Edmonton Oilers get their first look at Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs

Arturs, who?

Certainly not Irbe. His venerable NHL career was already peaking by the time Connor McDavid was born, having suited up for none other than the Vancouver Canucks for the 1997 season that same year.

Article content

Now, it’s fellow Latvian Arturs Silovs’ turn to man the Canucks crease as the Western Conference second-round series got underway against McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers.

Article content

Never mind the 23-year-old netminder, who was selected in the sixth round (156th overall) in 2019, had all of five NHL games under his belt before being brought in last series to man the fort following injuries to Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith.

But he got the job done, winning two of three starts to put the Nashville Predators on ice. And now he’s the Oilers’ problem.

Or at least, present a bit of a wild card in Vancouver’s hand with the unfamiliarity of it all.

“You definitely know what a goalie’s tendencies are,” McDavid said following Wednesday’s morning skate. “We pre-scout everything, so that would be something that we look at, but ultimately they’re a good team that plays in front of him and we’ve got to find a way to get to him.”

The Canucks defence poses a much bigger threat to the Oilers offence, at least in terms of size and physicality, than the Los Angeles Kings did last series.

“Obviously, they’re a really good team that defends really well,” McDavid said. “They do a great job of collapsing around their net, they’ve got big D-men that don’t go too far from their own end and they make it tough to get on the inside.

Article content

Article content

“We’ve got guys that can score from the outside, as well. So, if they want to collapse around the net then we can shoot around them. I think our D-men will do a good job of getting pucks through and we’ll find a way to work around that.”

If Edmonton’s preeminent goal-scorer has his way over the series, Zach Hyman will continue finding ways to get to the front of the net.

“That’s where a lot of goals are scored in the playoffs, because it’s so hard to score goals in the playoffs,” said the first-time 50-goal scorer, who had a career-high 54 and added seven more in the first round of playoffs. “So, if you want to score goals, go to the net. And obviously it will be big defencemen over there, so I’m sure there will be lots of battles.

“In all aspects of the game, power play, 5-on-5, most teams want to protect their net, right? That’s where the goals are scored, so if they collapse, we have some pretty good defencemen that can shoot as well.”

Speaking of familiarity, McDavid wasn’t alive the last time these two teams met in a playoff series in 1992. And Hyman was born 28 days after the Oilers won the series 4-2 on May 12. So, it was also a bit of an educated guess by a host of other players on both rosters, as well, as to what exactly to expect atmosphere-wise, in this series, as things all finally got underway Wednesday.

Article content

“There’s going to be lots of passion from both fan bases,” McDavid said. “Be lots of energy in both rinks and that can result in some rivalry forming, or whatever. We’ve played these guys lots, there’s already a little bit there, I would say, just with how much we’ve played them in the Canadian Division (of the bubble season in 2021). So, we know them, they know us.”

Even so, there was also an element of unfamiliarity alongside McDavid and Hyman on the Oilers top line, as Mattias Janmark spent the week of practice filling in for Adam Henrique, who is out with an ankle injury.

“I would say Rico and Janny are not all that different in their styles of play,” McDavid said. “I would say Ric’s definitely a more defensive-minded player and Janny’s the same way. I like that.

“They’re both great players. Whoever it is, they both can do the job.”

But Hyman, for one, came in more focused on trying to beat the opposing goalie in front of him rather than having a different teammate on the other wing.

“Honestly, you’re not thinking about it too much, like, you’re just going out there and playing,” he said. “And just trying to do your part and not thinking about the other team too much.”

E-mail: [email protected]

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

Article content