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When the going gets tough, the Edmonton Oilers best gets going: 9 Things
Saturday’s Game 6 was the most important night for the Oilers franchise in almost two decades. So much was on the line: Facing elimination, the prospect of under-performing pre-season expectations, the last year of the Holland era, just one more year of Leon Draisaitl before UFA-eligibility. Etc. The Oilers answered the bell, delivering their best performance of the post-season. Yet, the circumstances above will play out all over again in a decisive Game 7. That and more on in this edition of… 9 Things 9. Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet confirmed immediately after Game 6 that Thatcher Demko will not play Game 7. Having solved Artus Silovs 5 times in Game 6, has the goaltending momentum suddenly swung back in the Oilers favor? 8. The Oilers have now surpassed what they accomplished last season, when they lost to Vegas in Game 6 of the Pacific Division Final. That is significant considering how they started this season. But none of them will be close to satisfied if they do not go on to win Game 7 on Monday. 7. Under the brightest lights of the season, Hollywood sparkled. Dylan Holloway, the game’s Third Star, opened the scoring by leaving Elias Patterson in his dust, blowing past Norris Trophy favorite Quinn Hughes like a stiff Alberta breeze, and then tucking a tidy deke 5-hole for the 1-0. He lifted the entire bench and lit up the whole building. 6. Ken Holland has faced criticism for his deadline deals and the relative impact of them. But in fairness, Adam Henrique was good down the stretch for this club. And it is not Holland’s fault that Henrique got injured in Game 5 of the L.A. series and has played only ten minutes since. Sam Carrick, however, jumped into the lineup in Game 6 and made an impact: 6 hits, 58% in the circle. 5. Leon Draisaitl registered his 100th playoff point on Saturday night. Only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have gotten there faster in the history of the game. Just another way to remind all of us that we are not just privileged to watch one of the best players ever, night-in and night-out. With many chapters yet to be written Leon Draisaitl has already become one of the best clutch players in the game. 4. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been through hell with this Edmonton Oilers franchise. The Decade of Darkness had to have been soul-sucking for him. I think the reason he is such a huge fan favorite is because they trudged through it together. So great to see him deliver a First Star performance on Saturday when it mattered the very most: A goal and two assists. 3:34 of perfection shorthanded. Several critical faceoff wins deep in his own zone on those PK’s. 3. Talk about your gutsy moves. Kris Knoblauch went to Calvin Pickard in Games 4 and 5 and was rewarded with two terrific performances. In fact, Cal Pickard was so good, many commentators were strongly in favor of running him out there again in Game 6. Instead, Knoblauch went back to Stuart Skinner. And while Stu was not busy, he was still the best goalie on the ice. Few NHL coaches will voluntarily make that many goaltending changes in the same series successfully. 2. Connor McDavid was pretty good this past season following games in which he had gone pointless. It only happened 13 times. And the Edmonton Oilers were 10-3 in those “after” games. McDavid was 9-18-27 in those 13 games and was +11. Now, make it 11-3, 9-21-30, +14. McDavid and Draisaitl had previously appeared in 8 elimination games in their post-season careers. Each of them had produced at least 1.5 points per game. Connor had 3 points on Saturday, Leon registered 2. 1.Said another way: The Edmonton Oilers best players were the best players on the ice on Saturday night. That is the deciding factor in so many NHL games. And if they can do that again on Monday, the club will be off to Dallas. But let us not kid ourselves. There are sixty hard miles between here and there. The Canucks have proven they are a hell of a good team. There are zero guarantees how this will go. Momentum rarely transfers from game to game in the post season. They tend to be their own, unique, individual chapters. I agree that the pressure will primarily be on the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7. Yes, the Canucks finished ahead of Edmonton in the standings. But that was only because the Oilers laid an egg out of the gate. The odds-makers and the majority of the prognosticators had the in 5 or 6 games. But I am not the least bit worried about how those lofty expectations might affect the Oilers in Game 7. You know why? Because the best players thrive on pressure. It is what makes them great. So, bring it on. Drop the puck. Now on Threads @kleavins. Also, find me on Twitter @KurtLeavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social . This article is not AI generated. Recently, at The Cult… McCURDY: The Edmonton Oilers force a Game 7 in Vancouver with a 5-1 win STAPLES: Social media reacts to big Oilers win in Game 6 LEAVINS: Oilers pushed to brink in Game 5 loss
