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Bring on the Stars: Edmonton Oilers KO Canucks in Game 7 triumph
It was a Game 7 that left both teams seeing stars. The Vancouver Canucks because they got knocked out and the Oilers because they’ll be taking on Dallas in the next round. In a series-clinching showdown in Vancouver, the Oilers won the unofficial Canadian championship and punched their ticket to a second Western Conference Final in three years by taking out the upstart Canucks in an unnecessarily close 3-2 finale. Hockey fans hoping for some white-knuckle drama in the deciding game didn’t get much of it until the waning moments when Ryan McLeod horrendous third-period gaffe gave the dead and buried Canucks life. Up until that point the game wasn’t even close as Edmonton grabbed the contest by the throat from the opening faceoff and never let go. They outshot Vancouver 13-2 in the first period, outscored them 3-0 in the second period and were eight and a half minutes from cruising to the win. Then McLeod, who doesn’t have a point in the playoffs, almost turned the tide when turned the puck over on a soft play in front of his net to cut Edmonton’s lead to 3-1 and ignite the crowd in Vancouver. Sure enough, Vancouver rode the momentum and made it 3-2 on Flip Hronek’s goal with 4:36 to play. Suddenly the whitewash turned into a wild finish, but Edmonton’s poise won the day. “We know how to make it stressful,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “I thought we played a great 15 minutes but we kind of gave one away there to make it interesting. We hung in there, though.” Credit the Canucks, they’re a scrappy little team that kept the series going for longer than most people expected, but the separation was evident for most of the series. They were outshot 106-58 in Games 2, 3 and 4, outscored 5-1 in Game 6 and were outshot 23-4 when midway through Game 7. But Edmonton wasn’t going to be denied. Dallas bound For the Oilers, the road gets considerably tougher from here on in. They’ll have a short turnaround before opening the Western Conference Final against a powerhouse Dallas team that has already taken down the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche in six games each. Edmonton and Dallas met three times this season with each side posting a 4-3 decision and the Stars whipping the Oilers 5-0 in the last meeting on April 3. Surrender In a continuation of their bizarre pre-game ritual celebrating the year they got swept in the Final and complained about the officiating, Vancouver had somebody skate out in a Canucks jersey and wave a white towel. They carried the surrender theme into a first period where they were outshot 13-2. But the first period was a microcosm of the series. Edmonton controlled the play and had the vast majority of chances but couldn’t put a dent in Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs. Worm turns Vancouver’s luck ran out in the second period, though. Cody Ceci drew first blood (with the shots 14-2) at 1:16 and Evan Bouchard continued his torrid offensive pace with his fifth goal of the series at 5:50. A power play marker from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 15:22 gave Edmonton its first goal on the man advantage since Game 3 and gave the Oilers a three-goal cushion at the second intermission. Nugent-Hopkins caught fire offensively in this series, counting for 10 points in the seven games, including a goal and an assist in the clincher. Killing it Edmonton’s penalty killing has been sensational in the playoffs and was again in Game 7. It outshot Vancouver 1-0 with Ryan McLeod serving a double-minor for high sticking late in the first period, with the only scoring chance of the Canucks power play coming when Edmonton’s Connor Brown had a breakaway. With the Canucks running out of time in the third period, Edmonton killed off another one on the third to make it 14-straight kills since Game 3. Ouch With the Oilers up 3-0 in the third period, Vancouver fans added insult to injury by breaking into a chant of “Let’s Go Petey” in an effort to wake Elias Pettersson from his month-long playoff slumber. It’s all kinds of cringe-worthy when the future of the franchise, a guy who just signed an eight-year extension that will pay him $11.6 million a year, has to be urged on with sympathy cheers like the slowest kid in a Grade 3 gym class. E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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For new Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, this question won't be answered on Tuesday
