VANCOUVER — Games always come down to the players. But for the second straight pre-game, it is all about the coaches.
With the Canucks tied 2-2 in their series against the Edmonton Oilers heading into Game 5 Thursday night at Rogers Arena, Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet is making sweeping changes to his forward lines, moving struggling centre Elias Pettersson to right wing on a unit with Elias Lindholm and Nils Hoglander.
Before the Oilers won 3-2 on Tuesday, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch split megastars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on to separate lines.
But while that key change was an attempt to generate more offence from the Oilers’ secondary scorers, Tocchet’s big move is about trying to get Pettersson going after the Canucks star, who had been centring the third line, played the first 10 real playoff games of his NHL career with just one goal and three assists.
A 191-point scorer over the last two regular seasons, Pettersson has just a single power-play goal and seven shots on net in the four playoff games against the Oilers.
“He’s energized,” Tocchet told reporters after Thursday’s morning skate. “I think that’s my job. Like, you know, I’ve got to help the kid out, too. It’s not all on him; I’ve got to get him going.
“It’s 2-2 going into our building. He should be excited about it. Whether he gets a point tonight, I really don’t care — obviously, we would love him to score, don’t get me wrong — (but) I just want him to do the two simple things that I want tonight. I know it’ll help, and don’t worry about anything else.”
Tocchet said he wants Pettersson to move his feet and get to his “landmarks.” Relying on others to get him the puck, the 25-year-old has been stationary at times in the series. In Game 4, his wingers were Ilya Mikheyev (one goal in 60 games) and Sam Lafferty (three goals in 46).
Neither Mikheyev nor Lafferty will be in the lineup tonight.
“First of all, I like the hybrid thing,” Tocchet said of putting centres Lindholm and Pettersson on the same line, although they largely failed to generate results together in February after Lindholm was acquired from the Calgary Flames. “They can switch (at centre); I don’t really care.
“For me with Petey … we were talking today about landmarks. Get to those landmarks quick to move your feet. I get it; he wants the puck. But then, what happens when nobody gives it to you? You stand still. So I told him today, ‘Just go to your landmarks … then you go from there.’”
FUN FACT
When an NHL series is tied 2-2, the Game 5 winner has a series record of 231-61.
Edmonton’s record in that situation is 8-0 on closing out the series with a Game 5 win, while the Canucks are 3-1. The lone series loss came to Boston in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING
A year ago — on May 12, 2023, to be exact — the Oilers found themselves in this exact predicament. Tied 2-2 in a second-round series, on the road in Vegas for Game 5.
Edmonton had the Golden Knights exactly where they wanted them that night — leading 2-1, 14 minutes into the second period, a chance to win and close Vegas out in six at home. And then it all fell apart, as the Golden Knights scored three goals in 1:29, won Game 5 by a 4-3 score, and vanquished Edmonton with a 5-2, series-clinching win at Rogers Place two nights later.
So, what makes these Oilers think they’ll do better in their do-over against the Canucks?
“We’re more confident this year,” said third-line centre Ryan McLeod. “Being in that position before, just a little more gamesmanship. We know the job’s nowhere near done.”
Connor McDavid has replayed that Game 5 collapse over and over in the 12 months since. He said they’re ready to end up on the other side of that playoff coin.
“We’ve definitely grown, just going through the experience last year, going through what we’ve gone through all season long. I think we’re definitely a mentally tougher team than we were a year ago,” he said. “(This series has been) really tight — two good teams going at it, both playing well. The margins are really small.”
So, Connor, who wins this series and how?
“It’s going to be the team that puts together a really solid team game,” McDavid said. “It’s going to be a tight-checking game (tonight), similar to the last four. It’s going to come down to handful of plays, and we expect to make those plays.”
LIFE LINE BORN AGAIN
The consequence of moving Lindholm alongside Pettersson is breaking up the Dakota Joshua-Lindholm-Conor Garland line that has been excellent for Vancouver for much of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Centre Teddy Blueger is being elevated from the fourth line to play between Joshua and Garland.
