132? Or was that just human nature talking? While Edmonton was fighting for survival at home in Game 6, the Canucks knew they had a Game 7 insurance policy in their back pocket. They knew they had one more life to give. That scenario often makes a big difference. Anybody remember the 2006 Stanley Cup Final against Carolina? They Oilers were trailing the series 3-1 and won Game 5 in Carolina and trounced the Hurricanes 4-0 in Game 6 at Rexall Place, holding the visitors to seven shots through 40 minutes. It wasn’t even close. Edmonton had finally broken through. Then along came Game 7 and the rest is misery. Related When the going gets tough, the Edmonton Oilers best gets going: 9 Things Player grades: Edmonton Oilers roll to 5-1 win, force Game 7 in Vancouver So as much as some people might like to think Vancouver’s carriage has turned into a pumpkin, dominating Game 6 might not mean anything in a fresh slate Game 7. “We all are pumped about the way we played, but we need to have short memories,” said Dylan Holloway, the dynamic young winger who arrived just in time to fill out Edmonton’s top six. “Momentum doesn’t really carry over from game to game, we’ve got to focus on the next game, get off to a good start and just play the way we can.” The Canucks have had their moments, too, after all. They shut Edmonton down in Game 1 and looked great in controlling the Oilers in Game 5. There is no reason to think they can’t get there again. “I think the belief is in this room,” said Vancouver’s Brock Boeser. “Obviously, we can play better and we all know that. We’ll regroup and look at what we can do better. It’s just going to come down to who wants it more next game.” “No one said it was going to be easy, but we’ll get another chance on Monday to win one game to make the conference final,” added Elias Pettersson. “I’m excited for it. I know the barn’s going to be loud, the fans are going to be into it and those are the type of games you want to play.” For the first time, Edmonton is going to see what Vancouver looks like when they’re facing elimination and they know full well what kind of boost that’s going to provide. “I’m sure Vancouver doesn’t feel great about their game (Saturday) and they’ll be better for Game 7, just like we didn’t like our Game 5 and we were better in Game 6,” said Connor McDavid. “I expect both teams to elevate heading into a big Game 7 obviously.” We’ve seen the Oilers in this situation many times, whether it was saving their season in November or putting together a 16-game winning streak in January. This team can look underwhelming at times but when it really matters they are wicked good. They will need to get to that level again because a 3-7 record against Vancouver this year tells you it’s going to be a hard night. “A lot of guys have been in this situation before and you have to ride the highs and lows of the playoffs and just try and stay as even-keeled as possible,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse. “We gave ourselves the chance to play one more game and we have to bring the same mindset to Vancouver on Monday.” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet summed it up best. His advice to the Canucks applies to both teams. “It’s a Game 7, people would kill to be in this situation right now and we’ve got to make sure that we act like we want to be in that situation,” he said. “Play like you want to be a hero on Monday, that’s what I think.” rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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NHL notes: Paul Maurice and Florida Panthers head to Big Apple for Round 3 of NHL playoffs
Wayne Gretzky was still active for the Rangers the last time New York met the Florida Panthers in a playoff series. That was about the only memorable part for the Cats who lost that 1997 duel to the Rangers in five games. Florida coach Paul Maurice was trying to study as much as he could about his Eastern Conference final opponent the morning after dispatching the Boston Bruins, with a few days to prep for Game 1 Wednesday in Manhattan. The experience factor is the Cats’ corner with a trip to the Stanley Cup final last year and now two rounds through this spring. But the Rangers finished first overall, splitting two late-season games against the Panthers. “You’ve watched (New York beating Washington and Carolina) in between our games and see they’re very fast, very talented team, very dynamic off of the rush,” Maurice said Saturday. “They’ve got all the (key) spots, the goaltending, four at the back end very strong and the forwards are very skilled. We have to go a little longer, maybe more detailed on the video.” Maurice’s team is halfway back to another shot at the Cup. He credited his leadership group for not bringing any negativity into training camp. “They came back more determined, or they felt they were closer and had that belief when they came back. They haven’t been tired. We had three really important pieces of our lineup (forward Sam Bennett and defencemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour) out at the start, so we had to play well defensively. We battled hard and got some consistency,” One coaching quirk involving Maurice and New York’s Peter Laviolette, they both coached the Carolina Hurricanes and replaced each other in the early 2000s. Laviolette won the Cup in 2006 with the Canes in place of Maurice after Maurice, who git as far as the ’02 final, then Maurice in a second stint, bumped Laviolette. SELKE LOVE FOR SASHA It would have been quite the feat for Toronto’s Auston Matthews to lead the NHL with 69 goals and be named its best defensive forward as winner of the Frank Selke Trophy. Voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association thought enough of Matthews’ shot blocking, takeaways and faceoff prowess to make him a finalist, but gave the award to Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers in a Saturday night announcement. Carolinas Barkov, a three-time nominee and first Panther to get the honour, assisted Florida in tying for first in the league in goals-against per game (2.41), the lowest mark in club history. He took a team-leading 1,100 draws with a winning percentage of 57.3%, ninth among players to play at least 50 games and take at least 500 face-offs. Carolina’s Jordan Staal was the other finalist. CHIEF AND THE CAPTAIN Maple Leafs captain John Tavares will now have to get used to his third coach in six years in Toronto with Carig Berube’s appointment. “Obviously very difficult so see (Sheldon Keefe) go,” Tavares told reporters Saturday in Prague where he’s wearing the ‘C’ for Canada at the world championships. “As players, it’s on us to do a better job. With Craig coming in he’s going to help us with that. I’m excited to work with him. He’s got a tremendous pedigree.” More information about who Berube might have as his Toronto assistants could come out Tuesday when he’s officially introduced. One member of his St. Louis staff from the 2019 Stanley Cup year, Mike van Ryn, is already working in Toronto. Steve Ott, his other primary assistant on the Blues, stayed put and is now with Team Canada as an assistant. Guy Boucher, Dean Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra are the other assistants who worked with Keefe. TEAM USA LIKES MIKE Canada and the other hockey powers now know which coach of a well-known foe they’ll face at the Four Nations Face-off next year and in the 2026 Olympics in Italy. USA Hockey announced Saturday that Mike Sullivan, two-time champion behind the bench of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will get the gig. Sullivan’s two Cups in 2016 and ’17 are part of an 11–year record of 445-275-115 and he was an assistant for the Americans in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Canada has named its management staff for the Four Nations, to be played in February in Canada and the U.S. with Finland and Sweden as a replacement for the all-star game, but not its coach. Berube will quickly command the respect factor needed to lift Leafs Craig Berube's past Stanley Cup success won't necessarily result in championship for Maple Leafs lhornby@postmedia.com X: @sunhornby
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