The Edmonton Oilers, down 3-2 in the second round to the Vancouver Canucks, turned on the jets (not the Winnipeg Jets) and roared to a Game 7 win at Rogers Arena. The Oilers had a 3-0 lead in the 3rd period. Vancouver put together 2 quick goals in the 3rd period yet ran out of time for the game-tying goal.
The Oilers take the Smythe (Pacific) Division crown and face the Norris (Central) Division winner Dallas Stars. Game 1 starts in Dallas on Thursday night.
Edmonton went 1-2 against Dallas in the regular season.
November 2 Dallas 4, @ Edmonton 3
February 17 Edmonton 4, @ Dallas 3 (OT)
April 3 @ Dallas 5, @ Edmonton 0
Edmonton is 2-6 in playoff history with the Dallas franchise, including 1-1 in Minnesota. The Oilers won 4-0 in the conference final in 1984 over the North Stars and lost in the 1991 conference finals 4-1.
The Oilers won 4-3 in the first round in 1997 and lost 4-1 to Dallas in the second round in 1998. Edmonton lost 4 straight series to the Stars in the first round in the playoffs: 1999 (0), 2000 (1), 2001 (2), and 2003 (2).
The Vancouver Canucks likely would not have won Game 7 even with Brock Boeser, who missed Game 7 due to blood clotting issues. Health is more important than hockey and we hope strongly for a full recovery for Boeser.
The careful, defensive intensive Canucks squad struggled to score in the final 2 games of the series.
The team scoring the first goal of the game went 3-4 in the series. 6 of the 7 games were decided by a goal with only Game 6 as the exception.
Game 1: Vancouver scored 4 goals over the final 23 minutes to erase a 4-1 deficit. They scored 3 times in 5 minutes in the 3rd period before Edmonton even managed a shot on net.
Game 2: The infamous non-call of Connor McDavid high-sticking Quinn Hughes, drawing blood, and the referees were like, "nah." Terrible missed calls all around yet this felt like the Kelly Sutherland experience once again.
Game 3: Brock Boeser seemingly had a hat trick (had one in Game 4 in Nashville) but a goal was switched. Boeser and Elias Lindholm each had 2 goals. Calvin Pickard came into the game to start the 3rd period for the Edmonton Oilers, a fact that the U.S. audience eventually learned. Carson Soucy (1-game suspension) and Nikita Zadorov ($5000 fine) after vicious cross checks on Connor McDavid after the buzzer.
Game 4: Calvin Pickard starts in goal for Edmonton. The Oilers lose the lead with a Dakota Joshua goal at 18:19 of the 3rd period. Evan Bouchard slammed home the winner with 39 seconds left in the 3rd period.
Game 5: Vancouver had its own late game excitement with a J.T. Miller goal off Elias Pettersson's skate in the final minute.
Game 6: Edmonton exploded for the only multi-goal margin of victory in the series.
Game 7: The Oilers dominated until 2 quick Canucks goals made things close. Edmonton hangs on for the series win.
'Tis rare to have an all-Canadian NHL Stanley Cup playoffs matchup beyond the first round in the last 30 years:
2024 Vancouver/Edmonton (2nd round)
2022 Calgary/Edmonton (2nd round)
2021 Montréal/Winnipeg (2nd round)
2002 Toronto/Ottawa (conference semis)
1994 Vancouver/Toronto (conference final)
ESPN ran this graphic in Game 1 where Cassie Campbell-Pascall described the difference between Vancouver and Edmonton in terms of provinces (British Columbia and Alberta) and time zones. Not sure too many Americans could have done this.
TNT ran the same graphic in Game 2. Rare yet this is the 3rd time in the last 4 years.
We thought the idea of Turner aka WBD (TNT and TBS) using below average announcers for 2 games in the first round and not putting them on Canadian soil was a horrible move.
WBD (Warners Bros. Discovery) upped the ante with better announcers, still from the other side of the border. The company pulled the same trick for an all-Canadian matchup in the second round. Alex Faust and Jennifer Botterill had great potential yet the company put them in Atlanta. Yes, they could manage to get Botterill from Toronto to Atlanta but not to Vancouver or Edmonton.
You could tell that the announcers missed crucial points because they couldn't see beyond monitors in a studio, thousands of miles away from the game. The most egregious moment was Botterill interrupting her own train of thought to tell the audience that Calvin Pickard had replaced Stuart Skinner in the Edmonton goal. This announcement came at the 17:10 mark remaining in the 3rd period.
John Forslund and Eddie Olczyk did go live for Game 5. Forslund and Olczyk have experience calling a game in Edmonton from the United States, aka the 2023 Heritage Classic from an U.S.-based studio.
You could chalk this up to saving money (WBD is really huge and rich) but they are only doing this with games in Canada. They travel to Raleigh and Dallas. ESPN may be behind their own curve but the crews do show up in person.
This isn't about the announcers. They are following orders from management. Announcers want to call games on site.
ABC was scheduled to carry a NHL game on Saturday night: the NY Rangers series for Game 7 was the likely choice. That series ended in 6 games. That meant ABC would carry an all-Canadian game on a Saturday night. Except there was maneuvering behind the scenes so that ABC ended up with a NBA playoff game and ESPN got the hockey game. This is how paranoid the U.S. TV people are. A chance to show Connor McDavid in prime time and ABC panicked.
