The Day After: Schmiddy keeps the red hot Oilers rolling
By Zach Laing
3 years agoWelcome to the day after where we dive into what’s happening with the Oilers the day after a game.
The best move of Ken Holland’s offseason? Letting Mike Smith walk in free agency and signing Schmiddy after nobody else would come to Edmonton.
All jokes aside, the Oilers are on an absolute tear and kept rolling last night with a massive 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks. In net, Smith got the job done and then some shutting the door for 60 minutes, He made every save he needed to whether it was an acrobatic sprawling shot, or shutting the door on a breakaway.
“I’m just taking it one game at a time, to be honest,” said Smith after the game. “I feel like we’ve done a lot of good things this year to put us in a good spot right now and I don’t want that to slide away because of goaltending.
“It’s a mission I’m on. Mikko played well while I was out and I think it’s just nice for him to get kind of a break and for me to get there and feel like I’m playing real well for the team.”
Whoever this Schmiddy is, he looks like a different player. One that maybe spent the summer thinking about the poor performance he had in the summer play-in series against Chicago. Whatever happened between then and now he looks to have dipped into the fountain of youth.
He’s started in seven games this year posting a 6-0 record with two shutouts and a league leading .944 save percentage. On top of it all, he’s posted a 7.61 goals saved above average rate. That kind of a save percentage isn’t going to last over the course of a year, but needless to say the Oilers will take it as much as they can.
Schmiddy has been a big reason why the Oilers have gone 9-2 in their last 11 games and have won six games in a row on the road for the first time since Dec. 1986-Jan. 1987..
And while he was rock solid in net, the Oilers played a tight game in front of him, even though there was some sloppy play in the second. Edmonton gave Vancouver more than their fair share to get back into the game handing them four powerplays including one to start the third frame. Instead, Edmonton’s special teams stepped up big.
“Special teams was the difference in the game, said Tippett. “Our PK did an excellent job, Schmiddy made some huge saves for us.
“We want to learn how to play whatever the score is, but ultimately when you’re in a tight game like that you have to do a lot of things right. The great thing about it is I hear our players talking about it on the bench.
“They’re the ones that are driving it right now. They’re talking about doing things right, they’re talking about getting pucks in deep. Our group has been pretty good. ”
Now, the Oilers have a chance to make a major move with a three game homestand against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The series kicks off Saturday night with a 5 p.m. puck drop, before games Monday and Wednesday night. Heading into the series, Edmonton is only four points back of the Leafs. Let’s see what happens.
Backhanders…
- Ethan Bear was back in a big way for the Oilers last night and looked about as solid as you could ask for from someone who hasn’t played in almost a month. While the underlying numbers wouldn’t show it, Bear looked solid in his return and his panic-less puck play was definitely missed. Edmonton dressed seven defenceman last night to help ease him back into the lineup, something that he said he was appreciative after the game.
- Caleb Jones had a great showing again last night, his second game in nearly a month. Both he and Bouchard posted an identical 8-4 CF-CA at 5×5 and the 66.67 CF% rate they shared led the league. While they didn’t play a ton, they did a great job when asked to hit the ice.
- Despite the Oilers dressing seven defenceman last night, Darnell Nurse played a whopping 27:36. Last Saturday he played a league-wide season-high 32:52 when Slater Koekkoek went down with a busted collarbone and Nurse doesn’t appear to be slowing down. He’s scoring points at the best clip of his career and his underlying numbers have been strong this year.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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