WATCH: Oilers’ Philip Broberg scores first playoff goal

Philip Broberg could not have picked a better time to get off the schneid as he found twine early in the second period.

After Evander Kane won the faceoff, Adam Henrique gained control of the puck and decided to pass it over to Broberg. He opted to let it rip from near the blue line, and it beat Jake Oettinger cleanly to give the Oilers a 3-0 lead a little over five minutes into the middle frame.

Not only is this his first career playoff goal in his 12th career playoff game, but this is also his first goal since April 9th, 2023 when he got in off the rush and tucked it in past James Reimer of the Sharks. He has been through the past few months, from getting demoted to the AHL to a trade request that never materialized, so to see him get rewarded with a big goal in a critical game is awesome.

While it was not exactly the nicest road he travelled to reach this point, Broberg is going to be part of Edmonton’s long-term plans, and they have a lot of faith in him. Kris Knoblauch’s gusty call to swap in the Swedish defenceman in place of Vincent Desharnais and that it has worked wonders shows that Broberg was more than ready to seize the moment and reward the team for not giving up on him.

After waiting patiently for his chance to crack the playoff lineup, a moment such as this will make it difficult for Knoblauch to consider swapping out Broberg now for someone else. I am sure many Oilers fans will be happy to see the former eighth-overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft finally get his chance to show what he can do on the big stage. Now that he has the monkey off his back and a boatload of confidence in his step, the stage could be set for him to break out.