The hockey world's attention, particularly in Canada, will be riveted on the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoff clash between the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks, marking their first postseason meeting since 1992. With memories of their previous encounter 30 years ago, where the Oilers emerged victorious with a four-game to two series win, anticipation is high for this renewed rivalry.
For the Oilers, it will be their first all-Canadian matchup since their heated series with the provincial rival Calgary Flames in 2022, while the Canucks are enjoying their first postseason action since the 2020 Bubble in Edmonton; they'd not qualified for the playoffs prior to that since 2015.
As the series is set to get underway later this evening, take a look at what will be considered the X-factor for the Oilers if they want to make a return trip to the Western Conference Final – and it isn't star captain Connor McDavid.
The X-factor for the Oilers is once again between the pipes
As we had mentioned prior to the Oilers Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, the crucial element for their success will be goaltender Stuart Skinner. While it wasn't a Conn Smythe-worthy performance, he still managed to win four of the five games he started, posting a 2.59 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Their upcoming matchup against the Canucks will feature more offensive firepower than the Kings were able to threaten them with, however. During the regular season, Vancouver boasted 10 players that reached double digits in goals, led by Brock Boeser's 40. J.T. Miller racked up an impressive 37 goals and 66 assists, while Elias Pettersson tallied 34 goals and 59 assists.
But in the words of Kevin Woodley of NHL.com, Skinner has proven himself to be a top-5 goaltender in the NHL since the team decided to make a coaching change earlier in the season.
“He’s like a Top 5 guy since the coaching change, like statistically. Since the coaching change, since Knoblauch took over and since they stopped bleeding high-danger rush chances at a rate that, frankly, was the worst in the National Hockey League, or bottom two at least, he has been a Top 5 goaltender. He is not a weak leak. He is really good.”
The goaltending situation appears stable for the Oilers presently, unlike the uncertain scenario facing the Canucks. Tonight, Arturs Silovs, the 3rd string goalie, will start in net for the Canucks, as starter Thatcher Demko continues to recover from injury.
Stuart Skinner is better prepared this time around
While Stuart's statistics from last year's Round 2 against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights were less than stellar, he believes that another year of experience has better equipped him for the challenges ahead, as highlighted by Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic.
“I know that this year’s going to be a lot different — just with the different types of scenarios we’re going to be facing,” he said. “There was a lot of emotions going into games (last year). But just being able to manage myself a little bit better is going to be really important.
“You saw that I was able to do that in this first round. I’m going to continue to do that. I’m going to continue to get better at doing those things…..being able to bounce back from those, it’s a difficult thing to do,” Skinner continued. “But I think the more and more it happens to you, it’s actually a blessing in disguise because you get better at reacting to those things.”
The Oilers know regular season success means nothing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
It was another banner campaign for the Oilers, who saw incredible production from the usual suspects in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Additionally, Zach Hyman enjoyed a career year with an astounding 54 goals.
While the Oilers were able to rebound from their slow start and become one of the top teams in the National Hockey League following the coaching change, they're well aware that their exploits over 82 games mean nothing if they don't get the job done in the playoffs, via Jamie Umbach of NHL.com.
“I don’t know how much more we need to talk about this,” Leon Draisaitl said on Monday. “We’re going into Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We don’t care about what happened in the regular season, and I bet you that they don’t either, as much as you think. We’re a different team now. It’s going to be tight-checking, with two really good teams going at it.
Which team will blink first as they gather for Game 1 of the series at Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver?
Follow Us
Subscribe