The Edmonton Oilers continue to be the mystery of the NHL.
Forced to settle for third in the Pacific under Vegas and Los Angeles.
Less depth scoring and more goals against in the regular season.
Too many injuries to fit on an X post without hitting ‘expand’ one week before playoffs.
They weren’t necessarily the gold standard for Cup contenders, unlike the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
And still, the Oilers are headed to the conference finals when one month ago everyone else thought “yah sure, even if they make it past the Kings, they’ll never get past Vegas.”
More than one playoff bracket was wrecked in the name of rational reasoning.
Let’s examine that, shall we:
Adin Hill ended the regular season with a 2.46 GAA compared to Stuart Skinner’s 2.81 and Calvin Pickard’s 2.71.
Not a huge difference but remember, Pickard was injured while carrying an NHL-leading 6-0 record, and the goaltender that subbed in for him was previously pulled over an inability to win games.
Welcome the ensuing panic from the Oilers fanbase that lasted all of one game and a couple days in-between.
Then Skinner looks poised and controlled in net, while Hill cares more about making hits than stopping pucks.
It’s a good thing he’s not a goaltender — oh wait.
Don’t forget about those two back-to-back shutouts for Skinner either.
But that’s just one area of the game.
Another was Vegas’s 3.33 goals per game average in the regular season, compared to 2.00 against a team that had to throw their defensive pairings in the blender just to win the last two games.
All the while Vegas avoided a Nicolas Roy suspension for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face and a non-injury from Brayden McNabb.
Yah sure, Mark Stone got injured — for one scoreless game that was settled by Kasperi Kapanen with as many goals in round two as Connor McDavid.
Enough said.
Edmonton survived on depth scoring, goaltenders surrounded by question marks, more battles lost on the special teams than won, and regular season stats that inspired more confidence in Vegas than themselves.
This is still playoff hockey though, and this is still the Oilers.
“It’s nice to keep on rolling, keep on proving people wrong,” agreed McDavid, who settled for a different, assist-minded role in the Vegas series than in the regular season. Perhaps a more down-to-business approach during playoffs.
“You need a certain amount of intensity (or) fire to play this game and during the regular season it can be a grind,” added Kris Knoblauch. “It’s tougher to get up for a game on January 15 than it is for a Stanley Cup playoff game where you can eliminate a team, or whatever it is.
“I know for me, getting behind the bench at the start of the regular season and exhibition, I was like, ‘wow, this isn’t game seven of the Stanley Cup final.’ And that’s me behind the bench wearing a suit, compared to the players who want to play at their best and score a couple goals, but sometimes, it just doesn’t happen.”
A disclaimer warning might have been relevant for the 2024–25 regular season: no Oilers fans were tricked in the process, it’s just how playoffs roll.
Unfortunately for every team facing the Oilers en route to the next round, gauging a consistent playoff performance from Edmonton could prove as difficult as Jack Eichel scoring a goal in round two — it just doesn’t happen.
Add that to Vegas’s list of things to haunt them all summer.
Much like Edmonton’s ability to play a different brand of playoff hockey each game, each round.
See the scoring summary for proof:
A 4–2 game to open round two and 1–0 game to close it.
Were the Oilers adaptable? Yes. Did they keep Vegas at bay while getting under their skin? They won the series, didn’t they. Should Vegas have been prepared for the Oilers’ shift in performance?
“I think a lot of it had to do with what was on our minds this year,” according to Knoblauch. “All right, let’s just get through the regular season. Let’s hit the playoffs, because that’s what really matters.”
Then playoffs arrive and on paper the Knights should have won, instead of spending their summer wishing they played the Oilers that ended the regular season on one leg.
It’s a good thing the games aren’t played on paper.
