GAME 6 WIN MEANS NOTHING UNLESS OILERS TAKE SERIES
Another first-round flop would negate many of the positives this team has built up
The Edmonton Oilers knew what the storyline would be. They knew the way they'd be branded going forward if they didn't win Game 6.
Three straight seasons in the playoffs. Three consecutive years eliminated in the first round.
Celebrate their Game 6 win all you want. That'll still be the storyline. It will still be how they'll be branded if they don't win Game 7.
That's the reality. What happened Thursday in Los Angeles was wonderful. But there was no trophy for winning Game 6. All the win amounted to was getting a 48-hour stay of execution.
The gallows will now be relocated 3,317 kilometres north. The electric chair will be plugged in at Rogers Place in Edmonton instead of the Crypto.com Arena in L.A.
Yes, the Oilers have given owner Daryl Katz another $3 million gate. Yes they've given Edmonton's fans a fourth occasion this season to create the most exceptional environment existing anywhere in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But just because the Oilers dug down deep and found the will to win Game 6 doesn't mean that they'll be able to use the scene their fans create to actually win a series.
They haven't really used it yet. This is a team that scored the first goal of the game to win three times in this series and didn't show up for the first period of the other three.
This is a team that won Game 2 by a score of 6-0 and won Game 3 by a count of 8-2 and came out as if it figured the series had been won and allowed a team with 11 players who had never performed in a Stanley Cup playoff series before to outshoot them by a combined count of 36-15 in the first period of the next two games.
How can the Oilers claim home ice advantage? They've lost two of three in Rogers Place. And for the record, Los Angeles is 7-4 in Game 7 and has won four straight while the Oilers are 6-4 and haven't won a Game 7 since 1990.
Yes, the win was a get-out-ofjail card for Darnell Nurse, who allowed himself to take a head butt penalty in Game 5 and get suspended for Game 6.
Yes, it allowed coach Jay Woodcroft to get a do-over for his decision to pair a neverplayed-together-before combination of Brett Kulak and Duncan Keith together for the ill-fated first shift of the overtime loss in Game 5.
Yes, it gave future Hall of Famer Keith an additional chance to prove, after he'd played so poorly, that he could give the Oilers what general manager Ken Holland believed he could bring to this group in the playoffs like he did in playing so well in Game 6.
And, yes, it extended the opportunity to prove to a couple of other players that their careers could continue here next year that probably wouldn't have been the case if the Oilers hadn't given themselves the opportunity to play in Game 7 and win the series.
Got all that? OK, then. Now think about what it might mean if the Oilers returned home and duplicated that performance and won Game 7.
Now imagine what it would mean for Edmonton as a city that played host to 81 Stanley Cup playoff games in the bubble here and won only one game, and then was eliminated in a fourgame sweep in empty arenas in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Nobody said, “Gee, I hope the Oilers gas the next two games so we can play a Game 7” after the Oilers won 6-0 and 8-2.
The Oilers should have been home resting up the dynamic duo. Leon Draisaitl and Connor Mcdavid should have been watching this spectacular bounceback year of first-round Stanley Cup playoff games instead of getting battered and bruised attempting superhuman feats. Instead, they're involved in a trio of Game 7s on Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada.
It doesn't take away from what this could mean for the fans of Edmonton, who suffered through the Decade of Darkness with 11 years out of the playoffs, should the Oilers win.
Imagine what it might mean in terms of the future and keeping this team together if they do?
Mcdavid scored a wraparound goal on his first shift and drove the bus. He now has an Nhl-leading 12 playoff points in six games. He's been awesome all over the ice.
Draisaitl has five goals and eight points and has been an absolute warrior while now clearly playing hurt.
What if Evander Kane can have another game Saturday like the two-goal game he had in Game 6? It resulted in a special scene of the controversial serial offender the Oilers gambled on at midseason. Kane held up seven fingers after he scored the empty-netter to put it away and had to explain it represented Game 7. You could tell he hadn't even thought of seven goals.
He's been building a relationship he's never had before.
All of that could be super significant if the Oilers can do it again.
But if they don't win, sorry, it won't mean much.