Built to do ‘whatever it takes,’ Oilers oust Golden Knights in second round
Edmonton was better than Vegas, no matter how the game was played, and this series covered pretty much the whole spectrum.
LAS VEGAS — Six-plus shutout periods to end a playoff series. A 1-0, series-closing win delivered by a waiver wire pick-up who watched the first nine games this spring as a healthy scratch.
A five-game series win over the mighty Vegas Golden Knights, constructed on three wins here at T-Mobile Arena — victories in which the Oilers didn’t score a single power-play goal and the superstars did not carry the team offensively.
Does this sound like the Edmonton Oilers that you know?
“Before we say we’re better (than last year), there’s a lot of hockey to be played,” said a cautious Darnell Nurse. “But it’s definitely a different team. A calm team.
“Guys have been through a lot of different experiences, played for a lot of different teams. It breathes into our bench.”
Toss another “experience” on to the pile for a team that will now move on to its third Western Conference Final in four seasons, after a stunning 1-0 overtime victory here in a hard, wall-driven, battle-hardened playoff game that looked like two heavyweight boxers going at it in a Vegas phone booth.
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This was low-event, zero-mistake hockey that could have lasted until daybreak — and this version of the Edmonton Oilers seemed just fine with that.
“I don’t think our guys get enough credit for how well we can defend,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.
That was the polite version.
Captain Connor McDavid, irritable in his post-game media scrum, put it more bluntly when asked about a high-octane, top fuel team that seems to have no issues when the game gets played in the mud, like an old pickup truck fuelled by purple farm gas.
“How many times are we going to answer this question, really. Honestly, it’s frustrating that we keep talking about this,” began the Oilers captain. “We can defend. We’ve shown it time and time again. Coming into a tough building and winning a 1-0 game when it matters most, we can play that way.
“We can score goals. Whatever it takes, we can win games.”
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Was this Game 5 sleep-inducing or ulcer-inducing? It depends on how you consume your hockey, we suppose.
But you can’t argue with McDavid after this night, or this series. Edmonton was better than Vegas, no matter how the game was played, and this series covered pretty much the whole spectrum.
On Wednesday, Kasperi Kapanen doggedly dug a puck off the pads of Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill in the Vegas blue paint, jamming a puck over the line from underneath a rugby scrum at 7:14 of overtime.
In a sport where the eventual winner always talks about having “a new hero every night,” Kapanen took his turn on the podium as the Oilers hit what they hope to be the halfway mark of another run at Big Stanley.
“It doesn’t matter who scores, as long as someone does,” said Kapanen, a waiver wire grab off the St. Louis Blues roster, ironically. “The goal is important, yes. But without Stu (Skinner) and guys putting their bodies on the line, it wouldn’t matter.”
Speaking of redemption…
How about six-plus periods of shutout hockey to close out this series by Skinner, a goalie who has become the internet and radio show whipping boy in Edmonton.
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“Hopefully it shuts a lot of people up who were talking about him,” McDavid said. “We’ve always had belief in him. He comes in and pitches two shutouts. You can’t say enough good things.”
Skinner becomes a bit of a metaphor for this hockey team.
When the playoffs started, did anyone see Skinner walking into Round 3 as the hottest goaler in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Heck, did you see the Oilers walking through Vegas in five games? Or even beating them at all, after a tepid regular season and without Mattias Ekholm in their lineup?
“There’s probably a lot of people who thought it was going to go longer than five, and probably not a lot of people who thought we would win,” McDavid acknowledged. “It’s nice to keep on rolling, keep on proving people wrong.
“We have a lot of belief in this room. It’s fun to be a part of.”
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Skinner was economical, calm, and took excellent care of his rebounds — when there was one. Visually, he looked even more in control than he had in shutting the Golden Knights out 3-0 in Game 4 at home.
Not bad for a guy who was chased out of his net for a six-game run by backup Calvin Pickard that started in Round 1, before being thrust back in between the pipes in Game 3 when Pickard got hurt.
“I don’t think I want to do it like this too often, but it happens,” Skinner said. “It’s the nature of the game, the nature of the position. But being able to come back in no matter what the scenario is and having the resilience in me is something I can be proud of.”
His teammates love nothing more than seeing Skinner stick it to the critics.
Like the final score in Game 5, it’s Skinner 1, fans and media 0.
“Not much better than quieting all the people who talk (stuff) about you,” Nurse said. “We don’t win this series if he doesn’t step up and play the way he did.
“That’s a goaltender who took us to the Stanley Cup Final last year. We have a lot of belief in him.”
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From Vegas’ viewpoint, this series was lost in more than one moment, through more than one process.
“Game 4, they were clearly better than us,” said Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy. “We needed to leave here (after Game 2) with a split. We needed to get the (OT) goal that game. That was the game that we needed.
“I don’t know if you can lose two times in overtime in a series,” he offered. “The slot battle, they were better than us. That’s a huge part of our game.”
That Cassidy could not narrow down the reason for defeat tells the story of an Oilers team that beat Vegas every which way in this series.
Vegas is very good, but Edmonton is better.
Much better, we’d have to say — and that’s not something we saw coming.
On to the Western Conference Final, the Oilers’ 12th playoff series in the last four seasons.
“We keep putting ourselves in good positions, keep giving ourselves a chance. We keep knocking at the door,” McDavid said. “That’s all you can do, keep giving yourself a chance.”
