You could almost sense a loss was incoming, but you never expect it to end like that. What was a possible seventh consecutive victory (and seventh consecutive comeback victory as well) imploded with 0.4 seconds left when a last-ditch cross-ice pass attempt by Reilly Smith was deflected into the Edmonton Oilers’ net by Leon Draisaitl, leading to a heartbreaking loss.
The Oilers did not deserve to win that game, not by a long shot. After two quick goals in the opening 10 minutes, the team fell flat, fell behind, and almost went down without a whimper.
Edmonton managed to find a way to out-Vegas the Vegas Golden Knights back in game one, and the tide shifted back to their opponents in this one. The Golden Knights dominated for nearly the entire final two periods.
Breakout and zone entry attempts were thwarted, even after shifting to try to carry the puck rather than dump and chase. Shots were few and far between. None of them were dangerous.
All in all, this was a game the Oilers were not playing to win. The fact that they did manage to tie it back up in the final few minutes after they suddenly remembered how to play hockey was surprising. It had us thinking that maybe they’ll find a way to steal a game and put Vegas down three. But that was not in the cards for this Saturday evening.
As much as we do not want to relive that experience, here are a few takeaways from the game three loss.
Stuart Skinner’s return to the net
It wouldn’t be a proper post-game article without a look at Stuart Skinner’s return. After being sat out for the previous six games in favour of Calvin Pickard, six games the Oilers won, Skinner was given the start in this game due to an injury suffered by Pickard late in game two.
Long story short, he was not a game changer. Sure, he made a few big saves on shots that could have gone in. But it was not enough. He did not make the big saves the team needed through the game; he did not find a way to bail out his teammates when they needed it. It shows in how the Oilers play in front of Skinner versus how they play in front of Pickard.
The team does not appear to have much confidence with Skinner in net.
Breaking down each goal
Skinner was not the only one at fault. Poor defensive coverage led to the first goal. The second goal he should have had, but it only happened because of the two forwards who were unable to stop a Golden Knight as he charged the net. The third goal was only a situation that happened because of an atrocious decision to change.
However, the fourth goal is where opinions may begin to split. And this goal should be placed on Skinner. In that situation, so late in the game, he has absolutely no reason to be sending himself five feet out of the crease to attack the skater. Once again, his lack of movement control comes back to haunt him. If he starts moving in a direction, there is no ability to stop without throwing himself wildly out of position for anything and everything that follows.
If Skinner had just a bit of control, he could have halved the distance he attacked Reilly Smith from, followed him to the goal line, and completely eliminated both the shooting angle and the lane for the pass that was tipped into his own net. Instead, he ends up making contact with Smith, scrambling to try and reach to block the puck with his stick, and bringing his back leg in to leave the passing lane wide open. Smith sees it, uses it, and the puck ends up in the net.
Shoot the puck
Listen, I hate to be the fan sitting in the stands yelling at the players on the ice to shoot the puck. But sometimes, you just have to be that person. Tonight was one of those times. Adin Hill has shown he is not at the top of his game. Two weak goals against in game two off of unscreened wrist shots from the high circle. Two quick early goals against in game three. And what happened after the two goals? Not a whole lot.
The Oilers proceeded to record two shots on net in the final nine minutes of the first and just seven in the entire second period. This, unfortunately, does not include the near misses and shots off the post.
However, the particular sequence in question was on the power play in the second period. Edmonton recorded just one shot on goal despite having significant offensive zone possession time. In a trend that has been growing over the past two games, most of the power play was spent passing the puck back and forth between McDavid and Bouchard, including Draisaitl once in a while.
There is logic to not risking a missed or blocked shot leading to a chance the other way, but this perimeter play and hesitancy to get the puck on the net against a goalie who is fighting to stay alive in Hill is setting the Oilers back in this series.
They’ve been trapped
We’ve known for years that Vegas plays a very particular style of game. They are masters of an aggressive style of trap that stifles the best of the best. And this game, Edmonton played right into it. Despite those early goals, Vegas got its game together early enough to come back and completely shut the Oilers down for most of the final 45 minutes of play.
Edmonton only had 10 shots on goal in over two full periods of play between their second goal and the final push in the last four minutes of play. That is not good enough. Regardless of the goaltending and last-second loss, this team needs to find a way through Vegas’ system like they did in game one.
Watching the third period was an endless cycle of Oilers getting the puck, dumping it into the offensive zone, and failing to retrieve it as Vegas sends it the other way, followed shortly by attempts to carry the puck in, leading to turnovers. The most notable of which was a play that they finally had control of the puck on a zone entry, where Evan Bouchard proceeded to immediately airmail it to no one in particular across the entire rink.
The first 10 minutes of the game were exactly what the team needed to do. Shots on net, fast pace, control play. And they lost that immediately after their second goal.
If the Oilers don’t want that last-second goal to be the turning point on the entire series, they have some serious work to do before game four on Monday.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
On goal four, go back and watch Nurse and McDavid joined at the hip, backchecking too deep in the same area, watching only the puck as it sailed past them both to the trailer, whom they then both hopelessly tried to go towards. Neither had the presence of mind to look over their shoulder and separate to cover the open man. If they had, they could have interfered with Reilly’s shot/pass. Terrible defense at an inexcusable moment…not on Skinner!