EDMONTON – Connor Brown likes to remind anyone who’ll listen that the Edmonton Oilers have a lot of dogs.
It’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the greyhound and the German Shepherd, who are the alphas. They’re normally the leaders of the pack whether they attack with blazing speed or brute force.
But those big dogs can’t always be the prized frontrunners. Sometimes, it’s up to the other breeds of adopted mixes, runts and old-timers to get the job done.
“You can go through every line, and we’ve got guys who want the puck in big moments and guys that aren’t shying away from any type of limelight or any type of adversity,” Brown said. “That’s huge.
“When you see the guy next to you hungry and wants to be the difference, it carries through and gives each other confidence. We’ve got a unique club.”
That’s exactly what was on display as the Oilers eliminated the Los Angeles Kings, culminating with a 6-4 win in Game 6 on Thursday.
It wasn’t the work of the undeniable big dogs McDavid and Draisaitl that allowed the Oilers to close out the series. They had three total points over the last two contests, an assist per outing for McDavid and a lone helper in Game 5 for Draisaitl. As a result, Draisaitl’s 19-game playoff point streak against the Kings was snapped on Thursday.
Instead, it was all the hounding efforts of so many others that pushed the Oilers over the top at the most critical time of this matchup. The Oilers moved to 6-0 in the closeout attempts in games 5 and 6 of series in the McDavid and Draisaitl era thanks to a win that had not much to do with those two.
“We had guys step up,” McDavid said. “That’s what good teams do.”
That provides optimism that a long playoff run won’t go to the dogs.
“We have a huge advantage on our team that we can play any line against any line,” Brown said. “That’s going to be big for us.”
The Oilers lost the first two games against the Kings. They looked, as McDavid put it, “a step behind.”
Brown said it was the collective effort of the group dominating the Kings in overtime of Game 4 that turned the tide.
“It’s a series that we earned,” defenceman Darnell Nurse said, “and we had to earn every inch of it.”
Rather than McDavid and Draisaitl leading the charge, it was likes of Mattias Janmark and Viktor Arvidsson in Game 5. Arvidsson, the former King, described his new line with Janmark and Vasily Podkolzin as a “bunch of workers.” They came through with a pivotal third-period goal that stood as the winner when Arvidsson shot for a rebound to Janmark, who finished the play.
In Game 6, it was other bottom-six trio of Brown, Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic whose collective bark scared off the Kings. Each member of the line scored. It was Brown who paced that group with three points and sealed the win with a last-second, empty-net goal. He owned a 76 expected goals percentage at five-on-five on Thursday, per Natural Stat Trick, tops on the team.
“I thought Brownie has his best game as an Oiler,” McDavid said. “He was fantastic.”
Connor Brown celebrates his first period goal (Leila Devlin/Getty Images)
The solid performances didn’t stop there in the series. Nurse rebounded from a shaky start to Game 6 to post a goal and an assist. John Klingberg had five solid games after being inserted into the lineup. Corey Perry, the 39-year-old golden-ager, kept up with McDavid and Draisaitl at times. The list goes on.
“Our depth guys have stepped up in the playoffs when we’ve really needed them the most,” coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Calvin Pickard deserves special mention.
He was once an aging pooch who just couldn’t seem to find a home after being ditched by the Vegas – the Edmonton’s next opponent – in 2017 until he landed with the Oilers organization nearly three years ago.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” Pickard said.
Pickard played every minute the rest of the series after being called upon partway through the third period of Game 2. He won all four of his starts, all while trailing at some point.
“He’s overcome so much in his career,” Brown said. “He’s been down and out. It gives you confidence in those big moments.”
Pickard was solid from the midway point of Game 4 onward and made several timely saves. His biggest on Thursday came in the second period when he stopped former Oiler Warren Foegele on a breakaway and Phillip Danault on a two-on-one. He battled, as he’s wont to do, particularly as the Kings swarmed his crease in the third.
“I just had to keep (the puck) out at the right times,” Pickard said.
“Picks gave us a chance every night,” McDavid said.
That neither Pickard nor Brown played in last year’s first-round series against the Kings and played such an integral part at the end of this matchup is notable.
Pickard backed up Skinner. Brown had an inconsistent season after missing almost the entire previous campaign with a knee injury and was scratched in favour of Dylan Holloway. He got into the lineup for six of the seven games in Round 2 against the Canucks only because Henrique was too hurt to play.
“It shows the depth,” Nurse said. “Those are two guys (that have) high character, high work ethic. They come in each and every day and push our group. In big moments, the two of them stepped up for us.”
“It’s nice, as a coach, having a lot of weapons at my disposal,” Knoblauch said.
Brown and company helped turned this series around in other ways, too.
Sure, McDavid, Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard were instrumental in those jaw-dropping comebacks in Game 3 and 4, which McDavid called “two of the gutsier wins that I’ve been a part of here in Edmonton.”
But the work of the penalty kill over the last three games can’t be forgotten.
The Oilers stopped the Kings from scoring on power plays on just five of 12 attempts through the first half of the series. They Oilers were successful on seven of their last eight kills.
“We took it pretty personal,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of pride in that penalty kill room, and we were getting embarrassed the first couple of games.”
Add it all up and these Oilers have some serious bite. All of them.
Just wait until the top dogs get going again, which is all but inevitable. Limited production from McDavid and Draisaitl at this time of year is an anomaly considering they are two of the most proficient offensive players in NHL playoff history.
Oh, and McDavid and Draisaitl still managed 11 and 10 points in the series. That leaves them first and second in playoff scoring.
“It’s a heavy load on their shoulders to always be relying on them,” Knoblauch said. “It’s nice that other guys contribute.”
That it is.
What the end of this Kings series affirmed is the Oilers have a pound’s worth of mutts ready to step up. That’s essential, especially since Knoblauch said a return to the lineup for top-pairing defenceman Mattias Ekholm (lower body) is doubtful in Round 2 against the Golden Knights – the Pacific Division’s top seed.
“It’s a team game,” Brown said. “The deeper you go in the playoffs, the more it becomes a team game.
“Our depth guys were able to produce when needed. We’re going to need a lot more of that.”
(Top photo of Connor Brown: Leila Devlin/Getty Images)