You couldn’t ask for much more drama: Game 7 with two western Canadian teams in a do-or-die playoff game in a series in which neither side won consecutive games.
Until Monday night.
That’s when the Edmonton Oilers weathered a late Vancouver Canucks charge, beating the hosts 3-2 to win their seven-game second-round playoff series in the decisive showdown.
Down three games to two following a close Game 5 dominated by the Canucks, the Oilers turned the table in Game 6, winning it in convincing fashion 5-1 on Saturday before taking the final game.
“I knew it was going to be a tight game,” Oilers star Connor McDavid told media following Monday’s match.
“No one came in here thinking it was going to be some kind of cakewalk. It was tight. I thought we did a good job of responding.”
Cocy Ceci opened the scoring after his point shot fooled Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs 1:16 into the second period, a minute after the Oilers had killed off a four-minute minor penalty to Ryan McLeod late in the first period for high-sticking Elias Pettersson.
The goal came shortly after an offensive zone faceoff following an icing call on the Canucks.
“I would’ve liked to have seen the power play (score on the four-minute opportunity),” Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said. “It was a big factor.”
Zach Hyman’s recorded the Oilers’ second goal at 5:50 of the middle frame, tipping in defenceman Evan Bouchard’s high shot from the point.
After managing just five shots on Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner over the first 30 minutes of the game, the Canucks started to keep the puck in the Oilers’ end for longer periods of time, doubling the shot total and generating 13 scoring chances before Edmonton struck again late in the frame on the power play.
With Canucks forward Sam Lafferty in the penalty box for tripping defenceman Brett Kulak a minute earlier, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made the score 3-0 Oilers with 4:38 left in the period, beating Silovs after corralling Bouchard’s slap shot that had rebounded off the end boards.
Conor Garland got the Canucks on the board after McLeod whiffed on a pass in his own zone, with the Vancouver winger scopping it up and rifling it past Skinner to make it 3-1 at 11:27 of the third period.
With the Canucks coming to life following Garland’s goal, defenceman Filip Hronek made it 3-2 five minutes later after the Vancouver defenceman scored on a blast from the point courtesy a feed from captain Quinn Hughes.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch called a time-out following the Canucks’ second goal.
“The building was going crazy, it’s loud. Everybody understands what’s at stake,” McDavid said of the coach’s move with 4:36 left in the final frame.
“He settled everyone down, and we were able to close it out.”
Edmonton didn’t allow another shot.
The Canucks pulled Silovs with about two minutes left, but the Oilers hung on to win. Skinner stopped 15 Canucks in the win, while Silovs turned aside 26 Oilers shots.
The Oilers face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final, with Game 1 starting Thursday in Texas.
Complete coverage of the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup Playoffs run
Complete coverage of the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup Playoffs run
