The Edmonton Oilers without Connor McDavid, or the Vancouver Canucks without Tyler Myers.
Which team came out of Saturday’s melee on the worst end of the dual three-game suspensions handed down by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, ahead of Thursday’s rematch at Rogers Place?
Perhaps a better question would be, do you even have to ask?
While retribution might have been on the minds of Oilers fans heading into Round 2 Thursday, the players were keeping their focus on answering back on the scoreboard.
While Canucks forward Conor Garland was on the receiving end of a McDavid cross-check that left the Oilers without their captain in the lineup for the second game in a row Thursday, Edmonton defenceman Evan Bouchard caught a face full of Myers’ stick in what looked like an unprovoked attack in those same dying seconds of Saturday’s game, a 3-2 win by the Canucks.
‘It happened’
But Bouchard wasn’t harbouring any ill will Thursday.
“I don’t think he meant to do it,” said Bouchard, who appeared to move his hands up in self-defence, which changed the path of Myers’ blow from his chest area up into his face. “It happened, it got me.”
But that doesn’t mean the Oilers defenceman believes justice was served in having McDavid receive the same length of suspension as the Canucks culprit.
“I don’t know. The league made the decision, I don’t really know how I feel about it,” Bouchard said. “It is what it is.
“They both got three games, so we move on from it.”
Nothing personal? No harm, no foul? Not exactly.
Not with the backdrop of last year’s post-season meeting looming large any time the two divisional foes meet since Edmonton eliminated Vancouver in a second-round clash that was finally decided by a 3-2 score in Game 7.
“We’re on the heels of a pretty intense series that went seven games last year,” said Oilers forward Connor Brown. “It was a tough series, it was hostile in both rinks.
“Yeah, there is definitely some risen emotion between our groups so these are fun ones to play in.”
Of course, it’s much more fun when the best player in the league is in the lineup for them, instead of stuck watching the game like the rest of us.
“I think when you have a player of that calibre, it’s not like he comes out of the lineup and somebody steps in for his place,” Brown said. “It just comes down to our team play, and I think that’s what we’ve done a good job of building.
“So, for us when we’re missing him, it’s focusing on how we play as a group and making sure every guy brings their game to the table.”
And not just on the skill side of the game, either.
‘Establish ourselves’
“We’re not scared in there, we can play just as hard as any group but I think what sets us apart is our puck play,” Brown said. “With that being said, it’s important to establish ourselves physically and make sure we stop their feet, especially their top players, and that it’s a muddy track for them.
“But at the same time not letting what makes our own group so good slip away and making sure our puck play is good. And sometimes those don’t always go hand in hand. Sometimes when you’re looking to get hits and looking to chase the game a little bit, you end up chasing the game. So, the priority for us is playing with the puck and making it tough on them when they do have it.”
Before establishing himself on the left wing next to league-leading scorer Leon Draisaitl after being traded to the Oilers on Aug. 18, Vasily Podkolzin was a first-round draft pick of the Canucks, where he spent his first three NHL seasons.
He was the lone player who saw Saturday’s scrum happening between past and present teammates.
“It’s hockey, especially when two good Canadian teams play against each other,” Podkolzin. “So, it was tough. And it’s part of it, it happens.
“The bad thing is a couple of guys get suspensions, but it’s a different game.”
That being said, the Oilers wouldn’t have made it all the way to Game 7 of last year’s playoffs if they weren’t able to answer the bell physically whenever the situation arises.
“It’s a big part of us and I think it’s a good group to do it,” Podkolzin said. “Physicality will help us to win more games.”
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge