Tillsonburg Hockey News - NHL Scores, Standings, Schedule | Tillsonburg News

You didn’t think the Edmonton Oilers were going to go away that easily, did you? With their backs to the abyss and their playoff lives flashing before their eyes, the Oilers delivered a resounding show of force Saturday, reminding the Vancouver Canucks, and anyone else who doubted them, that they are a long way from dead. After struggling for offence the last three games, Edmonton broke out hard in Game 6, with Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard counting for three points each in a season-saving 5-1 triumph. “I thought the boys were ready from the start,” said winger Dylan Holloway, who opened the scoring on one of the nicest goals of the series. “We obviously knew what was at stake tonight. There were probably a bit of nerves, but once we kind of got settled in we played our game and rolled all four lines and never looked back. “We felt we were the better team for most of the series, we just couldn’t capitalize on our chances.” This time they did. After five one-goal games, this one was a rout. “I thought we did a good job of getting in on the forecheck and holding on to pucks and playing in their zone, making them defend and making it hard for them to work up the ice,” said McDavid. “I thought we played faster, we played cleaner, we were better with the puck, better coming through the neutral zone. We did a great job of getting on top of them on the forecheck and keeping pucks alive.” So a series the Canucks had in their grasp after a dominating performance in Game 5 put them up 3-2 with a chance to close things out in Edmonton will now come down a 60-minute war of wills against an opponent that just showed what it’s capable of when it comes face-to-face with the executioner. Game 7 goes Monday in Vancouver. “It’s nothing to be satisfied or excited about,” McDavid said of the Game 6 effort. “We just bought ourselves another day. I would expect the same level of urgency and desperation from our group and I would expect Vancouver to play a better game as well. “I expect a highly competitive, great Game 7.” Saturday night at Rogers Place was the Oilers at their best. They stayed tight defensively, were hard on the puck, outshot the Canucks 21-10 by the time the contest was out of reach and finally got to Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs, striking a big psychological blow heading into Game 7. “We capitalized, that’s the key,” said Hyman, who scored his playoff-leading 10th goal. “We’ve had looks all series but we beared down on our chances and made good on them. Y ou have to get guys to the dirty areas and the blue paint and make it uncomfortable. “And t he more looks you get, just by nature you’re going to score more and I think we did a good job of producing more looks tonight and then capitalizing.” The first-period storm of desperation one might have expected from an Oilers team facing elimination never really came — Holloway scored on a great individual rush at 8:18 and the Canucks tied it when Nils Hoglander replied at 10:03. A 1-1 tie after 20 wasn’t a very good sign for a team fighting for its life on home ice. But the storm did come. Edmonton came to life in the second period, outshooting Vancouver 14-5 and opening up a 3-1 lead on goals from Hyman and Bouchard. “We’ve got off to some good stretches and then let them back into it in the series,” said Holloway. “Tonight we played a full 60. We got off to a hot start and got some goals and even when they came back to make it 1-1, we didn’t waver at all. We kept to our game.” An early marker from Nugent-Hopkins and one from Evander Kane closed the deal and forced a deciding Game 7. After Saturday night, the Oilers like their chances. “I thought we responded pretty well tonight,” said defenceman Vincent Desharnais. “This group has been through lots of adversity throughout the season. Even though we have a lot of skill but we have hard workers and if we can match their compete level in Game 7 it will be a good one for us.” NET RESULTS With Edmonton’s life on the line in Game 6, head coach Kris Knobauch made the bold, if not curious, pre-game decision to start Stuart Skinner in goal ahead of Calvin Pickard. So starting somebody who they hope had found his game over somebody who’s been excellent is a call that could have easily backfired, but Skinner is the guy they’ve invested their future in and he has shown an ability to rebound after a bad stretch, so they decided to live or die with their No.1 goalie. And he didn’t let them down. Skinner didn’t face a lot of shots but made all the saves he needed to. “ Every save he made he made it look pretty easy,”  said Desharnais. “He didn’t have that many shots, but there were some Grade A’s and some screened shots. I’m not surprised the way he played tonight. He proved tonight that we can trust him.” SPECIAL TIMES The Oilers got some clutch penalty killing in the first period after Draisaitl and McDavid took minors and also closed out an extended five-on-three power play late in the second and early in the third to preserve a two-goal lead. “I thought our penalty kill was outstanding again, keeping momentum on our side,” said Hyman. “If they score a goal there, things are a little different obviously. It’s 3-1 and we get a huge 5-on-3 kill to start the third and we go out and score the next one and that’s the dagger obviously.”   E-mail:  rtychkowski@postmedia.com

