EDMONTON – Good goaltending and good defense.
You need both to be successful in the playoffs, and the Edmonton Oilers got both in their final two games of their second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
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As a result, they have vanquished their Pacific Division rival. It only took the Oilers five games to do so, and they won all three of their road games in Vegas to clinch the series.
Many players contributed to the victory. Connor McDavid tied for the most blocked shots on his team (3). Adam Henrique also had three blocked shots while dominating in faceoffs with a whopping 70 percent success rate. Zach Hyman threw 13 hits in the victory.
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And Stuart Skinner pitched his second straight shutout. It was a true team effort on Wednesday night.
“I thought everyone dug in really hard,” McDavid said to the reporters present in Vegas after the game. “I thought Stu (Skinner) was great. (He) bailed us out whenever we had a breakdown. The (penalty) kill was great, defensively really, really good.”
Skinner now has a 5-1 record in series close-out games. He also has a .926 save percentage, a 1.97 goals against average, and one shutout.
Stuart Skinner has not allowed a goal in 127 minutes of hockey. 🧱 #StanleyCuppic.twitter.com/2dWQcjI6w0
— NHL (@NHL) May 15, 2025
Additionally, Skinner did not allow a goal for the final 127 minutes of the Vegas series. This is a tremendous comeback for the Oilers' starting netminder, who Calvin Pickard replaced in Game 3 of the Los Angeles Kings series.
McDavid had this to say about what Skinner's performance means to the team.
“Hopefully, it shuts a lot of people up that were talking about him,” McDavid said. “We’ve always had belief in him. He comes in, pitches two shutouts, can’t say enough good things.”
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