Canucks’ Game 1 win over Edmonton Oilers raises awkward question

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Maybe it’s nothing serious.

Then again, maybe it’s the beginning of the end.

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The picture is very blurry right now in the wake of Vancouver’s stirring 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their long-awaited playoff series.

The Oilers said time and time again before this matchup began that their 0-4 regular season record against the Canucks meant nothing (who are a very different team than the one Vancouver raged to in October and November) and spent the first 35 minutes of Game 1 prove it.

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Their power play was clicking, their offense was cooking, they needed less than half a game to expose Vancouver’s rookie goalie and they had a 4-1 road lead.

The universe was developing as it should.

Now, after a stunning four-goal collapse that had everyone who has been watching the Oilers down the stretch and into the playoffs shaking their heads in bewilderment, some troubling thoughts are creeping into the discussion.

The Canucks, whose only hope was a suffocating defensive posture, just beat the Oilers in a nine-goal game. They dominated the game when it mattered most, showed more composure, improved goaltending, scored timely goals and closed the lead.

Consider that when Edmonton led 4-1 with 6:49 left in the second period, the Oilers had 14 shots on net. When Vancouver was 5-4 with five minutes left in the game, the Oilers still had 14 shots.

In the most crucial moments, with the game on the line, Vancouver was in charge. Just like they were in the regular season. And suddenly, those four regular-season wins are back on the table.

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Suddenly, it’s fair to ask if maybe the Canucks didn’t get those early wins because the Oilers were down for the first 11 games of the season, but maybe the Oilers were down for the first 11 games of the season because they kept playing the Canucks.

That’s not something the Oilers faithful want to even think about right now, let alone believe, but at 5-0 this year the Canucks can make a full case that they have Edmonton’s number. Combine that with the fact that teams that win Game 1 end up winning the series 68 percent of the time and things get scary quickly.

And if that weren’t enough, the Canucks are starting to look like a team of destiny. They have a third-string rookie goalie left who closed the last series with a shutout, won one game with 12 shots on net, won another when they were down 3-1 with 2:49 left and now turn 1-4 into 5- 4 against the favored Oilers in 17 wild minutes.

If you’re rooting for Edmonton, there’s a lot to worry about.

Now, the Oilers were losing Game 1 of a playoff series when the Canucks were crossing their fingers in the draft lottery, so falling behind 1-0 to Vancouver isn’t going to faze them.

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But make no mistake: they are one game away from being shaken. If the Canucks give them more of the same in Game 2 and finish 6-0 on the year and 2-0 in the series, it will be a very serious problem.

Right now, this is the part where the Oilers are supposed to keep calm and do what they did after being dealt a similar slap in the face by Los Angeles in Game 2 of the first round. Edmonton lost that game 5-4, Stuart Skinner wasn’t good (three goals on seven shots in the first period) and the team needed an answer.

They understood it. And the overall work of this team (45-15-5 down the stretch and a complete, convincing five-game victory over Los Angeles) suggests they’ll get it done again.

Skinner still has some playoff demons to exorcise, but the way he held his own after losing Game 2 to the Kings makes you believe Wednesday night is the exception to who he is now in the postseason, not the rule. .

And they will almost certainly get better play from their captain. Connor McDavid couldn’t do much in Game 1. He was limited to one secondary assist, zero shots on net and was 28 percent in the faceoff circle.

And everyone will be silently praying that whatever kept Leon Draisaitl out for half of the second period and slowed him down in the third isn’t a problem in Game 2.

One way or another, the picture becomes a little clearer on Friday night.

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