Canucks take control of raucous series with thrilling win against Oilers

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The rock band Pearl Jam opened a tour at Rogers Arena in Vancouver a few days before the Canucks started their second-round playoff series at home against the Edmonton Oilers last week.

The band had their photo taken recently with the Stanley Cup and displayed it on a screen during an interlude between songs, alongside a message of support for the home team scrawled out by singer Eddie Vedder: “may it arrive here next.”

It sparked a “Go Canucks go” chant from the concert crowd and while it was a nice sentiment for the home team, it was probably overly hopeful. Connor McDavid and the Oilers entered the all-Canadian series heavily favoured to push through to the Western Conference finals for the second time in three years.

That idea was upended by Game 1′s epic Canucks comeback win. It set the tone for a raucous series, where the teams have alternated wins and where all five games have been settled by a single goal, one game in overtime and both of the past two in the final minute. It’s not often a series is this close. Before it began, there was talk of how there wasn’t much of a playoff rivalry between the Oilers and Canucks, their last series happening some three decades ago.

There’s rivalry now.

On Thursday night in Vancouver, the teams delivered another lively show and it was Vancouver that booked a crucial win. Edmonton opened strong but the Canucks drove play for much of the game and came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2, the winning goal scored by J.T. Miller with 33 seconds left in the third period. The crowd, as it has before in this series, chanted his name – J! T! Miller! – like an incantation.

“After the first 10 minutes, everybody was on a mission tonight,” said Vancouver forward Dakota Joshua of how the Canucks took hold of the night following the Oilers’ opening assault.

Miller scores late, Canucks grind out 3-2 win over Oilers in Game 5

The teams head back to Edmonton with Vancouver up 3-2 for Game 6 on Saturday, which promises a great hockey night in Canada. Each time this series gave off the suggestion that one team had momentum – such as after McDavid’s dominance in Game 2 – what actually took place next seemed to have little connection to the previous game.

Game 5s, however, are often decisive. The Oilers’ margin for error is now nil. In NHL playoff history, winners of Game 5s in a tied series go on to win that series four out of five times.

The winning goal came when Elias Lindholm put the puck in front of the net and Elias Pettersson deflected it with his skate. It rebounded off the post and Miller corralled the hot puck – “a little lucky there,” he said – and put it in the net. Miller from Game 4 to Game 5 is one of many shifts between one game and another in this series. Miller felt he played subpar hockey in Vancouver’s Game 4 loss and sent a text message of apology to coach Rick Tocchet.

“I have faith in myself,” Miller said of his approach to rallying for Game 5. “I speak honestly with you guys, whether it’s good or bad.”

Elias Pettersson sat beside Miller at a press conference table on Thursday night. Pettersson has had a particularly hard time, a potent scorer who for several months has lost his touch. Before the series, he talked about playing with instincts. Yet his game underwhelmed. On Wednesday, in a stiff press conference between Games 4 and 5, he was unable to say even a word to explain what’s gone wrong for him when pressed with questions.

On Thursday night, he was strong on the ice and afterwards it seemed like a major weight had lifted. The crowd had several times urged him on with chants of “Go Petey go.”

“To hear them chant my name,” said Pettersson, “it makes me want to work even harder for them.”

The Canucks have two shots to make it to the conference finals, on Saturday on the road and Monday back in Vancouver, home ice advantage. The Canucks weren’t expected to do much this season but started strong and won their division for the first time in 11 years. Edmonton was among the teams people thought could go a long way this season but started terribly before figuring things out. The playoffs are what counts but the long work through the regular season can produce some important benefits.

Of the winning goal, McDavid said: “They get a bounce – they probably deserved a bounce tonight, I thought they were the better team – they get a bounce at the end of the game and that’s the way it goes.”

This was supposed to be the spring when McDavid, at 27 in his ninth season, would finally lead a breakthrough for the Oilers. Instead, his team faces the end of their season. Asked about his approach to Game 6, after a back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth series, he said: “Trying to win a hockey game – trying to win a game.”

One might want to read something into his succinct tone, the stress of another season facing a too-early end. He talked of how the Oilers are a team that’s good at bouncing back from losses. “We’ve got to be ready to go,” he said of Saturday’s game, “that’s what it is.”