(2P) Oilers at (1P) Canucks
Western Conference Second Round, Game 1
10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, SN360, ESPN
VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers will face each other in a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 1992 when they meet in the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round, starting with Game 1 at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks (50-23-9) finished first in the Pacific Division and defeated the Nashville Predators in six games in the Western Conference First Round. The Oilers (49-27-6) finished second in the Pacific and defeated the Los Angeles Kings in five games in the first round.
Edmonton has not played since eliminating Los Angeles on May 1 and Vancouver has not played since ousting Nashville on Friday.
“It’s a little bit of a strange scenario with a week in between games,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said Wednesday. “But we had a good week of practice and guys are rested and ready to go.”
Vancouver won all four games in the season series, outscoring Edmonton 21-7. Two of the wins were in a home-and-home series to start the 2023-24 season (8-1 and 4-3 Canucks victories) and the third was on Nov. 6 (a 6-2 Vancouver win). McDavid did not play in the final meeting of the season on April 13 (3-1 Canucks triumph), when he was out with a lower-body injury.
“We needed those eight points to win the division, that’s great,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said Wednesday. “But the game (tonight) at 7 p.m., it means nothing, and our players would say the same thing. Playing those games has given some guys confidence, the springboard to have some good years.
"I think that first month of beating an Oiler team has helped the confidence of the group, but I don’t think it helps anything right now.”
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:
1. Protect the house
Tocchet acknowledged the Oilers have a lot of skill, but pointed out their forwards are good at driving the net and it’s important to protect the area.
“They’re one of the better teams at taking the puck to the net, they’re underrated when it comes to that,” Tocchet said. “Everybody talks about star power and tic-tac-toes (passes), but to me, the net front for them offensively, I think they're one of the best teams at getting to the net. Not just [forward Zach] Hyman. Hyman is one of the best, but even Connor, even [forward Corey] Perry. They have a lot of guys that hang around the net and go to the net. So we have to be really stingy in front of our net.”
McDavid said the Vancouver defensemen do not like to stray far from their own net and Edmonton will have to find ways to pry them away from it.
“They do a great job of collapsing around their net, they've got big D-men that don't leave the net,” McDavid said. “We got guys who can score from the outside as well, so we can shoot. If they want to clamp down, then we can shoot through them, shoot around them. I think our D-men will do a good job of getting pucks through and we'll find a way to work around that.”
2. Stay out of penalty box
The Canucks want to play physical in this series, but need to be careful not to cross the line and take penalties. The Oilers were 9-for-20 (45.0 percent) on the power play against the Kings and scored two goals just as penalties to Los Angeles players had expired.
Vancouver was short-handed 22 times against Nashville, the most of any team in the first round. The Canucks killed off 20 of those power plays, but don't want to be parading to the penalty box against the Oilers.
“It’s always a fine line in the playoffs," Vancouver defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. "You don’t want to give other teams a chance to score a goal on us, especially their power play is super dangerous, they have world-class skill up there. We've just got to be between those lines for sure. There’s a rule book, so if you stay inside the rule book you should be fine.”
Edmonton was 4-for-16 (25 percent) in the NHL on the power play against Vancouver during the regular season and the Canucks penalty kill was tied for 17th (79.1 percent).
“I think the last month, six weeks," Tocchet said, "I think the system and the details that we’ve cleaned up, I think we’re better at clearing pucks than we were six weeks ago and I think that’s going to help, hopefully, against these guys. We have to make sure if we get a puck, we have to get it down (the ice) and knock off 25 seconds on their power play. The confidence is there, we’re a confident group.
3. In Arturs they trust
Arturs Silovs will make his fourth consecutive start in goal for Vancouver, with Thatcher Demko week to week because of an undisclosed injury.
In his previous start, Silovs made 28 saves in a 1-0 win against the Predators in Game 6 of the first round on Friday. In his three starts this postseason, Silovs is 2-1 with a 1.70 goals-against-average and .938 save percentage.
“For me, after the initial save, he’s in position for the second save,” Tocchet said. “When you look at the top goalies, they make that initial save and you look, they’re there for the second save, they’re not on their back and they’re not flipping an flopping. He’s got a knack of being there for the second save and I think that’s where the players really have confidence in him.”
Edmonton did not face Silovs during the regular season, but McDavid said they will be prepared for him in Game 1.
“You definitely know what a goalie's tendencies are,” McDavid said. “We pre-scout everything so that would be something that we look at, but ultimately, they're a good team that play in front of him, and we have to find a way to get to him.”
Oilers projected lineup
Mattias Janmark -- Connor McDavid -- Zach Hyman
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Leon Draisaitl -- Evander Kane
Dylan Holloway -- Ryan McLeod -- Corey Perry
Warren Foegele -- Derek Ryan -- Connor Brown
Mattias Ekholm -- Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse -- Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak -- Vincent Desharnais
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Philip Broberg, Jack Campbell, Sam Carrick, Ryan Fanti, Sam Gagner, Troy Stecher
Injured: Adam Henrique (undisclosed)
Canucks projected lineup
Pius Suter -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander -- Elias Pettersson -- Ilya Mikheyev
Dakota Joshua -- Elias Lindholm -- Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Teddy Blueger -- Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy -- Tyler Myers
Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole
Arturs Silovs
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mark Friedman, Nils Aman, Noah Juulsen, Vasily Podkolzin, Nikita Tolopilo
Injured: Thatcher Demko (undisclosed)
Status report
Henrique, a forward who moved to the top line at the start of the playoffs, won't play in Game 1 and is day to day. … Janmark will move up from the fourth line, though Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said there will be a "committee" rotation used in that spot as the game goes on. ... Brown comes into the lineup after being a healthy scratch all five games of the first round. … Pettersson missed practice Tuesday with an illness but will play. … Demko is skating, but it remains uncertain if he could potentially return in the second round.
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
