Mattias Ekholm’s long-term absence from the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup was supposed to deal a major blow to the team’s Stanley Cup chances. But despite missing their steadiest defenceman for all 11 playoff games, the Oilers have advanced to the Western Conference final for the third time in the past four years.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters last week that he does not anticipate Ekholm, whose undisclosed injury also sidelined him for 10 of Edmonton’s final 11 regular-season games, being available for at least Games 1 and 2 against the Dallas Stars. The Oilers will not rush him back into action.
“To expect Ekholm, when he does join us, to be the Ekholm (who) we saw last year in the playoffs, I don’t think that’s going to be the case,” Knoblauch told reporters. “Fortunately, we’ve got a group of defencemen right now (who) are playing really well, and we’re not in dire need to insert him when he’s not ready.”
At the start of the playoffs, Knoblauch faced the challenge of replacing Ekholm’s hard, 22-plus minutes per game. He has spread them among Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak — all of whom have seen significant increases in their average ice time from the regular season. Bouchard is playing nearly three more minutes per game; his 26:24 of ice time is second most among skaters still participating in the post-season, behind only Stars defender Thomas Harley (26:37).
Even without Ekholm by his side, Bouchard has continued producing big numbers, helping the Oilers generate 61.9 per cent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 during his minutes. He has 12 points in 11 games (seven points at 5-on-5), bringing his career playoff total to 70 points in 64 games (1.09 per game). Only the legendary Bobby Orr (1.24 per game) has averaged more points among the nearly 450 defencemen who have played at least 50 career playoff games.
Bouchard and the Oilers got off to a rough start defensively, giving up 12 goals in two losses to the Los Angeles Kings. Bouchard was on the ice for five of the seven 5-on-5 goals scored by the Kings in Games 1 and 2 of the first round. But over the past nine games, the Oilers have outscored opponents 13-8 at 5-on-5 with Bouchard on the ice. That includes an 8-2 edge against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
Bouchard’s 29:47 of puck-possession time tops the NHL this post-season, and his 12 per cent true turnover rate ranks 13th out of 206 skaters who have played at least 100 minutes in the playoffs. In other words, Bouchard is managing the puck at an impressively high level. In the Oilers’ playoff-opening loss to the Kings on April 21, Bouchard committed two turnovers that led to goals against within 10 seconds of coughing up the puck. Since then, he has made one turnover in 10 games that ended up in the back of Edmonton’s net.
Knoblauch has partnered Bouchard with Kulak in the Oilers’ past two games, which has had the desired effect. The Oilers out-chanced the Golden Knights 14-9 and outscored them 1-0 at 5-on-5 to close out the series when that pair was on the ice. (Nurse has shifted to second-pairing duty alongside Troy Stecher.)
The pairing of Jake Walman and John Klingberg has been a revelation for the Oilers. Both players dealt with injuries after arriving in Edmonton, but since Klingberg joined up with Walman in the Oilers’ second playoff game, they have been rock solid. Edmonton has generated 64.9 per cent of the expected goals during the 100-plus minutes that Walman and Klingberg have shared the ice at 5-on-5. The Oilers have allowed just two goals in those minutes.
“I think the biggest thing was, if we had injuries, who’s going to step up?” Knoblauch told reporters about the Oilers’ approach to finding more depth for the playoffs. “The addition of Walman was a great one by (Oilers general manager) Stan (Bowman). Klingberg has been finding out that he’s been a great addition for our group playing the way he is.”
Edmonton’s defensive depth will be tested by Dallas, which will be able to dictate the matchups in the first two games without Ekholm. The Oilers are hyper-focused on containing Mikko Rantanen, who has put on an historic performance this post-season and leads the league with 19 points.
The rest of the Stars’ offence, which finished top five in actual (3.35) and expected (3.4) goals per game in the regular season, has yet to come alive. Dallas, which took the second-most inner-slot shots on net (7.73 per game) and scored the second-most goals from that area of the ice in the regular season, ranks 14th in inner-slot shots in the playoffs (5.38 per game). The Stars scored three inner-slot goals in six games against the Winnipeg Jets. Despite those issues, there are several Dallas skaters who deserve Edmonton’s attention.
Ekholm is confident his fellow defencemen will keep holding strong until he returns. “I think they’ve done really, really well — playing fast, playing simple, moving pucks,” Ekholm told reporters Monday after practicing with his teammates for the first time this post-season. “You look at our defensive numbers and how many goals we have let in (over) the last (several) games, it’s been pretty down, right? That’s a credit to the whole team, but I think our (defence) corps has been very sound. Obviously, there’s a lot of experience on that back end right now. I love the way they’re playing, and hopefully we keep it going.”
