Facing elimination for the first time this postseason, the Edmonton Oilers rose to the occasion to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 at Rogers Place on Saturday (May 18). Each team has now won three games in their best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs second round series.
Evan Bouchard, Dylan Holloway, Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers, who got 14 saves from goaltender Stuart Skinner. Winger Nils Hoglander had Vancouver’s lone goal.
Related: Oilers Force Game 7 Against Canucks
The Oilers never trailed and led for the final 32:46 of the game. It was Edmonton’s best all-around top-to-bottom, start-to-finish performance so far in the 2024 Playoffs.
But the biggest story should be the personnel moves made by Edmonton first-year coach Kris Knoblauch, whose bold decisions paid off in a massive victory for the Oilers.
Skinner Returns to Edmonton’s Net
The announcement came Saturday morning, several hours before puck drop, that Skinner would be Edmonton’s starter for Game 6, returning to the crease after sitting out the prior two games.
Calvin Pickard had started Games 4 and 5 for Edmonton, replacing Skinner who had struggled earlier in the series. Pickard backstopped the Oilers to a 3-2 home win on Tuesday (May 14) and made 32 saves in a 3-2 loss at Rogers Arena on Thursday.
If not spectacular, Pickard’s play in Games 4 and 5 was solid and steady, leading many to think that with Edmonton’s season on the line, the 32-year-old would and should start again on Saturday. But Knoblauch, who made the gutsy decision to turn to Pickard before Game 4, made the equally gutsy — if not gutsier — decision to resurrect Skinner for Game 6.
During his pre-game availability with the media Saturday, Knoblauch explained the rationale for starting Skinner, who was 36-16-5 with a 2.62 goals-against average (GAA) and .905 save percentage (SV%) during the 2023-24 regular season.
“We felt that Stu had a couple days to reset, take some time away and evaluate his game and think about some things, but also spend some time on the ice working on to getting back finding his game,” Knoblauch said. “We’ve seen Stu play unbelievable, really well for us, steal games, and he’s been our guy all year, so a situation like this, that’s who we want in net.”
Just as the move to go with Pickard paid off in Game 4, giving the start to Skinner on Saturday worked out for the Oilers. While he wasn’t busy, Skinner did make a couple notable saves. What might have been most impressive is how he managed to stay sharp, despite facing only nine shots through the first 40 minutes.
This is the first playoff series since the 1991 Smythe Division Final against the Los Angeles Kings in which multiple goalies have won a start for the Oilers.
Knoblauch Elects Not to Challenge No-Goal
With less than one second remaining in the first period and the score tied 1-1, Bouchard fired the puck in the back of the Vancouver net, behind goalie Arturs Silovs. The goal was immediately waved off, however, as Silovs had been knocked down by Connor McDavid after the Oilers captain was pushed into the goalie by Vancouver centre Teddy Blueger.
Referee Garrett Rank gave the explanation: “The call on the ice is no goal due to incidental contact with the goalkeeper in his goal crease and he was not allowed to play in his position.”
In the heat of the moment, Knoblauch had to make the tough decision whether to challenge the call. The upshot, of course, would be Edmonton taking a 2-1 lead into the intermission after a pressure-packed first period. But should the call not go in favour of Oilers, Vancouver would start the second period with a power play, giving the Canucks a tremendous opportunity to take the lead and crank up the pressure in Rogers Place several more notches.
Knoblauch elected not to challenge, a decision that the Sportsnet panel unanimously agreed with during first intermission analysis. “He would have lost the challenge,” Elliotte Friedman said.
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but with Edmonton ultimately winning the game, it must be said that Knoblauch made the right call. The temptation to challenge had to be great, but the Oilers coach was able to see the bigger picture. Who knows how things would have turned out if the challenge was lost and Vancouver started the second period with effectively a two-minute man advantage.
Oilers’ New Second Line Is Thriving
For as long as Draisaitl and McDavid have been in Edmonton, there has been a lack of consistent depth scoring on the Oilers. Many would argue it’s the biggest reason why today’s Oilers haven’t yet been able to break through with a run to the Stanley Cup, and that issue was as pronounced as ever early in this series, when Knoblauch loaded up his top line with the team’s top three scorers, Draisaitl, Hyman and McDavid.
After Edmonton lost Game 3, Knoblauch put together a new second line centred by Draisaitl, with Holloway and Kane on the wings. After a couple good outings on Tuesday and Thursday, the trio made a massive impact in Game 5, producing two goals for the Oilers. Draisaitl had two assists, Holloway blocked a pair of shots and Kane registered seven hits.
Since the trio began playing together at the start of Game 4, Draisaitl has five points, Kane has two goals, and Holloway has a plus/minus rating of plus-4. There’s been noticeable chemistry developing, particularly between veterans Draisaitl and Kane, while the 22-year-old Holloway is coming of age in these playoffs.
Carrick Steps in for Perry
Besides Skinner taking over for Pickard, Knoblauch made one other change to his lineup on Saturday, with veteran forward Corey Perry being scratched and replaced by Sam Carrick.
Edmonton signed Perry in January, with a sense that the veteran of four Stanley Cup Final appearances could provide key experience in areas that have felled the Oilers during previous postseasons.
Perry, who just turned 39, was solid for the Oilers during the second half of the regular season but has mostly been a non-factor this spring. Over Edmonton’s first 10 games of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he has zero points, just 12 hits, and a minus-3 rating.
In his place, Carrick delivered a whopping six hits in only 10:29 of ice time, helping Edmonton limit Vancouver’s scoring chances and hold the Canucks to their fewest goals this series. Carrick also had Edmonton’s best faceoff winning percentage, going 7-5 on the draw. “Loved him,” Knoblauch said during his post-game media availability. “I thought he was huge.”
Carrick has now played four games in the 2024 Playoffs, and the Oilers are 3-1 in those games. This was his first appearance in the second round.
Expect to see Carrick in the lineup, Skinner between the pipes, and Draisaitl, Holloway and Kane playing together when the Oilers take on Vancouver in Game 7 on Monday (May 20) at Rogers Arena. The atmosphere promises to be intense in enemy territory, and it may take Knoblauch’s coaching masterstroke for Edmonton to come out on top and advance to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final.
