The Edmonton Oilers : Canada’s Team

The Edmonton Oilers are going to the Western Conference Championship after their dramatic overtime victory in game 5. Congratulations to the Calgary Flames for a hard fought series. We’ll see you in the fall.

For now, Canada’s Team will have to wait for the winner of the Blues / Avalanche series. Colorado could put it away with a win tonight, though St. Louis has shown that they’re at least up to the task. Unlike the Flames, the Blues took at least two wins in their series.

The Oilers can’t be stopped, won’t be stopped. Appropriately, Canada’s Team took game 5 of this year’s Battle of Alberta when Connor McDavid scored a wicked wrister in overtime to send Calgary packing. Maybe next year, Flames. Maybe.

Five different Oilers helped tuck the Flames to bed. Zach Hyman, Jesse Puljujärvi, Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard each had goals before the league’s best player sent the Oilers to the conference championship.

The Flames had an excellent regular season. They took the Pacific Division, they had 50 wins along the way. There was some talk (it couldn’t have been too serious, right?) about Johnny Gaudreau being the league MVP this season. All of these things are nice enough, I guess.

The Edmonton Oilers are Canada’s Team. They’ll play one of the Blues or the Avalanche next round for the right to play for the Stanley Cup.

It’s been a long time coming, but here we are. There’s still some room on the wagon for everyone else. I’m looking at you, Vancouver. You too, Montréal. Toronto, I almost forgot about you. Plenty of room left. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

It’s time for Canada’s Team to bring it home.