I do not recall a time when the Edmonton Oilers began a playoff spring with so many questions surrounding the heart of the order.
The “foundation” pieces of an NHL team are starting goaltender, the top two pairings, the top two lines and No. 3 center.
Through injury, ineffective play and coaches decisions, much of Edmonton’s heart has question marks.
Coach Kris Knoblauch has announced Mattias Ekholm, Evander Kane and Troy Stecher are not available for tonight’s game. My guess is they will try to get Trent Frederic into the lineup for tonight or Game 2 in Los Angeles.
We don’t know the lines and pairings, but it looks like Knoblach has abandoned the Skinner-McDavid-Brown trio by placing Zach Hyman in the lineup during recent practices. My opinions for the series lines and pairings are here.
I will tell you that my prediction is Edmonton in SEVEN GAMES. That is mostly due to the fantastic Connor McDavid performances in recent days, and my belief that Leon Draisaitl will be able to play at a high level starting tonight.
I am also fairly certain the coach will run Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard, Jake Walman and Brett Kulak heavily, while fading the third pair. I don’t know if Stuart Skinner will be the goaltender for every playoff game, but am pleased he gets the net and believe he is the best option.
The postseason is a special time for any sport. For the NHL and its fans, it is the beginning of a long and difficult climb to glory. Call it the Shawshank crawl, or climbing Everest. I always think of that slow climb up Pike’s Peak, during a late November dusk when my Dad drove that old GMC pickup up that steep hill like a champion.
The Oilers should be secure and in the driver’s seat of this series. What is stopping that feeling of comfort in this team? The unknown. We don’t know what we don’t know, and in this case it’s many, many things.
Bless you boys. Godspeed.
The one major concern is that the team was still outscored both at even strength and on special teams. Part of the special teams was related to opportunity, but those ES lines remain a jumbled mess.
How can you be outscored at both even strength and special teams in a one goal game? The math is not mathing.
2 goals with the goalie pulled don’t count
4-3 outscored 5 on 5
2-0 outscored on PP/PK
Fair enough, I get your point. Although a goal with the goalie pulled technically does count as even strength.
By the numbers, the Oilers did score 2 goals at 6 on 5.
But on the second 6 on 5 goal, which tied the game at 5, 97 was on the move before the extra attacker got into the play.
Personally I would consider the score tied at evens.
Also worth noting that one of the Kings two powerplay goals was scored 5 on 3.
What a frustrating game Edmonton needs to play man on man
I think we need to just breathe. Goaltending, Bouch, the D, was all bad and good at times. We need to lose this way every series. I expect a strong Game 2. LA dominated and still barely won on a flubbed shot (cause Oilers). Start Pickard.
Maybe we need to roll with McDrai together? And give 93 more of a checking role? Creates a challenge when Kane is back though.
29/97/90
18/19/53 (offensive zone starts)
33/93/28
92/13/21
5 line rotation with McDavid and Drai together on a nuclear 5th line, in addition to their 1/2 line C roles. The problem is I have no clue whether to place the other forwards
Penalties aside (both of which were BS, IMO), I really liked Walman tonight. Made some great plays keeping puck in on offence, tracked back in transition, and was clearly looking to intimidate. Play 5D with all of 2, 96, 25, 27 over 20-22 min and 49 with extra PK.
Some quick fire takes before bed:
Josh Brown was a +1 tonight, if you can believe that
Sure thing they can win every game if they get league average tending and not the worst in playoffs. Skinner needs to be better if he ever wants to be a solid #1, as it is he is not. No more bs excuses, every team gives up chances
Did Stu’s wife cheat on him? Seriously. This dude’s mojo is GONE. Does he miss Vinney? What the hell happened to this guy…
I’ll never understand the willingness of some to waste the primes of two of the best players of their generation on the potential for an average goalie to maybe one day not blow games. The best version of Skinner isn’t worth this version of Skinner, and I haven’t seen improvement. The problems are the same – goes down too fast, spends too much time on his knees, and slow, especially with the side-to-side. Way too many save percentages starting with 7s and 8s on his game log. At some point it doesn’t matter which were and weren’t his fault – what matters is that 6 went by him.
