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A closer look at Stuart Skinner’s ‘big mistake’ in Game 6.

Andy Devlin/NHLI/Getty

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, but it was probably a lot closer than the Oilers would have liked.

Although the game was back and forth with a solid effort from both teams on the ice, it would be a catastrophic mistake from Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner that would keep the Kings close late in the game. That mistake from Skinner was a routine clearing attempt that went horribly wrong and resulted in a goal for the Kings.

First let’s take a look at the play in real time:

This clearly looked like a horrific play on the part of Skinner, but thanks to one sharp-eyed observer watching on Saturday night we now know that it was nothing of the sort. 

Kevin Woodley, who deserves all the credit in the world for noticing this, was quick to notice upon zooming in on the play that Skinner’s stick had actually broken on the play.

Here’s another look in slow motion:

Another sharp-eyed observer in Derek Schlereth noticed that the stick had actually been broken by a Kings player, Adrian Kempe to be exact.

So while Stuart Skinner was catching plenty of heat for his ‘big mistake’ it turns out it wasn’t a mistake at all, but just a very unfortunate series of events.

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Rumblings of a huge return for the Kings in Game 4.

Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune

The Los Angeles Kings have already taken a 2-1 lead over the Edmonton Oilers in their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series, and now to make matters even worse for the Oilers it sounds like reinforcements may be on the way for the Kings.

Although there has been no official announcement regarding his status at this time, signs are pointing to the fact that Kings forward Kevin Fiala may be set to make his return from a lower body injury that has kept him out of the series thus far.

Fiala was on the ice for the Kings’ morning skate on Sunday and was in a red no-contact jersey, but indications are he will skate in warmups before tonight’s Game 4. That likely means that Fiala is a gametime decision, but either way this is a sign that he is extremely close to a return to the lineup.

Fiala was an effective offensive player for the Kings during the regular season, appearing in 69 games and recording 23 goals while adding 49 assists for a total of 72 points over that stretch of play. His return would be a big boost to the Kings offense, and would come at a time when the Oilers desperately need a win to even up the series again.

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Jay Woodcroft sounds off the NHL’s controversial goal call.

The Stanley Cup playoffs were marred by controversy on Friday night, and although the final decision has already been made and there will be no changing the past now, we probably aren’t done hearing about this particular call for a while.

On Friday night, the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings clashed in Game 3 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series and the game would end in controversy after an overtime goal courtesy of the Kings’ Trevor Moore. There was no doubt that Moore scored the goal, but several slow motion and close up replays appear to indicate that a stoppage in play had been warranted prior to him scoring the goal.

The end result though was the NHL ruling this a good goal, something the Oilers obviously do not agree with. Following the conclusion of the game, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft was asked to share his thoughts on the controversy and he made it pretty clear how he felt. Although not one to ever stir the pot, Woodcroft made it clear that he felt the league had made the wrong call.

“It’s a play where the greatest player in the world is two feet away,” said Woodcroft. “His arm comes straight up in the air because he knows it hit the stick, otherwise he wouldn’t put his arm up in the air… he would keep playing.”

Woodcroft also pointed to the slow motion replays that appear to indicate that there was indeed a high stick that should have stopped the play.

“It appears to me in the video that the puck is going straight up in a trajectory and deadens, in the end I’m going to go with the greatest player in the world who was three feet away,” concluded Woodcroft

The player being referenced here is of course Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and judging by Woodcroft’s comments it would stand to reason that McDavid himself, and likely the rest of the Oilers lock room. isn’t too happy about this call either. 

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Major officiating controversy in the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday night.

The National Hockey League has a major controversy on their hands stemming from a call made during Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers, and it is one that could potentially play a pivotal role in determining who advances in the first round of that series.

On Friday night, the Oilers and Kings, who were already tied up at 1-1 on the series coming into this one, battled it out in a hard fought game that needed overtime to determine a winner. The game winning goal would come on a Kings powerplay just minutes into the overtime frame when Trevor Moore managed to beat Jeff Skinner to give the Kings a 2-1 lead in the series.

