Following one of the wildest endings to a postseason game in their history, the Edmonton Oilers have evened their best-of-seven series with the Vancouver Canucks at two wins apiece.
Edmonton won Game 4 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs second round on Tuesday (May 14), defeating the Canucks by a score of 3-2 before 18,347 fans at Rogers Place.
Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard potted the game-winning goal (GWG) with just 38.1 seconds remaining in the game, scoring only moments after Vancouver’s Dakota Joshua had tied the game with a goal at 18:19 of the third period.
Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had goals for the Oilers, who took a 2-0 lead into the third period before Conor Garland started Vancouver’s rally by scoring with just over 13 minutes to play.
Making his first career playoff start, Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard made 19 saves in a victorious performance. Arturs Silovs stopped 27 of 30 shots between the pipes for Vancouver.
Here are four takeaways from a thrilling night in Edmonton’s Ice District.
Knoblauch’s Gutsy Goalie Move Pays Off
After watching his No. 1 goaltender Stuart Skinner struggle far too often this postseason, with a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.22 and save percentage (SV%) of .877 through eight starts, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch decided to go with Pickard between the pipes for Game 4.
Knoblauch confirmed early Tuesday that Pickard would be starting that night, ending a day and a half of speculation in the wake of Edmonton’s Game 3 loss on Sunday (May 12).
While benching Skinner was a logical move based on his subpar track record (the 25-year-old goalie has a 3.49 GAA and .881 SV% in 20 career games in the NHL Playoffs), starting Pickard was anything but a safe bet. Pickard, 32, hadn’t so much as played a second of Stanley Cup Playoff hockey before replacing Skinner for the third period of Game 3.
Related: 5 Things to Know About Oilers’ Goalie Call-Up Calvin Pickard
But Pickard played on Tuesday with the veteran poise that he displayed throughout the regular season, when he went 12-7-1 with a 2.45 GAA and .909 SV%. While he wasn’t spectacular in Game 4, he didn’t have to be. Pickard simply needed to play well enough to give the Oilers a chance to win, and he more than delivered.
In the process, Pickard earned himself a spot in the Oilers’ record book, as the oldest goalie in franchise history to start his first career playoff game. He also became the third netminder to win his first postseason start with the Oilers, joining Andy Moog and Mikko Koskinen.
It doesn’t get any easier for Knoblauch, who now must decide whether to roll with Pickard in Game 5 or go back to the goalie who started more than two-thirds of Edmonton’s games during the 2023-24 season.
Knoblauch Utilizes Full Lineup
Edmonton’s goalie switch wasn’t the only wise adjustment made by Knoblauch, who deployed a much more balanced lineup on Tuesday than he had two nights earlier when the Oilers lost 4-3.
In Game 3, Knoblauch leaned heavily on his stars, with Edmonton’s top line of Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman each playing at least 26:14, while five Oilers forwards didn’t even play 10 minutes. On the backend, Bouchard logged an incredible 31:24, second most ever by an Oilers skater in a non-overtime playoff game since the NHL started tracking ice time in 1997-98.
That approach neither produced a win nor was it conducive to sustained success. If the Oilers are going to make a run at the Stanley Cup, it will need to be with a full lineup, and that’s exactly what they had going on Tuesday, with eight forwards playing more than a dozen minutes, and no one logging more than McDavid’s 23:12. Oilers who have been MIA in previous games, such as Evander Kane and Corey Perry, had an impact on Tuesday, while Nugent-Hopkins snapped his seven-game goalless drought with a massive tally in the second period.
Edmonton’s Power Play is Still Surging
With Draisaitl’s goal, his eighth of the postseason, coming while Edmonton was on the man advantage in the first period, the Oilers now have at least one power-play goal (PPG) in all nine of their games thus far in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That gives Edmonton a new franchise record and the fifth-longest streak in NHL history of consecutive games with a PPG to start a postseason.
Edmonton’s power play has been lethal thus far in the 2024 Playoffs, going 14/30 for an NHL-best 46.8% success rate. That’s a full 16% better than the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, who are tied for the playoffs’ second-best power-play rate, going 8/26 each.
Another Monster Performance From Draisaitl
Draisaitl also picked up an assist on Bouchard’s goal on Tuesday, giving him a league-leading 20 points in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has at least two points in eight of Edmonton’s nine contests and has yet to be held without a point in any game this postseason.
The 28-year-old forward is arguably the most valuable player of the first 25 days of the NHL Playoffs. Draisaitl has taken his game to a level that only the very best can at this time of the year, and his will to win is evident on each and every shift. Sportsnet analyst Luke Gazdic put it best during post-game coverage on Tuesday, saying that Draisaitl is in “beast mode”.
Bouchard Having a Playoff for the Ages
The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs are quickly turning into a coming-out party for Bouchard, who now has four goals and 11 assists. Having already equalled records in Edmonton’s first round victory over the Los Angeles Kings, including the most assists by an Oilers defenceman in a series lasting five or fewer games, Bouchard is making even more history now.
With his clutch goal in the dying seconds on Tuesday, Bouchard now has three GWGs in the 2024 Playoffs, including two in this series. He has tied Paul Coffey for the franchise record for most GWGs by a defenceman in a single playoff series and joins Brian Leetch as the only blueliners in Stanley Cup Playoff history with at least two GWGs in multiple playoff series. Bouchard also had two GWGs in Edmonton’s second round loss to the Vegas Golden Knights last year.
The 24-year-old Bouchard’s five career playoff GWGs are the second-most all-time by a defenceman for the Oilers, trailing only Coffey who has six.
Edmonton fans would love to see Bouchard or any of his teammates register another GWG on Thursday when the Oilers and Canucks square off in Game 5 at Rogers Arena. Puck drop from Vancouver is set for just after 7 p.m. Pacific Time.