FWIW asked my goalie buddy who hates the Oil if that last goal shouldve been stopped and he said absolutely not. Like hitting a knuckleball. You have no clue where that puck is going and you always look(and feel) like an idiot.
The rest up for debate but the backbreaker just sucks.
My son is a goalie, now. He said Skinner tried to find the puck through a screen, not expecting a knuckler like that. Says you gotta either gather yourself on your legs to explode when you find it or go big and hope. If you gather, you have a better chance of reacting, if you see it. If you hope, you can’t react. Just unlucky.
Definitely unlucky. But I don’t think Skinner took either of those approaches.
It looked, to me, that he tried to gather to explode but never saw the puck until it glanced off of him. Crappy deal. Anyways. If we shore up our D a tad I think we’ll be ok. Skinner will make the stops we need if we can cut down on the ten bell chances. Nobody has great percentages against those…
Skinner just doesn’t track the puck well off the rush.
I think I’d prefer 4:54 of Cam Dineen to 4:54 of Josh Brown.
I want 20 mins of Cam Dineen. He was electric the 1 preseason game I saw him in and my buddy and I decided he’s the key to this whole puzzle that day.
Release the Neen.
REEEEELEEEEEEESE THE NEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
I actually think Dineen and Bouchard on offensive starts with 97 and/or 29 could be good. He’s got talent, he’s just not going to be shutdown D.
Knoblauch says he “can’t comment” on Bouchard’s defence because he “doesn’t know the breakdowns”….
What the hell is he watching then? I know what happened on the ice when I’m coaching my team. Everyone that I’m aware of does…
There’s even the cover answer of “we allowed 6, we all needed to be better defensively” and he couldn’t say that…
Really really wonder about this guy’s capability.
Who is back for next game? Stecher? Kane? Anyone I miss? Ekholm not likely yet..
Even if Ekholm comes back too early, he’ll be a shell until he’s had surgery & significant time off
Honestly probably no one? Dermott and Savoie should be joining from the AHL, but I can’t see many changes at forward. Janmark is my usual target but he scored. Kane seems a couple games away. I’d play Dineen over Brown, but Dermott could be an option (though I don’t think he’s played much of late)
I am going to be very interested to see how Cult of Hockey tallies up all the contributions for/against on high grade chances. They might be up all night…
Game reminded me a lot of that Game 1 against the Flames. Hopefully the series has the same result – glad they got to Kuemper just to prove that they could.
I’d go to Pickard in Game 2. Skinner has to have that 6th goal, but even despite that, I felt Pickard deserved the Game 1 start. He had the better year and was much more engaged down the stretch than Skinner has been at any point this season.
As always, with Skinner it’s not always the amount of goals – it’s just the timing and quality at times that are back breakers.
I know Pickard played weaker teams, and wins are a team stat not a goalie stat, but it is quite a difference. Skinner was 26W 22L, Pickard was 22W 11L.
Now, Pickard also got lit up for 5 last time he played LA. (Big lineup caveat though)
I hear that Cal Pickard is one reliable minder of the net
After listening to Jim Rutherford’s comments today about Hughes, a 2 year rental is possible. I would be in favour of a Bouchard for Hughes swap, Oilers go all in for 2 years and the Dys get a decent Dman long term. This is the best solution.
Only McDavid had more points this evening for the Oilers. Played 28mins, 3 more then anyone else.
Hughes would put up a ton of points passing the puck to Connor and Leon. Probably more than Bouchard.
Way more. But if Quinn wants to play with his brothers, why would he come here? (I’m assuming he has a NMC)
Dang. You are angling for an all Jewish D pairing to go with Hyman and I’m all for it.