Here’s a replay of Moore’s game winning goal:

If you’re thinking that Moore’s goal doesn’t look all that controversial you would be right, there’s no doubt that the puck crossed the goal line and there’s not much of a case to be made for goaltender interference. The issue isn’t with the goal itself but with a high stick that occurred only moments before, one that the Oilers feel should have resulted in a stoppage of play.

The alleged high stick in question came from the Kings’ Gabe Vilardi, and here’s a look at the replay as shown on the broadcast last night:

The NHL’s situation room in Toronto would take several looks at the play but, according to several NHL insiders, the league would determine that there were no camera angles that showed Vilardi had conclusively touched the puck.

The league’s ruling has been called into question with some arguing that the replay does show conclusive contact between stick and puck, arguing that the momentum of both shifted at the moment of contact. When viewed in slow motion, Vilardi does appear to look up after the puck makes contact with his stick. If the player felt that contact and reacted by looking up, it would lend credence to the argument that contact was made.

A close up of this same replay also appears to show the shift in momentum from both puck and stick.

Whether the NHL got this one right or wrong won’t change anything now for either the Kings or the Oilers, but it will certainly be discussed at great length should the Kings emerge victorious in this series.

Did the NHL make the right call on Friday night? Or could this prove to be a series defining mistake from the league?

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Full schedule announced for Oilers vs. Kings in Round 1.

The Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers are about to get very familiar with one another, with the two teams set to clash in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

As is always the case when it comes to the playoffs, fans are eagerly anticipating this meeting between the two squads and on Saturday we received more details regarding when the teams can be expected to play.

The series will kick off this coming Monday when the Kings travel to Edmonton to face the Oilers who have earned home-ice advantage in this series. The Kings will play in Edmonton again on Wednesday before the Oilers travel out to Los Angeles for the third game of the series on Friday. That will then lead into the second game in Los Angeles on the following Sunday, and following that we get into the theoretical games.

Should the game move beyond the 4 mandatory games, we will see a Game 5 on the following Tuesday, Game 6 on the following Saturday for quite a wide gap between 5 and 6, and a Game 7 on the following Monday should it be needed.

Here is a full breakdown:

Monday, April 1710:00pm EST@ Edmonton 

Wednesday, April 1910:00pm EST@ Edmonton

Friday, April 2110:00pm EST@ LA

Sunday, April 239:00pm EST@ LA

Tuesday, April 25TBD@ Edmonton

Saturday, April 29TBD@ LA

Monday, May 1TBD@ Edmonton

The NHL has listed the start times for these games in ET, so do keep that in mind before tuning in to any of these games.

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Logan Couture praises the Oilers… but dunks on the Coyotes.

Robert Edwards/USA TODAY Sports

The Edmonton Oilers and their staff earned high praise from the captain of an opposing team in the National Hockey League over the weekend, but that praise came at the expense of another NHL franchise.

The Oilers played the San Jose Sharks on Saturday and during the game, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft pulled off a move that surprised many. Woodcraft made the decision to inject veteran defenseman Jason Demers into the lineup, this in spite of the fact that Demers had not played an NHL game all season.

The move was designed to give Demers his 700th career game in the National Hockey League, and Woodcroft made it happen against one of his former teams in the San Jose Sharks no less so he could celebrate with some former teammates.

Following the game, Sharks captain Logan Couture was asked about the classy gesture from Woodcraft and he sang the praises of the Oilers coach for caring about his players. Couture though also took the opportunity to rip into the team that had put Demers in a position where he could have potentially never had the chance to play his 700th game at all, the Arizona Coyotes.

“Just the name brings a smile to a few guys here that were fortunate to play with JD,” said Couture on Saturday. “Character. Just a great glue guy in the locker room. Great sense of humor. He was a big part of a lot of those teams that we had.”

“Happy to see him get a chance to play 700 games. I talked to him after he was done in Arizona, and he has a little upset about the way that ended. I think they scratched him a few times near the end of the season at 699 when they were out of the playoffs. As a fellow player, that didn’t sit too well with a lot of guys.”

“But good on Edmonton and [Jay Woodcroft] to bring him up and play in this building for 700. I think that speaks about the type of person that Woody is over there behind the bench.”

It seems likely that Couture is far from the only player that took issue with how the Coyotes handled that situation behind the scenes, and that will be just one more knock against the Coyotes when it comes to potentially recruiting from the pool of free agent players in the future.

