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Next Game: Western Conference Final, Game 1 Edmonton Oilers @ Dallas Stars/Winnipeg Jets, TBD
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Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner makes a glove save against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period in Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-final series at T-Mobile Arena on May 14, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Ethan Miller /Getty Images. |
Connor McDavid on Stuart Skinner: 'Hopefully it shuts people up' |
By Robert Tychkowski
With his haters cursing the turn of events that returned Stuart Skinner to the Edmonton Oilers net, the embattled keeper fired back with some blankety-blanks of his own.
A 3-0 shutout win in Game 4 followed by a 1-0 shutout win in a series-clinching Game 5. In all, he kept the desperate former Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights off the board for 127 minutes and 19 seconds and moved his team into another Western Conference final.
Pretty bleeping good considering the circumstances.
“Hopefully it shuts a lot of people up who were talking about him,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who loves how Skinner came in at a critical moment, won the series and destroyed his critics at the same time.
“We’ve always had belief in him. He comes in and pitches two shutouts. You can’t say enough good things.”
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse has also been a target of the online mob, so he knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the virtual pitchforks and torches.
He also knows the satisfaction of shrugging it off and playing your best hockey when it matters most.
“He’s got to be feeling good,” grinned Nurse. “There is not much better than quieting people when they’re talking crap about you.
“We don’t win the series if he doesn’t step up and play the way that he does. He’s a goaltender who took us to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. He showed up again for us huge in this series. He’s a special goaltender in this league, I truly believe that.”
Skinner steadied himself extremely well after losing the crease two games into the Los Angeles series, but this is as much about the Oilers tightening up defensively as it is about him.
Goalies are always at the mercy of the team in front of them and that is very much the case here. It’s funny how much better he looks when his own defencemen aren’t getting primary assists on opposition goals.
“The way that we’ve competed, the amount of blocked shots,” the 26-year-old said after closing out the Knights. “In the first three minutes we had five blocked shots. Those are the things that it takes to win games. All the credit goes to the guys in front of me.”
With a pair of Art Ross and Hart Trophy winners in the lineup, the Oilers have always had a reputation for high-powered offence, but when they want to they can lock it down as well as anyone in the league.
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▶️ WATCH: Oilers forward Kris Knoblauch speaks to media on Friday |
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FORMER OILERS GM HOLLAN JOINS PLAYOFF RIVALS LOS ANGELES KINGS |
Why would former Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland want back in as a general manager, especially in Los Angeles with the Kings, who have lost four straight playoffs to the team Holland used to work for?
Because Holland, who took over the Oilers in 2019 when they were 26th in the NHL in points, managed them to the Western Conference final in 2022 and then to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against Florida last June, is a poor spectator.
He had a job with the league in their hockey ops department this past season as an adviser, but he wants to work, not watch.
He’s 69 and while the lefty likes golf and even has an import membership at famous Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, the scene of this summer’s Open, he can’t golf every day. Golf’s his like, hockey’s his passion. He’s always been up early, talking to agents, other managers, having coffee with his staff, asking questions.
As he’s long said, he’s not wired for a stress-free existence. With his Hall of Fame resume (three Stanley Cup celebrations in Detroit, the fourth-most wins of any general manager in history), he could be sitting on his couch with a TV remote, or be out on his boat on the lake in B.C. enjoying retirement with his wife Cyndi. But, that’s not him.
“After Game 7 last June when we lost in Florida on a Monday night, I met with (team CEO) Jeff Jackson and we agreed we were going to go our separate ways,” said Holland.
“That weekend was the NHL draft and I missed not being there. It was the first I had missed in 40-something years. I wasn’t sure where I was going. Was I going to miss it? And over the course of the winter living in British Columbia, every night the TV’s on and I’m watching hockey from 4 o’clock until 10:30 and my wife is in the bedroom watching a movie or reading a book,” said Holland. |
| EDMONTON RESTAURANTS ALREADY GETTING PLAYOFF BOOST FROM OILERS |
With the first round done and the second round set to wrap soon, the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup playoff run has already injected some economic activity into restaurants around the city, according to a national financial technology company.
