The Edmonton Oilers played one complete game.
So good that an astute reporter might comment it’s repeatable.
Their offence can continue to fire off for three more goals — fewer than we’ve seen in playoffs, but more than Adam Henrique delivered per game in the regular season.
The blue line needn’t change the pairings that Paul Coffey can now hang his coaching career on, even if they were questionable until puck drop.
But the best component yet?
A team this difficult — or annoying — to play against.
Look at the second line with Leon Draisaitl, Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, who checked and kept Jack Eichel’s line, for lack of a better word, in line. Add in Draisaitl’s inevitable offensive touch, and they’re productive while being difficult to manage.
It’s a formula so simple, Kris Knoblauch has repeated it over four lines.
Take Henrique’s second goal of game four through the legs, quickly followed by Evander Kane’s check over Adin Hill, and the goaltender’s subsequent reaction.
Pure chaos.
“He pushed back, he showed some emotion to protect his area,” explained Bruce Cassidy on Hill post-game. “That’s part of playoff hockey.”
To be fair though, Stuart Skinner has yet to drop the gloves.
Something about the Oilers being in Hill’s head, much like the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Give us credit, we stood up to them,” commented Eichel post-game four. Yah sure, they engaged. But as Cassidy said, “(the Oilers) were more desperate.”
To be fair again, Vegas will be pretty desperate tonight.
It’s either do or die for Vegas or momentum moving forward.
Cue the Oilers’ reason for desperation.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of benefits of winning that next game,” added Kris Knoblauch. “One, you don’t give that opportunity for Vegas to put together a string of wins. And then also, the ability to have some downtime, (so) guys can rest and not add on.
“But I think right now that’s an extra benefit — not allowing Vegas that opportunity to get back, the opportunity for them to win a few games.”
A little series management is in play here.
“We gotta play one good game, that’s where our heads are at,” agreed Draisaitl post-morning skate. “Let’s play one good game here tonight and give ourselves a good chance to move on.”
Easy enough. The Oilers are 2-0 in Vegas’s barn this season, Skinner is at ease having been redeemed-ish, and per OilersNation, the Oilers are 8-2 in series-closing games since 2017 — if that helps.
Ask the Oilers though, and this is just “every other playoff game.”
“One day at a time, one game. We’re not looking at it as if we have to win one of three. We have to win tonight and not worry about anything else,” per Knoblauch.
So again, don’t panic — there’s still two more games if things don’t go well tonight.
Edmonton Oilers expected lines:
RNH – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Kane – Henrique – Brown
Frederic – Janmark – Perry
Kulak – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Klingberg
S. Skinner
Rodrigue
