Referees announced for Game 5 between Canucks and Oilers
The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers are knotted up at two games a piece in their second round series, making Thursday night's Game 5 a very important one, with the winner on the verge of advancing to the Western Conference Final.
Throughout the series so far, the officiating hasn't been great, for both sides that is. There have been some questionable calls and some non-calls that have left the fans and even the Canucks stunned. In Game 2, Quinn Hughes was high-sticked by Connor McDavid, leaving him bleeding and with a cut on his cheek. Then, later in the same game, Hughes was slewfoot by Evander Kane.
Game 3 saw more rough stuff, especially right at the end after Carson Soucy cross-checked Connor McDavid in the face, landing him a one-game suspension and thankfully for Canucks fans, he'll be back in the line-up tonight for Game 5.
On Thursday morning, Jeff Paterson of Rink Wide: Vancouver revealed that tonight's referees are Dan O'Rouke and Francois St Laurent. Meanwhile, Tom Chmielewski is on standby in case of an injury.
O'Rourke, 51, is one of the most experienced referees in the National Hockey League. Coming into the 2023-24 season, O'Rourke has refereed over 1,200 regular season games and nearly 200 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He's also refereed six Stanley Cup Finals, most recently last year between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights.
St Laurent, 46, made his NHL debut in November 2005 and his Stanley Cup Playoff debut came in April 2011 in a game between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks. The Greenfield Park, Quebec native has over 1,000 games of experience in the regular season, hitting that milestone back on February 7th.
Puck drop for Game 5 tonight from Rogers Arena between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers is set for 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and CBC.
| POLL | ||
Who will take Game 5 tonight? | ||
| Vancouver | 766 | 91.1 % |
| Edmonton | 75 | 8.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
