Ten Reasons why the Oilers Can Win the Stanley Cup

The Edmonton Oilers are playing great hockey.

They just completed back-to-back thrashings of Vegas and Dallas, and after a rough start vs. L.A., they finished the series winning four in a row. Edmonton is 12-2 in its last 14 playoff games, against three teams that were all top six in the regular season standings.

In those 14 games, they outscored the Kings, Golden Knights and Stars 37-19 at 5×5. It has been absolute domination for the Oilers since April 25th.

The Florida Panthers are also a very good team. Clearly, these are the two best teams in the NHL as they meet in the Cup Final for the second-straight year. Many expected Florida to be here, but most doubted the Oilers, based on how they finished the regular season. On one hand, I understand the doubters. The Oilers didn’t dominate down the stretch, however, the roster in the final month of the season wasn’t close to the roster they’d ice in the playoffs.

In their final 15 games, Leon Draisaitl only played four, Mattias Ekholm skated in five and Connor McDavid played six — three key players who didn’t play. Then you add in that John Klingberg and Trent Frederic only played one game (in Frederic’s case it was seven minutes). Evander Kane played no games all season.

What got overlooked by many pundits was that despite the absence of their two superstars in the majority of those 15 games, Evan Bouchard produced 14 points, Adam Henrique had 10 and Darnell Nurse nine. Viktor Arvidsson had six goals, Connor Brown, Jeff Skinner and Zach Hyman (12 GP) scored five while Corey Perry and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (12 GP) scored four. Pro rate those numbers over a full season and Bouchard gets 77 points, Henrique 55, Nurse 49, while Hyman was on pace for 34 goals, Arvidsson 33, Skinner, Brown and RNH 27 and Perry 22. The Oilers had depth players playing well heading into the playoffs.

And when McDavid and Draisaitl returned they continued their torrid playoff scoring, while the depth players have continued to score.

Through 16 playoff games this year, McDavid (1.63 points/game) and Draisaitl (1.56) are actually higher than their career averages of 1.58 and 1.46.

Nugent-Hopkins (1.16) and Bouchard (1.06) are both over a point/game.

Kane has been great with 11 points in 16 games after not playing for 10 months.

Perry has seven goals, and he’s set an NHL record for the most playoff goals by a player 39 years of age or older. It is the third-most goals he’s had in a playoff year.

Brown has five goals in 14 games. He missed the past two, but he will be ready for Game 1 on Wednesday.

Hyman had five goals, 11 points and a ridiculous 111 hits before breaking his wrist in Game 4 v. Dallas.

Henrique has four goals.

Mattias Janmark and Kasperi Kapanen (7 GP) each have three goals.

The Oilers have had 19 different goals scorers so far and Mattias Ekholm returned to play his first game of the playoffs last night. They lost Hyman but gained Ekholm.

And while their offense is rolling, their defensive game has been excellent.

In the regular season Vegas scored the most goals off the rush. Edmonton limited them to three.

Dallas scored the second most and the Oilers limited them to two.

Stuart Skinner returned to the net for Game 3 v. Vegas. In his eight games since returning to the net, he’s 6-2 with a .931Sv% and 1.73 GAA. He’s posted three shutouts and made many huge saves at key moments.

The team is playing well, and here are 10 other reasons why they can win it all.

1. They are healthier than they were last year. Draisaitl got injured late in the Vancouver series and wasn’t that effective in the final two series. Draisaitl had 24 points in the first two rounds (12GP), but he only scored seven in the final two (13GP). He’s fully healthy this year and he will welcome the challenge of going head-to-head against Aleksander Barkov. He will never use an injury as an excuse, but it played a factor. Kane dressed in two games but was a non-factor because he couldn’t skate. They Oilers will be without Hyman, and they will miss him, but they have faster, bigger and more physical depth this year.

2. Their defense core is better. Defense coach Paul Coffey is comfortable playing any of his three pairs. Last night in Dallas Jake Walman (6:36) and John Klingberg (6:37) played the most minutes v. Mikko Rantanen. Bouchard (5:51), Brett Kulak (5:46), Darnell Nurse (5:40) and Mattias Ekholm (5:25) were close. Last night was the first game all season those six defenders played together and Ekholm will only get better as he gets more playing time.

3. Revenge is a great motivator. Losing last season hurt, and Hyman told his teammates after the loss they would be back — and they are. The Panthers are very good, and the series will be far from easy, but Edmonton will be better prepared early in the series. In the first three games last year, the Oilers’ shot selection on Sergei Bobrovsky was not good. They kept shooting to his strengths (on the ice). They scored 18 goals in Games 4-6, so they know they can score. The coaching staff has shown they make good adjustments, and I don’t expect the Oilers to waste as many good chances as they did early in the series this year as they did last season.

4. Since the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979/1980 this will be only the third rematch between teams in consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. And if you believe history repeats itself, then it bodes well for the Oilers.