Edmonton Oilers Thoughts: Finals, Game 5

That year was the first thing that came to my mind after the Edmonton Oilers played a first period from Hockey Hell on Thursday night. I’ve written about this team having a weird obsession with adversity, I’ve written about them loving to prove doubters wrong. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they could repeat that Game 4 performance from two years ago in Round 4. I tend to be patient and remind myself that it’s literally never over until it’s over. I didn’t scroll through Twitter because I wanted to stay positive, and I knew people wouldn’t wait until the game was officially over. A lot of their takes wound up not aging very well. But I have to admit, like most of you, I put my hands over my face and sighed after the 3-0 goal was scored.

More than one thing can be true at the same time. The first truth is that the opening 20 minutes of Game 4 were not Stuart Skinner’s fault, not even slightly. He made some good saves, some big ones. But a goalie, any goalie, can only do so much when their team gets outshot 17-7, the shot total was 11-2 after Matthew Tkachuk opened the scoring with a 5v3 power play goal. He’s the only reason his team wasn’t down 5-0 or 6-0 heading into the first intermission. The second truth is that Calvin Pickard deserves the start tonight. Results matter the most, he got the most positive result at a crucial and nerve wracking time.

If you’ve read my articles long enough, you’ll remember me mentioning that Jack Campbell (Yes, THAT Jack Campbell) deserved more starts after his own Game 4 heroics in the series referenced at the beginning of this piece. I felt at the time it would’ve helped improve Campbell’s confidence and self-esteem while keeping then rookie Skinner from burning out from the increased workload. This year, it’s not the same situation. I defended reasons for trusting Stu with Game 4, but you also need to ride a hot hand when it’s hot. Pickard is still undefeated in these Playoffs with a 7-0 record; it’s hard to go against that. Again, Thursday night wasn’t Skinner’s fault. So maybe Kris Knoblauch takes that into account, as he usually gets better later on in a series. But in my view, the debate ends post-game when you see a W beside a goalie’s name. Just Pickard’s OT save on Sam Bennett alone warrants back-to-back starts. There are no hard feelings, 74 and 30 have been extra supportive of each other for as long as they’ve been a tandem.

Going to bed with that come-from-behind win in your dreams was marvelous, until we needed to move on. If the last few postseasons have taught me anything, it’s that there’s really no such thing as game-by-game or period-by-period momentum. You need to have short-term memory in the Playoffs. Don’t keep riding high on previous games until you’ve won 4. Both of these teams understand that more than anyone. Either the Oilers or the Panthers could be up 3-1, Florida could’ve even gone up 3-0 on Edmonton again. It’s been that close, but we instead have a new best 2 out of 3 series going back to Rogers Place. And please stop taking so many bad penalties, keep your sticks on the ice. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Thoughts

On The Road Again: Sam Bennett is the current Playoff leader in goals with 14, 12 of them were scored on the road. He’s been the hockey definition of road kill. Why couldn’t he and Tkachuk just stay in Calgary?

3rd Line VS 3rd Line: Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell, and Brad Marchand have been the best 3rd line in the league this season. Trent Frederic, Adam Henrique, and Jeff Skinner have good chemistry as our team’s third line when they’ve been together. Their work in the offensive zone helped create space for Darnell Nurse’s second period goal in Game 4.

Blueline Attack: The Oilers got 5 points from their defense on Thursday, 2 of them were goals, in contrast to 0 from any Panthers defenseman. Depth forwards being the next men up have been a huge storyline for Edmonton. The guys whose responsibility is to prevent goals have fun chipping in as well.