Traditionally, Stanley Cup-winning teams have multiple, if not all of the, key ingredients that push them over the top, and into the champion’s throne. Stout defence typically comes to mind first, as you have to win several 2–1 or 3–2 games deeper in the playoffs to emerge victorious. Health and puck luck are other nuances one may point to as to how a team ends up claiming Lord Stanley.
One hallmark that the Edmonton Oilers are already exhibiting in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs is that they are getting contributions from up and down the lineup. As opposed to earlier years in the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl era, this isn’t a team that relies on the two superstars to carry them to glory (though Draisaitl has come in clutch not once, but twice already on overtime winners alone).
This year’s edition of the Oilers has nobody yet with more than five goals, but nearly everybody, including half the defence corps, has at least a goal already. It arguably decided the series against the Los Angeles Kings, and it has them in the driver’s seat against the Vegas Golden Knights currently.
Stats through nine playoff games
Below is a roster sheet, via Hockey Reference, showing all the Oilers goal-scoring in the 2025 playoffs. It is arranged by goals leaders. Only four players have registered at least one power play goal, which makes this exercise a little easier—we’ll save special-teams for later.
Draisaitl co-leading the way in goals and being second on the team in points is no surprise, given he won the Rocket Richard Trophy by scoring 52 goals this season, and finished north of 100 points in the process. What is surprising is that he’s doing this while appearing to be well off his game at times. This is a similar vibe to the 2022 playoffs, where he was essentially playing on one leg and still put up a million points, mostly assists against the Calgary Flames.
Corey Perry is the other five-goal scorer this far, as he continues to turn back the clock to his Anaheim Ducks days. At four goals apiece, we have another usual suspect and surprise scorer: Evan Bouchard, who single-handedly tied Game 4 against L.A. to set the stage for Draisaitl’s first set of OT heroics, and Connor Brown, who is once again proving to be a playoff warrior.
McDavid headlines a star-studded foursome that each has three goals, followed by Darnell Nurse and Mattias Janmark with two goals each. Five other players have also chipped in a goal so far, with the more recent ones of the bunch being Jake Walman and Vasily Podkolzin. The only forward without a goal is Jeff Skinner (and he still managed an assist in his only playoff game so far), and the only defenceman without a point is Ty Emberson (four minutes of Josh Brown notwithstanding).
How are the goals being scored?
The short answer to this question is that the goals are coming in several different ways, some in trademark fashion and some either through lucky bounces or greasy work in the blue paint. That the goals can come in all sorts of different forms really helps the Oilers be so effective at scoring with all four lines, as it forces the opponent to have to battle hard for every loose puck, and take nothing for granted.
The “finesse” goals have still been coming for the Oilers, though. In addition to the Bouch blast, here’s two goals from earlier in this series against Vegas, one a Podkolzin rush-and-snipe, the other being the Perry goal where he dances around Adin Hill in tight after receiving a sublime pass from McDavid.
But, come playoff time, you have to roll up the sleeves and do some dirty work to get a few goals that you really need.
Evander Kane’s game-tying goal in Game 3 of the L.A. series is perhaps the most perfect example of a “greasy goal” that Edmonton needed to score, to set the stage for their winning heroics. A couple other examples shown below are Connor Brown’s earlier tying goal from the same game, as well as Trent Frederic’s goal from Game 6. Not works of art, but just as critical to the Oilers winning those games in the end.
How do these Oilers stack up to recent Cup champions?
To see how well all of this bodes for the Oilers’ Cup hopes, let’s compare them to the four most recent Stanley Cup Champions: the 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2022 Colorado Avalanche, the 2023 Vegas Golden Knights, and the team the Oilers lost to in last year’s Final, the 2024 Florida Panthers.
Last year’s Panthers were actually the least “balanced” scoring-wise, of the four teams, and they still had 15 different players find twine during their Cup run. The 2021 Lightning and 2022 Avalanche each had 16 different goal-scorers, while the 2023 Golden Knights had *18* different goal scorers en route to winning it all.
The Oilers already have 15 different goal-scorers, not even 10 games in to their current playoff run. With Klingberg being a more offensive defenceman at times (though he’s been rocking it defensively so far), that number could very well increase. That players like Perry and Brown are at or near the top of the goals list also provide immense optimism that, even on nights where McDavid and Draisaitl don’t have much going for them, the rest of the roster can pick up the slack.
The Oilers have gotten to where they are at currently on the strength of their offence, but it is unquestionably the deepest offence the Oilers have had in a long time. If they continue at this pace, they have a strong case in the making to win it all this year.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
