Oilers facing elimination after heartbreaking Game 5 loss
The Edmonton Oilers are now facing elimination after the Vancouver Canucks scored the game-winner in the final minute of Game 5 in a 3-2 loss.
It was a reverse of Game 4 as J.T. Miller played the hero in this one. The Oilers now face elimination on home ice during Saturday night’s Game 6.
“I thought they were the better team,” Connor McDavid told reporters after the game. “They get a bounce at the end of the game and that’s the way it goes.”
JT MILLER SCORES THE GO-AHEAD GOAL WITH LESS THAN A MINUTE LEFT! šØ pic.twitter.com/2zjtNLRIvn
ā Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 17, 2024
Mattias Janmark and Evander Kane had the goals for the Oilers. Edmonton netminder Calvin Pickard did all he could to get his team the win, stopping 32 of the 35 shots he faced on the night, but it wasn’t enough.
Not enough firepower
The Oilers have been waiting for their depth scoring to make an impact in this series and when it finally came, they couldn’t support.
Kane and Janmark both notched their first goals of the series but, outside of that, the Oilers’ big guns just couldn’t find an extra one to get past Arturs Silovs in the Vancouver net. The first 20 minutes belonged to Edmonton, but the Canucks controlled the final 40.
“I didn’t think we capitalized good enough in the first period,” McDavid said of his team’s play. “We couldn’t find a way to generate much.”
Mattias Janmark quickly answers for the Oilers! ā½ļø pic.twitter.com/H4if4JsA6o
ā Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 17, 2024
In a series where Edmonton has been able to sit back and let their stars take over at times, they didn’t get that in this one.
Pickard looks good
It was a much busier game for Pickard between the pipes than in Game 4.
The journeyman goaltender only faced 21 shots in Game 4, and Vancouver got 35 on net tonight. Despite the result, Pickard was quite good, posting by far the best save percentage of the series for the Oilers with .914 on the night.
Alas, it wasn’t enough to pick up the victory. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch will now have a tough decision to make in what could be Edmonton’s last game of the season on Saturday.
Rare PP struggles
The Oilers have been absolute fiends with the man advantage all playoffs, but their luck seemingly ran out in this one.
Edmonton was afforded five generous power plays on the night and failed to convert on a single one. Their special teams prowess has been integral to their success and being unable to convert on at least one of those chances wound up being the difference in the game.
“It was definitely a night where we would like to have had one to help the team win,” Zach Hyman said after the game. “We weren’t good enough, obviously, we didn’t generate as much as we usually do on the power play.”
They did find a way to score a few even-strength goals, but it will be hard to win games with such a low margin of error if you can’t deposit at least one goal on the PP. It will be something that will need to be better in Game 6.
Edmonton will now head back to the Alberta capital to play in what could be their final game of the season. If the Oilers have any hope of advancing to the Western Conference Finals, they will have to defeat the Canucks in seven games.
Game 6 at Rogers Place goes on Saturday night with a 6 pm MT start time.