Edmonton’s back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday should be a lesson for Oilers fans on social media. Rather than being impulsive and overreacting to every play or goal against, why not just wait until the game is officially over before you give your final take? They were down 2-0 in the first period against Minnesota and down 3-0 in the first period against Colorado. Do you know what those instances have in common? The Oilers came back from those deficits and collected two big wins against two of the best teams in the league. Remember when they were the ones blowing leads? Now, they’ve flipped the script more recently. Hockey games are 60 minutes long for a reason. They are currently the 4th best team in the league, but if you scrolled through Twitter, you’d think they were the 4th worst. Thursday night was the first game Mackenzie Blackwood let in more than two goals since being traded. Stuart Skinner didn’t statistically play his best, but was still the best goalie on the ice against one of the hottest goalies in the league. Same with Calvin Pickard on Wednesday.
A lot of Oilers fans blamed Skinner for the second goal he allowed. I disagree, as Nathan MacKinnon used Mattias Ekholm as a screen. On MacKinnon’s second goal, the 3-0 goal, he turned Evan Bouchard into a practice pylon. We marvel at Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for making other team’s top players look silly. It shouldn’t shock us when other top players do that to our team, that’s why they are top players. What I will say, which isn’t just a criticism of Skinner, but for any goalie, why don’t more goalies attempt the poke check? Is there a collective code to not copy Johnny Bower that I’m not aware of?
I understand we’re all Canadian and passionate. But let’s save the paranoia for the Playoffs. I’m not worried about the regular season, it stopped scaring me last season. The Oil have put themselves in an incredible position, and they always have better records in the second half of the season. After tonight’s road game, they’ll play 7 of their last 9 games before the 4 Nations break at home. So sit back and enjoy it.
Quick update before my game preview notes, the Oilers signed defenseman John Klingberg yesterday for the remainder of this season at $1M plus signing bonuses. I’m not 100% certain he’s our top 4 answer, given that he’s coming back from hip surgery. It almost gives off a 2023/2024 Connor Brown vibe. We’re not getting the Dallas Stars version of Klingberg, but it’s an audition, so we’ll see if it works. Offense from the defense has become a huge strength in Edmonton, so he could at least provide that to make up for his lack of defense. Anyway, now onto the business at hand. The keys to the game are…
Edmonton Oilers Thoughts
180 Season: After a feel-good season for the Canucks last year, they don’t look at all like the same team that took us to Game 7 in Round 2. There’s been talk of a culture issue, and they’ve won only 2 of 8 games so far this month. I’m not the right person to ask what could or should change. But against a rival, they may be motivated to start on a better track tonight.
Thatched: In 9 games since coming back from his long injury, Thatcher Demko has only 2 wins, a .872 SV%, and a 3.39 GAA. He’s their #1 goalie, but whose missed a lot of time, of course he’s not going to look great right. Do they play him again tonight to keep getting him going, or do they play it safe with Kevin Lankinen, who was saving their season for a while?
Build Off: Skinner is undefeated in games following a loss AND he won his last game with just average stats. Jeff Skinner was back in the lineup(finally) and, although not credited with an assist, helped his teammates with decent board work before Brett Kulak scored his goal on Thursday. Trailing in a game doesn’t scare them, that’s good. This time, learn from the last two games and have a better start, so you don’t make fans take crazy pills again.
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