If you had been paying attention during the regular season, you know that the Edmonton Oilers big free agent signing, Connor Brown, was much maligned throughout.
Through his first 54 games, Brown had no goals and just five assists, putting him 12th among forwards on the team and 18th overall in team scoring. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal for a player making league minimum, except that Brown’s contract has a $3.25M bonus that kicked in once he played 10 games. In those first 10 games, he had zero points and was a -5, good for dead last on the team.
The beginning of Brown’s season was lacklustre
In game 55, Brown finally scored his first goal as an Oiler against his former team, the Washington Capitals. The goal was exactly the kind you would expect to break such a drought: a puck that bounced off him for the seventh goal in a 7–2 game.
The Oilers faithful, knowing how much of a weight the drought was on Brown (who noted it was more like a gorilla on his back than a monkey), gave him a standing ovation for his effort.
That goal seemed to turn things around for Brown, as he would go on to score three more goals as well as three assists in the remaining 16 games. Still not exactly eye popping numbers, but to more than double your previous scoring in less than a third of the games is a significant improvement, as he was tenth in team scoring for the final stretch of the season..
With the deadline additions of Sam Carrick and Adam Henrique, however, Brown found himself squeezed out of the lineup, despite being one of the team’s best penalty killers.
Brown lead the team in shorthand individual shot attempts, had the fourth best power play goals against/60 minutes among forwards, and was third among forwards in shorthanded icetime.
Brown in the playoffs
Brown ended up being a healthy scratch for the entire first round of the playoffs before getting into the lineup in Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks. He ended up playing only 7:35, which included just 31 seconds of PK time, and was subsequently scratched for Game 2.
Brown returned in Game 3, and has been in the lineup ever since.
In those nine games, Brown has scored a goal and four points, and is a fifth best +3 (since that stat has started to mean something recently). His points per game is actually sixth among the team’s forwards, despite averaging just 10:53 a game in ice time. His three points in the Western Conference Finals is tied for 10th in the league and third on the Oilers.
This includes a current three-game point streak by Brown, which he kept up in Game 4 with a shorthanded assist on a feed to Mattias Janmark on a two-one-one (which Brown self-depreciatingly described as a s**t burger, although Janmark didn’t seem to agree with that).
His contribution to the penalty kill
That shorthanded goal was the cherry on top for Brown and the Oilers PK, which has killed off 23 straight penalties over the last eight games, including every single one in this Western Conference Finals. (*knocks on all the wood in the vicinity*)
Brown has been a huge part of that. Despite playing just 10 of the Oilers 16 games, Brown is tied for second on the team in PK shots, second in shorthand shot attempts per 60 minutes, and has yet to be on the ice for a power play goal against (*goes to another room and knocks on all the wood there*). Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele are the only forwards in the league with more shorthanded ice time than him who have also not let in a goal these playoffs. (*runs to the nearby forest and knocks on all the trunks*)
Given his improved play, Brown has seen his time increased as well. Since Game 7 against the Canucks, Brown has averaged 12:49 per game, ninth on the team among forwards (not including Corey Perry’s one game of 13:20 last night). He is third among forwards in PK time, averaging 1:42 per game.
Brown has gone from a healthy scratch to an integral part of this Oilers team these playoffs, and is certainly in line for the title of unsung hero (as predicted by a certain someone. Ok and also Lukas and Greg I guess. But I said it first. Kind of.)
Brown’s PK work is enough to keep him in the lineup, but if his recent scoring touch continues, that is a massive weapon added to the Oilers forward depth and could be a key difference maker between getting ousted in the third round and winning the Stanley Cup. (*goes to a flooring store and jumps around on the hardwood section for an hour*)
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