Jokes aside, I am not sure how this would work. Hughes is definitely the more valuable D, so a 1 for 1 is out of the question, even for a 2 year rental plan. They don’t have many assets left to pull it off. And if you do, once you let Hughes walk at the end (they wouldn’t trade at deadline if the plan is to make a run), you’re left with a gaping hole on D coinciding with the age-related erosion of Ekholm, and starting down the barrel of Bouchard in a Canucks uniform for umpteen years. I don’t like it at all.
Convince the Hughes brothers to come to Edmonton, and that’s another story. I’d trade anything not nailed to the floor (aside from glimmer twins) to get Jack and Quinn over here.
Of course you’d like Skinner to make that last save but he also made some big ones. The turnovers in the second that led to LA goals stick out to me as the difference in this one,
and skinner had no chance on those. Bank shot goal is bad too but maybe just some bad luck on that one too.
This lineup hasn’t been together in weeks and it looked like it, so it was great to see them get some chem in the third. Maybe put a seed of doubt in Kuempers mind. Definitely looks like they have a game plan for beating him – the little cross passes down low and crashing the net. It opens up Kuemper for instances like the last McDavid goal too. Kuemper plays deep in his net.
I do think Knoblauch should have played the last minute more conservatively though, let your team rest and recharge for OT. I get what they were trying to do (go for the win) but McDavid has been out there for 5 of the final 10 min. Tough to see the GA there despite the weird bounce.
Absolute classic to start this series regardless.
That was a terrible hockey game that they nearly won because they’re an outstanding hockey team led by the two best players in the world.
Well-played hockey creates classics. That game had horrible reffing as well as one team not showing up for 40 and barely having a goalie in the net.
Hockey is a good enough TV sport that even utterly mismanaged disasters can have entertainment value.
The problem is that the NHL wants to see this, instead of an actual battle of two teams in full flight.
I definitely see your points overall. But regarding Skinner, I think it’s indefensible. 1 bad goal in a game is tough to see in the playoffs. But he had two and one was an absolute stinker at the worst time. And maybe you can forgive those if he was lights out the other parts of the game but he wasn’t even .900 then
Woof. Have been team Skinner until now. I almost always agree with Lowetide’s look at the big picture not singular moments. But letting in a literal blooper in the middle of the net after what your captain does in the last 10 minutes? It’s somewhere between lack of focus, nerves, incompetence, or the very worst of luck. I tend to think it’s an combo of all 4 but there’s enough of the first three that I don’t think he should see the starter’s net again because McDavid and the team deserve more
It’s definitely really bad luck, but Skinner’s positioning on that play was strange. I think he’ll be back in the net as starter, IMO we won’t win the cup with Pickard playing every second day (he never has), but I’d give Skinner Game 2 off for sure.
I keep watching that 6th goal replay.
Skinner had no effing clue what was going on. None.
What the hell…seriously…
I don’t think he processes the game nearly quick enough.
I’m not sure he does much processing of it at all. A completely “get in the way” goalie who also doesn’t move his body at exactly the wrong time.
I don’t know how much impact it had, but Foegele gives S.Skinner a pretty decent snow job right before the goal. Not looking to make excuses for our goalie ftr
He had no clue because he was screened. I don’t like the goal, but it wasn’t because Skinner isn’t good.
It’s prior to the screen and reacting to the screen I’m talking about though. Watch him. Watch his head. Watch his eyes. Watch the ridiculous pad-flick at nothing and then the looking around. Not to mention never once doing what every good NHL (or frankly, 12 year old) goalie does when screened with a shot coming – MOVE!
It is as if he refuses to process the play. The 5-on-3 one timer was an excellent shot but completely telegraphed and readable. He didn’t move his body.
Yeah, that’s what I was saying. He makes himself small and leans left (into the screen) even before the shot. He’s not looking around the screen, it’s like he’s guessing or something.
And agree about Fiala’s goal. For most NHL goalies, that’s not just a stop but an unremarkable, standing stop. Long pass across the top and a one time from distance.
I’m not sure he would have saved it, but Foegele tips the puck over Skinner’s shoulder.