Wayne Gretzky was still active for the Rangers the last time New York met the Florida Panthers in a playoff series. That was about the only memorable part for the Cats who lost that 1997 duel to the Rangers in five games. Florida coach Paul Maurice was trying to study as much as he could about his Eastern Conference final opponent the morning after dispatching the Boston Bruins, with a few days to prep for Game 1 Wednesday in Manhattan. The experience factor is the Cats’ corner with a trip to the Stanley Cup final last year and now two rounds through this spring. But the Rangers finished first overall, splitting two late-season games against the Panthers. “You’ve watched (New York beating Washington and Carolina) in between our games and see they’re very fast, very talented team, very dynamic off of the rush,” Maurice said Saturday. “They’ve got all the (key) spots, the goaltending, four at the back end very strong and the forwards are very skilled. We have to go a little longer, maybe more detailed on the video.” Maurice’s team is halfway back to another shot at the Cup. He credited his leadership group for not bringing any negativity into training camp. “They came back more determined, or they felt they were closer and had that belief when they came back. They haven’t been tired. We had three really important pieces of our lineup (forward Sam Bennett and defencemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour) out at the start, so we had to play well defensively. We battled hard and got some consistency,” One coaching quirk involving Maurice and New York’s Peter Laviolette, they both coached the Carolina Hurricanes and replaced each other in the early 2000s. Laviolette won the Cup in 2006 with the Canes in place of Maurice after Maurice, who git as far as the ’02 final, then Maurice in a second stint, bumped Laviolette. SELKE LOVE FOR SASHA It would have been quite the feat for Toronto’s Auston Matthews to lead the NHL with 69 goals and be named its best defensive forward as winner of the Frank Selke Trophy. Voters from the Professional Hockey Writers Association thought enough of Matthews’ shot blocking, takeaways and faceoff prowess to make him a finalist, but gave the award to Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers in a Saturday night announcement. Carolinas Barkov, a three-time nominee and first Panther to get the honour, assisted Florida in tying for first in the league in goals-against per game (2.41), the lowest mark in club history. He took a team-leading 1,100 draws with a winning percentage of 57.3%, ninth among players to play at least 50 games and take at least 500 face-offs. Carolina’s Jordan Staal was the other finalist. CHIEF AND THE CAPTAIN Maple Leafs captain John Tavares will now have to get used to his third coach in six years in Toronto with Carig Berube’s appointment. “Obviously very difficult so see (Sheldon Keefe) go,” Tavares told reporters Saturday in Prague where he’s wearing the ‘C’ for Canada at the world championships. “As players, it’s on us to do a better job. With Craig coming in he’s going to help us with that. I’m excited to work with him. He’s got a tremendous pedigree.” More information about who Berube might have as his Toronto assistants could come out Tuesday when he’s officially introduced. One member of his St. Louis staff from the 2019 Stanley Cup year, Mike van Ryn, is already working in Toronto. Steve Ott, his other primary assistant on the Blues, stayed put and is now with Team Canada as an assistant. Guy Boucher, Dean Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra are the other assistants who worked with Keefe. TEAM USA LIKES MIKE Canada and the other hockey powers now know which coach of a well-known foe they’ll face at the Four Nations Face-off next year and in the 2026 Olympics in Italy. USA Hockey announced Saturday that Mike Sullivan, two-time champion behind the bench of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will get the gig. Sullivan’s two Cups in 2016 and ’17 are part of an 11–year record of 445-275-115 and he was an assistant for the Americans in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Canada has named its management staff for the Four Nations, to be played in February in Canada and the U.S. with Finland and Sweden as a replacement for the all-star game, but not its coach. Berube will quickly command the respect factor needed to lift Leafs Craig Berube's past Stanley Cup success won't necessarily result in championship for Maple Leafs lhornby@postmedia.com X: @sunhornby

It ended with Connor McDavid praising him and with Sportsnet’s Kevn Bieksa, a Vancouver Canuck alumni, still doubting him. But all that mattered for Edmonton Oiler goalie Stuart Skinner was he got the win. In the biggest game of the season, the Edmonton Oilers went with Skinner in net over Calvin Pickard. It was an interesting and controversial decision, causing the usual storm of commentary on social media and in the mainstream media. Here’s how it’s played out on social media, starting with Oilers insider Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now on Friday, strongly hinting that Pickard would be replaced in net by Skinner. Bob Stauffer, Oilers Now I think hypothetically there’s a strong possibility we might see Stuart Skinner start tomorrow. Sportsnet commentator Elliotte Friedman (later that evening) Rest up, everyone. Big one tomorrow night. Game 6 Canucks/Oilers. I’m thinking Stuart Skinner for Edmonton Game Day morning Daily Face-off commentator Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli We’ll see what develops this morning, but the belief is these are the changes for #Oilers:Stuart Skinner starts Game 6. Sporstnet Vancouver commentator Brook Ward @brookwardsports Skinner: 12GA on 58 shots .793% in series… .877% in 8 playoff games this season. The Cult of Hockey’s David Staples @dstaples If today’s game was an election campaign, I would rally around the “Stick with Pick” side. But not an election. Just one guy has a vote. Here is hoping Coach Knoblauch nailed it. And good luck to Skinner. He has had big games before. Bring it! Sportsnet Vancouver commenator Mike Halford @MikeHalford604 “stu has been our guy all year,” knoblauch said. “assuming you don’t count our last seven periods of competitive hockey.” Oilers fan St.Albert James @RealCNN I love Carrick in for Perry but Skinner in this year’s playoffs is absolute madness. I’d be playing Campbell over Skinner at this point. Oilers fan Arpeggi @TheWeirdestFish If Skinner lets in a single soft goal, it’s all over. I don’t have the confidence he’d be able to weather that in his fragile state. Game day at practice Edmonton Oilers @EdmontonOilers “I’m very excited to get back in the net.” Skinner speaks ahead of starting in tonight’s Game 6. The Cult of Hockey’s Bruce McCurdy Skinner has had his struggles in the postseason for the second year in a row, especially in the current Vancouver series. He played the first 8 periods, allowing 12 goals on just 58 shots for a miserable .793 save percentage. Backup Calvin Pickard mopped up in Game 3, then played the entirety of Games 4 and 5 as the two teams split a pair of 3-2 decisions. Oilers fan Matt Henderson Arch @Archaeologuy Nothing scares me more than going back to Skinner. Oilers fan Sumit Tripathi @Sumit_Tripathi_ Skinner absolutely the right choice. We live or die by Skinner Oilers fan Lauren 🩲 @lllaurenA Skinner needs to bring Roloson energy tonight. Cause if he brings Conklin energy, might as well book that tee time now. CHED commentator Shaye Ganam @ShayeGanam Careers aren’t often made or lost in a single game. But a single game can definitely be a defining moment in a career. Good and bad. Here’s hoping local kid Stuart Skinner is lights out tonight. Pressure makes diamonds. Oilers fan Captain Jack 🏴‍☠️ @OilersJack Unpopular Opinion: Starting Starting Stuart Skinner Tonight is so f*cking ballsy that I actually like it. Oilers fan Tyson Munro @Tys35 Stating my opinion now so I can’t use revisionist history after the fact: I believe going back to Skinner is the right choice. I’m fully prepared to be wrong 🤷🏻‍♂️ Pre-game Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman Back in Game 3, Skinner gave up four goals in 15 shots…One of the things I think was a big deal was Skinner’s reaction after goals. He sagged noticeably… One of the things that Oilers have worked with Skinner on is not looking so defeated after he’s scored on. But he regressed that night. It’s not 1A and 1B for me. He’s your starter and Pickard is way below. Sportsnet Kevin Bieksa It’s definitely the right decision to put him back in… I still think you should have went back to him in Game 5. He is your #1. He’s your ride or die. Sportsnet Luke Gazdic This is an opportunity for Stu to kind of right the narrative about his playoff success and kind of silence the critics a little bit. But I love this decision. He’s your guy and you go with him. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch A tough decision with the way Picks had played obviously but looking on our season on the line and seeing what Stu has done for us this season. Since I’ve been here he’s looked like an elite goaltender with Vezina-like numbers. And right now we need a big game from him and we’re going with him. Sportsnet Kelly Hrudey I struggled with this a tiny bit. I was thinking Pickard probably deserves a chance but my gut was always telling me that it’s going to be this guy, Skinner. He deserves it. He’s their #1 guy. For Skinner, I hope that he feels like he doesn’t have to be perfect. I think that having. a clean first period is very important. First period Hoglander goal, Oilers 1, Canucks 1 Dustin Nielson @nielsonTSN1260 How does Hoglander get that open for TWO cracks at it. Oilers fan Dr. van Nostrand @DrvanNostrand39 It’s absolutely too much to ask for a big save from Skinner. Oilers fan Karman Gill @Kgill39 McLeod and Nurse left a nobody player wide open. Do these guys even want to win? Oilers fan Jason Buzzell @buzzilinear Three standing there in the slot. Canucks sticks in there and bury him. It’s the series difference every year. Grades A shots first period, 4: Garland, 1525, side of net (save); Hoglander, 958 (save); Hoglander, 957 (goal); Lindholm, 210 (save). Sportsnet’s Kelly Hrudey They (Vancouver) let him (Skinner) off the hook. The big question going into it, is he going to be nervous? And it was answered in the first period. He had a bunch of moments. It was OK early on but he didn’t have any dangerous shots, only four shots he faced in the entire period. So I thought Vancouver, they should have been bombarding him. It’s not like he’s brimming with confidence right now. And it was just way too easy of a period for Skinner. Second Period Canucks Army blogger Wyatt Arndt @TheStanchion Greasy game or not, Skinner does not look comfortable in net and the Canucks are not testing him at all right now. Second period tilting the ice for Edmonton right now, Vancouver staring at some headlights and not moving Canucks Army blogger Vancouver Wyatt Arndt  Canucks power play is actively losing them this game. Lack of urgency is incredible. Cannot stress enough that Stuart Skinner is who you are shooting on. Just put the puck on net. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman That Skinner blocker on Hughes was massive for him and for the team Oilers fan Stan Gilbert @Snideguy Was he using the force on that save?! Vancouver Sun hockey writer Ben Kuzma @benkuzma Skinner with PK blocker deny on Hughes. Period ends. Van outshot 14-5 in second frame. #Canucks TNT commentator Paul Bissonnette@BizNasty2point0 Incredible stop by Skinner with the blocker. That’s the big one he needed. Let’s see if the Oilers can keep locking it down the last 20. Monday night in Vancouver would be electric. Sportsnet commentator Craig Simpson They (Canucks) have really let Skinner off the hook early on, haven’t really tested him and forced him to be great. Grades A shots second period, 1: Hughes, 39. Third period Oilers fan Oilers Ent @oilers_ent Coach Knob was right to put in Skinner. I was wrong to question it. The team played better in front of him tonight. It was a good show. Game Seven here we come. 👍🏼 Oilers fan Tyson Munro Skinner did exactly what was needed of him tonight. Great win. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid We were solid in front of Stu. Not many shots but the ones they did get I thought were dangerous. He did a great job stepping up… We never had a doubt. Honestly, he’s a battler and he’s always been a battler.” Sportsnet’s Bieksa What did Skinner have, like seven shots on net after two (periods)? And Kelly Hrudey said, ‘It’s not like he was beaming with confidence.’ The Canucks just let him off the hook by playing a very simple passive game… They had very few shifts where they were in the Edmonton zone and peppering Skinner. And he was ripe for the picking. Grades A shots second period, 1: Suter, 853 (save), Pettersson, 751 (post), Cole, 628 (save), Hronek, 459 (save) At the Cult of Hockey we had the Grade A shots 12 for nine for Edmonton, with the subset of more dangerous 5-alarm shots Edmonton two, Vancouver four. At the Natural Stat Trick, expected goals ere 2.8 for Vancouver, 2.7 for Edmonton. My own bottom lines? Skinner’s task wasn’t to shut down his doubters. It was to shut down his own doubts. With that monster save on Quinn Hughes — a game-changing moment — mission accomplished, I suspect. As for Bieksa’s comment, that’s excellent bulletin board material for Skinner. A huge win for Edmonton, for the Oilers, for Skinner, and one that should set up Skinner to be all the more ready for Game 7.

