They were so close.

After getting down three games to one in their Round 1 matchup with the Boston Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs actually made it a series. They won Game 5 thanks to an overtime winner from Matthew Knies, while William Nylander played the hero in Game 6 with a two-goal performance.

Saturday night’s Game 7, which went to overtime, was nothing short of a thriller. A nail-biter through two periods, the game opened up in the third period when Nylander, once again, got on the board, only for Boston’s Hampus Lindholm to respond with a goal of his own 40 seconds later.

And while that one could’ve gone on for hours, deep into overtime frames, all it took was one minute and 54 seconds for none other than David Pastrnak to find the back of the net.

Fear not, Maple Leafs fans, because there’s still hockey you can cheer for, and I’m going to give you a few reasons why the Edmonton Oilers are the team for you to now back in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I know all you Maple Leaf fans think that Newmarket’s own will come home one day to don the Blue and White, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Good news for you, however, is you can now come and watch Edmonton’s superstar, the best player in the world, advance through the playoffs.

To catch you up, McDavid had an incredible first round of the playoffs, scoring a goal and 12 points in five games against the L.A. Kings. He became the second player next to Wayne Gretzky to record 10 assists in a series twice. Oh, and did another thing only Gretzky has this season in hitting the 120-point mark for the third straight regular season.

Yeah, he’s pretty damn good.

There’s also no team McDavid has scored more points against in his career than the Canucks. He’s racked up 23 goals and 64 points in 40 games against them, so it’ll be fun to see what he can do in Round 2.

McDavid isn’t the only Oilers member from Ontario, either. Twelve members of the active roster are from there.

Evan Bouchard – Oakville

Cody Ceci – Ottawa

Darnell Nurse – Hamilton

Connor Brown – Etobicoke

Sam Carrick – Stouffville

Warren Foegele – Markham

Sam Gagner – London

Adam Henrique – Brantford

Zach Hyman – Toronto

McDavid – Richmond Hill

Ryan McLeod – Mississauga

Corey Perry – New Liskeard

If you’re still feeling bitter about the Oilers signing Zach Hyman, I have good news for you: you can now cheer for him again.

And if you haven’t been keeping up on his game, let me catch you up: he’s been better than anyone could’ve ever expected. His $5.5-million contract has turned out to be one of the best in the game of hockey, and he hit new heights this season with the Oilers.

He racked up 54 goals, a career-high, and 77 points playing alongside McDavid on the Oiler’s top line. He’s been everything and more the Oilers hoped for, and even if he were a perennial 30-goal scorer, he’d be worth every penny.

That’s because of his work ethic on the ice. He fights for every puck no matter where it is and sets the standard for the Oilers’ play.

He ripped it up in the first round of the playoffs, too, with seven goals in five games — enough to be tied for the lead in post-season scoring with Valeri Nichushkin.

To put it in Maple Leafs terms for you, that’s as many goals as William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares combined for against the Bruins.

 

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.