EDMONTON — We’ve reached the point in this series when we’re spending more time spent in the air and airports than inside hockey rinks, as we navigate back and forth the nearly 2,600 km between Edmonton and Anaheim — with a connector in Vancouver, just for the fun of it.
The Edmonton Oilers have packed their playoff experience to Anaheim for Game 6 (Wednesday, Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, 8 p.m. MT / 10 p.m. ET), with a welcome carry-on of confidence after finally getting a saddle on the thoroughbred Ducks in a 4-1 win Tuesday.
“You have to be grateful just getting to the next day. All we did is survive one more day,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said after Game 5, his team still trailing its Round 1 series, 3-2. “The pressure is still on us, but it’s a big game for them too.”
We’ll see both teams at Thursday’s morning skates, but for now, how about something new? A mid-series report card for select Oilers, on a scale of 1-5.
Let’s start with an easy one:
Podkolzin leads the Oilers in hits, has become their chief settler of scores, has a point per game and is plus-6. It’s crazy to think that Rick Tocchet never saw a player in this Muscovite when the two were in Vancouver. He fights, he scores, he hits … kind of like a young Rick Tocchet.
When Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch shuffled his lines in Game 5 and went to the nuclear option, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman had their best games of the playoffs with Podkolzin on their left side.
“He improves every line he goes to,” said Knoblauch, “whether it’s the first, second, third or fourth line. A lot of it is just being able to play simple. Like, he’s a good player.”
Frederic has played his way right into the press box, as a season in which he gave his new team a grand total of seven points in 74 games rolls into a pointless post-season. Frederic is not engaged enough as a fourth-line winger playing playoff hockey, and he’s not good enough to earn a spot anywhere above that.
At first we thought Colton Dach was dragging Frederic into the fight. Now, Dach fights alone as injuries at centre necessitate Curtis Lazar’s inclusion in the lineup. Frederic was healthy-scratched in Game 5.
A year ago, Hyman was leading the playoffs in hits when he dislocated his wrist and bowed out of the Western Conference Final. This year, he ranks seventh on his own team in hits, which tells me he’s playing hurt to some unknown degree.
We’re not positive what the injury was that cost Hyman the final five games of his regular season, but it’s left him unable to perform a vital part of his playoff mandate. His two goals have helped, but he’s not the same guy so far this spring.
There aren’t many gamers like this guy, who’s absolutely elite in both skill and will. He’s winning 56 per cent of his face-offs while leading the Oilers with nine points, coming off a knee injury that cost him the final month of the regular season.
Total respect for a player who’s proven it over and over, and is doing it again this spring: The bigger the moment, the better Draisaitl plays. He’s never missed a playoff game, playing all 101 post-season contests the Oilers have taken part in during his career, and he gives you 23 hard minutes, night in night out — with a huge dose of offensive production.
Kapanen’s former teams — the Leafs, Penguins and Blues — must be wondering why they didn’t get the same Kapanen that the Oilers have these days, a big-game producer who skates, hits and scores at his highest rate in the post-season. He’s tied for third in the NHL with four goals (all at even strength), he’s plus-7, and he’s fourth on the Oilers in hits. Tidy work for a guy who plays 17-and-a-half minutes per night.
Ingram has had two outstanding games and two average ones, not good enough come playoff time to be considered a genuine No. 1.
Playing behind Edmonton’s structure — or lack thereof, at times — and against an explosive Anaheim team, you’re going to see your share of grade-A’s. Ingram handled the load exceptionally well in Game 5, but he’ll need two more of those if Edmonton is going to see Round 2 again this season.
His first three games were sleepy, but then you see how he stirs the Oilers’ drink when his game is as focused as it was Tuesday night. He leads the Oilers with six assists (seven points), but they’ll need the “good Bouchard” from here on in.
Bouchard is too good a defenceman to bring his B-game to the rink in April and May. The Oilers hope they’ve seen the last of it.