Playoff Game Day 2.6: Vancouver at Edmonton The decision has been made, and not all fans of the Edmonton Oilers are going to like it: Coach Kris Knoblauch is turning back to his #1 goaltender, Stuart Skinner, for the biggest game of the season. Skinner has had his struggles in the postseason for the second year in a row, especially in the current Vancouver series. He played the first 8 periods, allowing 12 goals on just 58 shots for a miserable .793 save percentage. Backup Calvin Pickard mopped up in Game 3, then played the entirety of Games 4 and 5 as the two teams split a pair of 3-2 decisions. Pickard was solid in both games, indeed in the eyes of many he was the reason the Canucks did not win by a much more comfortable margin in Game 5 on what was a rough night for the Oilers skaters. It was, however, the first time he’d gotten consecutive NHL starts since an emergency recall with Detroit in January of 2022. As strong as he’s been as the backup ‘tender, four starts in a week is not really part of his history, and that’s what it would’ve taken for the Oilers to pull out a series win with the likeable Pickard in the pipes. My own take was always that Pickard would play until the third loss, then Skinner would get another shot, which is apparently in line with Knoblauch’s thinking as well. Fair to say that Pickard’s strong performance in Game 5 made that decision a lot tougher. Also fair to say that Skinner’s own performance in the postseason hasn’t inspired a tremendous amount of confidence in Oil Country. He had a pair of excellent games in Los Angeles, otherwise a string of sub-.900 games including the last 4 in a row. The Oilers will get a well-rested, highly-motivated version of Stu Skinner against the Canucks tonight. How well that translates to actual performance is the question, and with it a bunch of subsidiary questions that could well hang over both goalie and coach all summer long if things don’t go well. Meanwhile, big questions hang over the group of skaters, especially Edmonton’s top players who have not seen the ice since Thursday’s loss. Those numbers are familiar to most, but for the record: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard. Trouble being, that list of key skaters almost perfectly matches that of Edmonton’s poorest performers in Game 5: Worth noting that the 7 big names at the bottom of this particular game score card exactly correspond with the top 7 Oilers for ice time in this series. Of particular concern were the bottom 5 names here — a.k.a. the first unit at 5v5 — which generated almost nothing offensively while being lit up for a pair of goals at their own end of the sheet including J.T. Miller’s last-minute game winner. Oilers ice time in Vancouver series Let’s face it folks, for the Oilers to have a fighting chance, all of those guys need to be a whole lot better on Saturday night. With rumours of illness and injury rippling through the ranks, extra rest is likely the better choice. Sounds like Corey Perry will be coming out of the line-up after 10 pointless games. Who will replace him? Adam Henrique, reportedly ruled out for Game 6 last night, took the skate this morning and is now being tabbed as likely to return to the line-up. “Not written in sharpie”. Other options include forwards Sam Carrick and Sam Gagner as well as Perry himself. An 11F / 7D alignment is also a remote possibility, perhaps worth considering if Ekholm’s widely-reported illness remains an issue. Lots of questions hanging over the Edmonton Oilers. The short-term answers will begin to filter in shortly after tonight’s (early! 6pm MDT) puck drop. In the longer term, those questions threaten to hang around all summer. Recently at the Cult of Hockey STAPLES: Changes in the works for Game 6 STAPLES: Secret sauce from each Oilers player to avoid Game 6 elimination McCURDY: Ekholm, Draisaitl, Kane — Maintenance Men by day, difference makers by night LEAVINS: 9 Things Player grades LEAVINS: Game 5 — Canucks 3, Oilers 2 STAPLES: Game 4 — Oilers 3, Canucks 2 McCURDY: Game 3 — Canucks 4, Oilers 3 STAPLES: Game 2 — Oilers 4, Canucks 3 (OT) LEAVINS: Game 1 — Canucks 5, Oilers 4 Follow me on X-Twitter @BruceMcCurdy

Stuart Skinner back in net instead of Calvin Pickard for the Edmonton Oilers for Game 6? Centre Sam Carrick in for winger Corey Perry? And a new third line of Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod, the same line that did so well against Las Vegas last playoff season? It sound like it to me, at least if I’m correctly following the bread crumbs dropped by Edmonton’s Game 6 line-up dropped by the team’s ultimate insider Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now. When it comes to Carrick in the line-up, it sounds like it’s either him or Adam Henrique, Stauffer made clear. “Adam Henrique is a game time decision. I think one of Henrique or Carrick is coming in for Edmonton.” As for Skinner over Pickard, Stauffer said, “I think hypothetically there’s a strong possibility we might see Stuart Skinner start tomorrow.” Stauffer works for the team, travels with the team, is a tireless worker, and is by far the most connected reporter of all things Edmonton Oilers. If he makes.a statement like that, I take it that he’s not spitballing, that he’s heard something and this is his way of telling us. It happens now and then on Oilers Now, which is why the show is a can’t miss broadcast for fans. Stauffer and guest Frank Seravalli, the hard-hitting NHL writer of the Daily Face-off, both agreed if they were picking, they’d go with Skinner over Pickard. Servalli noted that Skinner is rested and that as well as Pickard played there was still six pucks that got behind him, one that hit the post, one of crossbar, one pulled off the line by Vincent Desharnais. “Let’s say the Oilers win Game 6 and there’s a Game 7,” Seravalli said. “Do you really want Cal Pickard playing four in a row. That’s why I’m gong with Stuart Skinner now.” Stauffer noted that Skinner had had a break and he’s been number one all year. “I’m not disrespecting for a second what Cal Pickard has done. But it’s crunch time and the team has got to play way better in front of him.” As for the third line, Stauffer had a suggestion. If they do sit Corey Perry , one of the things they can do, was to go with Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod at third line, a trio that had been Edmonton’s best possession line against Vegas last year.  “They got one shift together at the end of the second and Derek Ryan almost scored on (Vancouver goalie Arturs) Silovs.” Related: The best 20 minutes of radio you’ve ever heard? Staples and Stauffer discuss Oilers heading into game 6 My take 1. Cal Pickard was fantastic against Vancouver in Game Five. He faced 20 Grade A shots and let in just two goals. On 20 such shots you’d expect a team would score four-to-six goals. I’d go with the hot hand, stick with Pickard and worry about Game 7 if the Oilers get a win in Game 6. Skinner wasn’t sharp last year against Vegas and he hasn’t been sharp against Vancouver. If he starts, maybe he’ll be lights out. But I suspect there’s a better chance Pickard will provide solid goaltending in the next two games than Skinner will. 2. I’d like to see Sam Gagner in, but Stauffer made that sound unlikely. And, whatever my own preference, I do like the idea of going back to a line of McLeod, Ryan and Foegele. Frankly I don’t know why we didn’t see this line repeatedly throughout the season. The trio played solid two-way hockey against Vegas. 3. Perry has been struggling to keep up with the speed of the playoffs, so it makes sense he’d come out. Henrique is a smart player who blends well with Hyman and McDavid when healthy. But if Perry is coming out, and if Ryan-Foegele-McLeod are to be re-united, it makes sense to play Carrick over Henrique on the fourth line, given Henrique may be unable to take face-offs. Carrick is also healthy and can provide a physical element, something the Oilers lacked in Game 5. Related Secret sauce from each Oilers player to avoid Game 6 elimination LEAVINS: Player grades in Game 5 loss          

Alain Vigneault is sure about one thing if the Jets decide to give Scott Arniel a second chance as an NHL head coach. “They won’t be sorry,” the longtime NHL skipper and former Manitoba Moose bench boss told the Winnipeg Sun on Friday. Vigneault and Arniel go back to their junior days, tangling in the QMJHL. The two quickly turned from enemies on the ice to co-workers and good friends off it as Arniel slid into Vigneault’s role with the Moose after Vigneault was promoted to the top gig with the Vancouver Canucks. Years later, Vigneault hand-picked Arniel as his associate coach with the Rangers — a story that features Vigneault’s two favourite people in the game: Arniel and former Jets head coach Rick Bowness. Vigneault came up in the coaching ranks under Bowness as his assistant during the first four years of the expansion Ottawa Senators. “Rick (Vigneault’s assistant for seven years in Vancouver) had gone off to Tampa,” Vigneault remembers after being let go by the Canucks. “So my first call was to Scott, and it worked out real well.” The pair led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup final in their first year in charge in 2013-14. “We were hand-in-hand there, we had some real good years,” Vigneault said. Asking Jets fans if they would like to see Arniel as the club’s next head coach is like asking Winnipeggers if they want Portage and Main open to pedestrian traffic. It’s a divisive topic. On the one hand, the 61-year-old is more adept than anyone at what this team has fostered over the past two seasons under Bowness. He’s been a big part of turning this team’s defensive game around and instilling a culture of inclusivity that has brought this crop of players closer together than they have been in years. “His player relationships, how to deal with them, how to improve them and get them to understand the team-first concept, it’s top-notch,” Vigneault said. “He knows everyone there. From the owners to the GM to the scouts. I find it hard to find someone who would say anything different.” Arniel led the Jets to a 10-5-2 record during two stints with Bowness away from the club. “He did real well in that situation,” Vigneault said. Why rock the boat of a 110-point hockey club more than it’s already been wobbled with Bowness retiring? On the other hand, Arniel hasn’t held a head-coaching gig at any level for more than a decade. His one shot came in Columbus and lasted fewer than two seasons due to the team’s poor play, particularly its goaltending, which hid a team that had positive possession and expected-goal metrics during Arniel’s only full season there. “Every time I’d call him or I’d text him, I’d tell him the same thing: ‘You can’t win with that goaltending,’ ” Vigneault said. “It’s the most important position in the game. You have to have it. “But he’s not the same coach that he was in Columbus. He’s a much more knowledgeable hockey person with all the experience he’s had over all of those years. Every year that you stay in this league, with how competitive it is, if you’re not constantly on top of everything that’s out there, and you’re not constantly trying to improve yourself, you’re not going to stick around.” Arniel’s first job behind an NHL bench came in Buffalo in the early-to-mid aughts beside Lindy Ruff, one of the most well-respected coaches in the league today. “Just a rock-solid guy. A good communicator,” Ruff said last November. “He’s spent a lot of time in the game. He understands both sides of the game. (He) was a penalty killer, a power-play guy and is just a good person. “Just think, with working with all of the personnel he’s worked with, you can always take a little bit from everybody that you’ve been around. From all the head coaches, the assistant coaches you’ve been around. He uses all of those experiences to make himself better, (and) make the team better.” Ruff’s opinion holds significant weight in the game, and Vigneault said it was Arniel who convinced him to hire Ruff as an assistant in their final year in New York. Ruff has coached 1,774 games in the NHL, including a 15-year stint with the Sabres before spending time in Dallas and New Jersey. He was let go mid-season this past year, but he’s now back behind the bench for a second go-around with the Sabres. Peter Laviolette, who has coached in the NHL for 22 years, is a reputable voice in the game, like Ruff. Laviolette guided the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup banner in 2006, Philadelphia and Nashville to the finals in other stops, and the New York Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final this season. “A really good leader,” is how Laviolette described Arniel last October. “It was really good to work with Scott. It just goes to show that no matter how long you’ve been in the game, you can constantly learn from people. “You could just tell that Arnie had been a head coach in the NHL before, just by the way that he conducts himself, the way that he runs his meetings. He’s a really smart guy. “I got to leave Washington knowing that I was a better coach because I got to spend time with him.” sbilleck@postmedia.com X: @scottbilleck

