[PGT] Vancouver at Edmonton - Round 2 - Game 6

[I.Am.Ironman]

Regardless of the outcome, game 6 and 7 will be important experience for the group moving forward. Typically there are less penalties called in game 7's so let's hope that is the case tomorrow.

[spook007]

4 hours ago, I.AM.THE.WALRUS said:

 

Charge your battery... that's the only thing of relevance in that picture...

[-dlc-]

23 minutes ago, Joe King said:

It's all fun and games until some one losses an eye. Wow that creep has gotten away with that crap again and again. stripes are friken blind when it comes to inforcing high sticking infractions against him. And he obviously doesn't give a crap about it because I think he knows the league will brush it under the rug. 

Twice now, and there's no way it's not intentional if you look at how they happen.

 

Smug, arrogant, dirty Oiler trying to injure players as part of the game plan. Because they feel entitled to a win and everyone's put them there at the top. 

 

I hope we knock their asses out and they have a lovely time licking their wounds. Can't stand the way they play...Draisaitl's one of the dirtiest players out there. Kane and Nurse. And McDavid's following their lead.

 

At this point, with ESPN filling in their bracket it wouldn't surprise me if that isn't the script sent from the NHL. (Only part way joking).  With that reffing was "ok" last night....never is great but wasn't as horrible as past games.

[HKSR]

5 hours ago, spook007 said:

This.... Sedin were nowhere near the standards of Pettersson at 25...

Expect him to come back stronger after this. Same with QH and a frw others. 

Our young core is just getting started.  In 3 or 4 years they will be a huge force to be reckoned with.

[-dlc-]

I do love the positivity here, it's refreshing. I'm going to feed off it because I took that loss hard. The way it happened didn't sit well with me but you guys have the right attitude. 

 

GO CANUCKS

 

 

[spook007]

1 minute ago, HKSR said:

Our young core is just getting started.  In 3 or 4 years they will be a huge force to be reckoned with.

Exactly...

 

They've done so well, we almost expecting them to do better... We are far ahead of where we hoped to be by now...

 

In saying this... Lets end the Oilers and the hacks on Monday... BRING IT ON....

[HKSR]

3 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

I do love the positivity here, it's refreshing. I'm going to feed off it because I took that loss hard. The way it happened didn't sit well with me but you guys have the right attitude. 

 

GO CANUCKS

 

 

I took it really hard too.  Still dealing with it this morning.  It was the effort level that hit me.  Not the loss itself.  Plus I hate the Oilers, and particularly hate their super arrogant and obnoxious fans.

[Fantomex]

Abysmal effort. Worse than game 4. Time to wake up and get back to work boys, win the day.

 

EDIT: I woke up feeling better knowing full well that they all know that was unacceptable. I am looking forward to a bounce back game and a much better effort. Win or lose, this season has been a ride. First taste of REAL playoff hockey for many of these guys, they will be better for it either way.

Edited May 19 by Fantomex

[spook007]

1 hour ago, 43isprime said:

 

That's the frustrating part - which Canucks skaters can we count on to show up, and which Oilers?

 

I'm pretty confident McDavid and Draisaitl will at least create chances and tip the ice in their favor more often than not when they're on the ice.

 

I suspect the fact that we don't have such players we can reliably count on while Edmonton does is part of why this series is so much more anxiety-inducing than the Nashville series.

 

I seem to recall that discussion after game 4...? 

 

I'd say they did turn up for game 5.... Now at Rogers they have an opportunity to do the same again... 

Or they can go out on a whimper like game 7 against Bruins....

 

I vote for a slaying the dragon game 7.... 

[spook007]

7 hours ago, Pears said:

That's a McSorely type play but you won't ever hear a peep from anyone because of who delivered it. 

They even came up with some lame "he was after the puck" crap... Embarrassing how they are sucking his wiener....

[Rip The Mesh]

McFu--head and how he needs to win.

Like I said, he's a ;;;;

[Fantomex]

12 minutes ago, -dlc- said:

I do love the positivity here, it's refreshing. I'm going to feed off it because I took that loss hard. The way it happened didn't sit well with me but you guys have the right attitude. 

 

GO CANUCKS

 

 

But Deb, that's why we love you!! You're all in! When you're a super fan losses like that hit different. I just like to remind myself of the last few years, and I instantly feel better. The future is bright, even if this isn't our year!

[NucksIn50]

Game 7 will be massive for our team. Yes we looked tired and out of sync as a team, definitely the worst game of the playoffs. 
 