The question that will be on the minds of most won’t have an answer when Craig Berube is introduced as the new Maple Leafs coach on Tuesday morning. What will Berube do to guide the Leafs’ best players to the point that they can be actual difference-makers in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Everything else lined up for Berube’s predecessor, Sheldon Keefe, in the latter’s tenure of 4 1/2 years as Leafs coach. Under Keefe, the Leafs recorded three consecutive 100-point regular seasons, a fact that no other man who has stood behind the Toronto bench can use as a bragging right. When the hockey mattered most, though, we know what happened: The Leafs couldn’t break through in the playoffs and, when they did advance to the second round a year ago, the usual refrain resumed. In three of its four losses to Florida in a series that went just five games, Toronto lost by one goal. This spring, Keefe didn’t have the usage of a full lineup in the first round against the Boston Bruins for all seven games and, by that, of course, we’re referring to William Nylander’s migraines and Auston Matthews’ illness and head injury that caused the club’s best forwards to miss time. We’ll never know if the outcome would have been different had Nylander and Matthews both been healthy for every game. You have to entertain the idea, though, that the scales would have been tipped in the Leafs’ favour and, if so, then the narrative today changes. Having said that, we would have picked the Panthers to beat the Leafs in the second round. The elephant-in-the-room type of question that goes hand-in-hand with Berube’s ability to squeeze more from the Leafs’ stars in the post-season, of course, is which core players will be remaining when the puck drops for opening night of the regular season. Extensions for Matthews and Nylander start this coming season, extensions that were authored by general manager Brad Treliving with Matthews signing last August and Nylander this past January. With those contracts, Treliving tied the Leafs’ future to the backs of Matthews and Nylander. Captain John Tavares, with one year left on his contract, might not be asked to waive his no-move clause. With Mitch Marner, it could be much different. If the Leafs make true on their desire to make core changes, even the most casual of observers take that to mean that Marner will be asked to consider waiving his no-move clause. If Marner decides he doesn’t want to do that — and we go back two weeks ago when he said his wish was to remain with the Leafs for the long term — then Treliving’s off-season becomes that much more intriguing. There would be many worse things than having Marner back in 2024-25 for the Leafs to finish his contract. No matter what Marner has or has not done in the playoffs, though, watching him walk in free agency next summer with zero return would be a major blow to the organization. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. If Berube wants a chance to coach Marner with the rest of the core, perhaps giving him that opportunity could bear playoff fruit in the end. That leads to another question, though: What could reasonably be deemed as playoff success in Toronto? Is it Berube coaching the team beyond the first round next spring? Do people really think that Berube is suddenly going to turn the Leafs into legitimate Cup contenders in one year? As it stands today, we can’t say with certainty that the Leafs will be any better under Berube than they were under Keefe. Look at this past regular season — Keefe coached the Leafs to a 102-point season through a minefield that included injuries to key players and goaltending that found consistency elusive at times. All the while, Treliving’s words that the Leafs defence corps was a work in progress hung in the air. And yet, defensive play was not the reason the Leafs lost in seven games to the Bruins. The Leafs played tight hockey, especially in the latter stages of the series. We hate to break it to you, but if the Leafs weren’t being held properly accountable within their four dressing room walls, they wouldn’t have persevered like they did in the regular season and they wouldn’t have played smart defensive hockey in the playoffs. At no time did the Leafs quit on Keefe. Berube won the Cup in 2019 with St. Louis after taking over mid-season when Mike Yeo was fired in Nov. 2018. The Blues, though, never got close to hoisting the silver mug again with Berube as coach and his regular-season record in the past several years wasn’t on par with Keefe’s. The Leafs have to figure out what’s happening with Marner, Treliving has to get it right with the changes he is bound to make in goal and he has to find a way to turn his defence corps into one that is no longer a work in progress. Lance Hornby looks back at the 15 Maple Leafs coaches he has chronicled SIMMONS SAYS: On second thought, Craig Berube was a good hire for the Maple Leafs As for Berube’s impact on the core and how that is measured in success next spring? Sure, Berube will be a different voice than Keefe was. But that question can’t be answered on Tuesday when Berube and Treliving hold court at the Ford Performance Centre. tkoshan@postmedia.com X: @koshtorontosun
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