Sports

Oilers-Canucks Notebook: On Pettersson, the power play, and experience

May 8, 2024

VANCOUVER — Like most athletes, Elias Pettersson tries to focus on what comes next and avoid getting bogged down in the past. After his first-round playoff series against Nashville, the struggling Canucks star has even greater motivation to look forward.

The $92.8-million centre struggled mightily against the Predators, managing only three assists and eight shots on net during Vancouver’s six-game series win.

Facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in Round 2, the Canucks are trying to win another series without starting goalie Thatcher Demko. But they probably can’t win another one without Pettersson.

“I’m excited,” he told reporters Wednesday morning during a brief media scrum ahead of Game 1 at Rogers Arena (10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+). “I think we just wanted to do too much the first few games (against Nashville). But hopefully, that was the last question about the first round. I’m looking forward for the second round.”

So is Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, who was asked almost daily during the Nashville series about Pettersson’s quiet play.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2: Canucks vs. Oilers

Keep up with the latest news and analysis as the Vancouver Canucks battle the Edmonton Oilers in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Full coverage

Pettersson, who amassed 191 points the last two regular seasons, did not practise Tuesday due to illness but said he felt “good” heading into the opener.

“I think he’s fine,” Tocchet said at the start of his press conference. “I know some people are speculating we’re hiding an injury. He had illness; we don’t lie here. So for you guys that want to make it … he’s got a broken wrist or a broken back, he doesn’t. He’s just a little sick, so that’s it.

“He’s a big factor for us. Hopefully, you know, especially at home, we’ll get him in some good situations on the ice. So hopefully you can take advantage of it.”

Information Underload

It’s been a week of talk in Edmonton about how the regular-season series against the Vancouver Canucks means nothing. Then Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, whose refreshing inability to mislead the media keeps us coming back, stepped up the microphones.

“It’s in the past,” he said, “but when a series has been as lopsided as it was, we need to address and change some things. We were swept in the series and outscored pretty badly. So it would be pretty naive to say that we didn’t need to change anything, and we’re just going to play the Vancouver Canucks how we played (last time).”

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With a full week since Edmonton dusted off Los Angeles to win Round 1, Knoblauch has been trying not to overload his players with information.

“I told them, if you’re focused on everything, then you’re focused on nothing,” Knoblauch said. “We gave them a little bit of information on what Vancouver does on the faceoffs, or the forecheck, or their identity, special teams…

“But we’ve been careful in not giving too much information, because ultimately you want players just being able to play and not over-analyze things. Not be paralyzed with too much information.”

Lining Up

The big omission in Vancouver’s lineup is clearly No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko, with Latvian Arturs Silovs stepping into the Canucks’ crease for Game 1.

Meanwhile, Oilers left-winger Adam Henrique (ankle) is out for Edmonton. Mattias Janmark is expected to start the game on Conor McDavid’s left wing, and Connor Brown gets his first playoff game on fourth-line right-wing. Stuart Skinner starts in goal.

Here are your Game 1 lines:

CANUCKS

Suter-Miller-Boeser
Joshua-Lindholm-Garland
Hoglander-Pettersson-Mikheyev
DiGiuseppe-Blueger-Lafferty

Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Zadorov-Cole

Silovs

OILERS

Janmark-McDavid-Hyman
RNH-Draisaitl-Kane
Holloway-McLeod-Perry
Foegele-Ryan-Brown

Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais

Skinner

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Power Playing

The Canucks were able to unplug a potent Predator power play, killing off 20 of 22 disadvantages. The Oilers’ power play, meanwhile, destroyed the Los Angeles Kings, going 9-for-20 — with two more goals scored scant seconds after the penalty had expired.

Special-teams play should be a massive factor in this series.

“I think they’re a concept team,” Tocchet said of the Edmonton power play. “They have three or four things that they do really well. I don’t think they have a huge playbook; they’re just good at what they do. So it’s important that we know what their looks are and where we want to be in these situations. Who do we want to have the puck in the less dangerous situations?

“(But) if you over pursue, they attack. They’re … probably the best team — them and Colorado — if they beat pressure, they’re taking it to the net. There’s none of this, like ‘Oh, let’s do this play and stuff.’ They play road hockey after that. They just take it to the net. Or whoever is open, they give it to and they attack.”

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Lucky Seven

This Game 1 marks the seventh playoff round for the Edmonton Oilers in the past three springs.

We can discuss our various opinions on which of these clubs holds what advantage in which area, and likely never fully agree. But playoff experience matters in the National Hockey League, and the Oilers undoubtedly get the checkmark in that box.

“Managing emotions is a huge part of the playoffs, and I think that skill comes with experience,” said Oilers 54-goal winger Zach Hyman. “It comes with being in those moments over and over again, recognizing how small the margins are, and being able to manage those emotions game to game.”

With seven goals in Round 1, Hyman is second in playoff goal scoring only to Colorado’s Valeri Nikushkin (8), who has played one more game. That’s the kind of stat, however, that no one is worried about here in Vancouver, where a very cool and collected Oilers team held an optional skate in preparation for Wednesday night’s Game 1.

Again, experience tells them these playoffs are a marathon, not a sprint.

“It’s something that you kind of have to go through and experience to truly understand,” Hyman said. “From that standpoint, playing seven rounds in three years is something that you look at.

Green but Mean

The Canucks surprised everyone with a 50-win regular season and a Pacific Division title ahead of the mighty Oilers and Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Then they froze the red-hot Predators in the Canucks’ first non-COVID playoff series win since 2011, holding to 12 goals and 25 shots per game a Nashville team that actually outscored Edmonton the final two and a half months of the regular season.

Understandably, Tocchet doesn’t much care that the Canucks have been largely dismissed in this series against the Oilers. He also doesn’t believe the theory, reinforced by Edmonton’s repeated failures over the years with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, that the Canucks need to lose in the playoffs in order to learn how to win.

“I’ve heard it before: ‘Well, they’ve got to go through the losing,” Tocchet said. “I don’t believe that. Those six games against Nashville, that was a tough series. We tried hard and Nashville’s a good team. And we won.”

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