Edmonton Oilers Thoughts: Finals, Game 1

Maybe I’m biased, but has this NHL season had a bigger Next Man Up team than this one? No one ever roots for injuries, but before needing to fill spots left by Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, we’d practically given up on the idea of Jeff Skinner playing another Playoff game for the Edmonton Oilers. He drew back in on the night of an elimination game and scored his first career Playoff goal in just his second career Playoff game, first game since Game 1 of Round 1. Kris Knoblauch has praised Skinner for being a pro and still bringing a positive attitude to every practice without complaints about whether or not he’d play. I don’t know how many more games Jeff will get when Brown comes back. But I’d personally see about putting those two back on a line with the captain. All three were building good chemistry together later in the regular season. Mattias Ekholm finally came back from his injury and made up for a penalty that led to a powerplay goal against with a shot block setting up an insurance goal in the second period. Troy Stecher, who’d been really solid in taking over, was asked about what it might mean for roster changes. He acknowledged that Ekholm was the better player, and he was okay with being the odd man out just to win. The team’s first mantra has rewarded them thus far; years of adversity and togetherness have been their greatest teachers. How their goaltending started versus how it’s going now is a hysterical example of perseverance. The 10 games played against the Golden Knights and Stars, despite only a couple of rough moments, are the best that they’ve looked in a long, long time. The Oilers aren’t just a collection of individuals anymore; they’re a complete team that somehow still hasn’t earned enough credit.

I just finished watching the episode of Oilers+ uploaded by the team’s YouTube channel that covered Round 1. There haven’t been many crazy back-and-forth moments since then, but a lot of hockey fans outside of this fanbase thought they stood no chance. Our team loves it when everyone else doubts them; they’ve taken pride in being the constant underdogs and having the roster around their stars (B-Squad, as one Kings player put it) questioned before it proves the skeptics wrong.

As it was said in post-game interviews, this trip to the Finals doesn’t feel as emotional as it did last year. 2024 felt like a dream come true that you could never predict again, especially considering how that season started. 2025 is more serious and unfinished business. That you keep trying to get close and eventually win is now a standard. It’s so serious that I haven’t even celebrated goals as much as I did last year because, let alone reacting to too many roller coaster games, we’d been there before, and it’s just not enough yet. When I tweet out GIFs of Oilers goals, my reactions in person have been more subtle. The chaos of the LA series admittedly surprised me, but it was still only the first Round. The last game of the 2022 Battle of Alberta had its 3-year anniversary a week ago. That entire series forever changed how I view Playoff hockey, because it’s never over until you officially have 4 wins, and absolutely anything can happen in between. Needing to have a short-term memory is easier said than done off the ice; it’s not as easy on the ice. I’m simply saving my fan energy for bigger moments. Knoblauch was asked last year about the experience of the Florida Panthers in a Final series leading up to that matchup. He said, “You can ask the Buffalo Bills about experience”. He was trying to downplay the inexperience his group had. He can’t do that this year because they do have the experience now, and the next couple of weeks will be their biggest test in building on it.

In footage after that Game 7 loss, Hyman made an emotional guarantee that his team would find themselves back in this situation. That’s what hurts the most about his postseason-ending injury. He was leading the Playoffs in hits with 111 as Round 4 approaches. A locker room leader laying his whole heart and soul on the ice to ensure that his guarantee would be a reality. And when it is a reality, he sadly can’t finish it with his teammates. There’s footage online of Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Corey Perry having a video call with Hyman after ending the Dallas series. We want to see him celebrating with them on the ice later this month. There’s footage of Matthew Tkachuk mic’d up in the handshake line last year, making his own guarantee that there’d be a rematch. Lo and behold, we do indeed have a rematch. The funny thing is, there would’ve been a rematch either way, given the Eastern Conference Final matchup. Had the Hurricanes advanced, us Oilers fans would all be wanting our revenge from 2006. The difference in Edmonton’s trip to the Finals this year, as opposed to both 2006 and 2024, is that our team has home ice advantage this time. While it doesn’t totally guarantee a successful series, as the Oilers have done well without it and were close without it last year, it can still be nice to have. I don’t recommend going down 3-0 again, but I also think with the excitement fueled from making that comeback, the Oilers would’ve won if the last scheduled game was in Edmonton. So I hoped to see more wins in the regular season in order to ensure that there would be a Game 7 at Rogers Place for more than just one round. But going through 3 rounds without that and then to finally have it in the biggest round of them all, that just once again shows the level of unpredictability after the 82nd game. Former Oilers enforcer Georges Laraque said in an interview that scoring a Playoff goal in Edmonton is what he imagined as paradise after death. As someone who cheers for this team in a different province, I can’t put into my own words how much I’d do or give to be either inside that rink or outside in the Moss Pit at this time of the year. When the time comes, I hope I’ll be able to scream so loud from the couch that the Oil can hear me from that distance. We haven’t reached 16 wins yet, but this Playoff run feels different. As incredible as last season was, we’d like this NHL chapter to give us a happier ending. It’s time to “Dig the f*** in, right f***ing now”. The keys to the Finals are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

