By now, you’ve seen the narrative surrounding the Oilers’ Game 1 loss on Saturday night. Encouraging, competitive, and Bobrovsky are all words that have been used, and they’re all correct.
Yet, heading into Monday night the Oilers still trail the Panthers 1-0. Now the question is, how do they turn encouraging and competitive into a Game 2 win?
The easy and obvious answer is getting pucks past Sergei Bobrovsky. That goes without being said, so we won’t speak on that as we preview Monday night’s contest.
In the previous two series, specifically against the Canucks and Stars, Coach Knoblauch hasn’t been afraid to tinker with the lineup when the occasion calls for it. After a strong performance on Saturday, how much is too much?
To Change or Not to Change? That Is the Question For the Oilers
After a tough few games against Vancouver, Knoblauch decided to replace goalie Stuart Skinner with Calvin Pickard. Pickard played great for two games, the coach switched back to Skinner, and for the most part, it worked exactly how he planned.
In the middle of the series against Dallas, down 2-1, he made another tough call and swapped out a number of depth players to freshen up his lineup. Again, worked like a charm.
Now, the eyes of the hockey community have fallen, once again, on the defensive pairing of Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci. They were on the ice for the first two goals against, and throughout the whole playoffs their mediocre, and at times awful, play has been paired with unlucky bounces and miscues by teammates.
With defenseman Vincent Desharnais sitting in the press box, some moves could be made to solidify that back end. He could also shuffle the deck by changing the pairings and hoping for some last-minute chemistry. Plain and simple, that pairing hasn’t worked. Now is as good a time as any to mix things up, since they are now three losses away from going home empty-handed.
Kane Battling, Giving What He Can
Another issue here is the play of Evander Kane. It’s no secret that he’s been banged up for this entire playoff run, and he is doing all he can to contribute to his team. Due to his sports hernia from before the post-season, he hasn’t practiced all playoffs, and it’s apparent that he’s just not right.
Through 19 games he has four goals and eight points and is a -4.
“He was putting up a pretty good season and obviously he had to take some time off with injuries and maintenance days” Knoblauch added about Kane. “ Yeah, It’s unfortunate for any player, any time you’re battling with something, it takes away from your game.”
With the defensive pairings, there seem to be a few tangible solutions. With this one, however, less so. Carrick and Ryan are rested and waiting, but the energy they bring is nothing close to Evander Kane. It will definitely be something to watch as the series progresses.
Another Level Needed For Oilers’ Stars
I said earlier that we wouldn’t talk about the Oilers needing to score more goals. That being said, it’s a well-known fact that Saturday night was a missed opportunity. The Panthers did not play well, and we can expect them not to put up a performance like that in Game 2. So, yeah, the Oilers need to level up even more than they did on the weekend.
Scoring goals and having the lead does more for the lineup than just winning games. The more goals they score, and the more time they have with the lead, the less the stars have to play and the more their depth can impact the game.
On Saturday, Evan Bouchard played 27 minutes. That’s 10 minutes more than any defender, including star veteran Ekholm.
McDavid, Hyman, and Draisaitl all played north of 23 minutes. With powerplays mixed in there, 23 minutes isn’t awful, but the Oilers will want to put the rest of the team in a position to contribute. It’s a long series(hopefully), so you don’t want to run your horses into the ground too early.
We saw Knoblauch put McDavid and Draisaitl together at the start of the third period, and it always raises an eyebrow when those two are on the same line.
Game 2 starts at 8:00 pm EST on Monday, and for the Oilers, hopefully, it ends with the series tied 1-1 heading back to Edmonton.
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About The Author
Marc Sautter is a self-proclaimed sports addict, with the NHL being his specialty. After being a sports fan from afar, Marc made a career change in his 30s to cover sports through journalism and podcasting. His daily NHL preview and betting show “Pucks Across Borders” airs every weekday morning. In addition to hockey, you can read his work on the Canadian Football League all summer on Total Apex Sports.
