Edmonton Oilers Pregame Thoughts

Only Edmonton Oilers fans would find it controversial for the best player in the world to come back after missing eight straight games. I also want the best version of a rested Connor McDavid in the Playoffs. But we also haven’t officially clinched the Playoffs yet, and star players don’t want to sit out every game. It was especially comforting after we heard that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was sitting out with an illness and Jake Walman wasn’t playing either. For all the talk of him having an off year, despite being out and injured, he’s still 7th in total points league-wide. I personally would love to play a 93 point off year, and three assists looks like a pretty decent return. He also blocked the last shot on his team’s net at the final seconds of the game, because defense is cool.

Too much perimeter hockey was being played in the previous couple of games. What all 4 of Edmonton’s goals on Wednesday night have in common is that they were all scored on or near the crease. Those are playoff-style goals that you need to look for in April, May, and June when the defensive play gets tighter and when your space on the ice gets smaller. I’ve stated before that the secondary forwards have started putting their names on scoresheets at the right time. If they can carry that from Round 1 Game 1 onward, we can forgive the regular season they’ve all had. Ten seconds before Connor Brown scored the game winner, Darnell Nurse stopped Nathan Walker on a breakaway. And hey, speaking of secondary offense, he has 8 points in his last 10 games.

It was a very tough loss in regulation for the Blues, who need as many points as the Oilers to officially clinch, but had an Overtime point taken away by just 20 seconds. The Flames got an OT point of their own moments before our game ended, or else we would’ve finally seen that elusive X beside our team’s logo in the standings. We have to go for it again tonight. The keys to the game are…

Edmonton Oilers Notes

Just Play: The Sharks erased a third period 3 goal deficit against the Wild, another team in a tight Playoff race. Edmonton barely beat San Jose last week with only Leon Draisaitl, and then later on without him. Basement teams play for pride and love to be spoilers. Calgary thought they had their game against Anaheim in the bag, and look how that turned out. Ask Dallas how they feel about multi-goal leads against non-Playoff teams.

Ride The Hot Glove: It’s been reported that Stuart Skinner could be making his return tonight. Whether as the starter or as the backup, I don’t know. But I’d rather stick with Calvin Pickard because he’s recently been playing well, and has also been the better goalie all season long. Worry about clinching, then give Stu a chance to regain confidence in the last three regular season games.

Move On: For a player who has never appeared in a single Playoff game, Jeff Skinner got his first taste of postseason officiating after his reaction to not drawing a penalty before St. Louis opened the scoring in the first period the other night. He argued with the refs about it, and that earned him a 10-minute misconduct penalty. These 2 points are too important to lose focus on, just worry about the next shift. You think that was bad, Jeff? Just wait, you’re going to learn a lot for the very first time in the next couple of weeks.