ESPN decided to bring their "best." Well, 5th best likely in John Buccigross to call Games 6 and 7. Ray Ferraro got to provide colour analysis for Game 7. Edmonton fans would point out that Ferraro called some Canucks games for Rogers Sportsnet. I would counter that Ferraro is a pro and his analysis was sharp and down the middle.
Rogers Sportsnet carried U.S. national feeds for games they didn't produce. They showed crews that were on site. TNT and TBS has our consent to show Sportsnet feeds for games in Canada.
Ending this on a slightly better note, the Vancouver Canucks radio crew had been trapped in Vancouver for the first round with Nashville. The good news is they got to go to Edmonton for the second round. These things matter.
We had said in past times that "Games on CBC can be streamed in Canada via cbcsports.ca." This was true until recently when Rogers disallowed any streaming of playoff games through a CBC portal. Intriguing that the CBC help page notes that Sportsnet+ is the place to stream the games in Canada.
CBC reaches as far as any network in Canada yet some areas of Canada benefit from being able to watch shows online. This feels a little mean to do 10 years into a 12-year contract where the CBC doesn't even get full value of the 6 promos in each game in exchange for getting $0 for running Hockey Night in Canada from Rogers.
This may only apply to playoff games. We will have to see in October if this move covers regular season games.
Canadians and Americans drawing the CBC via cable or satellite aren't affected by this decision.
ESPN had first choice for a conference final and picked the one that didn't feature the Canadian team. TNT will have the Campbell (Western) Conference final with Kenny Albert, Eddie Olczyk, and Brian Boucher along with Jackie Redmond. Presumably, the announcers will be on site for the entire series, though TNT is the one that hasn't been sending announcers to Canada.
Chris Cuthbert, Craig Simpson, and Kyle Bukauskas will have the Campbell (Western) Conference final on Rogers Sportsnet as well as CBC (Games 1-4, 7). John Bartlett, Garry Galley, and Shawn Mckenzie will cover the East final.
CBC is not carrying Game 5 because of the Canadian Screen Awards. Blame — if you need an outlet — rests with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for the delay. Game 6 is on a Sunday night where the CBC prefers to run fresh, reality TV programming.
We won't be updating CBC games at this point since the public broadcaster will have all the Wales (Eastern) Conference final games and the Stanley Cup final games. ABC will have the Stanley Cup finals in the United States.
We do have to skip some films during the Windsor International Film Festival over conflicts and sometimes, sanity. I'm Just Here for the Riot is a documentary on the aftermath after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup final in 2011. The film ran during the festival yet I knew the film would eventually get a U.S. airing.
ESPN will carry the documentary on June 4 at 7:30 pm Eastern Time (4:30 pm on the West Coast). The film will also be available for ESPN+ subscribers. We will definitely run a review of the film.
I get the feeling that the reason we haven't seen an outdoor crowd watching the Vancouver Canucks games ties back to what happened in 2011. That isn't about the fans as much as forces who won't take the chance on the fans. People volunteering to clean up is a part of the reality in 2011, reportedly in the documentary. Rogers Arena hosts viewing parties during the playoffs, a sharp contrast to what we saw in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton this spring.
If the officiating had been remotely fair — nothing close to reality — the Canucks would have won the Stanley Cup and the reaction would have been more joyous. Then we might have had a different kind of documentary.
If you are looking for a companion film to highlight Vancouver sports, we recommend reading our Canadian film review on The Grizzlie Truth and the loss of the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies.
We should note Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew, a documentary about the Canadian streetball collective in Vancouver. Our collective memory is that the film played at the 2022 Windsor International Film Festival and we couldn't fit that into our schedule. That film is out there for rent.
3 of the 7 Canadian teams will have new coaches before the start of the season in the fall. Toronto quickly signed Craig Berube, who had been a contender for the Ottawa gig. The Senators filled its opening with former Vancouver coach Travis Green. Rick Bowness retired from coaching after his last stop in Winnipeg. If Joseph Woll could have played Game 7, Keefe might still have a job??
The NHL draft lottery remains the same as it ever was. The 3 Canadian teams stayed in their positions: Montréal (5), Ottawa (7), and Calgary (9). The 2024 NHL draft is June 28-29 in Gary Bettman's favourite desert town.
Ottawa announced the team will keep its 1st-round draft pick, knowing the Senators will have to surrender the top pick in either 2025 or 2026. This stems from the nonsensical ruling noted that Ottawa should be punished for not telling Las Vegas about the no-trade clause after Las Vegas, which had the contract and rights to Evgeni Dadonov, tried to trade him to Anaheim.
Congratulations to the Edmonton Oilers. This is the 3rd year in a row where the Oilers are Canada's most successful team for the season. They won't accept the trophy just yet since there is more hockey to play.
Boston and Minnesota are playing in the Walter Cup Final in the inaugural PWHL playoffs. Minnesota defeated Toronto, the top seed in the regular season, in 5 games. Boston, the 3 seed, swept Montréal, the 2 seed, in 3 games though they all went to overtime.
photo credits: NHL; CBC
Twitter captures: @NHLNetwork; @Canucks (x2); @SheldonKeefe
