Last night the Edmonton Oilers eked out a point against the Winnipeg Jets in a 4–3 OT loss.
This game was something of a litmus test for the Oilers in a couple ways. The Oilers had been experiencing a bit of a slump recently. Even though they were on a three-game winning streak, they had dropped some games they had no business dropping and in the 12 games leading up to the Utah game, the Oilers GF/GP was at only 2.6, well down from the 3.25 they have set so far this season. A win against Winnipeg would prove they were out of the slump.
Secondly, this was a test for a team 14 games from the playoffs to see if they have what it takes to make another deep run. The Jets are the golden standard so far this year, in a dead heat with Washington for first in the league. While regular season play is not the same as the playoffs, a win against one of the best teams in the league, and a potential playoff opponent, would be a massive confidence boost.
Unfortunately for the Oilers this wasn’t a fair test, they were without their best player this year, Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl sat out due to a minor injury, Coach Kris Knoblauch stated several times that they were just being cautious and just wanted to be sure that the injury wasn’t exacerbated into something more serious.
As if that weren’t enough, Connor McDavid didn’t play in the third period and Stuart Skinner left in the third as well.
While the Oilers weren’t able to pull off the win there were a few positives to take from the game and plenty of confidence to take into the home stretch before the playoffs.
Jeff Skinner shines on the first line
Jeff Skinner has been overlooked for the majority of this season. He admittedly started slowly but was not given a very long leash for playing in the top-six. He has bounced around the bottom-six like a bouncy ball in a mason jar with as many unique linemates as Knoblauch could muster.
Given the opportunity with the top line with McDavid and Zach Hyman, Skinner impressed with one and a half goals (I’m not convinced he touched the second goal, but the score sheet says I’m wrong). Even without the goals, Skinner looked great last night with four shots, three hits, one takeaway, and a +2 rating.
Skinner is doing his level best to prove he’s top-six quality and his efforts are not going unnoticed.
Creating penalty kill success
The Oilers were a perfect 4/4 on the penalty kill last night. Up until recently the Oilers had not been performing so spectacularly in this regard. From the end of the four nations face-off break to the Dallas game on March 8 the Oilers penalty kill was operating at 65.5%, not good.
However the Oilers are now perfect on the penalty kill for six games straight, upsetting opponents 18 of 18 times. Vasily Podkolzin was almost able to secure the lead late in the game with a shorthanded goal. This is reminiscent of the Oilers penalty kill dominance from last year’s playoffs, where Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark were putting on a clinic.
The Edmonton Oilers are resilient
The Oilers came into this game one Draisaitl short, they entered the third period without McDavid, they started overtime without their starting goalie, Stuart Skinner, or his moustache. If you asked an Oiler hater they would tell you that Winnipeg must have won the game by eight.
Despite being hamstringed by injuries to their star players, the Oilers put up one hell of a fight in the third period taking the tied-for-first-place Jets to OT.
Nobody watching that third period could say that Edmonton wasn’t the better team, outshooting the Jets 9–7 in the third frame, including killing off a penalty in the final minutes. Podkolzin especially had several shifts where he looked like he would rather die than lose the game.
While I certainly won’t be so foolish to say that the Oilers are as effective without McDavid and Draisaitl, they can look favourably on the body of work they put into this game, proving to everyone and themselves that they are still a solid hockey team without the dynamic duo.
The Oilers don’t get to put a “W” beside this game, but considering how the game ended, leaving with one point is a win.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
stats from NHL.com