The book on the 40th coach in Toronto’s NHL franchise history is that he’s not one to forgive a failed effort easily. Whether Craig Brerube does hold the star power on the Maple Leafs and the rest of the team more accountable than his predecessor, especially in the playoffs, remains to be seen, but first the new man has to get up to speed with his new charges. General manager Brad Treliving confirmed he picked the name atop most lists of candidates after last week’s firing of Sheldon Keefe, hiring the 58-year-old Berube. It’s almost five years to the day Berube won a Stanley Cup by shaking up the St. Louis Blues as a mid-season replacement. Unlike when he accepted his last assignment, Berube inherits a team that finished with more than 100 points the past three years, with NHL goal leader Auston Matthews and two right wingers who were within 100 points this year and last in William Nylander and Mitch Marner. But getting more from the Leafs in clutch post-season moments, particularly Marner and Matthews, will be what fans want to see a year from now. Berube was let go by the Blues this past December as their Cup roster thinned out through age, injuries, trades and free agency. But he’s best recalled for winning a title without a recognized franchise player and steady, but not spectacular goaltending, a game plan based as much on skill players accepting defensive roles as scoring themselves. Berube might have kept the Blues in the Cup hunt had COVID-19 not disrupted the whole NHL the following year. They stayed competitive, but his often heavy-handed approach had run its course by last December when the team lost four straight and dipped below .500. Craig Berube or Todd McLellan will put Leafs on notice says ex-NHLer Kelly Chase https://torontosun.com/sports/maple-leaf-sports-and-entertainment-unveil-latest-steps-in-reimagination-aimed-at-enhancing-arena For all of Keefe’s efforts to pry the most of his Core Four, the three aforementioned players and captain John Tavares, the Leafs as a whole bought into playoff hockey a little too late after getting down 3-1 to Boston. It turned into the sixth time they’d lost a Game 5 or 7 of an opening round series since 2017, the fourth under Keefe. Nicknamed ‘Chief’, with 3,360 NHL penalty minutes in almost 1,200 NHL games, he brings a lot of that pugnacious attitude to the job. “He’s going to ask you to play hard or you won’t play,” former NHLer and Blues’ broadcaster Kelly Chase told the Sun last week when Berube’s name came up as a replacement for Keefe. “And that (controversy) only has to happen a couple of times in the winter for it to be understood by every player come spring. “He’s brutally honest. He went to Alex Steen in our Cup year and said, ‘I want you to take a lesser role, but it’s going to be important’. He played him with Ivan Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist. People were calling it the third or fourth line, but they were huge. So, he might go to Marner and say, ‘I’m moving you down because this other player is doing better. You want to play more? Play harder.’ ” Treliving will just have to hope Berube can find a level of comfort in Canada’s most intense hockey market compared to the game’s often secondary status in St. Louis. But Berube did start out with the Philadelphia Flyers as their head coach ten years ago (75-58-28 with one playoff appearance in two years) and after his Cup appearance, knows how to survive a large media scrum. Just don’t expect the long and detailed answers Keefe liked to provide in explaining his methods. Part-Indigenous Cree, Berube was born in Calahoo, Alta., a reserve community with less than 200 people. Undrafted, he debuted with the Flyers with two fights and eventually played for both his home province Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. In between, he was a Leaf for 40 games, traded from the Oilers in the Glenn Anderson-Grant Fuhr acquisition and to the Flames when Toronto acquired Doug Gilmour in the record 10-player swap. Craig Berube or Todd McLellan will put Leafs on notice says ex-NHLer Kelly Chase https://torontosun.com/sports/maple-leaf-sports-and-entertainment-unveil-latest-steps-in-reimagination-aimed-at-enhancing-arena “I’m going to wait for an NHL job and see what happens,” Berube told Flyers’ blogger Wayne Fish after being let go in St. Louis and returning to the Philly area to be closer to his three children by his first marriage. “It doesn’t matter where. I’m sure I have a shot. It all boils down to talking to a team, talking to the GM, the ownership. “If they believe in your message, if they like what you’re saying. In the interview process, if it’s a good fit for me and a good fit for them, probably something will get done.” It was believed Treliving met face-to-face with seasoned NHL coach Todd McLellan as part of the interview process. Another well-travelled coach, Gerard Gallant, was in the mix, but Berube was named before Rod Brind’Amour’s future with the Carolina Hurricanes was determined, after their Thursday-night elimination by the New York Rangers. Berube coming to the Leafs, after being briefly courted by New Jersey, shifts the coaching spotlight to vacancies with the Devils, Winnipeg Jets, Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks. It remains to be seen if Joel Quenneville gets clearance from the NHL to resume his career after three years on the sidelines. lhornby@postmedia.com X:@sunhornby

Now that the Leafs have hired Craig Berube as the 32nd coach in franchise history, his goal will be to become the next Scotty Bowman. Bear with us here. We haven’t got off to a head start on the May long weekend libations. That will come soon enough. Bowman, the Hall of Fame legend who is properly regarded as the best coach to stand behind any NHL bench, won a record nine Stanley Cups as coach, starting in 1973 with the Montreal Canadiens and ending in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings. Bowman hoisted five Cups as coach of the Canadiens, did it once with the Pittsburgh Penguins and three times with the Red Wings. All of this is pertinent in regard to Berube, whose hiring was announced officially by the Leafs on Friday afternoon, for a simple reason: Bowman is the only man since 1967-68, the season that marked the NHL’s initial charge into expansion, who has coached more than one team to a Stanley Cup. And Bowman, because he has no equals, just happened to do it with three teams. Some excellent coaches — Fred Shero, Al Arbour, Glen Sather and more