EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers are getting nervous.
About their goaltending. About their depth players. About the fact they haven’t beaten the Vancouver Canucks in regulation yet this season — in seven tries.
About Stuart Skinner’s career .881 save percentage in the playoffs.
How do we know?
Because, after a 4-3 loss in which Skinner was pulled after 40 minutes — then reinserted to sneak in a pseudo timeout in the final two minutes — the affable and accountable No. 1 goalie was withheld from the media by the team.
Skinner is eloquent, accountable, and more than able in front of the microphones. He talks on off days, game days, after wins, and after losses.
That the team is suddenly protecting him, at this vital stage of the season — down 2-1 in Round 1 — speaks of their concern over the pressure he’s feeling, and how he’s dealing with it.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked post-game, “Do you feel like you need more saves out of your goaltender, tonight and in this series?”
His response: “Yes,” said the unfailingly honest Knoblauch. “We need more saves tonight.”
But wait. There’s more.
“The defence and goaltending is very important to winning hockey games, especially in the long-term. It's got to be better,” Knoblauch added. “Tonight's one that (Skinner) would like to have back. We'll see what he's got in the future — whether that's Game 4, Game 5 or whatever it is. We'll be seeing Stu again.”
You heard it right. Knoblauch did not commit to starting Skinner in the pivotal Game 4 Tuesday evening in Edmonton.
You could say the Oilers got goalied in Game 3 — at both ends. Arturs Silovs saved the day with 42 stops, while Skinner didn’t have it in him, allowing four goals on the 15 shots he faced.
Look, the Oilers' defensive work on two of the first three goals was heinous. Connor McDavid left Brock Boeser open for a clean look from 15 feet, and Warren Foegele handed a puck away in the defensive zone that ended up on Boeser’s tape as well for a close-in look.
The Vancouver winger is an elite scorer, with a high-end wrist shot. But here’s what matters: the Canucks' Grade-A chances ended up on the scoreboard, while Edmonton’s — whether it be by goal post, six-man dogpile, or by some Silovs work of Latvian magic — simply did not.
“I think we're creating enough looks,” said Oilers winger Leon Draisaitl, who logged another 29:04 of ice time in a 60-minute contest. “Obviously they're not falling right now, or we're not doing a good enough job of being hard in front and banging them home.”
Sportlogiq counted the high-danger scoring chances at 24-10 in Edmonton’s favour, the expected goals 5.42 to 2.56 for the Oilers.
However, when you scroll to the goaltending stats, the inner-slot saves percentage favoured Silovs 81.8 per cent to 25.0 per cent, and the goals saved above expected stood at 2.16 for Silovs, and a minus-2.37 for Skinner.
When you get goalied like this in the regular season, you tip your hat and move on to the next opponent. But Edmonton will undoubtedly see Silovs again on Tuesday, and Draisaitl was asked if they need to bone up on this Riga rookie?
“I don't think so,” Draisaitl said. “I think we’ve got enough guys in here who can put the puck past him. We’ve shown it so far. He's obviously playing well, and has made some big, big stops for them.
“We’ve just got to be a little cleaner. Look to bear down a little bit more.”
The pedigree of Edmonton’s offence would not have any Oilers fans concerned about eventually solving Silovs, as well as he has played. And if the Oilers dominate in shots and chances the way they have for the last four periods, you’ve got to think they’ll score enough to take this series down to the wire.
But it all comes apart if the goaltending isn’t there, a tenet of playoff hockey.
Another tenet is that old chestnut, “A new hero every night.”
With the McDavid line playing nearly half the game, and the defensive pairing of Evan Bouchard (31:24) and Mattias Ekholm (23:48) taking the most minutes on the blue line, it’s fair to ask how the Oilers are going to muster up any depth scoring when the depth guys are barely even breaking a sweat.
Third-line centre Ryan McLeod played just 11:06, and Foegele — after his gaffe on Vancouver’s third goal — logged just 8:45 of ice time.
“I should know better,” Foegele said of his fatal giveaway. “We can't beat ourselves there. I did that, and put our team in a bad spot.”
As for Knoblauch leaning hard on the McDavid line for the second straight game, Foegele is a good soldier.
“At the end of the day everyone has a role, and you’ve got to be the best at your role,” he said. “Whether how many minutes that is, at the end of the day, it's about winning.”
Yes, winning.
The Oilers had better get back to that in Game 4, or this “Cup or bust” playoff run could end before it has barely begun.
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