Big Boy Hockey: I don’t write a lot about Brett Kulak because he rarely has a bad game or makes a bad play. He’s someone you almost never notice, which is a compliment for a defenseman. But his defensive zone turnover in the first period of Game 5, leading to Dallas’s first goal, is a lesson in what not to do against Florida. He also took a penalty after making another turnover. The Panthers forecheck like demons. Even when a play isn’t developing, even if just line changes are happening, at least one of their players is always on you 24/7. You don’t have a second to breathe whatsoever, because they’re relentless and they suffocate you on the ice. If you can’t find as many passing options as Evan Bouchard or Jake Walman, don’t attempt them. This is an element where the Oilers will miss Hyman. Having a healthier Evander Kane can help fill that void. A forward who isn’t him, Trent Frederic, or Vasily Podkolzin might have to step up in physicality. A defenseman who isn’t Darnell Nurse might need to try it on occasion. As Paul Maurice ranted to his players in a mic’d up video last year, “Pound their f***ing D, so in Game 7, they’ve got nothing left”. Playing a series against Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk is already annoying. Then you remember that same team also added Brad Marchand.

We Can’t F***ing Love Bob: So Stecher had a funny moment in the Dallas series with Bob Stauffer and Jack Michaels doing the radio broadcast during intermission. He accidentally dropped an F-bomb and said, “I f***ing love Bob”. It was really funny, but Sergei Bobrovsky will be the unlovable Bob, at least in this series, if the Oilers can’t solve him. Stuart Skinner has had a lot of adventures to learn from in these last two postseasons. Since Games 1 and 2 against LA this year, he’s 6-1 with a .944 SV%, a 1.41 GAA, and don’t forget the three shutouts. At this point in time, his regular season is a distant memory. What only matters now is what he does in these next 4-7 games. Will he keep his redeeming play afloat or get shown up a second time by the future Hall of Famer who humbled him? I didn’t like the third goal he allowed last Thursday, but that’s always forgiven if your team’s in a decent position. If our Stu gets cold again, Calvin Pickard is still sporting that 6-0 record in these Playoffs.

History, Destiny, and Legacy: Wayne Gretzky lost his first Finals appearance, then won it all the following year against the same opponents. Sidney Crosby lost his first Finals appearance, then won it all the following year against the same opponents. Notice the pattern? A large chunk of the hockey world has a collective view that this year could finally be Connor McDavid’s time. The difference in this comparison of rematches is that Gretzky and Crosby were both on much younger teams in their earlier years against experienced champions. The 2025 Panthers are also experienced champions, but McDavid is in his 10th season, and the roster he’s on is the league’s oldest. At the same time, Crosby had to leave Game 7 in the second period, and the 2009 Penguins stepped up for him. Hockey is still a team sport, and the team around 97 has made a much bigger impact in one and a half postseasons. But how did he feel being the first losing Conn Smythe trophy winner in two decades? How did he feel going pointless in Games 6 and 7, the biggest games of his career up until now? It’s not his fault that his team lost, but it’s also not how he wants his Playoff resume to be seen.