Craig Simpson has found himself flipping through the pages of his memory over the past couple of weeks.
As one of the game’s top analysts, the youthful looking 50-year-old broadcaster has scrutinized the play in the Western Conference semifinal between the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, a series that has been extended to a seventh and deciding game in Southern California on Wednesday night.
Todd McLellan on Oilers playing first Game 7 in over a decade1:49
As a passionate hockey man, he can’t help but think back to the last time the Oilers were in the playoffs in 2006, when he was an assistant coach on Craig MacTavish’s Edmonton’s staff. That spring, the Oilers put forth an improbable run all the way to the Stanley Cup final, only to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games.
“Sure, there are similarities,” the Hockey Night in Canada analyst said in a phone interview. “The biggest one is the growth of this group had from series to series.
“You have to have a belief that you can win the Stanley Cup. I think there is a belief within this group.”
Eleven years ago, the Oilers were the eighth and final seed in the West. Only goalie Dwayne Roloson, forwards Michael Peca and Radek Dvorak had been to a final previously in their careers, all in a losing cause.
Yet, there was this group, led by Ryan Smyth, Peca and Chris Pronger, defying the odds to advance to the final. That Oilers club was the first eighth seed to make it that far at the time, only to be trumped by the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings, who went on to celebrate their first Stanley Cup championship from the eighth slot.
Simpson recalled that in 2006 the turning point for the inexperienced Oilers was in Game 5 of their first-round series against the mighty Detroit Red Wings.
The Red Wings were the Presidents’ Trophy winners that season. Yet, here were the young and restless Oilers tied at 2-2 and back at Joe Louis Arena for Game 5.
“It was in the second period of that game,” Simpson recalled. “You could tell by the talk on the bench in the second period that this group had a confidence that they could win.”
The Oilers took that opening round in six games. Then, they knocked off the San Jose Sharks in six games after losing the first two games on the road. Finally, they eliminated the Ducks in the conference final in five games.
Edmonton was hobbled when Roloson suffered a season-ending injury late in the championship series opener. But they still managed to stretch Carolina to a seventh game after winning Games 5 and 6.
Oilers impressing the hockey world
This current Oilers team has impressed the hockey world in so many ways. For Simpson, he sees two reasons as to why the Oilers have pushed Ducks to the brink.
First, head coach Todd McLellan’s moving of Leon Draisaitl off Connor McDavid’s line to centre the Oilers’ second unit has given Edmonton a difficult-to-deal-with, one-two punch up the middle. Draisaitl has been a force this spring in the same way the German sensation was in the MVP-way he guided the Kelowna Rockets to the WHL Chynoweth Cup two years ago.
Game wrap: Leon Draisaitl hat trick helps Oilers force game 71:48
Secondly, the defensive unit was supposed to be the Oilers weakness. But Simpson has been impressed the way Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Andrej Sekera have stepped up to lead the way. Even without Sekera and Klefbom in the dominant Game 6 victory because of injuries, Griffin Reinhart and Eric Gryba played well in their absence. While Sekera has been lost for the remainder of the series, Klefbom is expected to return.
The pressure is on the Ducks. This is the fifth consecutive season they have squandered a 3-2 series lead to allow a Game 7. On the previous four occasions, Anaheim was eliminated in the deciding game on home ice.
This, however, has been an unpredictable series. Some of the Oilers inexperience came shining through when they allowed a 3-0 lead turn into a 4-3 double overtime defeat in Game 5.
But then again, the Oilers exhibited tremendous resilience in storming out to their 7-1 Game 6 win.
How Game 7 will unfold in Anaheim on Wednesday will be fascinating, especially if the Oilers can duplicate the underdog, upset-minded belief of the team Simpson was part of 11 years ago.
