Canada's final two Stanley Cup hopefuls kick off their second-round series on Wednesday night.

The pregame narrative: The Edmonton Oilers looked excellent in the first round and the Vancouver Canucks didn't. I expect the former to beat the latter in Game 1. The under on Vancouver's team total is another wise wager with its offence struggling to generate much.

Check out these Oilers vs. Canucks picks for Game 1 on May 8.

Oilers vs. Canucks picks

Best Bet: Oilers moneyline (-134)

Edmonton dominated the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The same can't be said about Vancouver's performance versus the Nashville Predators.

The Oilers thoroughly dominated the Kings en route to a five-game sweep of their divisional rival. They outscored the Kings, 22-13, scoring four-plus goals in four of five contests.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl led the way, finishing first and second across the league in points with 12 and 10, respectively.

The Canucks, meanwhile, squeaked by the Predators. They won the series in six games but were not convincing by any stretch.

Three of their four wins were one-goal victories as the offence sputtered. Vancouver averaged the fewest goals of any team that advanced (2.2) and has the fewest shots per game (20.2) of all 16 postseason squads.

It has also had to extemporize a bit when it comes to goaltending. Thatcher Demko missed most of the series and will be out for Game 1.

Backup Casey DeSmith also got hurt against the Preds which left Arturs Silovs. Silovs' performance was admirable, posting a .938 save percentage, but that was against Nashville.

Edmonton's offence is far more potent and should be able to rattle the young netminder.

Key stat: The Oilers lead the playoffs in power-play percentage (45.0%) and penalty kill percentage (100%).

Quick picks

Canucks under 2.5 goals (+120): Vancouver is off to the second round but not because of its offensive efforts.

The Canucks are here despite falling under 2.5 goals in four of their six games against Nashville in the first round. A lack of shot volume is at the root of their goal-scoring woes and a much larger problem.

They own the worst Corsi per 60 (55.3) of any squad to advance, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Vancouver is also generating the third-fewest high-danger chances per 60 (9.81), which means it's failing to produce quality and quantity opportunities.

Its has the worst power play (15.4%) of any squad to advance, which is bad news against Edmonton's perfect postseason PK.

Stuart Skinner was excellent in closing out Edmonton's first-round series. He only allowed four goals in the final three games.

Picks made at 12:54 p.m. on 05/07/24.