The Joshua-Blueger-Garland line was arguably the Canucks’ best and most consistent forward trio for about two months in the middle of the season. Its various nickname included the Life Line, because it frequently gave the Canucks life even when the rest of the team was flat some nights.
During seven weeks from early December until late January, the Life Line generated 19 goals and 53 points in 21 games.
“I think, obviously, Garland and Dakota have good chemistry,” Tocchet said. “They’re really good on the forecheck, and Teddy was kind of that third guy that kind of read the play and jumped in there when he could. They were an opportunistic group and they scored some big goals for us. And they carried the play for us when we were struggling. That line was something that we really relied on.”
Here are your expected Canucks lines tonight:
Suter-Miller-Boeser
Hoglander-Lindholm-Pettersson
Joshua-Blueger-Garland
Di Giuseppe-Aman-Podkolzin
Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Zadorov-Cole
Silovs
THIRD LINE BUMP
The Oilers Bottom 6 tonight has produced exactly one assist — by Derek Ryan — and zero goals in this series.
McLeod knows that just doing the little things isn’t enough. There has to be some production as well.
“We’ve got to put more pucks to the net, control the play a bit more,” McLeod said. “The last couple games we’ve been playing a bit better, but we still have room to grow.
“During the regular season you can get away with more perimeter (play). Here, you’ve got to get in there, tip pucks and get some rebounds. I think we could do a better job of getting in there and getting some better looks.”
This is how Edmonton is expected to line up:
Nugent-Hopkins-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Draisaitl-Holloway
Foegele-McLeod-Perry
Janmark-Ryan-Brown
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Desharnais
Kulak-Ceci
Pickard
FOURTH LINE
With Lafferty, Mikheyev and winger Linus Karlsson the expected scratches, it’s possible Tocchet could go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen as Carson Soucy returns to the blue-line from his one-game suspension.
During the morning skate, the fourth line featured Nils Aman between wingers Phil Di Giuseppe and Vasily Podkolzin, who could make his NHL playoff debut.
Di Giuseppe was a lineup regular until he left the Canucks before Game 3 in Edmonton to be with his wife, Maggie, during the final stages of the couples’ high-risk pregnancy. Happily, Sam was born Sunday in Vancouver, a baby brother to the Di Giuseppes’ 13-month-old daughter, Stella.
Di Giuseppe briefly left the Canucks in February to support his wife.
“We’re ecstatic,” the 30-year-old winger told Sportsnet. “You know, it was a tough pregnancy. I had a leave of absence earlier in the season, but she’s battled through. Our little kid’s a warrior and I can’t be more proud of him and her. Both are healthy. They’re coming home today so, you know, it’s a blessing.”
Di Giuseppe said he and Maggie would not have made it through the pregnancy without help and support from their families in the Toronto area and Boston. One of the few Canadians on the Canucks, Di Giuseppe is from Vaughan, Ont.
The Canuck said he watched Games 3 and 4 from hospital.
“It’s been kind of weird with what’s been going on in the back of my mind,” he said. “But now that everyone is healthy and back home, it’s kind of a reset for me. So I’m excited to get focused again and see what we can do.”
I’LL GET TO THAT
The move to start Calvin Pickard in Game 4 had roots in the Oilers playoff loss to Vegas last year, when Edmonton refused to budge off Skinner and his game just continued to erode.
But we learned on Wednesday, it wasn’t because head coach Knoblauch went to school on that series. In fact, like a guy who PVRs a series but never finds the time to sit down and watch it, Knoblauch hasn’t even gotten around to watching the tape.
“I had it on my computer to look at, and wanted to dive into it,” he said this week. “Other things came up, and yeah, I never got to it. My intentions were to look and see what happened, but I guess my priority was on the Edmonton Oilers of this year and what they were doing.”