Yes but being screened is a much more legitimate excuse when the puck is travelling 90+ mph from the point. When it’s 30 mph, then you like to think a goalie can see enough of the puck past a moving screen
Bouchard let Foegele screen Skinner unhindered.
I want the 2nd goal back from Stu, maybe a save on the two 0 defender netfronts. Pk he did unreal on the 5 on 3’s
That last goal was a complete fluke but man you still gave up 6. Not good enough as usual.
There’s some bad luck and bad D in there for sure, but he has struggled way too often in tracking pucks.
We’ve taken your measure, la. You’re really not going to like us for the rest of this series. We’ve had guys who haven’t played in weeks inserted into the lineup and you flukes off a win. That won’t happen again. Next game, you’re getting stomped.
As for those who think Skinner is the problem, I invite you to rewatch the game tape without your “Skinner sucks” glasses on. The only goal I, slightly, blame him for is the one off his shoulder. He stood tall on the 5v3 and absolutely made more than 10 ten bell saves tonight. He gave us a chance to win this, no bound about it.
We started slow, pretty much as expected, but found our game in the third. We’re humming now and la is gonna feel the pain.
KK never shoulda played tired players at the end of that period. That was dumb as hell.
All NHL goalies make great saves. I think Byfield, Fiala, and Danault’s goals were stoppable. I’d like to see Pickard but if they go with Skinner I won’t be shocked. If we win the cup it will be on Skinner’s back, but that doesn’t mean he needs to start Game 2 IMO.
The byfield goal, I don’t like his lateral movement. He saved it and knocked it towards the corner but you can’t expect it to be outta danger, there. He was late. On the other two you mentioned, you can’t leave guys alone in the front. Any decent forward will score there. Just to many options for a goalie to cover. They were wide open and uncontested. Like, completely. Those aren’t on Skinner. The last one hurts but it was a fluke that, 99 times out of out of 100, doesn’t happen.
His saves on the 5v3 were unreal and he had many others. If you want to blame someone, blame the defence for losing puck battles. Blame kk for playing Brown. Blame kk for playing tired players at the end of the game.
I can blame them all! 😉
Danault’s was a fluke, but Skinner’s positioning or anticipation were strange. He moved into the screen rather than looking around it. The puck went dead centre down the middle, it didn’t pick a corner. Bad luck but stoppable IMO.
Fiala’s was from a way out off a faceoff. I thought it was predictable, and if he moved laterally not even a dramatic save IMO. Good shot but poor anticipation and positioning.
Again, my standard’s for NHL goalies are high. All goalies will give up bad goals, but any good NHL goalie takes goals away several times per game. Stu made some saves, but not more than I would expect from an NHL starter.
KK will play Skinner next game because the hockey code says you let your #1 keeper show you he can rebound from a poor game.
I’m not advocating for it but that’s what will happen.
Team played poorly for a long stretch in front of him, but this game is on Stu.
Pickard please.
I don’t think Skinner was terrible but I’d go to Pickard. He seems to track pucks through screens better.
That was like the 9-6 game against Calgary. Bad goalying. Everything went wrong. And they still didn’t quit.
We don’t win game 1’s but seeing that LA bench scared bodes well. They escaped with a win, not dominated like they thought.
2nd best defensive team my ass. Now a couple less dumb plays, Stecher please, and like 1 or 2 more saves (i know thats asking alot) and we got a ballgame.
Stecher is injured & out for all of round 1
ABB then. Anyone But Brown.
Where did you hear that? All the reporting today only ruled him out for game 1.
Twitter, so hopefully not true
I had heard nor for the first 4 games
Def Calgary G1 vibes
That’s a good call. Really needs some of 93/53/18/33 etc. to raise their game away from McDrai. LA doesn’t seem to have an answer for the power line.
Skinner is very consistent, soft goal early soft goal late. The really frustrating thing is he makes no adjustments with his positioning on a shot he basically just shifts positions then stands stone still.
He always looks nervous and/or scared to me.
That last goal was the kind of goal you see in beer leagues. The hockey gods have spoken. You get McDavid but you don’t get a goalie.
