After a one-week break, the Edmonton Oilers finally begin their second-round NHL playoffs series against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. The Canucks, which finished ahead of the Oilers in the NHL standings to earn home ice advantage, played last Friday, beating the Nashville Predators to win their first-round series in six games. Game 1 of this series is the second playoff game on the NHL schedule Wednesday. Let’s take a look at the Oilers vs Canucks prediction.
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Game Details and Betting Picks
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Information
Edmonton Oilers vs Vancouver Canucks
Location of the game: Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia
Date & Time: Wednesday, May 8 at 10 p.m. ET
Where to Watch: TNT and Sportsnet (Canada)
Oilers vs Canucks Picks
- Pick: Oilers -135
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Stuart Skinner (2.62 GAA, .905 save percentage) is the projected starting goaltender for the Oilers betting pick and Arturs Silovs (2.47 GAA, .881 save percentage) is expected to start in goal for the Canucks.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Odds
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Recent Scores
The Oilers, one of the leading NHL picks to win the Western Conference, took care of the Kings in five games in the first round. Edmonton secured Game 5 with a 4-3 win to close the series and outscored the Kings 22-12 overall.
The Canucks, meanwhile, needed six NHL games to win their first-round series against the Predators. They won Game 6 by a score of 1-0. Silovs made 28 saves in the shutout victory and Pius Suter scored the game-winning goal.
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Last Game Records
Edmonton
While the Oilers are favored to win the series in NHL Vegas odds, they were 0-4 against the Canucks in the regular season. The opposing team outscored them 21-7. However, Thatcher Demko, who isn’t available for at least the first four games of the series, started three of those games.
Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks swept the season series against the Oilers in the 2023-24 regular season and are 5-3-2 in their last 10 regular season games against the Oilers. They haven’t played Edmonton in the playoffs since 1992.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Betting Preview
Oilers Looking to Steal Home Ice Advantage
Edmonton Oilers can gain plenty of momentum with a critical Game 1 victory in Vancouver. The Oilers boast a much more potent offense, although the Canucks averaged just 0.16 goals per game less than Edmonton in the regular season. For the Oilers vs Canucks prediction, however, it’s worth noting Edmonton finished first among NHL teams in shots (33.8), while the Canucks were 26th (28.4). That could be a problem for Canucks goalie Silovs, who played in just four regular season games before starting the final three games of the Canucks series against Nashville.
The Oilers also have the fourth-best power play (26.3 percent), which could also be a major issue for the Canucks as their penalty kill was ranked 17th (79.1 percent) in the regular season. Connor McDavid led the Oilers in NHL player stats in the regular season with 132 points (32 goals, 100 assists) and had 12 points in the first round against the Kings.
Adam Henrique is out for the Oilers with a lower-body injury.
Can Canucks Keep Winning Without Demko?
Vancouver has been doubted all season and yet continues to exceed expectations. They weren’t expected to be one of the NHL teams to make the playoffs, nor were they expected to beat the Predators after losing Demko to injury, yet here they were in the second round for the Oilers vs Canucks prediction. They’ve won with solid defense and timely scoring – the Canucks ranked T5th in goals allowed (2.7) and sixth in shots allowed (28.6) in the regular season.
In six NHL games in the first round, Vancouver limited Nashville to just 12 goals. The Predators also didn’t exceed 30 shots in a single game in the series. J.T. Miller, Vancouver’s leader in NHL player stats in the regular season with 103 points (37 goals, 66 assists), had six points in the first round.
Elias Pettersson is on the NHL injury report for the Canucks with an illness and is questionable for Game 1.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Odds Breakdown
The Oilers are -135 moneyline favorites with NHL Vegas odds of -1.5 (+180) for the puck line. The Canucks are +115 moneyline underdogs with +1.5 (-235) puck line odds. The total is 6.5.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Vancouver Canucks Pick and Prediction
Our final prediction leans to a 5-3 in favor of the Oilers. Accordingly, the recommended bet is on the Oilers at -135 to win and steal the home advantage in this series.
Discover the latest stats and trends of this matchup here:
May 08 2024 Oilers vs Canucks Match Recap
Playing on home ice proved to be a great thing for the Vancouver Canucks as they won by a score of 5-4. Vancouver was trailing by three goals in this game, but they were able to come away with a win.
Puck Line: Taking the Vancouver Canucks at +1.5 was the way to go as this team was able to make a big run to get back into the game. There wasn’t a ton of value in getting them at -165, but that was one option to explore.
Money Line: The moneyline for this game favored the Edmonton Oilers at -135, and that looked like the right pick for most of the night. Edmonton just wasn’t able to finish the game off as the Vancouver came away with a win at +145.
Total: The over/under line in this series is going to be high as that is just how the Oilers play. These two teams flew past that mark in Game 1 of the series as there were nine total goals scored.
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