In saying that, our team will dig deep in  game 7 and put forth the best 60 minute effort of these playoffs and hand the Oilers their golf cards once and for all.

 

Keep up the energy in these boards peeps, we are all Canucks!

 

Lets’s Goooooo! 

[Rip The Mesh]

6 hours ago, Jaimito said:

 

How Connor McDavid, Oilers bounced back vs. Canucks to force Game 7: 5 takeaways

EDMONTON — It was a blowout Edmonton Oilers victory.

 

Connor McDavid was never going to go away quietly. And on Saturday night, in a must-win Game 6 for McDavid and the Oilers, the best player on the planet took over the proceedings and bludgeoned the Vancouver Canucks.

 

It was, in truth, a fitting result for a back-and-forth series in which none of the outcomes in any individual game have felt tethered to the rest of the series.

 

The Oilers seemed to be reeling after key Game 3 and Game 5 losses, only to bounce back and play their best, most responsible hockey the next game. The Canucks missed an opportunity to put the Oilers away in Game 4, and responded with their most impressive performance of the series in Game 5. Now they’ll have to do it again, with their season on the line, in a Game 7 on Monday night at Rogers Arena.

 

That game will be for all of the marbles. For the Oilers, they can’t afford to miss this opportunity, with McDavid and Draisaitl still in their primes and at the top of their powers. They’re built for this moment, despite the significant flaws up and down their roster.

 

For the Canucks, it’s a chance to keep a dream season going, a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a franchise that has only made three previous appearances in the conference final.

 

This series has been defined by moves and countermoves. Haymakers and counterpunches. A knife’s edge separating two teams in a dramatic All-Canadian matchup.

 

It deserves a seventh game. And it will get one.

 

McDavid awakens

A lot had been made about how Vancouver had shut down McDavid in this series. And they really had.

 

Coming into Game 6, the Oilers’ all-galaxy centre had managed just one assist in his most recent three games and been outscored at five-on-five. He’s looked like he’s playing at a level well below 100 percent, has lost the head-to-head matchup with J.T. Miller and even the Oilers’ preposterously lethal power play had gone quiet.

 

A lot of that actually continued into Game 6. Edmonton’s power play was bottled up, with Vancouver even baffling the Oilers on an extended five-on-three sequence late in the second. McDavid rarely got loose off of the rush. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch seemed to be actively ducking the head-to-head matchup between Miller and McDavid at five-on-five.

 

And yet, as the great ones do, McDavid found a way to will his team to a massive 5-1 victory, extending the Oilers’ season and forcing a decisive seventh game.

 

McDavid’s willful takeover of the second frame began when he used his speed to create a turnover on the forecheck, and then got to work on the cycle. Eventually he found Zach Hyman in a dangerous area of the ice, and Hyman managed to fight off some porous Canucks defensive coverage to beat Arturs Silovs.

 

On his very next shift, McDavid crushed Vancouver on puck retrievals all across the offensive zone, maintaining possession and pinning Vancouver for over a minute, ultimately leading to an Evan Bouchard point-shot goal.

 

These goals broke Game 6 open, and perhaps most importantly, they were scored on consecutive shifts against the Miller line that had — until Saturday evening in Edmonton — limited McDavid effectively in this series, if not outright eaten his lunch.

 

Finally, McDavid capped off a dominant performance early in the third period, with the Canucks just a shot away from setting up squeaky-bum time at Rogers Place, setting up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins off of the rush to effectively salt Game 6 away and force Game 7 on Monday night.

 

The way McDavid took over on Saturday is a reminder that in hockey, when you’re talking about the McDavid tier players, the absolute best of the best in any generation, you can do everything right — and the Canucks mostly have.

 

You can keep them bottled up for most of a series. You can play them tough and physically. You can make them defend, and try to strip the puck from bigger players down low. You can even push them to the very edge of elimination.

 

Vancouver has done all of that in this series. And even with everything going against McDavid entering Saturday night’s Game 7, he managed to take a mile from an inch of space.

 

Time for an A-list billing for Holloway?

The Oilers are always in need of more five-on-five scoring outside of the superstars. Dylan Holloway not only delivered but did so in style.

 

The sophomore winger has been more noticeable as the series has progressed and was elevated to the top six alongside Leon Draisaitl and Evander Kane to start Game 4. Never was he more noticeable than when he opened the scoring on Saturday.

