EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers weren’t ready to have their season end. Now, they’re going to the limit in their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and two assists, Connor McDavid added three assists and the Oilers beat the Canucks 5-1 on Saturday night to avoid elimination and force a deciding Game 7.
“The boys were ready from the start, we obviously knew what was at stake tonight,” Edmonton forward Dylan Holloway said. “There was probably a bit of nerves, but once we kind of got settled in we played our game and rolled all four lines and got going there and never looked back.”
Dylan Holloway, Zach Hyman and Evander Kane also scored for the Oilers, and Stuart Skinner stopped 14 shots.
“We played faster, we played cleaner, we were better with the puck, better coming through the neutral zone,” McDavid said. “We did a great job of getting on top of them on the forecheck and keeping pucks alive.
“Nothing to be satisfied or excited about, we just bought ourselves another day and I would expect the same level of urgency and desperation from our group. I would expect Vancouver to play a better game as well and I would expect it to be a highly-competitive, great Game 7.”
Nils Hoglander scored for Vancouver, which is trying to make it to the Western Conference final for the first time since 2011. Arturs Silovs finished with 22 saves.
“We knew obviously this was going to be a difficult test to win tonight,” Canucks forward Brock Boeser said. “Obviously, they got a couple of goals that obviously sucked and took the wind out of us. I think the belief is in this room.”
Game 7 is Monday night in Vancouver, with the winner advancing to face Dallas in the Western Conference final.
Edmonton started the scoring at 8:18 of the first period as Leon Draisaitl fed it up to Holloway and he danced through the defense before tucking it between Silovs’ legs for his third of the playoffs.
“What an unbelievable effort,” Hyman said. “For a guy who came up really for the playoffs to do that, he’s had big moments here, but it’s a huge goal to settle the team down to get us up.”
Draisaitl has picked up at least one point in all 11 playoff games this season.
Less than two minutes later, the Canucks evened it up as Elias Pettersson sent a pass from behind the net out front to Hoglander, who snuck his first of the playoffs past Skinner just past the midpoint of the period.
The Oilers looked to have scored with 1 second remaining in the first on a point shot from Bouchard, but the goal was called off due to McDavid making incidental contact with Silovs.
Edmonton went ahead for good at 7:14 of the second as McDavid spotted Hyman in the slot and his shot deflected and bounced up and over Silovs and into the Vancouver net for his 10th of the playoffs. McDavid came into the game having only recorded one assist in his previous three games combined.
McDavid picked up another assist with 8:40 to play in the second as Bouchard scored his fifth goal and 17th point of the postseason on a long shot from the point. The Oilers’ captain became just the 10th player in NHL history to record 20 playoff points in three consecutive seasons with his second assist.
The Oilers made it 4-1 just 3:25 into the third period as McDavid picked up his third assist, sending a backhand pass to a hard-charging Nugent-Hopkins, who scored his third of the playoffs.
Edmonton put the game away with just under 7 minutes left as the draw came back to Kane and he unleashed a wicked wrister for his fourth of the postseason.
Boeser is confident the Canucks can rebound for Game 7.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily what you dream of as a kid, but it’s definitely an opportunity for our group,” he said. “Obviously, we can play better and we all know that. … We’ll regroup and look at what we can do better and it’s just going to come down to who wants it more next game.”
Skinner returned in goal for the Oilers after Calvin Pickard started the last two games.
Draisaitl became just the fourth player in NHL history to record 60 assists in 60 playoffs games and the third in league history to get to 100 points — behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
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