There was a great post making the rounds on Twitter, showing what the Oilers roster looked like the last time that McDavid and Draisaitl both were not available to play.
Those were some fun years....
Edmonton had started to right the ship after a brutal return from the 4 Nations Break before Draisaitl went down with an injury and McDavid getting hurt in the following game. Depth scoring has been an issue for the Oilers all season and fans were reasonably concerned with how the roster was going to look without their top 2 players.
To their credit, led by RNH with a hat-trick, Jeff Skinner continuing to produce, and Henrique notching his first since March 1st, the Oilers held on to beat the Seattle Kraken in a spirited affair. You never want to see your best players go down but if McDavid and Draisaitl can get some much needed rest over the next week and force the rest of the team into a mentality where they need to produce, this could end up being the best thing for the Edmonton Oilers this season.
Let's zero in on RNH for a moment. The Nuge quite simply has not been good enough for most of this season, despite spending most of his time on McDavid's line and the top unit powerplay. The game on March 16th against the Rangers was his first 3 point game of the season and he now has three different 3 point games in his last 4 games, going 4-5-9. The great thing about those games is two of those 3 point games came while playing on the third line, with the last one being the same linemates but elevated to playing top line minutes.
Edmonton has struggled over the past few seasons to have a third line capable of providing strong offense. They managed to achieve that in bursts last post season with the Janmark-Henrique-Brown line. So far, letting RNH take advantage of some lesser competition has paid huge dividends for this team.
One of the great moments from that game was at the end when the camera cut to the Oilers players walking back and standing there was McDavid, Draisaitl, Trent Frederic, and Evander Kane all waiting to congratulate their team. Scoring 5 goals and knowing all four of those players should be back once the post-season begins is fantastic news for the organization and the fan base.
Once everyone is healthy, this is the post-season starting lineup I would run
Skinner-McDavid-Hyman
Frederic-Draisaitl-Brown
Podkolzin-RNH-Arvidsson
Kane-Henrique-Perry
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Kulak-Emberson
Skinner
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The one big glaring concern in that Seattle game... surprise surprise... was the goaltending. Skinner finished the night with an 0.875SV% with all of the focus being on the goal he allowed immediately after the team scored the empty netter. It was a powerplay goal and the rest of the team was slow to get back but that is exactly the kind of goal we have seen Skinner allow far too often this year; giving up a goal immediately after the team gains some traction.
I am not convinced as of today that Stuart Skinner will be the starting netminder for Game 1 of the playoffs. I expect we will see Pickard continue to get a healthy dose of starts over the coming weeks and if he continues to play better than Skinner, he might earn himself Game 1.
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Quick note on the LA Kings who will almost surely be the Oilers Round 1 opponent again this season. These LA Kings certainly look far better than any of the three prior teams that Edmonton has faced off against over the past three years. No Oilers fan should be relishing the chance to play them in Round 1 - it's going to be a tough series.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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