Vancouver Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs skates onto the ice before practice ahead of Game 1 of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers, in Vancouver, on May 7.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
One team has – likely – a rookie goaltender in net. The other has an underwhelming postseason reputation and the best Canadian player of his generation at the helm.
Connor McDavid wasn’t born the last time the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks faced each other in the playoffs, back in 1992. There is no historic postseason rivalry between the two squads in the all-Canadian second-round series that begins Wednesday night in Vancouver.
For McDavid, however, getting past the Canucks is a must-not-fail test in a storied hockey career that remains absent of any playoff glory. The Canucks, meanwhile, are half-lucky to be here. Their unexpected success – winning their division for the first time in 11 years – has morphed into a doubly unexpected success after the team got through the first round with few goals and a strong showing from Arturs Silovs, a 23-year-old third-stringer who shut out the Nashville Predators in a series-clinching win that marked his 12th NHL game.
With Edmonton widely predicted to win the series, much of the talk around the short-handed Canucks on Tuesday in Vancouver was their underdog status.
Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov was sanguine. “Why would we feel like underdogs?” he said. He then gave a nod towards Silovs. “He gives us confidence.”
The young Latvian goaltender wasn’t in the locker room after practice Tuesday, slipping away without a small fusillade of questions from reporters. He also hadn’t officially been named the starter for Game 1 but appeared to be the probable pick on the ice during practice. In the first round, Silovs won two, lost one and recorded a stellar .938 save percentage. It is perhaps no fluke. While he has few NHL games played, he’s already delivered under pressure. A year ago, Silovs led Latvia to its first world championship medal – a bronze – and won tournament MVP.
Teammates and coaches describe a sort of Zen of youth that Silovs displays. The moment may seem weighty but he’s not lured into overthinking it.
“I don’t think he’s thinking too much,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said.
More top-tier goaltending from Silovs is necessary if Vancouver is going to keep up with Edmonton. And while there’s no historically memorable Canucks-Oilers rivalry, the series should be an intense one from the start.
“There’s only eight teams left,” Tocchet said. “Edmonton’s in our way, and we’re in their way. That’s a rivalry today. You can’t take this for granted. This might not happen again for some guys.”
One player who has been here before is McDavid. He had another spectacular regular season – including 100 assists – and is already front-runner for playoff MVP, with a goal and 11 assists in five first-round games. But in his ninth NHL season he has yet to win deep in the playoffs. Edmonton has a 25-25 record in nine playoff series (five won, four lost) since McDavid was drafted in 2015. The closest he’s gotten Edmonton to the Stanley Cup final was in 2022, when the Oilers were swept by the Avalanche in the third round and Colorado went on to lift the Cup.
Edmonton’s offensive might, led by McDavid, and the Oilers’ potent power play – scoring nearly half the time in the first round against Los Angeles – was a looming problem asked about repeatedly of the Canucks on Tuesday after they practised at Rogers Arena.
“We’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we were scared of them,” veteran Vancouver defencemen Ian Cole said. “We have all the confidence in ourselves to pull this thing out.”
The Canucks may look like underdogs but they are not an accidental ragtag squad that somehow showed up in the second round. Before the season, few thought Vancouver would amount to much but the team upended those expectations with a surge of early wins. Success piled up and it led to a flurry of NHL awards finalists: Quinn Hughes on defence, Tocchet behind the bench and injured starting goaltender Thatcher Demko in the crease.
The series could have the makings of the start of a rivalry, if only because it will be the prime focus of hockey attention for the next two weeks in Canada. This could be the first of more to come, with the Canucks entering a window of contention, led by young players such as Hughes and Elias Pettersson. The Oilers haven’t yet delivered in the playoffs but have made relatively consistent pushes.
For two Oilers, Wednesday is a homecoming. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane both grew up in the Vancouver area. Asked after Oilers practice in Edmonton if any friends would be cheering against him, Nugent-Hopkins smiled. “None of my close friends, I don’t think. I hope not,” he said, chuckling.
To Kane, an all-Canadian playoff contest immediately stokes an atmosphere of rivalry.
“Any time two Canadian teams get together, especially in the playoffs, there’s that little extra,” Kane said. “It’s a fun arena to be in, as a fan. I’m sure they’ll be as hostile as ever, with a big Canadian matchup.”
David Ebner