Coach needs to sack up and start Pickard.
Did that shot break 30 mph?
Don Cherry made a bit of money showing goals like that go in.
Whether it’s fair to blame Skinner for that goal or the game as a whole, to me the expressions and reactions of the rest of the team after the goal scream that they have absolutely no confidence playing in front of him.
I don’t see how they can do anything but start Pickard next time out.
Look at LA’s bench when the Oilers tie it up. It’s ebbs and flows. It’s hard not to show emotion in situations like that.. Skinner wasn’t the problem.
They gave all the series momentum back to the Kings giving up the 6th goal.
I don’t think so. It was still an unintended shot that fluked its way in. They can pretend they played well, but they gave up a 4 goal lead on home ice where they were supposed to be air tight, despite being gifted 3:30 of 5-on-3 advantage.
Nah. They know they’re the better team. First period next game they’ll be firing.
Yeah, I don’t think so. Now they know they still can’t stop McDrai. If we can get a couple other forwards to join the fight it’s over. Outside of Brown, our D was fine (Bouch was dangerous at both ends, as always).
Skinner was unlucky but I’d like to see Pickard.
Whatever
We got 5 past Keumper and we played like shite
Start Picard
Klingberg in for Josh Brown and go again
Let’s get the split!
Honestly just roll 5D until Stetcher is back. It’s not a huge difference in ice.
No Ekholm just murdered us
Bouchard on for 3 goals against.
He just cannot process danger & then defend accordingly.
He’s always so confused and disoriented
He was a big part of the comeback.
He almost got the GWG.
That’s why he’s valuable.
A tale of two sorties.
I’m just asking for a modicum of situational awareness in the d-zone
I said it was a tale of two sorties. Meaning there are positives and negatives to his game. He is also sometimes very good defensively. I wasn’t disagreeing fully, however. I wish everyone on the team could defend better.
But he also gets too much crap for defensive woes when it’s usually a group effort of calamity.
He was a +1 and full value for the chaos tilting slightly in a positive direction. Yes he’s not the same player without Ekholm, but he was still a net positive, against all odds.
I didn’t say he was -3 or that they should flush him.
I said he was defending very poorly on the 3 goals against
K, cool. My heart would also much prefer that be in on the ice for a couple goals for and less chaos against.
After all the work they put into tie it, that’s got to be a most deflating goal to let in with 40 seconds left…
So… Picard next game?
Bouchard needs to man up and start playing defense.
And that ends the Stuart Skinner era in Edmonton.
You know KK is going to start him next game, though?
And a small army here will defend him for doing so. Because reasons.
I’d be pissed it if I was the Oilers actual #1 and had to sit on the bench watching that.
It was bold of KK to start Pickard against Vcr. Maybe he does it earlier. I am skeptical he will, considering he started Brown
Perhaps, but I think he just bought his ticket out of town in the offseason.
Should have happened a long, long time ago.
He wasn’t here a long, long time ago, to be fair. I defend him due to how good he was, and the SCF, but tonight was absolutely poor and he should have been pulled before the 4th goal.
I think you’re right. Sometimes singular moments are so big they are unforgettable to a team. Letting in a 6th goal like that after a huge comeback may just be that straw that I think is now finally deserved
Dallas pulls out the OT winner.
No defending Skinner after that 6th goal – can’t happen.
Can’t start him next game.
Absolutely demoralizing. It’s not always how many he lets in it’s the stinkers at key moments in a game.
In this case it was both. The 1-0 and 4-0 goals he had no chance.
The 3-0 he got walked and most goalies wouldn’t have stopped Kempe’s move, but it wasn’t exactly a speedy maneuver.
Goals 2, 5, and 6 were hard to collectively justify
He also made a few great saves, which I acknowledge, namely the Kuzmenko wraparound and some saves on the 3-on-5.
Maybe Drai shoulda Backchecked in the last 30 seconds of the game? Maybe knobby shouldn’t have tired guys out for the last minute of the game?
