RYAN'S CLUTCH PLAY A SERIES CLINCHER FOR OILERS
Veteran forward came up big when called upon in the deciding game against Kings
It's the last 60 seconds on Wednesday. Los Angeles Kings goalie David Rittich is on the bench for an extra skater, and Derek Ryan breaks his stick in the Edmonton Oilers zone, turning it into basically a 6-on-4 with the Kings seeking the tying goal.
But Ryan, deciding not to race to the bench for a new twig, soldiers on. He first dives to try to bat the puck out, but it doesn't work. Then he sees the puck come up the boards and seals off Jordan Spence with a hard check to choke off an offensive chance before Leon Draisaitl breaks free and draws a penalty.
Game over, series over.
So what about Ryan's work? He only played 9:19 because there was only one Kings power play to help kill, but Ryan, who sat out the first three games of the series for Sam Carrick, was out in the dying stages to protect the win.
“He got the plunger (unsung player) tonight and those plays he made late were the big reason why,” said Oilers goalie Stu Skinner. “It's the way he battled, no matter what the situation gave him. You saw him throw himself on the ice, trying to get a hand on it (puck), then he rubbed a guy off the puck along the boards and we got it out. He's why we kept it at 4-3.”
NEXT OILER GAME, TO BE ANNOUNCED
If the Canucks knock off the Predators in Nashville on Friday night to end that series, the next round against Oilers might start Sunday in Vancouver, a short turnaround for the Canucks. It certainly won't be next Monday because Pearl Jam has a concert at Rogers Arena. So a Tuesday start for Round 2 is also a possibility.
It would be the marquee matchup for Sportsnet if the Leafs go out, which means Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson in the broadcast booth with possible earlier start times here and in Vancouver to get the games on at the proper time in Ontario.
When asked if he'd be watching the Canucks-Preds game Friday, Draisaitl didn't stickhandle. “I'd be lying if I said I wasn't paying attention to it. If we're not all watching, we're definitely checking in. This is our job, this is our life,” he said.
“Yeah. Of course's we're looking to see who we're playing,” laughed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
GOING THE LIMIT TO WIN CUP
Glen Sather's enduring playoff motto was “win the series as fast as you can, especially early on, before the games start to stack up.” So, this five-game elimination of Los Angeles in Round 1 is the first, right step for the Oilers. No team since 1987 has ever won the Stanley Cup having to go the max 28 games.
The average is 22 to get the requisite 16 wins.
Most games for Cup winners since '87 when the Oilers won their third championship? St. Louis (26 games) in 2019 and Los Angeles (26) in 2014. Pittsburgh (25) in 2017, Boston (25) in 2011 and Carolina (25) in 2006 are next closest. It took Vegas 22 games last spring and Colorado 20 in 2022. Fewest: the Oilers (18) in 1988, Wayne Gretzky's last year here.
Rest is important, especially not having to fly three hours to L.A. for a Game 6.
“Rest is a weapon at this time of year,” said Connor McDavid.
TAKE A BIG GULP ON DUBOIS
There's always debriefing after a playoff loss from managers to coaches to players, but if you're looking at the list of questions for the vanquished Kings now, Pierre-Luc Dubois has to be at the top.
Do they admit they made a huge mistake trading for him and signing him to that eightyear deal for an US$8.5 million cap hit, and they buy him out? Dubois had 40 regular-season points and just one playoff point, a goal on a shot off Darnell Nurse in Game 1. Over his last 21 games (regular-season and playoffs), he had two goals.
They can buy him out at onethird but it would have to be soon, before he turns 26, which is June 24. Buyouts can start on June 15 or 48 hours after the playoffs end. He has seven years remaining on his contract and according to Capfriendly, it would cost them $15.833 million of dead money over double the length left, or 14 years on the cap, but they would save almost $31.666 million in the short term.
Dubois, who sources say was brought to L.A. in part because Kings president Luc Robitaille and Dubois' agent Pat Brisson, are tight, has been an NHLer since 2016. He was outplayed by captain Anze Kopitar, who is 10 years older, in the Oilers-Kings series.
THIS ' N THAT
If Rittich has a black catching mitt rather than a white left glove, would it have been as easy to determine the glove and puck was inside the goal line after the power play bullet by Draisaitl to tie the game 2-2? “You could see the puck in the white webbing,” said ex-goalie Kelly Hrudey on the TV panel ... There's going to be changes after Kings' firstround ouster for a third straight year. You wonder how secure GM Rob Blake is even though Blake and Robitaille are best friends, former teammates and Hall of Famers. Ex-Habs manager Marc Bergevin has been very much on the scene for the last two years as a senior adviser. If there's heat above Robitaille to move on from Blake, and Bergevin gets the GM job, there's a feeling he might hire Gerard Gallant as a shortterm coach with a team that is not yet in a rebuild because Kopitar and Drew Doughty are still very productive.