The Edmonton Oilers turned in a dominant performance in a Game 7 to oust the Vancouver Canucks and advance to the Western Conference Finals on Monday night.
For so long the Oilers have been reliant on All-World superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to carry them as far as they possibly can in the playoffs, and for too long the team has been done in by goaltending or a lack of scoring outside those two.
For the second time in three years, the Oilers are heading to the Western Conference Finals, and it's because they got a little bit of both of those extra things at just the right time.
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Vancouver was in position to be beaten on Monday. Still without star goaltender Thatcher Demko and with leading scorer Brock Boeser suddenly unavailable due to a deeply unfortunate blood clotting issue, it was going to be an uphill battle for the Canucks to muster the energy to match Edmonton's desperation.
They didn't even come close, especially early. The Oilers absolutely dominated the first period with 13 shots to Vancouver's 2, but Arturs Silovs stood tall in goal to deny Edmonton the lead.
Vancouver couldn't find the jump in the second period either, as Edmonton's supporting cast began to get going. Often maligned veteran defenseman Cody Ceci wired home a shot to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead, and the visitors were just getting started.
Moments later, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed Evan Bouchard, who put a shot on net that Zach Hyman tipped home in his trademark goalscoring fashion to make it 2-0.
You could feel the life sucked out of the building after that one, and things went from bad to worse when Nugent-Hopkins scored a power play goal, and the Oilers took a 3-0 lead with just one point combined from McDavid and Draisaitl.
Vancouver found its desperation in the third period, and the Canucks looked like they might find a way to force overtime for a while.
Conor Garland And Filip Hronek scored to give the Canucks about five minutes to tie the game, but Stuart Skinner and the Oilers held the fort to secure the series.
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