Around the NHL: Canucks advance to Round 2, Golden Knights force Game 7

We now know who the Edmonton Oilers will face in Round 2 of the playoffs.

After dropping Game 5 by a score of 2-1 at home earlier this week, the Vancouver Canucks went back to Nashville and finished off the Predators in Game 6 with a 1-0 victory.

Pius Suter scored the game-winning and series-clinching goal late in the third period after both teams had played to a scoreless tie for the first 58 minutes of regulation time. Third-string goaltender Arturs Silovs turned aside all 28 shots that he faced en route to the first playoff shutout of his NHL career.

The win represents the first time that the Canucks have advanced in the playoffs since the summer bubble tournament in 2020. Vancouver won their play-in round over the Minnesota Wild, they beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues, in the first round, and then got edged out in seven games in the second round by the Vegas Golden Knights.

It’ll be just the third time that the Oilers and Canucks have faced each other in the playoffs. The first playoff meeting between the two teams came in 1986 when the Oilers swept the Canucks in three games. Most recently, the Oilers edged out the Canucks in six games in the second round in 1992.

Vancouver finished with the best record in the Pacific Division at 50-23-9, so they’ll host Games 1 and 2 to start the series next week.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the Vegas Golden Knights earned a 2-0 victory at home over the Stars in Game 6 to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Dallas on Sunday. Noah Hanifin opened the scoring in the middle of the third period and Mark Stone iced the game with an empty-netter in the final minute of regulation time.

The winner between Vegas and Dallas will move on to face the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the playoffs. Colorado finished off their first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets in just five games and will be well-rested when the second round begins.