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No one expected the Vancouver Canucks to make it this far.
Widely picked as a team that would miss the playoffs in 2023-24, the Canucks defied the odds and made it to Game 7 of Round 2, with a third-string goalie, no less.
Despite their wildly successful season, this was one of the most painful losses in franchise history.
The Canucks were outworked from the drop of the puck. They did have a bit of a pushback in the third period, but they still ended up losing 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers.
Conor Garland and Filip Hronek had goals for the Canucks in the third, but it wasn’t enough.
The Canucks are now eliminated from playoff contention, while the Oilers move onto their second Conference Finals appearance in three seasons. They’ll battle the Dallas Stars for a birth in the Stanley Cup Finals, beginning on Thursday night.
This wasn’t even a game where Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl had to take over. The Canucks were just thoroughly outplayed by their opposition. By the time Zach Hyman tipped in an Evan Bouchard point shot early in the second period to make it 2-0, the shots were 23-4 for Edmonton.
A BOUCH BOMB TIPPED BY HYMAN! 💣 pic.twitter.com/GcbUOBpSQD
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 21, 2024
Without Brock Boeser, their leading goal scorer, the Canucks were always going to be in tough. J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson looked like two players who hadn’t played together a ton at even-strength. Ilya Mikheyev, who initially rode shotgun with Miller and Pettersson, had a glorious chance in the first period to open the scoring. However, he couldn’t finish on his chance alone in front, and looked like a guy who has one goal in his last 61 games.
Ilya Mikheyev is gonna want that one back 😫 pic.twitter.com/0sqhCprPoc
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 21, 2024
The Canucks can hold their head high after a successful season, but that doesn’t make this loss any less painful. Not when you get outworked by their opposition like they did tonight.
Lack of offence sinks Canucks
Who could have seen this coming back in January.
Prior to the All-Star break, the Canucks had scored the second-most goals in the NHL, only two behind the Colorado Avalanche.
Since then, things haven’t been the same.
The Canucks were 25th overall in goals from the All-Star break to the end of the season. Of the seven teams below them, only the Boston Bruins made the playoffs.
In the playoffs, they had 2.53 goals-per-game. That ranked 10th among playoff teams and second-last among teams that made it to Round 2.
While the Canucks had more individual goal scorers than the Canucks in this series (11-10), their stars were outdueled by the Oilers big guns.
McDavid, Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard combined for 12 goals and 39 points in this series
Miller, Boeser, Pettersson and Quinn Hughes combined for six goals and 20 points.
More to come…