 

Holloway took a breakout pass from Draisaitl at the defensive blue line, and then darted down the right wing. He brushed aside Canucks forward Elias Pettersson and then cut to the inside of Hughes as he gained the Vancouver zone. Hughes’ partner, Filip Hronek, was late to adjust, giving Holloway a lane to the net. He tucked the puck through the legs of goaltender Arturs Silovs at 8:18 of the period before dropping to a knee and pumping his arm in celebration.

 

Holloway’s speed and energy were obvious, but he played just 12:16 in part because there were seven power plays, and he doesn’t get time on special teams. If he keeps doing stuff like this, though, the man known as “Hollywood” is going to need more screen time regardless of the circumstances.

 

The special teams stalemate

In a very strange, game-defining sequence in the second period, the Canucks and the Oilers exchanged parades to the penalty box. Both teams had extended five-on-threes, and a handful of other power-play opportunities.

 

And both teams failed to register a goal, or in Vancouver’s case, many shots on net.

 

Two skilled teams, one with a suspect penalty kill throughout the season, are suddenly locked into a series in which both penalty-killing groups have started to dominate two of the most talent-laden power-play units in the league. It doesn’t make sense, and it makes for tense hockey, but it’s how this series has gone.

 

That the Canucks, in particular, have now killed off 10 consecutive Oilers power-play opportunities, especially given that the Oilers came into this series clicking along at a near 50 percent conversion rate, is nothing short of astounding. Vancouver, however, needs to make their power plays count to win the special teams battle, and as good as the penalty kill has been in Games 5 and 6, their power play has dulled that edge significantly.

 

Game 7 isn’t likely to turn into a big special teams battle. Whistles tend to be few and far between as a series gets to the endgame stage. Currently, however, both teams have to be feeling oddly confident when their penalty killers hop over their boards.

 

And if either side gets a power-play opportunity (or two) in Game 7, they’ll need to find some answers.

 

Skinner rebounds nicely

Kris Knoblauch had a simple yet clear justification for going back to starting goaltender Stuart Skinner for Game 6 after benching him for the previous seven periods.

 

“He’s been our guy all year,” he said. “In a situation like this, that’s who we want in net.”

 

Skinner made his coach look wise for having faith in him by stopping 14 of 15 shots.

 

The 25-year-old didn’t have to be outstanding because the Oilers kept the attempts and high-danger chances down. But he did what was required of him and had what was easily his best performance of the series.

 

His best save came late in the second period when he got a piece of a Quinn Hughes shot, which then hit the post and went off the netting. That chance came on a two-man advantage for the Canucks with the Oilers up two goals. The third period could have been a lot different if that wrister goes in.

 

The only puck that beat Skinner came off the stick of Nils Höglander in the first period. It was Höglander’s second unfettered try in succession from just outside the crease.

 

Silovs’ off night

Arturs Silovs has been really good in this playoff run, which isn’t exactly breaking news.

 

He’s come in and given Vancouver stability between the pipes. He recorded a shutout in a key Game 6 against the Nashville Predators, to help Vancouver advance. He’s outplayed Edmonton’s goaltending tandem throughout this series too, and in fact, Game 6 was the first game all series in which it didn’t feel like the Canucks had a sharp edge in net.

 

When Vancouver sustained a multitude of injuries to their regular goaltending platoon, Silovs performed to the level that — even in spite of Saturday night’s disappointment — they’re still just one win from the conference final. That’s a credit to Silovs’ calmness and form.

 

And truly, at least some of what occurred to him on Saturday was understandable. He got beaten on a breakaway, he got beaten by a 50-goal-scorer wide open from the slot and he got beaten by a slot line pass from McDavid off of the rush. Some of the goals that hurt Vancouver on Saturday were more than understandable.

 

And some of them were lightly screened point shots. Or plays in which he got opened up a bit.

 

In truth, Silovs underperformed his expected save percentage by a wide margin on Saturday. And even beyond the goals against, he looked a bit jumpy at times. It wasn’t his best game, obviously, but it wasn’t exactly cause for significant concern either.

 

Of course, with Thatcher Demko continuing to make progress — he took part in rinsing the scratches on Saturday following Vancouver’s optional morning skate, which is a massive step along the way for him to return to game action — there is now some uncertainty in the Canucks crease going forward. There is, however, no uncertainty about Demko’s timeline.

 

Vancouver’s star netminder will not make it back in time to make an influence on game 7, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed postgame on Saturday.

 

So the stakes in net are fixed now.

