They said it
“Who is kidding who? We can’t get into a penalty fest against Edmonton. We can’t give them four, five or six power plays. Hopefully we’re allowed to play the game 5-on-5, hopefully it’s not a penalty fest, but that’s on us too.” — Canucks coach Rick Tocchet
“I don’t think we’re going to have that same (special teams) advantage in this series, we’re going to have [to get] more offense 5-on-5. But as far as what we need to do to be successful is to match their work ethic. They’re a very hardworking team, but they have a lot of skill.” — Oilers coach Chris Knoblauch
Will win if…
Canucks: They can keep McDavid (12 points; one goal, 11 assists in five first-round games) and Draisaitl in check and play at even strength as much as possible. The Canucks also will have to be better on the man-advantage against a team that did not give up a power-play goal in the first round. Silov is going to have to be outstanding and steal a game or two if he has to play in place of Demko and DeSmith. Forwards Brock Boeser and JT Miller, along with Hughes, will have to continue driving the offense.
Oilers: They can continue to draw penalties and score on the power play at an impressive rate. The Canucks were not able to generate much offensively in the first round, scoring 13 goals in six games. The Oilers scored 22 goals in five games. If Skinner outplays whoever is in net at the other end, Edmonton will have an excellent chance of moving on to the Western Conference Final.
How they look
Canucks projected lineup
Pius Suter — JT Miller — Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander — Elias Pettersson — Ilya Mikheyev
Dakota Joshua — Elias Lindholm — Conor Garland
Phillip Di Giuseppe — Teddy Blueger — Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes – Philip Hronek
Carson Soucy – Tyler Myers
Ian Cole – Nikita Zadorov
Artur Silov
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Mark Friedman, Nils Aman, Noah Juulsen, Vasily Podkolzin, Nikita Tolopilo
Injured: Thatcher Demko (undisclosed)
Oilers projected lineup
Adam Henrique — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Leon Draisaitl — Evander Kane
Dylan Holloway – Ryan McLeod – Corey Perry
Warren Foegele — Derek Ryan — Mattias Janmark
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak – Vincent Desharnais
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Philip Broberg, Connor Brown, Jack Campbell, Sam Carrick, Ryan Fanti, Sam Gagner, Troy Stecher
Injured: None
Tags: Stanley Cup Playoffs Canucks Oilers Western #2nd preview
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