“What we saw is in the first round against L.A., it didn’t seem to matter whether the Oilers were on the road in L.A. or at home in Edmonton. The spending results were as compelling as the action on the ice,” said Moneris spokesperson Sean McCormick. Payment processing company Moneris tracked fan spending in the first round, highlighting the economic impact of game days throughout the city and near the arena.
When the Oilers’ playoffs started, the team’s future in the post-season looked precarious after back-to-back losses to the L.A. Kings. With the losses came similarly lacklustre spending from fans, but as the team’s performance bounced back, so too did the local spending.
“What we saw when the Oilers were at home was truly eye-popping, especially in games 3 and 4, the first two home games of that series right across the city,” said McCormick.
Starting off the series against L.A. on April 21, spending near the arena went up three per cent in restaurants across the city, and 25 per cent near the arena. The following game similarly didn’t show much change with a modest 22 per cent increase on April 23 near the arena and five per cent around the city.
Like the team, however, things started moving when the Oilers came home April 25.
Restaurant spending was up 21 per cent across the city for the Oilers first home game, and an impressive 82 per cent near the arena. The numbers climbed even higher for the ensuing home game with a near-arena increase of 89 per cent and a citywide increase of 24 per cent. |
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Edmonton Oilers 2025 Stanley Cup playoff statistics
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Connor McDavid: 11 GP, 3 G, 14 A, 17 PTS
Leon Draisaitl: 11 GP, 5 G, 11 A, 16 PTS Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 11 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 PTS Zach Hyman: 11 GP, 3 G, 5 A, 8 PTS Evander Kane: 10 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS
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Evan Bouchard: 11 GP, 4 G, 8 A, 12 PTS Darnell Nurse: 11 GP, 2 G, 2 A, 4 PTS -
John Klingberg: 10 GP, 0 G, 3 A, 3 PTS
- Jake Walman: 11 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS
- Brett Kulak: 11 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 PTS
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| Calvin Pickard: 7 GP, 6-0-0, .888 SV%, 2.84 GAA Stuart Skinner: 5 GP, 2-3-0, .884 SV%, 3.05 GAA
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Edmonton Oilers defenceman Troy Stecher, against the Montréal Canadiens at Rogers Place in Edmonton on March 19, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia. |
'Full credit': Edmonton Oilers coach rightly gets high praise for solving 3 big issues to advance |
By David Staples This in from Chris Gawlik, who along with Tony Cordasco of the Locked in Vegas podcast, provided the sharpest insight out of Las Vegas on the Oilers-VGK series, Gawlik’s high praise for Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch’s line-up changes before Game 4.
Said Gawlik: “When you saw the line change happening going into Game Four, that’s the turning point (of the series) for me. That’s separating Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Getting (Kasperi) Kapanen into the line-up, who just played his second game of the series and winds up getting the game winning goal to put the Oilers into the Conference Final. Who created that? Knoblauch out-coached Cassidy. Full credit to Knoblauch…. I saw (the line-up changes) as panic. We all thought he was panicking. But no. Draisaitl shadowing (VGK star Jack) Eichel was another one that was just brilliant.”
Gawlik is notable because he predicted that VGK would beat the Oilers in 2023 because Bruce Cassidy was a better coach than Jay Woodcroft and VGK had better goaltending than Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner could provide. Gawlik was right on both counts.
Other veteran hockey writers are praising Knoblauch as well.
Said New York writer Stan Fischler, “Congratulations to the Edmonton Oilers and their heroic goalie for another comeback. And especially to their refugee NY Rangers coach Kris Knoblauch whose coaching in Edmonton might have been done in NY if the Blueshirts hadn’t blown it. YAY! OILERS and YAY! UNDERRATED KNOBLAUCH.” And Edmonton’s Terry Jones: “Sooner or later Kris Knoblauch has to start getting credit for a first rate coaching job.” My take 1. To beat Vegas in this series, Knoblauch had to solve one long-term issue with the Oilers, a problem that he’s been working on since he arrived in Edmonton, as well as deal with two major line-up issues, one at forward and an even more pressing problem on defence. |
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▶️ The Cult of Hockey's "Oilers get ultimate revenge over Vegas" podcast
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