Canucks facing doubters ahead of 2nd-round playoff series opener against McDavid and Oilers
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks have dealt with skeptics all season, and those doubters are following the team into its second-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
“I love being doubted,” Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet said Tuesday, a day before the Canucks host Connor McDavid and the Oilers in the opening game of the best-of-seven series.
Vancouver wasn't favored to make the playoffs, even after spending much of the regular season hovering around the top of the NHL standings. Some expected the Canucks to fall apart in the first round, yet Vancouver eliminated the Nashville Predators in six games.
Edmonton is favored over Vancouver in the second-round matchup, too, according to BetMGM.
That’s just fine by Tocchet.
“I think we kind of like that underdog role,” the coach said. “And I think players should embrace it. I really do.”
Vancouver dominated Edmonton in the regular season, sweeping the Oilers in the teams' four games.
While there are lessons to take from those games, Edmonton — which advanced to the second round by topping the L.A. Kings in a five-game series — isn’t dwelling on the results, head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“It’s in the past, but obviously, with the series being as lopsided as it was, we need to address some things and change some things,” Knoblauch said.
“We were swept in the series and outscored pretty badly, so it would be pretty naive to say we didn’t need to change anything and everything went smoothly and we’re just going to play the Vancouver Canucks how we played.”
After a difficult start to the season, Edmonton finished the regular season second in the Pacific Division, five points behind Vancouver.
Connor McDavid has led the Oilers in the postseason with a league-leading 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in the first round. Zach Hyman has continued his blistering scoring pace, too, with seven goals in the first five games of the playoffs.
The Canucks know the team they’ll face on Wednesday is much different than the one they beat during the regular season.
“We should be super excited. This is a rivalry that we love playing against,” forward J.T. Miller said. “Obviously, a couple special players over there. We should take a lot of pride in these games. And I know that we have going back to Game 1 of this season. And obviously they’re going to be hungry.”
SPECIAL TEAMS
Special teams are sure to be key in the series.
The Oilers capitalizing on 45% of their chances with the man advantage against Los Angeles. The Canucks' power play, meanwhile, struggled, operating at just 15.4% against the Predators.
Both Vancouver and Edmonton relied on formidable penalty kills in the first round, too. The Oilers killed off all the infractions they faced. The Canucks penalty kill was at 90.9%.
Things can change quickly between playoff series, though, McDavid said.
“We’re a good power-play unit. That being said, they’re going to throw different things at us, we’ll throw different things at them,” he said. “It’s a playoff series. And we’ll challenge each other. They’re a good PK, we’re a good power play. We’ll see.”
RENEWING THE RIVALRY
Wednesday will mark the first playoff game between Edmonton and Vancouver since 1992, when the Oilers beat the Canucks in six games.
Going up against a Canadian team in the second round feels a bit like the 2022 playoffs, when the Oilers faced their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames, in a Battle of Alberta, McDavid said.
“Two excited buildings, Canadian cities, so I would expect it to be pretty similar to that,” he said. “Obviously a new challenge and I’m looking forward to that.”
WHO'S IN. WHO'S OUT
The Oilers and Canucks may be without some key players for Game 1.
Edmonton forward Adam Henrique missed practice Tuesday with an ankle injury. Canucks center Elias Pettersson also missed practice Tuesday, though Tocchet said he was “just a little bit under the weather.”
Vancouver’s star goalie, Thatcher Demko, is still recovering from a lower-body injury that kept him out of all but one game in the first round. Tocchet has not said whether it will be rookie Arturs Silovs or veteran backup Casey DeSmith in the Canucks’ net to start the second-round series.
TALE OF THE TAPE
Regular-season series: Vancouver 4-0
Goals per game: Edmonton — 3.56 (4th); Vancouver — 3.40 (6th)
Top scorers: Edmonton — Connor McDavid, 132 points; Vancouver — J.T. Miller, 103 points
Starting goaltender: Vancouver — Thatcher Demko, 35-14-2, 2.45 GAA, .918 save percentage; Edmonton — Stuart Skinner, 57-36-16, 2.62 GAA, .905 save percentage
Power play percentage: Edmonton — 26.3 (4th); Vancouver — 22.7 (11th)
Penalty kill percentage: Edmonton — 79.5 (15th); Vancouver — 79.1 (17th)
The Big Stat: The Canucks spent 78% of their first-round series within one goal of the Predators. The Oilers spent 58% of their matchup within a goal of the Kings.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
