The Edmonton Oilers will start their pursuit of a third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup final at home on Monday and this time, the Anaheim Ducks are on the menu.
Captain Connor McDavid had four assists and rookie Matthew Savoie scored his first career hat trick as the Oilers secured second place in the Pacific Division and home ice to start the first round against the Anaheim Ducks with a clutch 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
“It was an important one,” McDavid said.
“We wanted to start (the playoffs) here at home and give ourselves the best chance in the first round.”
Josh Samanski, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Colton Dach also scored and Evan Bouchard had three assists for the Oilers (41-30-12) who closed the regular season with a 7-2-2 record in their final 11 games.
“It’s exciting,” said veteran defenceman Darnell Nurse. “When our back was against the wall for the last month or two, everyone was counting us out. We came together, got tighter and started to play our best hockey. It’s good going into the playoffs like that. I think our group is in a really good spot.”
The Oilers finished 30-5-5 when scoring first this season.
Edmonton was buoyed by the return of veteran scorer Zach Hyman and are expecting star forward Leon Draisaitl back during the opening round of post-season play.
McDavid said surviving their absences down the final stretch showed Edmonton’s tenacity.
“There’s no doubt about it, it’s been an up and down year for a lot of things,” he said.
“We’ve worked hard to put ourselves in this spot. With Leon going out there it was a question if we’d even be in the playoffs. When a player like that goes out, you never know. And we’ve had numerous guys step up and dig in and to have home ice is important.
“The first round is always chaotic. It is every single year. Home ice isn’t the be-all, end-all, but it certainly helps.”
Draisaitl has been hard at work and practice and McDavid expects he will be in the lineup sooner rather than later.
“He looks amazing, he looks really, really strong,” he said. “It’s a credit to him and our staff here. I keep saying how good our staff is here and it’s the time of year where health and injuries play a big factor and our guys do an amazing job making guys available.
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“It’s also a credit to Leon for wanting to be there, for wanting to be a difference maker. And he will be. He looks great.”
Connor Ingram recorded just 11 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net as the Oilers outshot Vancouver 35-12.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to not believe in this group,” said Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm. “I’ve seen us over the last two, three seasons, and obviously in the post-season, that we will be a team to count on. And we’re hitting our gear at the right time of the year this time.”
After defeating the Los Angeles Kings in the first round in four consecutive seasons, the Oilers will now face the Ducks, who haven’t made a post-season appearance since 2018.
“We’ve had some exciting games against them,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “They’ve got a tremendous lineup, a lot of skill, and they’re a team that can be very hot. They’ve had a couple of the hottest winning streaks.
“If they find their game, they can be very dangerous. They have so many dangerous weapons, so many guys who can score throughout their lineup. You see how many late comeback wins they’ve had. You can never count them out. It will be a great entertaining first round.”
McDavid said that he feels the Oilers will be the same contending squad that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final the last two seasons, only to lose out both times to the Florida Panthers.
“The expectation is the same as always,” he said. “We’ve got a great belief in here. Playoff hockey is unique. It’s a skill to win in the playoffs and we feel pretty good about having that skill, having been there and won a lot of playoff games.
“That being said, it’s exciting for everybody and we’ve got to be ready to roll.”
McDavid finished the season with 138 points and as the NHL’s top scorer he captured his sixth Art Ross title, tying him with Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe for second most in league history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 10.
McDavid became the third player in league history to get a point in every one of his team’s wins this year with 41, Gretzky coming next with 29 in 1980-81.
With his four-point night, he reached 1,220 career points, passing Jeremy Roenick, Larry Murphy and Jean Beliveau to advance to 47th place on the NHL’s all-time point scoring list. McDavid entered the season in 71st place.
On a scary note for the Ducks, McDavid’s 1.82 point-per-game regular season rate against Anaheim is the highest total by any player against the franchise.
Bouchard picked up three assists to cap off a tremendous regular season, easily winning the scoring race among defencemen with 95 points. He passed Ray Bourque for the seventh most points by a blueliner in a season since 1989-90, a list led by current Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey who had 103 that year.
The 26-year-old is just the 10th defenceman in NHL history to record a 95-point season.
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