Zach Hyman #18 and Evan Bouchard #2 of the Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal during the second period against the Vancouver Canucks in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on May 18 in Edmonton.Codie McLachlan/Getty Images
Zach Hyman scored his NHL-leading 10th goal of the playoffs and Evan Bouchard got his fifth as the Oilers extended their second-round series to a seventh game with a 5-1 thumping of the Canucks on Saturday at Rogers Place.
Each team has alternated wins so far. The deciding Game 7 will be played on Monday in Vancouver.
The Canucks hold a 7-3 record against the Oilers this season – including 4-0 during regular contests – but Edmonton put up a fight as it faced elimination for the first time this post-season.
The Oilers took control on the goals by Hyman and Bouchard in the second period. The teams had just four shots on net each in the first, which ended up tied at 1-1. Edmonton picked up the pace in the second and began to apply pressure to the visitors.
Hyman scored from in front of the net with 12:46 to go in the second and Bouchard found the back of the net on a booming slap shot four minutes later. Bouchard has four goals in the series and leads all NHL defenceman with 18 points in 11 games.
The Oilers went with Stuart Skinner in the crease even though he allowed 12 goals on 58 shots in the first three games of the series and had an abysmal .793 save percentage. Backup Calvin Pickard played well in a victory in Game 4 and a last-minute loss in Game 5.
Skinner played solidly in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings and was 36-16-5 during the regular season with a .905 save percentage.
“Stu had a couple of days to reset and evaluate his game,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He has been our guy all year and in a situation like this that is who we want in there. We are going with our No. 1 guy.”
Skinner was not overly busy but came up with 14 saves.
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead midway through the first on a drive to the net by Dylan Holloway. Leon Draisaitl and Bouchard recorded the assists. Draisaitl now has points in 11 consecutive post-season games and 13 in this series. He added a second assist later.
Vancouver evened things up at 1-1 in the first on a goal by Nils Hoglander.
Bouchard came close to scoring at the buzzer at the end of the first 20 minutes. The arena exploded when the puck went by Arturs Silovs but officials waved it off due to goalie interference.
The Oilers were outplayed during Game 5 in Vancouver. Neither Connor McDavid nor Draisaitl registered a point. McDavid has had just one assist over the last three games. He had three on Saturday.
“I expect the same from him as always: full blast,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said following the morning skate. “He wants the puck and is going to have it a lot. He is an outstanding player. You always expect the best from him. He doesn’t give you many bad games, I’ll tell you that.
“Look at the odds of how many times you shut a guy like that down.”
The Canucks came in to the evening with sights set on becoming the fourth and final team to advance to the conference finals. The winner of the series moves on to meet Dallas, which won in double-overtime against Colorado on Friday.
The last time the Canucks reached the conference finals was in 2011. The team has never won a Stanley Cup.
The Oilers made it to the conference finals two years ago but were eliminated in the second round in 2023 by the Vegas Golden Knights.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity,” Hyman said beforehand. “We are at home. It is a Game 6. A Saturday night. Who could ask for a better opportunity?”
The Oilers faithful were loud. A decibel metre inside Rogers Place registered .114 before the puck drop. They taunted Silovs, broke out in song and in the final period began to chant “We want the cup.”
Edmonton, which lost Game 5 by 3-2 at Vancouver on Thursday, had been in this situation before.
In the opening round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers were down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series against the Los Angeles Kings before winning Game 6 on the road and Game 7 at home.
Last season, the Oilers were tied 2-2 in their second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights and lost Game 5 on the road before being eliminated at home in Game 6.
“We know what’s on the line,” McDavid, the Edmonton captain, said earlier in the day. “We have to go out and play the game we know how to, the game we have played all year long. We have to play with pace and we have to play fast. When we do that, we have shown the ability to tilt the ice on them and sustain pressure.
“I think we are going to play well. We’re going to be just fine.”
As it turned it out, the Oilers played their most complete game of the series.
Silovs has started all six games in the series. The 23-year-old is the third goalie the Canucks have employed during the postseason. Before this, he had only played in nine NHL games. Silovs stopped 22 of 27 shots.
Edmonton has cashed in a league-best 40 per cent of its power plays during the playoffs but went 0-for-5 in Thursday’s defeat. It had another oh-for on Saturday but it didn’t matter.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane scored in the third to seal the victory. Nugent-Hopkins also had two assists and Kane contributed seven hits.
For one team, there is only one game left in the season. Edmonton kept itself alive.
“We want to win the Stanley Cup,” Hyman said. “We didn’t have a choice.”
Knoblauch expects a challenge. Game 6 was the first in the series not to be decided by one goal.
“We can feel good about what we did tonight but Vancouver is going to be much better on Monday,” he said. “We laid an egg in Vancouver the other night and I’m sure they are not proud of how they played tonight.”