Edmonton Oilers have a chance to prove to the NHL that there is more to the team than Connor McDavid.
EDMONTON -- The end of the regular season is in sight. The glean of Lord Stanley's Cup is on the horizon.
There are four games that stand between the Edmonton Oilers and the playoffs.
Tonight is the first of those games, where the Oilers can enact sweet revenge against the team that embarrassed them 8-1 to kick off the season. The Vancouver Canucks are in town to play their final match up against the Oilers for the 2023-24 season.
A Connor McDavid-less Edmonton Oilers will face the Vancouver Canucks.Once again the Oilers will be without Connor McDavid. He is still day-to-day with a lower body injury. Now is the time for other players to rise to the occasion and prove that there is more to this team than number 97. Two players specifically can help the team rise about the "one-player" narrative that has followed this team around for years.
Leon Draisaitl is the defacto offensive force with McDavid not in the lineup. Any other team would be over the moon to have him as their number one guy. With 104 points in 78 games - he's having one of the quietest 40-goal, 100-point seasons of recent memory. At this stage of his career it's practically muscle memory for him to produce at this level.
In between the pipes, Stuart Skinner has been lights out since the Oilers brought in Kris Knoblauch to be the team's head coach. He will start his 57th game of the year tonight. Skinner has 35 wins and he will look to make it 36 tonight.
Skinner is an incredibly level-headed individual who has taken great strides this season to help manage all of the facets of being an NHL goaltender.
With these players rising to the occasion for the remainder of the season, the Oilers can prove that they are more than Connor McDavid. They can prove that they are a team worthy of getting a shot at the Stanley Cup.
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