Edmonton Oilers To Face Vancouver Canucks In Round 2

The Edmonton Oilers wait is finally over and they now know who they will be facing in the second round of the NHL playoffs and Pacific Division Final. After beating the Nashville Predators 1-0 tonight the Vancouver Canucks will be facing the Oilers after winning their series in 6 games 4-2.

For Oilers fans I am sure most of them were hoping to see the Nashville Predators as they are the weaker of the teams and for some reason, the Edmonton Oilers have seemed to own the Predators lately, Leon Draisaitl more than most. Alas, the Oilers will be getting the Canucks.

The Edmonton Oilers went winless against the Canucks this regular season, which is a bit of a cause for concern for some people. I don't think those losses will have any effect on this series though. First of all 3 of the 4 losses came during the first months of the season when the Oilers were playing terribly and before they brought in their new head coach, Kris Knoblauch.

The Oilers did also lose a game to the Canucks late in the season, but it was a much closer game than the ones that were held earlier in the year. Losing all the games could be used to motivate the Oilers and put the Canucks into a sense of safety, which could cause them to take it easy on the Oilers.

Taking a look at their record the Edmonton Oilers won one less game than the Canucks, but the Canusks did lose 3 more games in extra time. This should be a good series, but I do expect the Edmonton Oilers to come out ahead at the end of this series.

The big question mark for this series is the health of the Canucks goalies. Not having Demko in the lineup is a massive blow for the Cancucks. He has the ability steal a series if he is on his game. If he is not able to go that is a huge advantage for the Oilers. That being said even if Demko is in the net I still like the Edmonton Oiler's chances.