While it seemed Edmonton was building toward a dominant win in the series, jumping out to a three-goal lead in Game 1 and outshooting Vancouver 45-18 in Game 3, both losses, Oilers captain Connor McDavid said he expected another tight battle in Game 6. Up to that point, every game in the series had been decided by one goal.
“The series has been so tight, so hotly contested, I was thinking it was going to be the same, and I thought we played well,” McDavid said. “I’m sure Vancouver doesn’t feel great about their game and they’ll be better for Game 7, just like we didn’t like our Game 5 and we were better in Game 6. I expect both teams to elevate heading into a big Game 7, obviously.”
McDavid had three assists in the win after being limited to one in the previous three games. Draisaitl had two assists to give him 100 playoff points in 60 games (39 goals, 61 assists), becoming the third-fastest player in NHL history to reach the milestone behind Wayne Gretzky (46 games) and Mario Lemieux (50 games).
Defenseman Evan Bouchard and forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and two assists.
As well as the Oilers played, however, the focus after Game 6 was on the deciding game of the series with the winner moving on to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final.
“There’s nothing to be satisfied or excited about, we just bought ourselves another day and I would expect the same level of urgency and desperation from our group,” McDavid said. “I would expect Vancouver to play a better game as well and I would expect it to be a highly competitive, great Game 7.”
