They kept their promise, and the last home game of the season for the Edmonton Oilers will be loud. Here’s hoping it won’t be the last game for them at all just yet.
As great as Connor McDavid’s last two games were(and they really were), we all owe the other Connor an apology. The Oilers became the first team in NHL history to score the first goal shorthanded in back-to-back games of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brown had an assist and a goal to help etch that statistic in stone. It’s safe to say we forgive his regular season now. All the times he and Mattias Janmark couldn’t convert on breakaways or 2v1 rushes, those jokes are now being put to bed. However, this series ends; I hope they re-sign in Edmonton next season. Their work on the bottom 6 deserves to be brought back.
The team still belongs to McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, first and foremost. But the secondary players are also making huge contributions at the right time. Corey Perry finally scored his first goal of the Playoffs, and I know that came more from McDavid’s highlight reel assist that none of us have stopped rewatching. But I heard a clip of the ESPN broadcast for Game 5. Ray Ferraro brought up in his commentary on the goal that Darnell Nurse called Perry to jump on the ice instead of him to get the pass. A minor action that goes unnoticed on the scoresheet. Or even on McDavid’s first goal of the game, Warren Foegele created room for him to skate before taking his shot on the net. I felt Foegele disappeared for most of these Playoffs before Game 3 of the Final. But he’s now been a factor on 3 goals in the last 3 games. He’s improving his offensive output, too.
It’s not always how many goals you score, it’s when you score them. Edmonton is proving that more than ever in this postseason and in this Final. Playoff hockey is the ultimate team game and can’t be measured solely through individual stats. The Oilers are not just 1 or 2 guys like most people like to say; they are a team. Even Stuart Skinner, whose stats look terrible when he starts a series, but then trend upwards as it goes longer. They dragged the Panthers back to Alberta, now they look to drag them back to Florida. The keys to the game are…
Drai-Spell: Draisaitl has some injuries plaguing his production. Before Round 3, he Edmonton’s best player. Dylan Holloway and Kris Knoblauch have said during interviews that Leon does more on the ice than just put up points. But I still think 29 is due for his Stanley Cup Finals moment. He has to pretend that he’s still in the year 2022, playing against Calgary while skating on one good foot.
Patience: The Oilers have become more confident in keeping leads, but 2 of Florida’s goals on Tuesday night came from turnovers in their own zone. Draisaitl and Skinner tried clearing pucks to nobody, to no avail. They also got away with too many men at one point in the game. When/if you have a comfortable enough lead, you don’t have to rush a play or breakout to happen. The emphasis on avoiding unforced errors keeps growing and growing now.
What The Tkachuk?: Aside from the goal he scored in Game 5, we’ve yet to see Matthew Tkachuk make a bigger impact in this series. Were it not for McDavid’s empty-net goal, Tkachuk’s diving play to keep the puck out would’ve been the save of the series if his team managed to tie the game afterward.
