Sunday night did not end the way Oilers fans wanted as they watched their Stanley Cup dreams come to an end at the hands of the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’s really unfortunate,” said Kyra Gehring, who watched the game in Edmonton. “We had a pretty good season, so it just kind of sucks.”
“It sucks for sure,” Hudson Felske added. “We did good throughout the whole season until now.”
The Edmonton Oilers’ season ended Sunday at Rogers Place with a 5-2 loss to the Golden Knights. Vegas won the best-of-seven 4-2 and will go on to play either Dallas or Seattle, which heads to a Game 7 on Monday night, in the Western Conference Final.
This is the fourth time Vegas has reached the semifinal round in the franchise’s six-year history.
“I’m pretty sad,” Oilers fan Callum Campbell said. “Coming to the watch parties is the only thing I had. Edmonton is all I have and now that they’re out, it’s going to be tough.”
There was a certain energy created in the city by the playoff excitement, Campbell said.
“There were some ups,” he said. “It was a good season but we didn’t bring the cup home and that’s what we wanted.”
“It’s super upsetting,” said Haley Mandrusiak, “but I feel like we had a really great season. I think we just went out there and unfortunately just lost it in the end.”
She’s also been buoyed by the excitement the playoff run brought to the city.
“It’s really cool to see everyone come together. In times like this, I feel like it brings the community, the province, together. It’s a really sad loss.
“But I think tomorrow we’re going to wake up and we’re just going to be waiting for next year,” Mandrusiak said.
The Oilers fell short of returning to the conference final for the second straight year after losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado a year ago.
Edmonton’s loss officially extended the drought for a Canadian team winning the Cup to 30 years since Montreal won in 1993.
With a file from The Canadian Press
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