Dare to dream: Canucks-Oilers playoff
Let’s take a pandemic-reporting pause for the sports-enjoyment cause
Let there be levity and logic. Amid incredible angst over the life-threatening coronavirus pandemic — and the NHL’s appetite to salvage its season and bottom line by formulating a post-season format to award the Stanley Cup in August — faithful followers of the Vancouver Canucks require a reporting pause for the sports-enjoyment cause.
They need to dream of a summer day at the beach and playoff hockey in Rogers Arena at night.
After all, supposed season-resumption news isn’t really news. It’s hope over lost-revenue fear. It’s optimism over growing pessimism that nobody really knows what the next weeks and months may bring.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday the league “can play into the summer, well into the summer.”
He also said neutral-site games in remote areas are possible to guard against COVID-19, and that he’ll have a better idea by the end of April of when the resumption switch could be flipped.
Bettman also knows in a perfect world the regular season would play out. It would force the Canucks to rally from the No. 9 conference hole. It would keep the Winnipeg Jets, who had won four straight games before the March 12 season pause, in contention as the second wildcard club — instead of missing the post-season based on points percentage by a minuscule 0.001.
But there might not be enough time to right that wrong.
Even a 24-team playoff concept of a dozen clubs from each conference — including first-round byes, play-in and play-out rounds to get down to the customary post-season 16 teams — would be up against constraints to fit everything in under the normal two-month playoff window.
Imagine the NHL having no choice but to award playoff positions based on points percentage. The Canucks would be the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division and face the No. 2 Edmonton Oilers. The Jets would be out.
The Canucks’ first post-season appearance in five years would be filled with anticipation because they would be underdogs — even though they went 2-2-0 in the season series against Edmonton. They limited Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to a pair of assists in a 4-2 win at Rogers Arena on Dec. 23 in the clubs’ final meeting of the season.
“We have a good team, we know it and we believe in ourselves,” rookie Quinn Hughes would say after scoring a power-play goal in the third period to provide a 3-2 lead, finishing with four shots and 10 attempts, and working with Chris Tanev to shut down McDavid and Draisaitl. “I’ve been watching 97 (McDavid) a long time and you’ve got to be careful what you ask for.”
The series’ key would be to limit the damage.
Draisaitl and McDavid led the NHL when the season was put on hold with 110 points (43-67) and 97 points (34-63), respectively. The Oilers also owned the top-ranked power play and second-ranked penalty kill, and McDavid was a beast in the faceoff circle against Bo Horvat.
In the season opener Oct. 2 in Edmonton, the Oilers duo combined for four points and 18 shot attempts in a 3-2 win.
However, the Canucks showed moxie in the next meeting at the end of a sixgame road trip. A 5-2 triumph at Rogers Place on Nov. 30 came with Horvat setting up the last three goals to snap a 2-2 tie, Tanner Pearson having four points (2-2) and the penalty kill going 3-for-3.
McDavid had two points (1-1) but committed four turnovers amid close scrutiny, and Draisaitl went pointless. Any matchup that forces the superstars to play in their own zone and get frustrated — a healthy Jay Beagle between Tyler Motte and Brandon Sutter has been effective — can tip the scales on any night.
However, in a 3-2 loss to the Oilers on Dec. 1 at Rogers Arena, Draisaitl struck twice on the power play, McDavid had two assists and won 58 per cent of his draws.
Horvat struggled in the circle matchup and went just 8-for-21 (33 per cent).
So, how could the Canucks author the upset?
They’d have to live up to their second-overall ranking in faceoffs and fourth rating on the power play, but the 16th-ranked penalty kill would have to pressure better. The Canucks have the edge in goal with Jacob Markstrom and would benefit from J.T. Miller’s career season, leadership and playoff pedigree.
There’s an X-factor in Pearson, who had a goal and 11 shots in the season opener, youthful exuberance in Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, and a playmaking magician in Hughes.
Is all that enough? Outside of Vancouver, the answer is a resounding no. But within the city, we know this much — it would be interesting to see how the Oilers handle the tremendous pressure. And that’s where fans can dare to dream.