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Excitement and pressure amping up for Edmonton Oilers ahead of Game 7
Ain’t no party like a Game 7 party. And there ain’t no pressure like it, either. So, for as much as the Edmonton Oilers would like to focus on the task at hand and forget the fact they’re deep behind enemy lines for tonight’s second-round decider against the Vancouver Canucks in a bid to reach the Western Conference final, the reality of it all couldn’t be avoided following Monday’s morning skate. “Obviously, it’s an exciting game, an exciting day,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “It’s not every day you get to play in a Game 7.” One of the things that separates pro athletes — especially the elite ones — from the rest of us, besides the ridiculously low body-fat, the sense of where they are in time and space, off-the-charts athleticism and vehicles you actually want to wash, is the ability to take soul-crushing pressure-cooker situations and use them to fuel their inner fire … Or not? “It feels a lot like a regular game day,” McDavid continued. “There’s definitely a little bit of a buzz in the air but those are all good things. You want that normalcy, you want it to feel like part of your regular routine but also understand that the intensity is going to go up and you’ve got to be ready for that.” The Oilers have been in this situation before, most recently two years ago when the Los Angeles Kings took them to the limit in the first round before the Oilers won the series. “It’s good to have played in a couple of Game 7s and it’s not new to you,” McDavid said. “But with that being said, you only play in a couple so it’s exciting. “There’s going to be that excitement there, the anticipation is going to be there so I’m just looking forward to getting going.” It’s the very setting every Canadian kid growing up with NHL aspirations imagines while slapping a stick around on the driveway, getting to be the one who takes the shot in the big game before raising his or her arms in victory knowing an entire city, if not country, is celebrating the same. “It’s something that you dream about, playing a Game 7, especially as a Canadian kid in an all-Canadian series,” McDavid said. “Knowing what it means to both fan bases, knowing what it means to the country. “It’s exciting.” Up to this point, everything’s evened out in this series. Both teams created as much good as they did bad. The Oilers now have the unenviable task of trying to do something that hasn’t been done yet in the series, win two games in a row. But that also means they have the momentum of winning the last game on their side. Or does it? “Momentum is a thing that everyone loves to talk about,” McDavid said. “There is no momentum in a playoff series, it’s one game at a time and Game 6 is history. “Now we’re ready for Game 7 and ready to get going.” E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
Game Seven: Oilers-Canucks series to be decided in winner-takes-all showdown
Playoff Game Day 2.7 Edmonton at Vancouver Game Seven. Both words are common enough, but when conjoined in that fashion will set a hockey fan’s heart aflutter. On Monday night, those will be fthe supporters of the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Cancucks, as the two surviving Canadian squads play a winner-take-all showdown to decide who moves on to face Dallas Stars in the Conference Finals. It’s the twelfth time in their 45-year NHL history that the Oilers have played a Game Seven. Many words could and have been written about each of its predecessors, but we’ll stick to the basics here: 1984 second round: EDMONTON 7, Calgary 4 1986 second round: Calgary 3, EDMONTON 2 1987 Stanley Cup Finals: EDMONTON 3 Philadelphia 1 1989 first round: LOS ANGELES 6, Edmonton 3 1990 first round: EDMONTON 4, Winnipeg 1 1991 first round: Edmonton 5, CALGARY 4 (OT) 1997 first round: Edmonton 4, DALLAS 3 (OT) 1998 first round: Edmonton 4, COLORADO 0 2006 Stanley Cup Finals: CAROLINA 3, Edmonton 1 2017 second round: ANAHEIM 2, Edmonton 1 2022 first round: EDMONTON 2, Los Angeles 0 — 2024 second round: Edmonton at VANCOUVER Winning team shown first, home team in ALL CAPS. Edmonton has a 7-4 record in prior Games Seven, but so does the home team. 7 of the 11 games produced 5 or fewer goals. Games Seven are traditionally hotly-contested affairs with open ice at a premium anywhere on the sheet and especially so in the slot. Similarly, powerplay opportunities are typically few and far between in winner-take-all situations. Tonight’s line-up No surprises here as the Oilers will ice the exact same lines, pairings and starting goaltender as produced their 5-1 win in Game Six. It was likely the squad’s most complete game of the series. The Canucks are not so fortunate as to be able to ice the same line-up, having lost star winger Brock Boeser to blood clots that were diagnosed in the aftermath of Game Six. Boeser led Vancouver with 40 goals during the season, and is doing likewise in the playoffs with 7 tallies and 12 points. He terrorized the Oilers in particular, scoring 9 times in the 10 prior games this season. The home squad will in fact make a pair of line-up changes, as depth forward Vasily Podkolzin will reportedly be scratched. Veterans Sam Lafferty and Ilya Mikhevey will draw back in. Mikheyev is reportedly lining up with J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson on Vancouver’s top line. Vancouver’s line combinations are reportedly: Elias Pettersson – J.T. Miller – Ilya Mikheyev Dakota Joshua – Elias Lindholm – Conor Garland Nils Hoglander – Pius Suter – Sam Lafferty Nils Aman – Teddy Blueger – Phillip Di Guiseppe …though obviously are subject to change either before or after puck drop. One change the Canucks won’t be making is in net, where Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko remains sidelined, as he has been for this entire series. So it’s advantage Oilers on the health front, whose players are dealing with a variety of aches and pains not to mention illness but are mostly available to play. Only veteran forward Adam Henrique has been ruled out due to injury. On the ice, though, it’s a single game, where things can be decided by a crazy bounce (see: 1986), an amazing save (1997), or an individual dominant performance (2022). Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to an official’s call or video review but is decided cleanly on the ice. Game time is officially 7:00pm MDT. Recently at the Cult of Hockey STAPLES: Canucks to pair Miller, Pettersson in Game 7 STAPLES: “Bigger than hockey” — Boeser sidelined by blood clots LEAVINS: 9 Things, May 19 edition STAPLES: Social media reaction to Game 6 McCURDY: Stu Skinner gets net back for Game 6 Player grades McCURDY: Game 6 — Oilers 5, Canucks 1 LEAVINS: Game 5 — Canucks 3, Oilers 2 STAPLES: Game 4 — Oilers 3, Canucks 2 McCURDY: Game 3 — Canucks 4, Oilers 3 STAPLES: Game 2 — Oilers 4, Canucks 3 (OT) LEAVINS: Game 1 — Canucks 5, Oilers 4 Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy
