Oilers goalkeepers sh*t in the playoffs (again)

Dose
Crédit:

28-17: that’s the cumulative score from the six games of the Stanley Cup Final. In favor of the new Floridian champions!

That means the Panthers scored an average of almost five goals per game in the Grand Final. Against the best team in the other conference..

I mean, even the Maple Leafs did (slightly) better than the Oilers against the Panthers: 26-17. And they’ll have made it to the ultimate Game 7!

Were the Maple Leafs – whose core will soon undergo a metamorphosis – the second-best team in the 2025 series? The question arises.

Back to the Oilers..

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl finished the playoffs with 33 points each, 10 more than the Panthers’ top forwards: Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe. This is McDavid’s second straight spring at the top of the playoff scoring charts, but without a ring..

Why didn’t the Oilers go for the two wins that separated them from a Stanley Cup? Zach Hyman injury… lack of depth and grit up front… quality deficit on the blue line… but above all, atrocious performance from the team’s two goaltenders.

You can’t expect to win the Cup with a #1 goalie who finishes the playoffs with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage. Especially not when your second goalie finished his spring with a 2.85 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage.

Let’s face it: both Oilers goalies performed abysmally during the 2025 series.

The problem is, it’s been that way for three years. The evidence is staring us in the face (a bit like the Montreal players’ lack of grit against the Capitals).

(Credit: NHL.com)

Skinner in the playoffs is like Connor Hellebuyck… without the excellent regular-season performance though!

I put myself in Connor McDavid’s, Leon Draisaitl’s or Corey Perry’s shoes; I can’t believe that somewhere inside me, I’m not thinking that with a real #1 goalie, I’d have had a real chance of playing a game #7 this weekend, and then drinking champagne in the Stanley Cup.

What can we say about Stan Bowman, VP hockey and general manager of the Oilers, who did nothing to improve a huge weakness that was very apparent last summer?

Linus Ullmark, Adin Hill, Jake Allen, Frederik Andersen, Anton Forsberg, Ilya Samsonov..

The list of unrestricted autonomous goaltenders is thin once again this year. But if they want to win the Stanley Cup, the Oilers will have to find a new, quality #1 goaltender. Will they?

In closing, I don’t want to diminish the Panthers’ incredible achievement, both this year and last. It’s just that if they’d swapped goalies, I’m far from convinced they’d have celebrated a second consecutive title…

Overtime

– It’s going to be expensive!

– Matt Rempe stays in New York.

– Proof that you can take it or leave it with the trials and tribulations of the combine.

– Brad Marchand came close to winning the Conn-Smythe trophy.

– The Jones family, a family of champions.