Oilers reveal lineup for all-important Game 7 against Canucks
The Edmonton Oilers have a chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in three seasons tonight, but they have to get past the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 first.
With the team coming off the most dominant win of the series in a 5-1 victory in Game 6 on Saturday night, it appears that the Oilers are opting to make minimal changes to the lineup for the penultimate game of the series.
The team took to the ice at Rogers Arena in Vancouver this morning where Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed the lineup that his team will be running tonight.
No changes for #Oilers in Game 7.
Expect these lines:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Draisaitl-Holloway
Foegele-McLeod-Ryan
Janmark-Carrick-BrownEkholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Desharnais
Kulak-CeciSkinner
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) May 20, 2024
It’s hard to argue that the Oilers needed to make any drastic changes after Game 6. Every single game up to that point had been razor-thin one-goal games, but Edmonton found a way to steamroll the Canucks to keep their season alive.
The first line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Connor McDavid-Zach Hyman combined for two goals and five assists during the game and looked good doing so. The real difference, however, was the team’s new-look second line of Evander Kane-Leon Draisaitl-Dylan Holloway.
Holloway opened the scoring with a beautiful cut to the middle while Kane found the back of the net for the second straight game. Draisaitl, as always, was also magnificent with two assists to join Wayne Gretzky in the NHL record books.Ā
DYLAN HOLLOWAY, WHAT A GOAL! š„µ pic.twitter.com/zNSqwwb9fg
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 19, 2024
On the backend, the defensive pairings will also look the same as they did in the past few games with Darnell Nurse playing alongside Vincent Desharnais on the second pair and Brett Kulak manning the third pair with Cody Ceci.
Stuart Skinner, who had himself a rebound game on Saturday, will once again be between the pipes for the Oilers in what will be his very first NHL Game 7. Arturs Silovs gets the nod in net for the Canucks.
Gametime is set for 7 pm MT.