The Edmonton Oilers survived a late comeback attempt from the Vancouver Canucks to win 3-2 in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series on Monday.
The Oilers will advance to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals after defeating the Canucks at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.
While the Canucks end the season with a heartbreaking loss, Vancouver finished top of the Pacific Division in the regular season, and it was the first time the team hosted playoff games since 2015.
Even though team president Jim Rutherford said in January that the team needed “major surgery” to start winning again after a disappointing few seasons, analysts and fans credited coach Rick Tocchet this year for instilling a new culture that saw the team one win away from the Western Conference finals.
The long series between the Canucks and Oilers prompted an outpouring of support from each team’s fanbase, with B.C. fans cheering on their NHL team via creative displays — like an orca mosaic and a sculpture made out of soda boxes.
Public viewing parties were packed throughout the Metro Vancouver region throughout the playoff run, and city officials such as Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said it was a great season even before the playoff journey began.
Eric Falkenberg, an assistant manager at a Save-On-Foods supermarket in Kelowna, B.C., has crafted a tribute to the Vancouver Canucks — a towering 4.6-metre sculpture of goaltender Thatcher Demko made entirely of Pepsi boxes.
The mayors of Edmonton and Vancouver have agreed to fly the rival team’s flag at city hall should their home team fail to win the series, and the losing mayor must wear the winning team’s jersey.
Meanwhile, the premiers of B.C. and Alberta have agreed that the loser must deliver a statement in their provincial legislature, written by the winner, while wearing the winning team’s jersey.