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This in from multiple mainstream media sources, word from Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch that goalie Calvin Pickard will also missed Game Four.
Pickard was injured in Game Two when Vegas forward Tomas Hertl crashed over him. There was no penalty on the suspicious-looking play.
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Assuming this is the play that may have hurt Pickard. That damn gust of wind knocked Hertl over onto Pickard’s leg. Brutal… #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/0N4dkHpOGi
Pickard has won all six of his playoff games this year, while Stuart Skinner has lost all three of his games, including Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
1. Many fans were outraged at Skinner’s performance in Game Three. Not me. I thought Skinner was OK. Yes, he gave up a bad rebound on the first goal and he let a puck get through him into the crease on the winning goal. But he had 16 Grade A shots directed against him, while the Oilers had just 10.
The expected goals in the game were 4.3 against the Oilers. Skinner let in four. In other words, he was average in the game, just as Adin Hill was average letting in three goals against with an expected goals against of 2.9.
Goaltending was not the difference in this game. Edmonton’s numerous mental errors and lost battles were the difference. Vegas wanted Game 3 more, was the sharper, more focused team and deserved the win.
2. I expect Skinner will be at least OK in Game Four. In many of his wins, Pickard was just OK, no better than Skinner was on Saturday night. That said, it was a major blow to the OIlers when Pickard went out with injury, and it’s bad news he’ll miss Game Four. He was on a red hot winning streak and had played his best game in Game Two, when Vegas had 21 Grade A shots on him, 11 of them 5-alarmers, yet Pickard still won the match, out-duelling Hill.
3. The Oilers have got to clean up their inconsistent defensive game once again. Frankly, Saturday night’s game was a comic tragedy of errors by Edmonton’s defenders. It was one turnover after another, one bad line change after another, one missed assignment after another, one lost battle after another. They got up by two goals and as Hockey Night in Canada analyst Rick Bowness put it, they imploded.
4. Line-up changes? Ty Emberson isn’t trusted to play more than 10 minutes a game right now. He’s also not crushing it when he’s on the ice. Troy Stecher played much better hockey than Emberson down the stretch of the regular season. Now that he’s recovered from injury I can’t see why the Oilers would not go with the fast and feisty veteran Stecher. He’s also a settling force on Darnell Nurse, who has been inconsistent these playoffs.
5. Nurse has been on the ice for too many goals against and too often he’s been in the middle of them. Paul Coffey is stubborn as man who crammed size 10 feet into size seven skates for three decades, it seems, and won’t move away from the iffy Nurse-Bouchard top pairing. What might be a better bet to work out? How about this?
Kulak Bouchard
Wahlman Klingberg
Nurse Stecher
Three balanced pairings.
Make sense?
5. At forward Trent Frederic has been struggling on defence, leaking Grade A chances against. He’s also not done much on the attack. Why not go with Jeff Skinner over Frederic? Skinner played solid defence and strong attacking hockey in the last few months of the season. He’s a good bet to add more to the team just now compared to Frederic.
More to come…
STAPLES: ‘I’m sick to my stomach ‘: hockey world reacts to Vegas, 4, Oilers, 3
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McCurdy: Player grades in tough loss to Vegas
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