If you ever have spare time when an Oilers game isn’t on, watch a Habs game on TSN. I don’t think there’s a blunter colour commentator than Craig Button.
Both Evan Bouchard and Stuart Skinner needed that Overtime win more than anybody else in Edmonton. Skinner hadn’t won a game in a month, has been piled on relentlessly on social media, and allowed two goals you actually would’ve liked him to stop on Thursday. But he also made a few big saves, especially in the extra 5 minutes. And his save percentage was above .900, who doesn’t love that? Bouchard started OT with brutal giveaways but then found redemption by scoring the game-winner. It was a good bounce-back frame against a team that has resurrected their own Playoff chances in recent weeks.
Forward Max Jones was playing his first game for the Oilers after being part of the Trent Frederic trade on Tuesday. He was physical, he had a pretty nice primary assist on Corey Perry’s first period goal, and he had a terrific backcheck to stop a breakaway with less than 30 seconds left in the second period. Speaking of breakaways, Mattias Janmark… Really? That’s why he has yet to score on a shot against a goalie this year. Can we have the 2024 Playoff version of him back now? A Sportsnet Stats account on Twitter posted that Jeff Skinner has two career 5 point games and one 4 point game against the Habs. So then, why was he scratched again? It was simply one of those funny “Read The Room” kind of tweets.
The pre-Trade Deadline wasn’t ugly, like last season’s. I’m now going to focus on how they play and feel with this season’s Deadline passing. Will some players be more relaxed and confident, or will we see the same deficiencies that set the Oilers fanbase on fire? The keys to the game are…
Edmonton Oilers Notes
Build Off The Good: Like I said at the top, despite how the goals allowed looked, Stuart Skinner was still better on Thursday than he has been in recent memory. That was against a team trying to stay in a Playoff race. Tonight, it’s up to him to bring that better night against a team that just became a heavier Cup favourite in the last 24 hours.
New Faces?: Should Mikko Rantanen and Jake Walman make their new team debuts tonight, both will want to make a good first impression. Rantanen is a superstar winger needing to move on from his lack of production in Carolina. Walman is a top 4 defenseman who needs to bring his strong play on a basement team into a Canadian market.
Miro-less D: Defenseman Miro Heiskanen has missed a month’s worth of games to injury. He can put up points, but he can also kill penalties. The Stars have other good defensemen, but losing your best one is like the Oilers not having Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton’s offense needs to keep pressuring Dallas’ defense and not let up opportunities to do so. It might really help if our team’s defense has Mattias Ekholm back.
ITR 34: End Of The Road – Inside The Rink
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