Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 29: Oilers stars shine in 5-1 blowout to force Game 7

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard
Credit: © Perry Nelson

We got some Game 6 action on Saturday night between two Canadian rivals in the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers, and for the Oilers, it was do-or-die on home ice. And with their season on the line, they decided to go back to Stuart Skinner in net.

Obviously the Oilers were going to come out with a bit more urgency, so it only made sense that they got the first goal of the game. Dylan Holloway burst down the ice and deked past several Canucks, including Arturs Silovs, in Connor McDavid-esque fashion, and that gave Edmonton the 1-0 lead.

But that lead didn’t last long, as Elias Pettersson made a great pass to Nils Hoglander up front, and the winger buried the puck past Skinner to tie the game.

Edmonton thought they had another goal just before the buzzer, but it was waived off immediately due to McDavid interfering with Silovs in front. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch didn’t bother challenging the call, and we were still tied going into the first intermission.

Despite both teams only registering four shots, it was a relatively high-paced period, with Vancouver enforcing their defensive poise and preventing the puck from getting to the net, blocking seven shots in the frame.

The Oilers appeared to be motivated to get the lead again after missing out on it with the waived-off goal, because they came out flying in the second period. They had the better scoring chances early on, and it paid off seven minutes in when Zach Hyman‘s shot hit Silovs and floated past a diving Carson Soucy and into the net to give them a 2-1 lead.

A bit over four minutes later, Evan Bouchard built on that lead by hammering a slap shot off the far post and in to make it a 3-1 game.

And the Oilers kept building on that lead in the third period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins buried a set-up from McDavid to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead a few minutes into the final frame.

And then to put the nail in the coffin, Evander Kane sniped one right off the faceoff to make it 5-1 Oilers. The Oilers took that score to the dressing room, and have now tied the series and given hockey fans a win-or-go-home Game 7.

Bouchard and Nugent-Hopkins both finished the night with two assists to go with their goals for three-point performances, while McDavid also had three points, all of them being primary assists. Skinner had a quiet night, only needing to make 14 saves on 15 shots, but certainly looked better than he had for most of this series.

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