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Player grades: Edmonton Oilers roll to 5-1 win, force Game 7 in Vancouver
Canucks 1, Oilers 5 One game after Vancouver Canucks played their best game of the series, Edmonton Oilers did the same on their own home ice to live on for at least another day. Facing elimination, the Oilers played a strong defensive game in front of Stu Skinner and provided plenty of goal support along the way, solving Arturs Silovs 5 times on the night. The game was closer than the 5-1 final suggested, but make no mistake that Edmonton was the better club and deserved the result. The Oilers minded their defensive P’s and Q’s for the most part, limiting the visitors to just 15 shots on net compared to 27 the other way. Grade A shots recorded by the Cult of Hockey were a little closer, 11-9 for Edmonton, with Vancouver holding a 4-2 edge in 5-alarm shots. Grade A shots running count For a second straight game both teams failed to connect on the powerplay, with each unable to convert nearly a full minute with a 2-man advantage. Edmonton’s regulars on their PK unit all get a bump in their grade for this game. Player grades #2 Evan Bouchard, 8. Led the team with 22:25 TOI. Had a bit of a slow start, just a smidge off on his passes while mistiming a couple of one-timers. Came on strong as the game went along, earning a point in each period. Earned a pair of secondary assists on good outlet passes, and scored himself with a bomb from 59 feet that overpowered Silovs, then rang the post on its way to the net. Had another (correctly) disallowed due to contact with the goaltender. His boxcars of 1-2-3, +4 would have done Feist proud. Now up to 5-13-18, +10 through 11 playoff games. Contributions to Grade A Shots (GAS): Even Strength: +2/-1; Special Teams +1/-0. #5 Cody Ceci, 6. Second among defenders with 20:40 TOI. Rock solid defensively, both at even strength and on the powerplay, with Vancouver mustering just 3 shots in total during that period-plus. 3 shots, 3 hits, and a lot of won battles. GAS: ES +1/-0; ST 0. #10 Derek Ryan, 6. Kept things clean as the Canucks msutered just 1 shot and 0 Grade A’s during his 9 minutes at evens. Also chipped in on the PK, though he served a couple of nervous minutes in the box himself late in the second. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0. #13 Mattias Janmark, 6. As with Ryan, sawed off nearly 9 minutes at even strength, and provided 2:38 of fine penalty killing. Oilers were not generating shots on his watch, nonetheless the puck was spending plenty of time in good places far from Edmonton’s net. Continued his running feud with J.T. Miller, resulting in each player spending a couple minutes in the box. GAS: ES +0/-0; ST 0. #14 Mattias Ekholm, 6. Played just 15:24, least of any defender, including none at all in the game’s final 11 minutes. I watched his last shifts for signs of injury but all seemed normal other than he changed up a bit early (and not for the first time). With the Oilers holding a comfortable lead down the stretch and their 34-year-old d-man reportedly dealing with an illness there was no reason to keep running him out there. He did participate in the end-of-game celly. 0 shots, 2 hits, and an impressive +3. His biggest contribution was 5:02 on the first unit penalty kill including all 56 seconds of that 3v5. GAS: ES +2/-1; ST 0. #18 Zach Hyman, 7. Played 20:55, fired 4 shots on net. Most important was the delayed-release slot shot that he powered through Silovs to put Edmonton up 2-1 midway in the second, and which stood up as the game winner. His league-leding 10th of the playoffs. