"Too passive": McDavid explains what happened in Oilers Game 1 collapse
The dust is settling on last night’s collapse, where the Edmonton Oilers surrendered a three-goal lead to the Vancouver Canucks to lose Game 1.
It was a game that the Oilers had in complete control heading into the third period. The score was 4-2, and all they needed to do was close things out, similar to how they beat the LA Kings 1-0 in Game 4 of the first round. This was supposed to be a succinct victory for Edmonton, but three unanswered third-period goals by the Canucks washed that all away.
So, what happened? Oilers captain Connor McDavid shed some light on the collapse after the game, implying that Edmonton maybe got a bit too comfortable holding onto the lead.
“They were doing everything they could to come back, and we were doing everything we could do to hold onto the lead,” McDavid said. “Sometimes you’re a little bit too passive. I thought we were doing a good job holding the lead. They find a way to get two and find a way to get a third to win.”
“Sometimes the game script goes that way.”
"Sometimes the game script goes that way."
McDavid on the Canucks comeback tonight.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/XOHa6ImxdB
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 9, 2024
The Canucks were also the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces throughout the game. Dakota Joshuas’s second-period marker came on a favourable bounce off the end boards, and Elias Lindholm was able to bounce a puck off Skinner for the team’s second goal in the game.
McDavid says that those bounces reflected how the game was played.
“There were some strange goals all around,” McDavid said. “We scored some strange ones too. Kind of a frantic game, and you’re going to get that. Definitely some weird ones, some preventable ones too, but overall, I didn’t mind our game.”
McDavid also did not record a single shot in this one, marking the first time in his career that he was held shot-less in a playoff game. In fact, there weren’t a lot of Oilers shots happening in the second half of the game, being held to just eight in the final 40 minutes.
“Trying to protect the lead,” McDavid said of the lack of shots. “We’re up by two and trying to stretch that into a win, similar to LA, where we were able to get it done.”
It’s obviously not the kind of start the Oilers wanted to get off to in the series, and they now find themselves down 1-0 in the second round, which is familiar territory for this team. They lost Game 1 to the Calgary Flames in 2022 by a horrid score of 9-6 and fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 6-4.
They defeated the Flames in five games in 2022 but bowed out to the Knights in six games last season. We’ll see where this one ends up.
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