A BIGGER PROBLEM?
Canucks' Game 1 win over Oilers raises an uncomfortable question
Perhaps it's nothing serious.
Then again, perhaps it's the beginning of the end.
The picture is all kinds of blurry right now following Vancouver's rousing 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their much-anticipated playoff series.
The Oilers said over and over again before this showdown started that their 0-4 regular season record against the Canucks didn't mean a thing — that they are a very different team than the one Vancouver rag-dolled in October and November — and spent the first 35 minutes of Game 1 proving it.
Their power play was clicking, their offence was cooking, they needed less than half a game to expose Vancouver's rookie goalie and they had a commanding 4-1 lead on the road.
The universe was unfolding as it should.
Now, after a staggering four-goal collapse that had everyone who's been watching the Oilers down the stretch and in the playoffs shaking their head in bewilderment, some unnerving thoughts are creeping into the discussion.
The Canucks, whose only hope was supposed to be a suffocating defensive posture, just beat the Oilers in a nine-goal game. They dominated play when it mattered most, they showed more composure, they got better goaltending, they scored the timely goals and they closed out the lead.
Consider that when it was 4-1 Edmonton with 6:49 to go in the second period, the Oilers had 14 shots on net. When it was 5-4 Vancouver with five minutes left in the game, the Oilers still had 14 shots.
In the most crucial times, with the game on the line, Vancouver was in charge. Just like the Canucks were in the regular season. And, suddenly, those four regular-season victories are back on the table.
Suddenly it's fair to ask if perhaps the Canucks didn't post those early wins because the Oilers were in a funk during the first 11 games of the season, but perhaps the Oilers were in a funk during the first 11 games of the season because they kept playing the Canucks.
That isn't something the Oilers faithful even want to think about right now, much less believe, but at 5-0 this year the Canucks can fully argue that they have Edmonton's number.
Combine that with the fact that teams winning Game 1 end up winning the series 68 per cent of the time and it gets spooky in a hurry.
And if that wasn't enough, the Canucks are starting to look like a team of destiny. They're down to a third-string rookie goalie who closed out the last series with a shutout. They won a game with 12 shots on net. They won another one when they were losing 3-1 with 2:49 to play and now they turn 1-4 into 5-4 against the favoured Oilers in 17 wild minutes.
If you're cheering for Edmonton, this is a lot to worry about.
The Oilers were losing Game 1 of a playoff series when the Canucks were crossing their fingers at the draft lottery, so falling behind 1-0 to Vancouver isn't going to rattle them.
But make no mistake about it, they are one game away from being rattled.
If the Canucks give them more of the same in Game 2 and go 6-0 on the year and 2-0 in the series, it's going to be a very serious problem.
Right now, this is the part where the Oilers are supposed to keep their calm and do what they did after Los Angeles gave them a similar slap in Game 2 of Round 1. Edmonton lost that game 5-4, Stuart Skinner wasn't good (three goals on seven first-period shots) and the team needed a response.
They got it. And this team's overall body of work (45-15-5 down the heart of their stretch drive and a complete and convincing five-game win over Los Angeles) suggests they'll get it again.
Skinner still has some playoff demons to exorcise, but the way he fought back after losing Game 2 to the Kings has you believing Wednesday night is the exception to who