The Vancouver Canucks are getting some off-ice help as Game 1 of their series against the Edmonton Oilers looms.
The Pacific Division champions are set to face off against their Alberta rivals at Rogers Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby was joined by legendary Canucks goaltender Kirk McLean, team mascot Fin and government and opposition MLAs to hoist the squad’s flag in front of the Victoria legislature.
“We are B.C.’s team. It’s not just Vancouver,” McLean said. “And we really appreciate the support. It goes a long way. This will get back to the players and they will hear about it and it will pump them up.”
“This is one of the few things that all the parties in the legislature can agree on,” Eby quipped.
The ceremony followed a surprise tribute by Pearl Jam, who played the second of two Vancouver shows at Rogers Arena on Monday as they launched their world tour.
During the performance, lead singer Eddie Vedder projected a hand-written message for the audience.
“May it arrive here next,” the message stated — presumably referring to the Stanely Cup.
“Go Coach Tocchet and the Canucks,” it added with a hand-drawn rendering of the Canucks vintage “stick-in-rink” logo.
Despite defeating Edmonton in all four regular-series matchups and winning the Pacific Division, they are going into their Round 2 playoff matchup as the underdogs.
Analysts across the league have near-unanimously chosen Edmonton, led by Connor McDavid and a monster offence filled out by Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, as the heavy favourites.
Edmonton is also the favourite on the sports betting markets, with B.C.-based Playnow.com listing the Canucks as three-to-one underdogs.
“I can give you 97 reasons why … I mean they have the best hockey player in the world on their roster,” B.C. Lottery Corporation spokesperson Matt Lee told the Jas Johal Show, referring to Edmonton the Edmonton captain.
“Even if you look past Connor McDavid, you have an absolute force: Leon Draisaitl. You got a 50-goal scorer in Zach Hyman and arguably a top-10 defenseman in the league in Evan Bouchard. So it’s not just the Connor McDavid show anymore. The Edmonton Oilers have a handful of guys on that team who can do some damage.”
Following practice on Tuesday, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet suggested there would be some minor adjustments to address Edmonton’s style of play but that he planned to stick to the team’s system.
“We’ve got to play our style of hockey, we can’t change for different teams,” Tocchet said.
Canucks star forward Elias Pettersson, who has been grappling with an offensive drought, missed practice on Tuesday, reportedly with a head cold.
It remains unclear who will start in net for the Canucks come Wednesday.
All-Star goalie Thatcher Demko has been seen on the ice, but remains sidelined with an undisclosed injury and isn’t expected back until late in the second round at best.
There has been no update on backup Casey DeSmith, who went 1-1 against the Nashville Predators, before being sidelined by an injury of his own.
He may also have been upstaged by third-stringer Arturs Silovs, who went 2-1 against the Predators including notching a shutout in Game 6 to advance the Canucks to Round 2.
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