PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks (Game 7)

The Oilers and Canucks face off in a winner-take-all Game 7 of their second-round series at Rogers Arena on Monday night to decide who'll advance to the Western Conference Final.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet & Hockey Night in Canada at 7:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks (Game 7)

VANCOUVER, BC – From ‘Win or go home’ in Game 6 to ‘Winner takes all’ in Game 7, the objective for the Oilers of winning one more game to extend their season isn't changing.

But this time, a spot in the Western Conference Final is up for grabs.

“It's going to be a lot of fun in that building here in Vancouver and we're playing against a good hockey team,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said Sunday afternoon. “I’m looking forward to it and I know our players are as well. As an elite athlete, you always want pressure-filled games when they mean the most, and what better situation than a gold medal game or a Game 7 matchup?”

The Blue & Orange dealt with the pressure of elimination on Saturday the only way they could by beating the Canucks handily by a 5-1 score in Game 6 to even their second-round series at 3-3 and set up tonight’s elimination decider that will determine who’ll face the Stars in Round 3 beginning later this week.

"There's nothing to be satisfied or excited about," Connor McDavid said. "We just bought ourselves another day and I would expect the same level of urgency and desperation from our group. I would expect Vancouver to play a better game as well and I would expect it to be a highly competitive, great Game 7."

Each of Edmonton’s goals in Saturday’s solid team effort came at even strength, while their penalty kill performed strongly by limiting Vancouver’s power play to two shots on three chances – including 56 seconds at five-on-three at the end of the second period that dropped Vancouver to 0-for-11 this series.

"I think we just played fast," Zach Hyman said post-game. "I think when we're playing fast, we're getting more opportunities and more looks at their net and I thought we got some good looks off the cycle, too. We've gotten looks all series, but I think we bore down on our chances and made good on them."

Leon Draisaitl reached 100 career playoff points in his 60^th game by picking up two helpers as one of Edmonton’s top players who all came prepared to lay it all on the line in Game 6, with McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard each contributing three points and Hyman notching his league-leading 10^th goal of the postseason.

The Oilers got on the board first for the fifth time in the series with a terrific goal from Dylan Holloway, who’s been growing fast in his second-line role over recent games, before his linemate Kane completed the scoring in the final seven minutes of the third with a quick wrist shot that came directly off a face-off win by Draisaitl.

All games in the series had been decided by one goal before Saturday, and the Oilers stepped up in a big way to deliver a strong all-around performance with their season on the line with five even-strength goals and by limiting the Canucks to only 15 shots, with Skinner making 14 saves in his return to the crease.

But none of what happened before in this series will matter much on Monday when the one-game playoff deciding who goes on and who goes home begins.

"I think we all are pumped about the way we played, but it's about short memories," Holloway said. "Momentum doesn't really carry over game to game. We got to focus on the next game, get off to a good start and just play the way we can."

"Every game is its own. The only momentum that happens is maybe shift to shift," Knoblauch said. "Other than tha, there's no momentum. For us, we have an opportunity to win Game 7 in Vancouver. We're going have to play well. They're going be much better than they were [Saturday]. We can feel good about it, but they're going to be a much different team in Game 7 than they were in Game 6."

When contrasted against their Game 5 defeat where they lacked commitment to the finer details, Coach Knoblauch said his side executed much better to keep their season alive in Game 6 after not letting the Canucks come to them and dictate the pace of play.

"One thing we wanted to do was just manage the puck a little bit better and obviously not turn over pucks," he said. "I think Game 5, I don't think we turned over the puck, but we didn't make any plays. And I thought our decision-making was better. We were able to execute and were able to just attack with more speed and control rather than just make the safe play and punt it out all the time."

But just as the Oilers were able to respond to a poor performance in Game 5, the coaches and players are expecting the same kind of reaction from the Canucks on home ice with the strength of their own crowd behind them.

"The series has been so tight, so hotly contested, I was thinking [Game 6] was going to be the same, but I thought we played well,” Connor McDavid said. “I'm sure Vancouver doesn't feel great about their game and they'll be better for Game 7, just as we didn't love our Game 5 and were better in Game 6."

Coach Knoblauch mentioned after the team arrived in Vancouver on Sunday afternoon that forward Adam Henrique will remain out of the lineup for Game 7 and miss his fifth straight game due to injury, but the bench boss expects a very similar – or even identical – lineup to their 5-1 win back in Game 6 on Saturday.

The Canucks, meanwhile, are anticipated to be without one of their star players in Brock Boeser after it was revealed Sunday that the forward is dealing with a non-life-threatening blood clotting issue. The forward is expected to miss Game 7, and the Canucks will be left to try and stave off elimination without one of their joint top scorers in the playoffs (7G, 5A in 12 GP). 

However, we've seen Vancouver bounce back in different ways so far this series, and the absence of Boeser could embolden their group to come up with a 'resilient' effort that's been the motto of Head Coach Rick Tocchet's team this postseason.

"It's amazing when you lose a player like that," Knoblauch said of the impact of losing one of your elite offensive talents. "Obviously, you look at your lineup and your lineup's weaker. I've seen it numerous times, but it's amazing how guys step up. Everyone steps up, and collectively, sometimes you're just a better team... We have to be ready. They're missing a good player, or we anticipate that's going happen, but we have to anticipate a team that's going to be really stepping up their game."