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A game after bringing their A-game, the Canucks brought their D-game Saturday night into Edmonton. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Oilers played one of their best games of this series and were more desperate and dominant all night long on their way to a 5-1 victory. If you are interested in watching, here are the highlights:
This young Canucks team is finding out first hand how hard it is to close out a team, and how much harder it is when two of the best players in the world aren’t willing to go down willingly. McDavid or Draistail had a hand in every one of the Oilers goals Saturday night, while JT Miller who’s been so good at slowing them down this series left the ice with a -3 beside his name. It wasn’t just their line at fault as the team mustered a measly 15 shots on net throughout this elimination game and weren’t really on the same level as the Oilers after the first.
While this game wasn’t an ace for the Canucks, they’ve rebounded well all season and haven’t lost back-to-backs since March. In fact, no team in this series has lost two games in a row… so it’s going to be interesting to see if that trend continues.
“You’re disappointed a little bit, but you know that we are a good bounce-back team,” Tocchet said. “Our job is we’ve got to flush this game. Some guys know they’ve got to play better, and you’ve got 48 hours to get your energy back. It’s a Game 7. People would kill to be in this situation right now, and we’ve got to make sure that we act like we want to be in that situation.
“Play like you want to be a hero on Monday, that’s what I think.”
“I mean, it's not the recipe for success,” Pettersson said of the lower amount shots. “Obviously, we have won games (with) not many shots. It is what it is. They won today. It's a seven-game series for a reason, and I'll focus on that. I'm excited for it. I know the barn's going to be loud, fans are going to be into it. And those are the type of games you want to play.”
And he’s right, like Cole said last series when trying to close out the Preds, it’s a best of seven and it doesn’t matter how long it takes to win four, you just gotta win them. It’s going to be an elimination game for both teams, so we’ll see if the Canucks can match the Oilers’ desperation they brought to the table in game six.
“I guess now we’re going to play seven games and things are going to happen. It’s hard to play seven amazing games,” Hughes said. “If you told us we had this opportunity in September, I think we would have took it and probably would have taken it three or four weeks ago as well. So, we’ll be excited.
“We want to be at our best when it really matters and hopefully, you know, we're going to need to do that.”
Tocchet ruled out Demko’s return for game seven, so unless the Canucks want to throw DeSmith into the fire they’ll be running it back with Silovs. He didn’t look great last night – though the team didn’t help him – but he’s been steady so far this run and shut out the Preds to close out the last series.
The Canucks’ coaching staff has a ton of NHL experience (the most out of coaching staffs in the league), so they’ll be trying to impress all their experience and knowledge on the boys leading up to Monday night’s tilt.
“A lot of short shifts, a lot of desperation,” Tocc said of game sevens. “If you've got to put that puck in your mouth and skate it out. . . you've got to do that. If there's a chance to block a shot, block a shot. If there's a two-on-one, you've got to execute. I mean, these are big moments, and you're looking for guys to want it. Want that big moment. Don't be scared of it. Go after it, you know. Go after this. That's my advice to everybody.”
It’s been a thrilling ride so far, and lets hope the boys are up to the task to continue it.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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