HALFWAY TO GLORY!
The Edmonton Oilers have eliminated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to advance to the Western Conference Final for the second time in the past three years.
In what was an incredibly back and forth series, the only consecutive wins were the Oilers in games 6 and 7, Edmonton persevered through goaltending concerns and major lineup depth problems to squeak through.
Game 7 was the sixth one goal game of the series as the Oilers took the final game 3–2.
Series recap
Game 1
Vancouver Canucks 5 – Edmonton Oilers 4, Vancouver leads series 1–0
What started out as a promising Game 1 for the Edmonton Oilers quickly turned sour in the third period as the Vancouver Canucks staged a three goal comeback and won the game late with four unanswered goals. This game was a quick taste of what the Canucks can do to a team with their energy and tenacity.
Game 2
Edmonton Oilers 4 – Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT), series tied 1–1
The Canucks and Oilers traded goals throughout this game as Edmonton had an answer for every Vancouver goal. The Oilers top players continued their dominance in this series with four point nights from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and an overtime winner by Evan Bouchard to split Vancouver’s opening homestand.
Game 3
Vancouver Canucks 4 – Edmonton Oilers 3, Vancouver leads series 2–1
Despite heavily outshooting the Canucks 45–18, Vancouver utilized an incredible game from goaltender Arturs Silovs to take Game 3. A concerning trend appeared, however, as the Oilers top forwards, McDavid, Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman, had 29:42, 29:04, and 26:12 of ice time respectively. Despite Edmonton controlling most of the play, it was largely only a few players contributing and playing well enough to create that discrepancy.
Game 4
Edmonton Oilers 3 – Vancouver Canucks 2, series tied 2–2
After some difficult struggles from starting goaltender Stuart Skinner, Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch made a difficult choice. He started Calvin Pickard in his first ever playoff game. The players received the message and won it for Pickard. A great effort from everyone to keep the Oilers in the lead until the final minute and a half of the game when Vancouver tied it late. But there was still time for Bouchard to get another game winner in this series as he scored with 38 seconds left to win the game.
Game 5
Vancouver Canucks 3 – Edmonton Oilers 2, Vancouver leads series 3–2
In what was an extremely underwhelming effort from the Oilers, the Canucks re-took the series lead in Game 5 with a victory. Pickard played his heart out for this team and for this game but it was not enough. The Oilers played well enough early on, leading 2–1 after the first. But they were outshot 24 to 12 in the remaining two periods as the Canucks scored the only other two goals in the game. Questions of fatigue and injury in the Oilers star players were starting to appear as there were no standout skaters from Edmonton in this game.
Game 6
Edmonton Oilers 5 – Vancouver Canucks 1, series tied 3–3
The biggest game of the season to that point had the Oilers show up and dominate. Outshooting the Canucks 27-15, the Oilers took Game 6 in the first of the series that was not decided by one goal. Skinner came back for this game and took the win in his return, an amazing boost of confidence for him and the team in front of him. The offensive contributions were still almost exclusively the top players, but the rest of the lineup stepped their game up as everyone’s ice time was back down to around 20 minutes max.
Game 7
Edmonton Oilers 3 – Vancouver Canucks 2, Oilers win series 4–3
In yet another biggest game of the season, and possibly of the McDavid/Draisaitl era, the Edmonton Oilers had an incredible two periods against the Canucks in Vancouver to absolutely dominate the first two periods of the game, taking a three goal lead to the third. But the Canucks showed their resilience once again as they almost battled back and tied it late. However, it was not enough as the Oilers won the game and the series.
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