recently Joel Quenneville, Darryl Sutter, Mike Sullivan and Jon Cooper — have hoisted the Cup more than once. But in all cases, each did so with the same team. There’s a long list of coaches who have won the Cup once and not had that same success when they’ve gone on to coach another team. We won’t recall all of them here, but the list includes Ken Hitchcock, John Tortorella, Mike Babcock and Claude Julien. Peter Laviolette could do it this spring with the New York Rangers, as he won the Cup in 2006 coaching the Carolina Hurricanes. The fact that Berube won the Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, righting what had been a last-place NHL ship in January of that year, doesn’t matter much. Men regarded as being a better coach than Berube weren’t able to win again in another market. What evidence is there to indicate that Berube will buck what has been, to be honest, a rather surprising trend in the NHL? What is there to say that Berube will guide the Leafs to their first Cup since 1967? After the Blues won five years ago, led by the best overall performance of goalie Jordan Binnington’s NHL career, Berube couldn’t take the Blues to anything approaching the Cup final again. The Blues lost in the first round in 2020 and 2021, lost in the second round in 2022 and didn’t make the playoffs in 2023. Fairly run-of-the-mill stuff. Berube hung on until he was fired in St. Louis last Dec. 12. Of course Leafs general manager Brad Treliving did his due diligence in the search, which kicked into earnest when Sheldon Keefe was fired on May 9. That’s what a GM is supposed to do. Somewhere along the way, Treliving decided that the Leafs have a greater chance of winning with Berube than with Todd McLellan, who was thought to be the other frontrunner. But there are more than a few members of Leafs Nation who would be disappointed with the idea that Treliving came to his decision before knowing 100% what the coaching future held for Rod Brind’Amour. When the Hurricanes were eliminated by the New York Rangers from the playoffs on Thursday night, an understandable course of action the part of Treliving would have been to hold off on any coaching decision until the hockey world knew whether Brind’Amour was going to return to Carolina. No such luck if you preferred Brind’Amour as a possible coach of the Leafs. With the Leafs, Berube is going to coach a player — Auston Matthews — with the kind of talent he never had in St. Louis or in a two-year stint as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2013-15. With the Flyers under Berube, Wayne Simmonds led the club in goal-scoring with 29 in 2013-14 and 28 in 2014-15. In St. Louis, the best goal-scorer with Berube as coach was Jordan Kyrou, who had 37 goals in 2022-23. The relationship that Berube, whose contract reportedly is for four years, must build with Matthews will be crucial to any success the Leafs will have. How that unfolds will be fascinating to observe. NHL Notes: Let the Rod Brind’Amour coaching sweepstakes begin ... Brad Marchand better, says Sam Bennett hit part of playoff war Maple Leafs' prospect Easton Cowan caps OHL playoff ride with MVP honours Just as fascinating will be Berube’s relationship with William Nylander. Keefe and Nylander went back to their days together with the Toronto Marlies, and Keefe knew which Nylander buttons needed to be pushed. Include Mitch Marner here if he is back next season. Also, like anyone else, we’re curious to see how Berube’s no-nonsense approach will work with this Leafs group. Will holding players more accountable than Keefe did (at least publicly) result in long playoff runs and eventually a Cup? Will it make the Leafs better than the 100-point team they were annually in the regular season under Keefe? When a new coach is hired, there’s good feelings always emanate from the team, and we would expect nothing less when the news conference introducing Berube is held on Tuesday morning at the Ford Performance Centre. With Berube, no guarantee about a possible Cup victory in Toronto can be made just because he has done it before. Berube is a new voice, sure. But we can’t say now he’s going to be a better one in replacing Keefe, and have a greater impact, because we don’t know that yet. We’re intrigued to see what the next several years bring. Just don’t be surprised if the first line in this column will be one of the few times that Berube is mentioned in the same sentence as Scotty Bowman. tkoshan@postmedia.com X: @koshtorontosun

The Edmonton Oilers have found a way to lose three games to the Vancouver Canucks. Now the Oilers have to find a way to win two games. Can they do it? Here’s what Team captain Connor McDavid said earlier this year in a dressing room speech to his team: “If there’s anything this year has taught us it’s that when we stick together like brothers we can do anything… We brought ourselves back from the dead this year it’s a credit to everybody in this room.” One more return from the dead is not mission impossible for these Oilers. Teams do it often. The Oilers can do it. They have done it before in franchise history. Indeed, in 1990, on their way to winning the Stanley Cup, the Oilers were down 3-1  to the Winnipeg Jets, then won three straight. The same happened against Colorado in 1998, the Oilers winning the three final games of the series to take it in seven. The McDavid/Draisaitl era Oilers pulled off the stunt in 2022, winning the final two games to beat the Los Angeles Kings in seven. As McDavid said, this current team is familiar with rising from the dead, given its horrendous start that had some folks writing off Edmonton’s playoff chances in November. But they found a way. Now their assignment, their mission possible, is to find the unique individual secret sauce it will take for each of them to play well enough to get by a determined Vancouver Canucks team. It’s do-able. The flow of play went Vancouver’s way in Game 5, a brilliant effort that saw them get 20 Grade A shots to just eight for Edmonton in a their 3-2 win. But overall in the five game series, Edmonton has had 78 Grade A shots to 58 for Vancouver. The Oilers have been the more dangerous team, but Vancouver has had superior goaltending. That said, if Edmonton can reassert its dominance in Grade A shots, its chances of winning the next game shoot up. That might not be enough to win, as it will also take puck luck and solid goaltending. But I like Edmonton’s chances in Game 6, and Game 7 will come down to which team wants it most. Here’s what each and every Oiler has to do for Edmonton to take the series: #2. Evan Bouchard. Until a few major mistakes in Game 5, Bouchard had been the Oil’s best d-man in the series. He’s got two game-winning goals, six points in five games. For him, I’ll suggest he keep doing what he’s been doing. He’s crushing it. #5. Cody Ceci. He got off to a rough start this series, in large part due to a number of ill-advised offensive forays where he was slow getting back. He’s settled down in the last few games since getting paired with Brett Kulak. For Ceci, solid positional play is his strength. If he can always, always, always stay on the right side of his check and guard the slot, he can help Edmonton win. #10. Derek Ryan. He’s been sensational on the kill and is driving forward a solid checking line. More of the same will work but that can be assisted by coach Kris Knoblauch. Given how well Ryan’s line played in Game 5, it was odd that Ryan only got 7:15 of even strength ice time. Two or three minutes more for his line would have done the Oilers well. #13. Mattias Janmark. He’s playing some of his best hockey right now. For Janmark, one key is out of his hands. I’ll suggest that when the Oilers have a lead, especially at the end of each period and the end of each game, Janmark should be Knoblauch’s first choice to have out on the ice, as opposed to an offensive player who lacks Janmark’s excellent defensive instincts. #14. Mattias Ekholm. He’s done far, far more good than bad this series, even as he’s been playing sick. He made a mental mistake with a bad line change on the winning goal against in Game 5, but such is hockey. For him, the key is to rest up, get as healthy as he can, and keep bringing what he’s brought all year, excellent defence and puck-moving. #18. Zach Hyman. He’s played solid two-way hockey this series, but has just two goals in five games. He’s counted on to find a way to score. Now is the time. #19. Adam Henrique. If he’s healthy, he can bolster the top line with smart and steady play. He’d be a welcome addition to the roster. But only if he’s healthy. #25 Darnell Nurse. He’s come on as the series has progressed. Nurse is at his best when he stays on the right side of his check, guards the slot and moves the puck. He’s now playing that straight ahead game, just needs to stick to it in Game 6. #27 Brett Kulak. Like Bouchard, he’s generally brought his “A” game against Vancouver. He’s another player where more of the same is what his team needs. #28 Connor Brown. Finally, at long last, we’re seeing the real Connor Brown. He made a brilliant pass to Janmark for Edmonton’s second goal in Game 5. His defence has been solid. But, again, this is one where Knoblauch has got to find more ice-time for this line. They have earned it. #29 Leon Draisaitl. Eleven points in five games, seven of them at even strength, the Oil’s best player in this series. Enough said. The key for Draisaitl is to keep it simple on defence, cover his position, not free-lance. On the attack, he’s a monster. #30 Calvin Pickard. Goalies are voodoo, so whatever voodoo Pickard has been conjuring, no one should question or mess with. He singlehandedly kept the Oilers in Game 5 when the Canucks took over in the second period and gave his team a chance to win. #37 Warren Foegele. He’s disappeared in this series and these playoffs, save for on the penalty kill where he’s been part of an outstanding effort. If he stays in the line-up, his strength has been taking the puck hard to the net and forechecking. If he focuses on taking the man each forecheck, that might well work. #39 Sam Carrick. He may be asked to provide some physical punch on the forecheck. The Oil greatly lacked that in Game 5. Related LEAVINS: Player grades in Game 5 loss to the Canucks "Masterful performance": Social media reacts as Oilers lose but find hope in Calvin Pickard #51 Troy Stecher. If he gets in, keep it simple, just move the puck, which is his strength. #55 Dylan Holloway. Suddenly he’s a Top 6 player, smart with the puck, solid on defence, fast and adept enough to even bottle up Quinn Hughes at the point. Now he’s got to find a way to get off his shot. #71 Ryan McLeod. In some ways  he’s been good. He is sound defensively, solid moving the puck, and has been involved in some close calls around the net. But he’s got no points in five games against Vancouver. He’s had just four shots on net, missing the net on a few open looks. Like Foegele, he’s got to find a way to drive the puck on net. #73 Vincent Desharnais. Solid on penalty kill and in his own end, if he can move the puck smartly, he helps the Oilers in their goal. #74 Stuart Skinner. He may yet get another chance in this series. If he does, he’s got to be the Stu Skinner of December and January, not the one we saw in May. He can make big saves. He’s done it consistently in the regular season. Why not now? #86 Philip Broberg. I doubt he’ll get in, even as I think if he’d been handled adroitly he might now be providing the same boost to the Oilers as Holloway is. If does see the ice, he’s got to keep it simple, modelling his game on Kulak, getting it done with sound positional defence and brilliant skating. #89 Sam Gagner. It’s time for Sam Gagner to get a game, no? If he does, he’ll score. #90 Corey Perry. He looks banged up and a step or three behind. He’s out of sync with McLeod. Perry out, Gagner in is the right play for the team, no? If he comes back rested later in the playoffs, he might still be a factor. #91 Evander Kane.  When Kane is hitting and shooting — and he’s been doing a good job of it this series — the Oilers roll. He’s played well, but must maintain defensive focus when covering the point, making sure to stay in front of his check. #93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He had a great Game 4 but disappeared again in Game 5. If Henrique is back, RNH might be on the third line with McLeod and Gagner. I’d like to see that. Such a line with three smart hockey players can have some success on the attack. For RNH, the key is to play with an edge, something he’s done in the past. #97 Connor McDavid. Just six points and one goal this series, not up to his usual standard. He looked slow and tired in Game 5. He lost his check J.T. Miller on the winning goal. McDavid takes over a game when he’s moving his feet, beating players with his speed. He did so in Game 2 in the series. Now it’s time for him to bring the magic again. McDavid knows it. I bet McDavid does it. At the Cult of Hockey LEAVINS: Player grades in Game 5 loss to Canucks STAPLES: “Masterful performance”: Social media reacts as Oilers lose but find hope in Calvin Pickard