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The Vancouver Canucks have a chance to eliminate the Edmonton Oilers from the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight.
“This is going to be the hardest game we’re ever going to play…until the next game,” said Rick Tocchet today.
“It’s never easy, I don’t care how good you’re playing, the next game is the hardest game.”
The head coach is leaning on the entirety of his staff, filled with NHL legends, to prep his team for what he knows will be a difficult game.
“You try to give a little bit of wisdom. Guys like [Adam Foote], [Sergei Gonchar], [Mike Yeo], talk to certain guys,” explained the head coach.
“We talked to a few groups of guys. I think it’s important that you share some stories in these kind of situations and how you deal with them.”
The Canucks have built a 3-2 series lead on the back of strong defence. In Game 5 they managed to go up one game in what was one of their best playoff performances to date.
They’ve done a great job at slowing down the Oilers stars at five-on-five, especially Connor McDavid. The all-star has just one point, an assist, over the last three games.
“Yeah, oh yeah, yeah,” said Tocchet when asked if he expected McDavid to be additionally dangerous tonight.
“Just look at the odds how many times can you shut a guy like that down?”
The Canucks are going with the same lineup they used in Game 5. It’s a more offensive-looking option which found a lot of success in the big 3-2 win.
Without last change due to being on the road, it’s likely they won’t be able to get as many of the matchups they like. We’ll see how often J.T. Miller, who has done a great job on defence to this point, gets on the ice against McDavid.
Arturs Silovs will get another start in net as Thatcher Demko continues to go through his injury rehab process. Silovs has been one of the best stories during these playoffs. He has a 2.62 goals-against-average and a .907% save percentage.
Demko did take some shots this morning after the pre-game skate.
“There’s certain drills you want him to do, certain pushes and things like that, then you wait until the next day and see how everything reacts,” said Tocchet about his goalie. “I think that’s the next level for him. Obviously being on the ice taking shots, that’s a positive for us.”
The puck drops at 5 pm PT tonight as the Oilers fight for their lives with their backs against the wall. The two teams split Games 3 and 4 which took place in Edmonton.