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Rod Brind’Amour’s son drawing interest from NHL teams.

Chip Alexander/Raleigh News & Observer

There may be a little trouble brewing on the horizon for the Edmonton Oilers.

National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman has revealed that Skyler Brind’Amour. the son of Carolina Hurricanes head coach and former NHL player Rod Brind’Amour, is currently drawing interest from teams around the league. Skyler is fresh off of winning the NCAA’s Frozen Four as a member of the Quinnipiac University Bobcat’s, and no doubt that has played a major role in how he is being viewed by team’s around the league.

“One other thing I wanna mention about Quinnipiac is they’ve got some players.” stated Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “Skyler Brind’Amour… Rod’s son.”

Skyler has already been drafted into the NHL and his rights are currently controlled by the Edmonton Oilers who selected him in the 6th round (177th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, but it sounds like there may be no guarantee he will end up in Edmonton.

“The Oilers have to make a decision,” revealed Friedman. “The thing they like best about him is he’s a Brind’Amour.”

The Oilers aren’t the only ones who have to make a decision however, with Brind’Amour having the option to go to free agency later in the year if he chooses to do so. Although there hasn’t been an indication that he plans to go down this route, Friedman cautions that there may be other teams in the NHL looking to take advantage of that fact.

“Brind’Amour is gonna have to decide if Edmonton is the best path for him, because like I’ve said before the vultures are circling,” said Friedman. “The way he’s played I think there’s gonna be some teams saying ‘If you go to free agency we’re interested.'”

That leaves the Oilers in something of an unenviable position, one where Skyler Brind’Amour will wield significant negotiating power for a player that has yet to play in an NHL game. Only time will tell if his first NHL game will come as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, or some other rival team in the league.

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Connor McDavid becomes the 6th player to record 150 points in a single season.

Andy Devlin/Getty Images

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is a truly special player, and on Saturday he proved that once again when he joined a truly elite group of players in the National Hockey League history books.

On a Saturday where every single team in the NHL was in action, McDavid became only the 6th player in NHL history to record 150 points in a single season. McDavid would accomplish the feat in the first period of a game between the Oilers and the San Jose Sharks when he picked up a rebound in front of a wide open Sharks net. Although it was a major milestone, it may have also been the easiest goal of the season for McDavid.

McDavid now joins NHL legends Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Bernie Nicholls and Phil Esposito as the only players to have ever broken the 150 points plateau in a single season.

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3 Oilers recognized by the NHL in March.

Richard Ulreich/CSM/Zuma

The Edmonton Oilers had a very strong showing in the month of March and, although the Oilers’ focus will remain on the Stanley Cup playoffs ahead, a number of their players have been recognized for their exceptional performances.

On Saturday, the National Hockey League announced it’s 3 stars for the month of March and two of Edmonton’s top stars made that very short list. Both forward Leon Draisaitl and Oilers captain Connor McDavid were recognized by the league, and they claimed the top two spots on the list on top of it, with the Arizona Coyotes’ Clayton Keller earning the third star in spite of his team’s struggles.

In the case of McDavid, his dominant point production of 11 goals and 18 assists for a whopping 29 points over just 15 games gave him the edge over his teammate, earning him his third “first star” of the 2022-23 regular season so far.

Draisaitl was right behind his teammate in terms of production with 11 goals of his own, albeit only 17 assists, giving him a total of 28 points and falling just 1 shy of his Oilers counterpart.

The pair are the first pair to earn the first and second star in the same month in two consecutive seasons since Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito did it back in the 70s, and that is some legendary company to be keeping.

McDavid and Draisaitl weren’t the only Oilers recognized on Saturday though, with goaltender Stuart Skinner also receiving some love from the league. Skinner appeared in 12 games for the Oilers recording a 2.83 goals against average, a .908 save percentage and earned 10 wins in the process. That was enough to earn him rookie of the month honors from the NHL, edging out forward Matias Maccelli (Coyotes) forward JJ Peterka (Sabres), forward Wyatt Johnson (Stars), forward Luke Evangelista (Predators) and forward Pavel Dorofeyev (Golden Knights) to do so.