Nation Thoughts: Who was your first round MVP?

The experience last night at Rogers Place was something I had never felt at a hockey game before. It was nerve-wracking, but at the same time, I never felt like the Oilers let those same nerves get to them.

You could feel the atmosphere buzzing around the city from the second my Dad and I entered downtown. I do not care how much money I spent to get into that arena because the experience was priceless. And most importantly, the Edmonton Oilers won and are moving into the second round.

It took seven games, which was much longer than I predicted, but here we are. As a fan base, we underestimated the Los Angeles Kings. They are a well-structured team with a lot of talent and experience.

Jonathan Quick rolled back the years and had a great series, especially last night. We all know the Kings have some great young talent in Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe; however, I thought a few of their other youngsters stood out more. Brendan Lizotte, Sean Durzi, and Carl Grundstrom played a massive role for the Kings.

On the flip side, Edmonton did a great job of not allowing the likes of Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault, and Kempe to take control. They each had moments throughout but overall were quiet.

It felt like each game, the Oilers had someone different have a positive effect on the game.

Today’s Nation Thoughts question is an obvious one, as Kylie suggests.

Of course, I know the answer too (Philip Broberg), but I still was curious to see how Oilersnation would respond, so on that note, let’s see what they said.

McDavid, McJesus, McDaddy. Whatever you want to call him, the best player in the world showed up to play in this series. He had eight points in the final three games. That is some crazy stuff.

SMIDDY BATTLES!!!

Huge credit to Mike Smith. He owned the error he made in game one and bounced back with two shutouts in the series. And to think we all doubted this man. We all look pretty foolish now.

Like I said at the top, the answer to this question is obvious. Connor McDavid was the MVP of this series and arguably the best in the first round across the league. In the last three games of the series, he put the team on his back. The only reason game five went to overtime was because of him. Edmonton did not deserve to come back in that game, but McDavid did.

While it is clear that he was the MVP, so many other players stood out.

Almost everybody was critical of Josh Archibald coming into the lineup for game two. However, once he joined the lineup, he gave it everything he had, hitting everything that moved and brought tons of energy. He was a key reason why they won game two.

Playoff Kass showed up. Fans have been disappointed by his performances now, but he came to play. Last night, every time he had approached an LA King around the board, the fans were going nuts in anticipation of the hit. Kassian even chipped in with a goal in that game five comeback effort.

Mike Smith. As I said, Smith made a mistake in game one but did not let it define him. Two shutouts and 213 saves later; Smith has helped calm the goaltending worries on this team.

Evander Kane did what we needed him to do. Seven goals in seven games. He brought tons of physicality and fight to this team too.

I have not even mentioned Leon Draisaitl, who was clearly hurt last night. However, he battled for this team and this city.

It was a team effort all around. I could go on all day going through every player on the team talk about what they brought. It does not matter if it is Kris Russell blocking every shot fired at him, Brett Kulak stepping up to play big minutes with Darnell Nurse out, or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins being the reliable veteran centreman we have needed forever. Every contribution was required to get the Oilers to round two.

Now, we wait to see our opponent.