Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers picked up a much needed win last night against the Kings to bring the series deficit down to one, but despite the 7-4 win, they still don't look convincing at all.
The former Stanley Cup finalists found themselves 2-0 down in the series against bitter rivals Los Angeles as they took game three to Rogers Place, desperate for a home win. With Knoblauch benching ice cold Stuart Skinner for Calvin Pickard, goaltending was still a massive issue for the Oilers, and could be the deciding factor for the rest of the series.
Despite Pickard being on the winning end last night, his performance wasn't much better than Skinner’s two, and elite offense by McDavid and company really bailed him out. With four goals against, and some really badly given up goals, Pickard or Skinner just don't look right in between the posts for Edmonton, and will definitely put a massive dent in the Cup hopes.
But aside from the poor goaltending, the defense is a massive problem. With Evan Bouchard's more than obvious defensive issues, and the bottom four not playing up to standard, it looks as if the offense will once again have to carry the team to progress any further. With another couple of poor effort plays on the defensive side for Edmonton, they look shaky against teams like the Kings who have amazing depth, and lack the speed and energy a championship winning defense needs.
The win was massive for Oil country last night, but there is only so many times an elite offensive core can bail you out, and it looks like Draisaitl and McDavid are the only ones who have that championship desire again. The problems in the net and in the defensive zone are worrying for Edmonton, and is a delicate issue that cannot easily be fixed. With game four over the horizon, it's likely we will see another high scorer, but Edmonton need nothin more than to clean up at the back.
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