Damien Cox: Canada’s Stanley Cup hopes on thin ice with Edmonton on the brink

Looks like the drought is going to hit 30 years.

It was 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens became the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup. The Edmonton Oilers, the last team from the Great White North still standing in these playoffs, are now on life support. The Oilers trail the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche three games to none after losing Game 3 on home ice in Alberta on Saturday night by a 4-2 score.

It’s not an insult to the Oilers to suggest they just aren’t in the same class as the Avs and are extremely unlikely to be able to fight back and win this series, particularly with their top players being held in check. Edmonton got a good draw in the opening round by drawing Los Angeles and outfought Calgary in an exciting Battle of Alberta, but the Colorado is at another level entirely and it appears the seven Canadian clubs will all have to go back to the drawing board again next season to try and end this country’s Cup drought.

As often happens in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it wasn’t the stars on either side that decided Game 3 of the Western Conference final. Instead, Colorado got key goals from Dallas castoff Valeri Nichushkin and third-line centre J.T. Compher, and another solid goaltending effort from backup goalie Pavel Francouz to shove the Oilers to the brink of elimination.

The Oilers, hosting their first conference final game since 2006, delivered a raucous sea of orange in the stands and a goal from Connor McDavid just 38 seconds after the opening faceoff to grab an early 1-0 lead. An absolutely perfect start, right?

Perfect, that is, until about a half-minute later when Oilers winger Evander Kane, brilliant in these playoffs, cross-checked Colorado centre Nazem Kadri headfirst into the boards. Kane got a major, but inexplicably remained in the game, another grievously blown call by an NHL officiating staff, this time the refereeing tandem of Wes (Showboat) McCauley and Eric Furlatt. Kadri didn’t return to the game, joining Colorado’s No. 1 goalie, Darcy Kuemper, on the injury list.

At any rate, the Avs didn’t score, but all that early Edmonton momentum evaporated and Colorado went about their business of dominating the Oilers in just about every facet of the game. If not for some acrobatic saves from Mike Smith and good penalty killing, the Avalanche would have been up by three or four goals after two periods.

Instead, Colorado led 2-1 on two goals from Nichushkin. The first one was an inadvertent deflection off the stick of Edmonton defender Darnell Nurse that tied the game 1-1, and the second was a wrist shot from the slot that caught Smith going the wrong way. Nichushkin, who failed as a player in Dallas, went back to Russia for five years and now, at age 27, has emerged as a front-line player in Colorado.

Rookie Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft desperately needed to pull some levers for Game 3, and did. He went with 11 forwards and seven defenceman, dressing Kris Russell on the back end. Kailer Yamamoto was out with an injury, and instead the Oilers dressed journeyman Brad Malone.

Zack Kassian, who took a truly moronic penalty while sitting on the bench in Game 2, nonetheless was promoted to the No. 1 line with McDavid and Kane. He delivered nothing, and by the second period, Kassian was bumped off that line. The Oilers, after scoring six goals in a Game 1 loss, went into the third period having scored only one goal since the opener.

Colorado wingers Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin celebrate one of Nichushkin's two goals Saturday.

Colorado got another power-play opportunity early in the third when Leon Draisaitl high-sticked Cale Makar, but again the Edmonton penalty killing unit came through for a fourth time to keep it a one-goal game. In 11 minutes of power-play time, the Avalanche extra-strength unit failed to come through.

That really paid off a few minutes later when Francouz whiffed on Ryan McLeod’s very stoppable wrist shot from 40 feet, allowing the Oilers to tie the game 2-2. Derek Ryan made an outstanding effort to drag his skate and just stay onside to give McLeod a chance to cross the Colorado blue line and take a shot Francouz should have stopped.

Draisaitl then drew a penalty on Compher for tripping, and Francouz was forced to make an outstanding glove save on McDavid to deny a third Edmonton goal. Seconds later, Compher jumped out of the penalty box, outfought Evan Bouchard for a loose puck just inside the Edmonton zone and fired a shot that dribbled through Smith’s pads and into the Oiler net for a 3-2 Colorado lead. Mikko Rantanen found an empty Edmonton net for the final goal.

It’s one of those strange hockey stories that, even with two of the sport’s most brilliant offensive stars, McDavid and Draisaitl, Edmonton hasn’t been able to have more offensive success against a Colorado team missing its top goaltender. While the Avs are known for their powerful offence, and showed it by scoring eight times in Game 1, they have for the most part handcuffed McDavid and Draisaitl since with speed and defensive positioning.

So Canada, it appears, will have to wait at least another year for a Cup winner. Why can’t the Canadian teams win? Well, a lot has changed in the league since 1993, and the answers are complicated. But, year after year, the result has been in the same, even in the few years a Canadian team was able to make it to the Cup final.

Edmonton got further than most believed they would this spring. But they can’t come anywhere close to slowing down Colorado, with the Avalanche almost certainly heading to the final to take on Tampa or New York.

The drought, barring a miracle, continues.