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0. #25 Darnell Nurse, 6. Played an active and effective game. 4 shots, 2 blocks, 3 hits. Among those beaten on the lone Vancouver goal. Put out a few fires and logged a team-high 29 shifts, though just 19:21 TOI. GAS: ES +1/-2; ST 0. #27 Brett Kulak, 6. Played 17:55, all but 6 seconds of it at even strength. Vancouver attempted quite a few shots during his time but only 4 of them got through to the netminder. Kept things simple on a largely effective pair with Ceci. GAS: ES +0/-1; ST 0. #28 Connor Brown, 6. The only Oiler below 10 minutes, though close at 9:47. Not much happened on his watch, none of it bad. GAS: +0/-0; ST 0. #29 Leon Draisaitl, 8. Took an early interference penalty for no good reason, but got his considerable game going thereafter. Fine head-man pass to Holloway for the first goal. Cleanly won faceoff on the fifth. In the process reached the 100-point milestone in just his 60th career playoff game, third fastest all-time behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Had several shooting opportunities but couldn’t find the range. Excellent defensively: Oilers dominated the shot clock 11-1 during his 13 minutes at 5v5. GAS: ES +4/-0; ST 0. #37 Warren Foegele, 6. Sawed off at even strength, giving up practically nothing. Like many Oilers, gets a bonus grade for his fine work on the PK. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0. #39 Sam Carrick, 5. Drew into the line-up in place of Corey Perry and delivered 10½ uncompromising minutes, delivering 6 hits in the process. Drew a penalty with a hard forecheck. A team best 7/12=58% on the faceoff dot. GAS: ES +0/-2; ST 0. #55 Dylan Holloway, 8. Electrified Rogers Place with a brilliant goal to open the scoring. Powered through Vancouver’s defence, sequentially beating Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek and Silovs before powering the puck home from close range. Was part of the big screen that blined Silovs on the 5-1. Oilers owned a 12-2 shot advantage during his 12 minutes at 5v5. 3 shots off his own stick, 2 more blocks at the other end which is emerging as something of a specialty. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0. #71 Ryan McLeod, 5. Played a few ticks under 15 minutes. Mostly effective, though he did get turned inside out by Pettersson in the build-up to Vancouver’s lone goal. 1 shot, 3 hits, solid on the kill. GAS: ES +2/-2; ST 0. #73 Vincent Desharnais, 6. Led the Oilers with 5 hits and also with 5:21 on the penalty kill, where he was outstanding. He too was unable to contain Nils Hoglander’s 2 shots that produced the lone Vancouver goal. GAS: ES +0/-3; ST 0. #74 Stu Skinner, 8. Got the crease back after a 2-game rest with zero room for error, and responded with an excellent performance. Didn’t face a lot of shots but quite a few dangerous ones. The best of his saves was a blocker stop of a seeing-eye wrister by Hughes during Vancouver’s 5-on-3 in the last minute of the second frame. Game changer. Saved 1.8 goals above expected. 15 shots, 14 saves, .933 save percentage. #91 Evander Kane, 8. All over it with 8 shot attempts, 4 on net, including a wicked drive through a multi-player screen to close out the scoring. Made a fine stretch pass to Draisaitl for an excellent chance. 7 hits to lead the Oilers. Went where angels fear to tread all night long, including a few more one-on-one battles with the gigantic Nikita Zadorov. GAS: ES +2/-0; ST 0. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 9. Touched the game in all areas, playing 21:04 to lead the forwards. Set up both second-period goals, then scored the 4-1 himself by going hard to the net and outworking big Carson Soucy to tap home McDavid’s pass. Outstanding on the penalty kill (3:34), including the entirety of that crucial 56-second 3v5. GAS: ES +3/-2; ST 0. #97 Connor McDavid, 8. Bounced back from a subpar game in Vancouver, delivering primary assists on the second, third and fourth goals that basically put this one away. 2 shots, 2 hits, 2 takeaways. His one bad moment was a careless high-sticking penalty in the opening frame. His contact with Silovs negated an apparent Oilers goal, but it would never have gone in had not McD been marauding in the blue paint in the first place. GAS: ES +5/-1; ST 0. Recently at the Cult of Hockey McCURDY: Skinner gets the net back for Game 6 STAPLES: Changes in the works for Game 6 STAPLES: Secret sauce from each Oilers player to avoid Game 6 elimination McCURDY: Ekholm, Draisaitl, Kane — Maintenance Men by day, difference makers by night LEAVINS: 9 Things Player grades LEAVINS: Game 5 — Canucks 3, Oilers 2 STAPLES: Game 4 — Oilers 3, Canucks 2 McCURDY: Game 3 — Canucks 4, Oilers 3 STAPLES: Game 2 — Oilers 4, Canucks 3 (OT) LEAVINS: Game 1 — Canucks 5, Oilers 4 Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy
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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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