May 21, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

What a series! The Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks gave hockey fans everywhere (especially in Western Canada) quite a show. The teams alternated wins until the Oilers won the final two games of the series.

Six of the seven games in this series were decided by one goal. The Canucks staged an improbable comeback from a three-goal deficit to win Game 1. There was one overtime game, and the teams exchanged last minute game winning goals in Games 4 and 5. 

There was drama and hatred, and there were heroes and villains. Carson Soucy got a suspension for cross checking Connor McDavid in the neck, and Nikita Zadorov got a $50,000 fine for cross checking McDavid into Soucy’s cross check. Zadorov revelled in playing the heel. He and Evander Kane went at each other all series long. Evan Bouchard and JT Miller both got late game winning goals in the series, and Connor Garland capped off the dramatic comeback in Game 1.

It was only fitting that this series went seven games. The Oilers got out to a 3-0 lead in Game 7 thanks to a huge second period, but the Canucks made a valiant comeback in the third period that fell just short. It was a stressful and anxiety filled game that matched the rest of the series.

Related: Series Preview: Oilers vs Canucks

Five-on-Five Play

Series Preview: EVEN

Actual: 16-14 EDM

Both of these teams were elite five-on-five teams during the regular season. The Oilers narrowly outscored the Canucks at five-on-five in this series. They scored five even strength goals in Game 6. The Canucks had the edge in five-on-five goals in the other six games. The Oilers had an xGF% of 50.27%, which says that the series was about as even as it possibly could have been. The Oilers also held slight advantages in scoring chances for (51.81%) and high danger scoring chances for (51.82%). However, the Oilers dominated every shot metric. The Canucks struggled to get many shots in both of their series, but they kept the scoring chances pretty even.

Special Teams

Series Preview: EDM

Actual: EDM

The Oilers enter the third round with the league’s number one playoff powerplay and the number one playoff penalty kill. That says all you need to know about how the special teams battle went in this series.

The Oilers powerplay went 6/20 (30%) in this series. It wasn’t as potent as it was in round one, but it was still plenty effective. There was concern that the Canucks had figured out the Oilers powerplay after the Oilers failed to score on eight opportunities in Games 5 and 6, but the powerplay came up big one more time in Game 7.

Meanwhile, the Canucks powerplay went 3/23 (13.04%) in the series. The Oilers penalty kill faltered in Games 2 and 3 when the Canucks scored on three of their six chances, but the Oilers killed off fourteen penalties consecutively throughout the rest of the series. That included a five-on-three situation in Game 6 and a double minor penalty in Game 7.

Goaltending

Series Preview: EVEN

Actual: VAN

I’ll give Arturs Silovs all the credit in the world. The Canucks asked the third string rookie to come in and carry the load for them in the playoffs after Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith got hurt in their opening round series, and he played admirably. His .882 save percentage for the series isn’t indicative of how well he played. Silovs basically stole Game 3 for the Canucks with a 42 save performance. The Canucks didn’t lose because of Silovs.

Stuart Skinner got pulled in Game 3, and Calvin Pickard started Games 4 and 5 for the Oilers. Skinner had a .793 save percentage through the first three games of the series. To his credit, he was great once he got back into the net. Skinner made 29 saves on 32 shots (.906) in Games 6 and 7.

Pickard was fantastic in his two starts. He made 19 of 21 saves (.914) in his first NHL playoff start and win in Game 4, and he stopped 32 of 35 shots (.905)  in a heartbreaking Game 5 loss. Pickard also made three saves on three shots in Game 3 in a relief appearance, giving him a .915 save percentage for the series. Ultimately, head coach Kris Knoblauch decided to go back to his number one guy for Games 6 and 7. It wasn’t because Pickard played poorly by any stretch of the imagination.

(series stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Reference)

Call Outs

Corey Perry was a healthy scratch in Games 6 and 7. Perry has zero points in ten games thus far in the playoffs. A moment where he held his stick parallel to Brock Boeser’s neck in Game 4 to mock Soucy’s cross check to McDavid in Game 3 was the only moment where he really did anything to try to get under the skin of his opponent. The Oilers will need more from him if he gets back into the lineup.

Stuart Skinner struggled at the start of the series, but eventually found his game again at the end. Skinner will need to have his best game the rest of the way if the Oilers are going to advance further in these playoffs.

Stand Outs

Leon Draisaitl averaged two points per game in this series. A four-point night in Game 2 helped the Oilers even the series after a tough loss in Game 1. It’s crazy to think that a fourteen-point series isn’t even Draisaitl’s highest output in a single playoff series, but it’s second on the list. Maybe he just needs to play hurt all the time because he played the series where he got seventeen points against the Calgary Flames on one ankle, and he hurt his back in Game 1 of this series. 

Evan Bouchard has set a record for the most points by a defenceman in the first two rounds of a playoffs with 20 points. He got twelve of those points in this series. Bouchard scored five goals in the series, including the overtime winner in Game 2 and the late game winner in Game 4. Bouchard has put himself among the elite defencemen in the NHL with his performance in these playoffs.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was truly impactful in this series. The Burnaby, BC native got ten points in the series en route to taking down his hometown team. He got five of those in the final two games of the series. It was a three-point night in Game 6. He scored the series winner and added an assist in Game 7. The Oilers are a much better team when Nugent-Hopkins is producing offensively. Knoblauch’s decision to reunite Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid, and Zach Hyman proved to be a brilliant one.

Shoutouts

Obviously McDavid and Hyman were big factors in this series. McDavid “only” got nine points in this series. It’s low by his standards, but amazing by the standards of mere mortals. Hyman’s goal scoring pace settled down in this series, but he still got four goals in the seven games including goals in Games 6 and 7.

Mattias Ekholm scored goals in each of the first three games of the series. He formed an excellent pairing with Bouchard that dominated the series from start to finish.

Dylan Holloway emerged in this series. He was elevated to the second line with Draisaitl and Kane in Game 4. Holloway opened the scoring in Game 6 with an AMAZING goal where he blew by Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes and tucked it five hole on Silovs. That goal calmed the nerves of every Oilers fan in the building that night. It also showed that Holloway has the tools to compete with some of the league’s best players.

Wrap

This series truly could’ve gone either way, even with the Oilers having won the special teams battle as handily as they did. The Canucks came as advertised. A team that plays excellent defensively due to their structure and discipline and that can take advantage of scoring opportunities when they come.

The Oilers found a way to win though. The Canucks tend to collapse into the slot while defending, which makes it difficult to make passes across the slot and to get quality shots from the slot. Oilers defencemen got points on nineteen of the Oilers’ 24 goals in the series. That suggests that their strategy was to work the puck from high to low and low to high in the offensive zone rather than trying to force passes across the middle of the ice.

While their goaltending could have been better, the Oilers defended well enough to limit the damage inflicted by the Canucks. The Canucks were able to get more offensive zone time than I thought they would get in this series, but they still didn’t manage to get many shots. The Oilers had too many moments where they beat themselves with defensive miscues; but they defended quite well overall.

Once again, special teams were a big reason why the Oilers won the series. That will need to continue to be a weapon for them if they have aspirations of playing into June this season.

The Oilers will now face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. The series gets going on Thursday night. Look out for my series preview of the Western Conference Final.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shoutouts: Oilers advance to Western Conference Final with Game 7 win over the Canucks