The Edmonton Oilers are the last Canadian team standing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and after getting through the rival Calgary Flames in a quick, but tough, five-game series, they now walk into Colorado to face an Avalanche team that has been maturing as a contender for a couple of seasons and seems to be blooming this spring.
So will this be the end of a nice run to write home about for Edmonton, or will they be able to topple a team many had picked to win it all a few weeks ago?
While Colorado was expected to be here all season long, Edmonton’s road has been a lot less secure and there was even a time when just qualifying for the playoffs wasn’t guaranteed. But they have been coming together as the season has gone along, with improved defensive play after the coaching switch to Jay Woodcroft, more stable goaltending from Mike Smith than what was happening in the crease over the first few months of the season, and the best all-around playoff performances we’ve yet seen from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
They could be peaking at just the right time. And Colorado is already there waiting for them.
There is plenty of star power atop both lineups that could lead to an explosive series of offence and will certainly entertain with an endless stream of awe-inspiring highlights. Here’s a look at the Western Conference Final.
HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
Avalanche: 2-1-0
Oilers: 1-0-2
What we’ve learned about the Oilers
Connor McDavid, good.
Leon Draisaitl, good.
The duo have been historic, really.
The top two scorers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs both suit up for the Oilers and have often shared a line in this run. But it’s not just that they’re leading the NHL in post-season scoring, it’s how far ahead of the competition they are. Both players average 2.17 points per game and have a 10-point lead on the pack behind.
McDavid gets most of the ink, and deservedly so as he’s personally taken over games on the regular, but Draisaitl has earned just as much attention for his contributions and where he should fit in the Conn Smythe discussion after two rounds, especially considering that it seems like he’s playing injured. The German’s Round 2 efforts were sublime, piling up 17 points in five games against the Flames (to McDavid’s 12) and recording at least three points in every game. Absolutely ridiculous performance.
But we didn’t really learn that McDavid and Draisaitl were elite players in the first two rounds, did we? Somehow, they’ve both elevated to yet another level. Is there a league above the NHL for them?
While those two are the driving forces at play behind Edmonton’s first trip to Round 3 since 2006, there have been other key performers. For example, Evander Kane, the risky mid-season UFA signing, has been a smashing success on the top unit and leads the playoffs with 12 goals in 12 games, including a couple of hat tricks already. If Edmonton advances, perhaps he’ll have a shot at the all-time record of 19 playoff goals in a season, held jointly by Reggie Leach and Jarri Kurri. Zach Hyman led the Oilers in goal scoring against the Flames with six and he’ll start the West Final on a five-game scoring streak. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins‘ play at centre (six points against the Flames) has allowed the Oilers to load up that top line and not feel an offensive pinch below.
But the primary worry about these Oilers all season was the goaltending, and specifically if Mike Smith could be the guy to get them through, or at least to not scuttle the alien performances of the superstars up front. It’s been 11 years since Smith was outstanding in getting the Arizona Coyotes to the West Final and though he’s not willing the 2022 Oilers on in the same way, he has been good enough with a .927 playoff save percentage that is better than the netminder he’ll face in Round 3.
There certainly have been moments, though, including a puckhandling gaffe that cost the Oilers Game 1 of Round 1, and a goal against from the other end of the ice in Round 2 that allowed the Flames back into a Game 4 that Edmonton won anyway. Smith will continue to be the ultimate wild card.
What we’ve learned about the Avalanche
After being eliminated in the second round of the past three Stanley Cup Playoffs, the fourth time was the charm for the contending Avs to get over the hump and return to the conference final for the first time since they were a powerhouse led by Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg in 2002. Now Sakic’s in the GM chair and the careful build up he’s overseen has brought Colorado all the way back to those days, with star power up and down the lineup.
The Oilers are used to having an advantage on teams at the top of their lineup with the McDavid/Draisaitl duo, but the Avs have something of an answer to them with Nathan MacKinnon, who’s somewhere in the mix of the top five players in the world today himself. A bull of a player, MacKinnon will go around or through your team for offence and will be by far the biggest handful Edmonton’s defencemen have had to manage so far.
Where Edmonton’s main threats are atop the depth chart among their forwards, the Avs can really sting you from anywhere. Nazem Kadri has carried over his career-best regular season performance into the playoffs with a point per game effort and he’s not really come close to stepping over any line into suspension territory yet. And Edmonton will not have an answer for Cale Makar, who has the same 1.30 points per game average MacKinnon does, but from the blue line. And don’t overlook his partner Devon Toews, who has a point in seven of Colorado’s 10 playoff games to date and may just be the second-best blueliner in this series.
Yes, the Avs seem to be levelling up to their full potential as one of the top contenders this season, taking no time at all getting through Nashville (sweep) and St. Louis (six games). The quickness with which they’ve arrived in the West Final could help them through the last couple of legs.
Interestingly, though, goaltending may be a situation to watch with the Avs. Colorado is the best team in these playoffs at limiting shots against (27 per game), scoring chances against (20.03 per 60) and high danger opportunities against (8.32 per 60), but Darcy Kuemper has underperformed the team’s expected goals against rate.
He hasn’t allowed a pile of actual goals, with a 2.44 GAA and only one game in which he allowed more than three, but that’s been helped by a relatively lighter workload than some of his counterparts around the league. Kuemper’s minus-2.18 goals saved above expected will be the lowest mark of any remaining netminder and if the Oilers’ superstars can do a better job of getting high-quality opportunities than either Nashville or St. Louis did (and who’s betting against McDavid and Draisaitl doing just that), this could possibly become an issue for Colorado.
ADVANCED STATS Playoff 5-on-5 numbers via Natural Stat Trick
PLAYOFF TEAM STATS
Oilers X-Factor: Mike Smith
Like a box of chocolates, you never really know what you’re going to get from Smith one play to the next. Edmonton’s hoping it’s more of a caramel filling performance in Round 3 than a maraschino cherry.
In seven of 11 playoff games so far Smith has allowed at least three goals, which normally could be a pressure point this time of year, but Edmonton’s explosive offence has given Smith much more of a safety net so far. But now it gets interesting. Where the Oilers have a league-best 4.33 goals per game, Colorado is right behind them with 4.30 goals per game. If there was one team that could match Edmonton goal for goal, this is it.
So what will we get from Smith now? Will the Avs just be too relentless and expose Edmonton’s expected weakness in the Final Four? Will Edmonton’s own offence still be able to cancel out whatever Colorado can throw at them? Or can Smith elevate and outperform Kuemper at the other end, which may be the most important X-Factor for Edmonton?
Avalanche X-Factor:Nathan MacKinnon
We expect a huge series from MacKinnon and a lot of attention will be paid to the matchup he’ll have against McDavid, who has carved up the competition through two rounds. MacKinnon has certainly taken over games all on his own — his late go-ahead goal in Game 5 against St. Louis was a superior individual effort that looked like it would carry them into Round 3 before Colorado let the win slip away in OT. But McDavid, with less of a supporting cast, has regularly taken his team upon his shoulders shift after shift as he’s put up playoff numbers not seen in Edmonton since they were winning Cups in the ’80s with Wayne Gretzky. Will MacKinnon feel the pressure to match whatever magic McDavid throws down in their own little head-to-head narrative?
We have no doubt MacKinnon is one of the few who could match McDavid and, in fact, Edmonton may not present as much of a defensive challenge to him as Nashville or St. Louis did. If MacKinnon matches, or outperforms, McDavid in this series, there won’t be many other places in the lineup where Edmonton will be able to find an advantage over Colorado.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