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For new Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, this question won't be answered on Tuesday
The question that will be on the minds of most won’t have an answer when Craig Berube is introduced as the new Maple Leafs coach on Tuesday morning. What will Berube do to guide the Leafs’ best players to the point that they can be actual difference-makers in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Everything else lined up for Berube’s predecessor, Sheldon Keefe, in the latter’s tenure of 4 1/2 years as Leafs coach. Under Keefe, the Leafs recorded three consecutive 100-point regular seasons, a fact that no other man who has stood behind the Toronto bench can use as a bragging right. When the hockey mattered most, though, we know what happened: The Leafs couldn’t break through in the playoffs and, when they did advance to the second round a year ago, the usual refrain resumed. In three of its four losses to Florida in a series that went just five games, Toronto lost by one goal. This spring, Keefe didn’t have the usage of a full lineup in the first round against the Boston Bruins for all seven games and, by that, of course, we’re referring to William Nylander’s migraines and Auston Matthews’ illness and head injury that caused the club’s best forwards to miss time. We’ll never know if the outcome would have been different had Nylander and Matthews both been healthy for every game. You have to entertain the idea, though, that the scales would have been tipped in the Leafs’ favour and, if so, then the narrative today changes. Having said that, we would have picked the Panthers to beat the Leafs in the second round. The elephant-in-the-room type of question that goes hand-in-hand with Berube’s ability to squeeze more from the Leafs’ stars in the post-season, of course, is which core players will be remaining when the puck drops for opening night of the regular season. Extensions for Matthews and Nylander start this coming season, extensions that were authored by general manager Brad Treliving with Matthews signing last August and Nylander this past January. With those contracts, Treliving tied the Leafs’ future to the backs of Matthews and Nylander. Captain John Tavares, with one year left on his contract, might not be asked to waive his no-move clause. With Mitch Marner, it could be much different. If the Leafs make true on their desire to make core changes, even the most casual of observers take that to mean that Marner will be asked to consider waiving his no-move clause. If Marner decides he doesn’t want to do that — and we go back two weeks ago when he said his wish was to remain with the Leafs for the long term — then Treliving’s off-season becomes that much more intriguing. There would be many worse things than having Marner back in 2024-25 for the Leafs to finish his contract. No matter what Marner has or has not done in the playoffs, though, watching him walk in free agency next summer with zero return would be a major blow to the organization. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. If Berube wants a chance to coach Marner with the rest of the core, perhaps giving him that opportunity could bear playoff fruit in the end. That leads to another question, though: What could reasonably be deemed as playoff success in Toronto? Is it Berube coaching the team beyond the first round next spring? Do people really think that Berube is suddenly going to turn the Leafs into legitimate Cup contenders in one year? As it stands today, we can’t say with certainty that the Leafs will be any better under Berube than they were under Keefe. Look at this past regular season — Keefe coached the Leafs to a 102-point season through a minefield that included injuries to key players and goaltending that found consistency elusive at times. All the while, Treliving’s words that the Leafs defence corps was a work in progress hung in the air. And yet, defensive play was not the reason the Leafs lost in seven games to the Bruins. The Leafs played tight hockey, especially in the latter stages of the series. We hate to break it to you, but if the Leafs weren’t being held properly accountable within their four dressing room walls, they wouldn’t have persevered like they did in the regular season and they wouldn’t have played smart defensive hockey in the playoffs. At no time did the Leafs quit on Keefe. Berube won the Cup in 2019 with St. Louis after taking over mid-season when Mike Yeo was fired in Nov. 2018. The Blues, though, never got close to hoisting the silver mug again with Berube as coach and his regular-season record in the past several years wasn’t on par with Keefe’s. The Leafs have to figure out what’s happening with Marner, Treliving has to get it right with the changes he is bound to make in goal and he has to find a way to turn his defence corps into one that is no longer a work in progress. Lance Hornby looks back at the 15 Maple Leafs coaches he has chronicled SIMMONS SAYS: On second thought, Craig Berube was a good hire for the Maple Leafs As for Berube’s impact on the core and how that is measured in success next spring? Sure, Berube will be a different voice than Keefe was. But that question can’t be answered on Tuesday when Berube and Treliving hold court at the Ford Performance Centre. tkoshan@postmedia.com X: @koshtorontosun
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