Over their 50-plus year history in the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks have played 12 Game 7s and will be going for (hopefully) lucky 13 tonight when they take on the Edmonton Oilers for the right to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. The last time a Game 7 was played in Vancouver was back in 2011 when the Boston Bruins beat the Henrik Sedin-led Canucks 4-1 and stole the Stanley Cup from their grasps.
However, the last time the Canucks as an organization played a Game 7 was back in the 2020 Bubble in Edmonton when Thatcher Demko almost single-handily carried his team past the Vegas Golden Knights with a 33-save performance. The Canucks didn’t give him any run support, though, as they could not get anything past Robin Lehner, who made 14 saves in a 3-0 win.
The Canucks have lost their last two Game 7s and have a 6-6 record all-time. Since we want to stay on the positive side of things going into tonight, let’s take a look back at the six wins and the heroes that made them possible.
Canucks vs. Jets (April 30, 1992)
The Heroes: Geoff Courtnall & Kirk McLean
The Canucks got their first Game 7 win in 1992 and it wasn’t particularly close. While Tom Fergus opened the scoring in the first period with his fifth of the playoffs and Trevor Linden made it 2-0 with his third in the second, it was the Geoff Courtnall show after that. He notched a natural hat trick with his second, third, and fourth goals and the Canucks won going away 5-0.
Kirk McLean was a force as well, stopping 32 shots for his first shutout of the series. It was a sweet first win as the Canucks had come back from 3-1 down after two blowouts of 8-2 and 8-3 in Games 5 and 6 respectively.
Canucks vs. Flames (April 30, 1994)
The Hero: Pavel Bure
The Canucks were not expected to compete with the 1993-94 Calgary Flames, yet they staged an epic comeback from 3-1 down with three straight overtime wins to force a Game 7 at the Olympic Saddledome. In what became one of the most memorable overtime game-winners of all time, the Russian Rocket bust through the defence off a pass from Jeff Brown and deked Mike Vernon out of his jock to send the Canucks to the second round.
Pavel Bure finished the game with two goals and an assist and the highlight has gone down in Canucks history. As most fans know, they went on to the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers, but that wouldn’t have been possible without Bure’s overtime heroics in Game 7 against the Flames.
Canucks vs. Blues (May 19, 1995)
The Heroes: Pavel Bure & Kirk McLean
Similar to this year against the Oilers, the Canucks had a chance to dispatch the Blues in 1995 in Game 6 but failed to do so. They were destroyed 8-3 as McLean allowed six goals on 17 shots and was pulled in favour of Kay Whitmore who allowed another two on 18 shots. The game was an outright war as both teams combined for 135 penalty minutes, including six game misconducts in the third period alone.
All of that bad blood was sure to carry over to Game 7 as the Canucks looked to bounce back from an embarrassing showing at home. Back at Kiel Center in St. Louis, McLean returned to form and made 41 saves in what became a 5-3 win. Bure added to his Game 7 totals with another two goals and the Canucks advanced to the second round against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Canucks vs. Blues (April 22, 2003)
The Hero: Trevor Linden
Eight years later the Canucks were back in another Game 7 against the Blues and although he was 32, Linden found a way to make an impact. At this point, he had played in six Game 7s over his career and put up four goals and eight points, so he knew how to elevate his game at the biggest moments. This one was no different as he notched a goal and an assist and capped off the scoring in a 4-1 win with a shorthanded goal.
In addition to Linden, the stars came to play as Henrik Sedin, Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund rounded out the scoring and Dan Cloutier finished with 33 saves on 34 shots. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get by the Minnesota Wild in their next Game 7, falling 4-3 after blowing a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Canucks vs. Stars (April 23, 2007)
The Hero: Trevor Linden
Fast forward four years and Captain Canuck was at it again. This time against the Dallas Stars, he scored the game-winner on the power play in the third period and the Canucks held on to win 4-1 after two empty netters by Taylor Pyatt and Bryan Smolinski.
Related: Vancouver Canucks: Top 5 Memorable Trevor Linden Moments
The series itself was a tight back-and-forth battle filled with low-scoring games, but Linden found a way to bust through in Game 7 and Roberto Luongo and the defence shut the Stars down limiting them to just 20 shots. This would end up being Linden’s final Game 7 of his career as he finished with six goals and 12 points in nine games.
Canucks vs. Blackhawks (April 26, 2011)
The Hero: Alex Burrows
The Canucks’ most recent Game 7 win was by far their most memorable. This first-round series could have ended in disaster, but Alex Burrows, aka “the Dragon Slayer” made sure it didn’t. After building a 3-0 series lead over their arch-rival Chicago Blackhawks who had eliminated them in 2010 and 2009, the Blackhawks stormed all the way back to force a Game 7 in Vancouver.
Even in Game 7, it appeared the Canucks had the game in the bag – until they didn’t. Removed from the top line with Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Burrows was reunited with Ryan Kesler and opened the scoring only 2:43 into the game – a 1-0 lead that would remain until 18:04 of the third when Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews tied it with a shorthanded goal.
The Blackhawks then had a glorious chance to end it in overtime and send Canucks fans home angry and disappointed, but Luongo made an equally glorious save on Patrick Sharp less than a minute in.
What came a little over four minutes later was a storybook ending that has lived in Canucks lore ever since. Knocking down a puck at the blue line off a clear by Chris Campoli, Burrows skated in on a partial breakaway and slapped a rolling puck by Corey Crawford. Rogers Arena erupted and whether you use John Shorthouse’s “Slay the Dragon” or Jim Hughson’s “It’s a Wonderful Day for an Exorcism” tagline, it’s a moment every Canucks fan that lived in the 2010s fondly remembers.
What followed was the last time the Canucks went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. With moments like this one, Ryan Kesler’s “beast mode” performance against the Nashville Predators, Kevin Bieksa’s stanchion goal against the San Jose Sharks that sent them to the Final, and Burrows’ quick strike overtime tally in Game 2 against the Bruins, it was a run like no other. I, like many other fans, choose to forget what happened after that.
Canucks Have a Chance to Add to the Positive Memories Tonight
This year’s run to Game 7 of the second round has had its fair share of memorable moments as well. From late-game comebacks like Brock Boeser’s hat trick against the Predators, Conor Garland’s heroics in Game 1 against the Oilers to JT Miller’s last-minute winner in Game 5 and Arturs Silovs’ ascent to the starting role, it’s been a wild ride so far.
Who will be the hero this time? Will it be someone like Burrows (Garland) or a veteran emotional leader like Linden (Miller)? Find out later tonight as they lock horns with the Oilers for the 11th time this season.
