On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by NHL insider Frank Seravalli to discuss the results of Vancouver’s Game 1 win at Rogers Arena last night.
Frank believes that, even after the Canucks’ dramatic comeback, it’s the Oilers’ series to lose.
“Silovs was not good last night; he was swimming to start,” Frank stated. “That’s probably the worst game you’re going to get from the Edmonton Oilers in the series. Connor McDavid wasn’t a factor – the first time he didn’t have a shot in a playoff game in his career. How many more of those games are you going to get? Had you not won, what a missed opportunity it would have been. I know that’s not a hypothetical game we get to play because you won, but it was 4-1 and super quiet at one point.”
Frank noted the main key for the Oilers will be getting their depth players rolling. “Their significant advantage over the Canucks is their depth. The Canucks are built to be more than this, but they’ve played like a one-and-a-half-line team in the playoffs… Let’s operate under the hypothetical that Draisaitl’s out (which, for my money, he was the best player on the ice for either team for the first half of Game 1). I still think the Oilers have a clear advantage, even with Evander Kane having a horrible game, Corey Perry being mostly unnoticeable, and Connor McDavid [not being at his best]. I think they just have more… I don’t know how much better the Canucks can be. The Oilers’ best is a level the Canucks haven’t gotten to. That’s how I see this series.”
Harm mentioned the defensive issues for Edmonton being a point of concern for the Oilers, and Frank expanded. “The way you see the Nurse and Ceci pair function is the crux of their issues as a team,” he said. “They repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot. It’s going to go one of two ways: the Oilers are going to learn a lesson, limit that [behavior], have a game in the series where they have a lead and don’t gag, or they’re going to be the same thing time after time. That’s what has doomed their playoffs of old. They may survive – you can have a game like that if you’re the Oilers. It can happen once in a playoff run, and they might be able to overcome it against the Canucks. I can tell you for sure you’re not going to be doing that against Dallas or Colorado and hoping to win the Stanley Cup.”
Frank ended with a final thought on why the Oilers have the clear edge in the series. “If the gulf on special teams remains as large as it is, the Vancouver Canucks do not have a prayer against the Oilers,” he asserted.
“We agree, and we said that previewing the series: the Canucks can hang with the Oilers in five-on-five,” Harm countered. “On special teams, you’re going to get your doors blown off. But, as the series goes longer, if the Canucks can survive the first few games, the whistles tend to go away the last couple games of the series. Now all of a sudden the Canucks have a chance at being competitive and potentially winning. It’s these games at the start of a series you worry about power-play trouble.”
You can watch the full segment in the video below:
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