NHL Game Preview: Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks | 04/13/2024

No, I don’t like that Edmonton lost to Arizona of all teams. But it’s hard for me to even be disappointed. Besides the fact the Oilers already clinched a Playoff berth a week ago, the Overtime point they got last night was enough for them to clinch home-ice advantage in Round 1 for the fourth straight year.

News of the Coyotes franchise moving to Salt Lake City was made official while the game was still being played. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported that the Yotes were leaving their door to the locker room closed and not entertaining questions from the media. Only their coach, Andre Tourigny, participated in the post-game presser. Despite the jokes about that organization that hockey fans like to make, a lot of players liked being there. You should expect it to be emotional from a player’s perspective, as well as from the perspective of Coyotes fans that stayed loyal. Perhaps they’ll come back to the NHL when there’s talk of another expansion. Without them, there’d be no Auston Matthews.

I have to admit, though. When Calvin Pickard made those two huge stops in OT, I did feel confident our team would end up winning. It would’ve been nice to win on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins‘ birthday. 31 years old and he still looks a high school student. Time has gone by so fast that I feel old. But give full marks to Arizona for winning three games against three top teams in the West within a week. One of them being tonight’s opponent. The keys to the game are…

The Race For First: Both the Oilers and Canucks will have home-ice advantage in Round 1. The question is, who wins the division to play a Wild Card team, and who finishes second? Vancouver is three points ahead of Edmonton with a game in hand. Neither Vegas or Nashville should be taken lightly in the Playoffs, I’m totally fine with just having the newly traditional L.A. series. But it’s up to the players lacing them up to decide who they’d rather play against.

Puck Mover Duel: A 91-point season has Quinn Hughes running away with the Norris trophy this season, and Evan Bouchard is 4th in scoring among defensemen with 79 points. Their powerplay production is pretty equal; staying out of the penalty box will play a big role for either team.

Other Good Things: Elias Lindholm has struggled to get points with his new team since the Trade Deadline. It looked like a genius move in theory, but the Canucks just don’t seem to be his team. That being said, he still has a 60% face-off wins percentage. Leon Draisaitl‘s FO% is ranked 8th league-wide. Both teams have firepower that fans pay to see, but look for two-way play between them as well.