 

Skinner will be between the pipes for Game 7, that much is assured after a solid performance on Saturday night. Silovs will be too, surely, although for the first time in this series, it will be

the Vancouver netminder looking to bounce back.

 

I'd rather listen to Don Taylor. Drance makes everything into a romance novel; Boring and repetitive....

[Fantomex]

2 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

I'd rather listen to Don Taylor. Drance makes everything into a romance novel; Boring and repetitive....

 

Never mind Drance, I turned on the the Punjabi feed last night just to get away from Craig "I'm still a cOiler" Simpson. Where's RAY? He must be doing the American broadcasts... Sad, he is the best in the business. 

 

EDIT: I had no idea what they were saying, but it was better than the drivel that Simpson spews.

Edited May 19 by Fantomex

[Rip The Mesh]

 

[Rip The Mesh]

 

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

8 minutes ago, Fantomex said:

 

Never mind Drance, I turned on the the Punjabi feed last night just to get away from Craig "I'm still a cOiler" Simpson. Where's RAY? He must be doing the American broadcasts... Sad, he is the best in the business. 

 

EDIT: I had no idea what they were saying, but it was better than the drivel that Simpson spews.

Ray is the best no doubt about it… dude is intelligent articulate and knows the sport backwards and forwards 

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

Future looks bright for us in Vancouver 

 

let’s enjoy their development…

It’s our first real playoffs with this core 

 

 

we have been playing with our 3rd string goalie and we aren’t even playing our best hockey…

 

and we have come this far

one game away from the western conference finals…

 

im so proud of our boys

 

what a great year they have had

 

the league has had to help the Oil even… with all those missed calls and the game suspension of Soucy…

 

with the management team and coaching staff that we have there is much to be excited about - we will only get better.. 

 

don’t worry be happy 

 

onward to game 7!!!

 

 

[CanuckMan]

We can all agree the effort wasn’t there in game 6. Guys played out of sync entire game. We never built any real pressure. 
 

But at the start of the season if you told me the Canucks would be in game 7 of the second round I would’ve laughed. Good experience for the team but third round experience would be so much better. Let’s spank the Oilers tomorrow and make them cry like the babies they are.

[Rip The Mesh]

We be good at home;

 

 

[Rocket-68]

1 hour ago, -dlc- said:

I do love the positivity here, it's refreshing. I'm going to feed off it because I took that loss hard. The way it happened didn't sit well with me but you guys have the right attitude. 

 

GO CANUCKS

 

 

 

Took it HARD?!?!?! I shot the dog ........ in the Duck Hunt game every time he came on the screen, LOL .... I could have taken a loss if the game 5 team showed up for the most part and a lucky bounce did them it at the very end. I took it somewhat hard, had to go an have a relaxing swim and hot tub in the pouring rain to relax. Mind you, a hot tub and a swim in the pouring rain is quite refreshing. 

 

So I have a conspiracy thought to share:

 

Aquaman (SCREAMING): JR, COME HERE!!!!!!!!!

JR: ... yes my lord?

Aquaman: I don't have enough to sign General Zeke, Dak, Lindy and that loveable Giraffe so gonna have to fire you and PA for cause to cover the shortfall.

JR: Cause ... ummm ... what cause!

Aquaman: 'cause yours and PA's salary are where I need to cover my going down to the tracks in Bolivia and betting on the dogs. I liked the look of the one that took a shit first!

JR: How much do you need?

Aquaman: $8M

JR: ... give me a tick or two

 

---------- 

JR (SCREAMING): TIC TOC! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE

Tic Toc: Yes?

JR: lose today and win on Monday or you are fired and I will personally burn the Prius you drive down to the asphalt

Tic Toc: Done!

 

----------- 

 

GO CANUCKS GO! WE GOT THIS!

 

Edited May 19 by Rocket-68

[Mando27]

Game 6 is over and the past, move onto game 7 and take it to the Oilers.

[Nucker67]

In 12 playoff games:

 

Hughes - 0 goals

Hronek - 0 goals

Pettersson - 1 goal

Hoglander - 1 goal

Garland - 2 goals

 

Pitiful production. How did they make it this far? Sheesh.

 

JR and Allvin still have some major surgery to do. Enjoy the last game. Go Canucks Go.

 

[Breadnbutta]

Remember what Tocchet said, adversity is important and you gotta meet pressure with pressure.

 

Well boys, tomorrow we see.

 

Either way I'm proud of these guys, Go Canucks Go