The Edmonton Oilers Shock The World By Not Choking Away Massive 3rd Period Lead In Game 7
Jeff Vinnick. Getty Images.I think it's fair to consider the Edmonton Oilers to be a bunch of dipshit losers during the Connor McDavid era so far. They have two of the top 5 players in the world on their roster, and the closest they've ever gotten to the Cup so far is getting swept out of the Western Conference Final against Colorado in 2022. They're exactly where the Washington Capitals were with Ovechkin for those years leading up to their Cup win. Once you win a Cup, the title of dipshit loser is no more. But the Oilers just haven't gotten over that hump yet. So in the meanwhile, they are still dipshits. Just the way it goes.
The thing about losers is that they always find a way to lose. Even when you take a 3-0 lead into the 3rd period of a game 7.
The Oilers owned that game for 50 minutes last night. Everyone on the east coast figured you could get to bed early. But you knew that Vancouver would start to get desperate at the end of the game to keep their season alive. They'd be throwing everything they have at Edmonton. So when Connor Garland gets the first goal on the board for the Canucks, you could just chalk it up to not being able to hold them off the scoreboard all night. But then…
Oh no. No no no no. Edmonton. Not like this, boys. You were already nice enough to let that first goal in to give the hometown fans something to cheer about. But making this a 1-goal game with 4 minutes to play after looking like you had the game wrapped up after the 2nd period? It would be a disastrous way to go out, but I don't think anyone would have been that surprised. After all, these are the Oilers we are talking about here.
Do you believe in miracles? Edmonton shocks the world and found a way to (barely) hold onto that win. Maybe the tides are turning in Edmonton after all. Similar to the same way they turned for Washington in 2018.
Sure, no Demko or Boeser for Vancouver last night definitely helped. But winning a big game 7 like that gets the horrid stench of losing out of that locker room. When you have the best player in the world this fired up, that's a tough matchup for anyone to go 7 against.
Oil up.