I unfortunately didn't get a chance to see the first period due to having company over, but saw the rest of the game.
If there's something I can say about the Canucks, at least watching the games that I'm able to (don't get to see them all, being from the 'Peg and all, but do listen otherwise), and especially late in the season and through the playoffs...they have a tendency of getting in their own way...sometimes literally!
There's been too many times I've seen players get the puck in or near the offensive zone and have a step or two on the defender(s)...and then either circle back towards the blue line waiting for someone else to come, or do a drop pass to the Invisible Man. Rarely would they skate it in and actually shoot the damn puck. On top of that, the Canucks too often pass the puck around too much and hold on to the puck, waiting for the perfect shot opportunity to open up. Not enough snap in their passes in the offensive zone (i.e. tic-tac-toe passes) to catch the defenders off-guard. I get that they don't want to shoot the puck all willy-nilly and risk giving the puck away, but they also can't be scared every once in awhile to just fire the puck the second they receive a pass. All too often, they get the puck, wait two or three seconds, then either pass it and have another player do the same thing, or shoot it into someone's skate/stick/leg. See damn near every power play, it seems. It's very frustrating.
Thankfully, Arturs Silovs has come through and channeled his World Championship play from last season and has kept the team in this series. I think the backup job is his next season, barring him absolutely crapping the bed in training camp. Not bad for a guy who basically lost a year of development in 2020-21, barely playing that season due to the border situation due to Covid-19 and only playing one game with the Manitoba Moose (note: NOT Vancouver's AHL affiliate...he was loaned there from Utica in case he was needed in Vancouver). Hopefully he can keep up the great play!
I guess if there's any good thing I can take from this series so far is that if (heaven forbid) the Oilers move on to the Conference Finals, I don't see them getting any further than that. They're barely getting by playing against a third-string goaltender who hasn't even played half an NHL season, and a team in front of said netminder who tries (maybe) 20% of the time. I guess the supposed Stanely Cup favourites could try to outscore their problems like they've been trying to do since McJesus appeared, but it ain't going to help when your goaltenders are Stuart "Swiss Cheese" Skinner and Calvin "ignore I spent the the first two-plus years of my 30s in the AHL, and am now trying to channel Tim Thomas (no, not THAT way...hopefully)" Pickard.
I grant that the Canucks, if they move on to the next round, won't go much further themselves, but I don't think anyone realistically thought they'd make it as far as they have. Vancouver's forwards (when they actually try) are probably the team's strength. Goaltending has been pretty solid. This past offseason, they improved their defence to at least appear to be NHL-worthy for the first time in a few seasons, but they still have depth issues there. The prospect pool is a bit of a wild-card after several years of suspect drafting dating back to the early 2000s at least, outside the first round (and even IN the first round) with rare exceptions like 2004. Hopefully someone - especially on the back end - turns out to be something...but I'll worry about that in the future. I'm going to enjoy this current run, however long it lasts. It's great not having Jim Benning as GM!