The Edmonton Oilers are on the brink of elimination, trailing their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs second round series 3-2, after losing 3-2 to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Thursday (May 16).
Related: Canucks Win a 3-2 Thriller vs. Oilers in Game 5, Lead Series 3-2
J.T. Miller scored the game-winning goal at 19:27 of the third period for the Canucks, who had never led in the game until that point. Vancouver also got goals from Phillip Di Giuseppe and Carson Soucy, while Mattias Janmark and Evander Kane scored for Edmonton. Canucks netminder Arturs Silvos stopped 21 of 23 shots, while Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard made 32 saves between the pipes.
Here are four takeaways from the Oilers’ heartbreaking defeat in Vancouver on Thursday night:
No Lead Is Safe in Series With Canucks
The Oilers got off to a great start Thursday, taking a 1-0 lead just 4:34 into the first period when Kane opened the scoring. Unfortunately, that seems to be the kiss of death in this series, as the team that scores first is now 1-4. Only in Game 4, a 3-2 victory for the Oilers, has the team with the first goal gone on to victory.
What’s more, playing with the lead hasn’t translated to success that often, either: Vancouver won Game 1 despite leading for just 5:34 compared to 51:36 for the Oilers; Edmonton trailed for 14:25 and never led in Game 2 before scoring in overtime; and on Thursday the Canucks didn’t take their first lead until 19:27 of the third period, while Edmonton was in the driver’s seat for 20:17 in Game 5.
Pickard Was the Right Pick for Knoblauch
The chatter in Edmonton all day Wednesday (May 15) was about which goaltender Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch would roll with in Game 5: Pickard, the career backup who backstopped Edmonton to its Game 4 win; or Skinner, the season-long starter who has struggled in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Knoblauch’s decision to go with Pickard proved wise, as the 32-year-old goalie played very well in only his second-ever NHL Playoffs start.
Pickard gave his team a chance to win and couldn’t be faulted for any of Vancouver’s three goals: The first came off an Oilers’ giveaway in front of Pickard, the second was the product of a turnover by Edmonton blueliner Evan Bouchard, and the third resulted off a missed assignment by Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.
During post-game coverage on Sportsnet, the panel discussed going back to Skinner for Game 6, but it doesn’t matter which netminder is between the pipes for the Oilers if the rest of the team plays poorly.
Oilers’ Power Play Experiences an Outage
For the first time in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers were held without a power-play goal (PPG) for an entire game. Edmonton had scored at least one PPG in each of its first nine games this postseason, before failing to score on five opportunities with the man advantage on Thursday.
There has been some concern that Edmonton’s prolific power play has allowed the Oilers to get away with a subpar level of play at even strength, and sure enough, the first time that they failed to convert with the man advantage, the result was a loss.
Edmonton is now 14/35 on the power play for a 2024 NHL Playoff-leading 40.0% success rate, but the Oilers have been outscored 23-21 at five-on-five this postseason.
McDavid Needs to Step Up
Another concern with the Oilers thus far in the playoffs has been their lack of depth scoring. In that respect, Edmonton could be encouraged to see Kane score for the first time this series, while Janmark provided a rare goal from the bottom six.
But the big guns didn’t deliver for the Oilers on Thursday. Of Edmonton’s top six point producers in the 2023-24 regular season, only Leon Draisaitl recorded a point in Game 5.
While Game 5 wasn’t his greatest outing, Draisaitl is having a tremendous spring, leading the NHL with 21 playoff points, 11 of which have come against Vancouver. His peers, on the other hand, have gone quiet.
After scoring 54 times during the regular season and nine times in Edmonton’s first six playoff games, Zach Hyman has gone four consecutive games without a goal. While the Oilers winger showed up to the rink on Thursday wearing the Los Angeles Lakers jersey gifted to him by Shaquille O’Neal, Hyman didn’t produce like the four-time NBA champion.
Meanwhile, Connor McDavid has scored just twice in 10 games this postseason. Edmonton’s captain has zero goals and one assist over the last three games, which is the fewest points he’s recorded over a three-game span in the postseason since 2017.
The Canucks are making life difficult for McDavid, who appeared a bit frustrated while speaking to the media after Thursday’s loss, but the greatest players find a way to get it done, especially when the pressure is greatest at the most important of times.
For the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner, who is now nine years into his NHL career and has yet to advance beyond the conference final, that time comes Saturday (May 18), when the Oilers look to stay alive with a win in Game 6 at Rogers Place.