This “Skinner sucks” is bullcrap. He wasn’t the problem tonight.
He was certainly a main problem today.
Not “the” problem but a problem certainly.
I dunno, he made some saves but I think Byfield and Fiala’s goals could have been better anticipated and stopped. The last one is hard to judge but look at Skinner’s body position, crouched down leaning into the screen. I’m not a goalie coach but he plays small and doesn’t anticipate well. The shot was flubbed but anything to that side of the net was a goal.
Pickard is popular and saved the season against Vancouver last year. Why wait until the series is on the line? Win or lose Game 2 we are coming home, why not see if he can be more consistent?
No pivoting from anyone on the goalie question without acknowledging being flat wrong before the game.
Not willing? Then stick with your man.
Huh? Most agree Pickard had a great season, but Skinner was still the logical choice to start the series with a short leash.
Leash shortened.
Bouchard left Foegele free to screen Skinner, instead of taking him out of the play. That goal is all on Bouchard giving up on the play.
I can’t believe, after all that, that Stuart Skinner was the story of this game.
Absolutely unbelievably poor reads
Through the first two periods this was looking like a turd of a game. But the Oilers have shown a lot of resilience. Not nearly as bad a game as it could have been. I think this is going to be a good series.
It should be a short series if they could show up at puck drop.
Every wart of this team showed up in a single game. Not going to be able to outscore enough to overcome all of them
Bummer
The Oilers are so much better than the Kings it isn’t even funny. Play like crap, have a shooter tutor in the net, and they should still be winning.
Skinner sucks. He just absolutely sucks.
I’d argue that Kuemper sucks more. He let in five goals with the second best defence in the league and almost lost that game. Two goals on Skinner were on the PP, one of which was while the Oilers were sleepwalking to start the game and the other on a 5-on-3. Two more goals were a result of two of the worst defensive plays possible that left Skinner out to dry. Just think what could happen if the Oilers tighten up a bit on the D, score some on the PP, and give up less than two PP goals against.
For Skinner, it’s that those stinkers come at key moments.
The quality of goals was starkly different.
Four of the goals were not on him. That leaves two others, one of which was a full screen and a result of a slow backcheck (likely aided by tired players who had probably played a bit too much over the last several minutes of the game). Your argument that the quality of the goals was starkly different fails to recognize factors that Skinner has no control over. The goal McDavid scored to tie it 5-5 is definitely one that Kuemper should have saved, so now it’s even… one weak goal each.
His body of work this entire year would suggest otherwise. Whether LA’s stingy D this season is the real cause, he’s earned a lot more rope this playoff season than Skinner.
Yes, Skinner has had an up and down season, but the playoffs are a different animal and Skinner has shown he can be a contributing member of a winning team. I would argue their ropes are about the same after Game 1.
That would be great. I would love big save Dave in, he gave valiant efforts but is clearly an inferior goalie to Kuemper, whereas Skinner to Picks is a lateral move or an upgrade
Don’t get me wrong, because I would love to see Pickard be our version of a goalie that was pretty much given up on for most of his career come up big when given a shot, but Skinner’s body of work doesn’t reflect a worse goalie. And Pickard’s body of work doesn’t reflect a better goalie.
Damn that was exciting for a whole thirty seconds!!
well… at least we know they can score goals on LA again.
”Skinner heads to the bench.”
Greatest words ever.
16 seconds to rewrite history
It was still a lot of uphill effort and heart.
You can’t win them all.
But why could they not have pressed a bit harder.
I really don’t get what happened with Skinner. Just poor effort there. Distracted by a jumping Foegele?
Id say earlier. 5-5 was quite the hill then an unlucky bounce. We’re off to Cincinnati
Wow…
Thats crazy…
Darn. It was a historic comeback but fell short.
Good lord Stu
Play. Cal. Pickard.
Stuart lets down his whole team. Again.
McDavid couldn’t even hide his body language. Skinner has no skill at stopping shots off the rush
Welp
🙁