It all comes down to this. Canucks and Oilers game seven at Rogers Arena.
It’s been a back and forth series, with each team responding after a loss for a win. No team has won more than one in a row, no team last lost more than one. After getting handily beat in Edmonton Saturday night, the Canucks are the ones looking to readjust to the Oilers stars tonight. They’ve responded well all season: they worked this hard to get this opportunity for a home-ice game seven.
“We respond well after we don't bring our A-game, so we expect the same as a group. That's part of the culture in here and the standard, so that's what we're looking forward to,” Miller said. “It's going to be hard and that's the fun part of it. You got to embrace the hardness. If you want an easy night, then you're going to struggle tomorrow. It's pretty simple and you can't hide in games like these. You’ve got to embrace it and we've been talking about that all season long.”
Unfortunately, they’ll be without one of their impact players in Boeser, who is out of the game with blood clotting. It’s been a growing issue in sports and hockey for years, but thankfully it is not deemed to be as severe as some other players’. After a tough couple years dealing with family and other injury concerns, I’m sure it’s really tough for Boes and the rest of the team to have him exit at such a crucial juncture. However, the show goes on and it’s just another bump in the road for a resilient Canuck team.
Honestly, there’s not too much to say for tonight. The teams know each other. The players know what to do. The Canucks just need to execute, and play to the level they’re capable of playing at and have played at in this series. They have their systems, and their defense has been their biggest strength this year.
“It’s got nothing to do with Xs and Os last game and they know it,” Tocchet said. “It's Game 7. We've seen enough video, we've seen this team, it's going to be seven straight games. It's not Xs and Os. We know how they want to play. They know how we want to play, and it really comes down to execution.”
As one of Tocc’s mantras, they have to meet pressure with pressure. Everyone has to step up.
"We preach the crest. It's the Vancouver Canucks, it's not individualism around here. It could be as simple as getting the puck out at a certain time or a good change or a blocked shot,” Tocchet added. “That’s the hero I need. You do your staples correctly as a player, to me you’re a hero. To me, it’s playing for the crest.”
The building is going to be rocking, the crowd is going to be in a fever pitch, and the boys should be energized for it.
“The moment can't be too big for us,” Cole said. “It's something we need to embrace. We know it's going to be absolutely electric in here, and we need to respond accordingly. Game 7 is do or die at this point, so we're going to need to flush everything that's happened up to this point and win one hockey game.”
No keys for today. Just execution. Win one game and you’re moving on. It all comes down to this anxiety-inducing few hours.
“We're in a Game 7 against an extremely good hockey team that no one gave us a chance to really even be in the series with, so we're in a good spot,” Cole added. “We got one game at home to win the series. Taking a step back, putting it into some perspective, I think we should be very excited at the opportunity that we have, and we should be very energized by that.”
And with that, the comments:
(Quotes from Kuzma, MacIntyre, NHL.com)
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