He just won’t say it yet.
During availability on Tuesday, Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft did not give up much on whether Mike Smith or Miko Koskinen will get the start.
Jay Woodcroft says he has decided who will start online tomorrow, but will not reveal this until the morning.
– Daniel Nugent-Bowman (@DNBsports) May 3, 2022
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The Oilers ranked the pair for most of the season, but gave the game a nod to Smith. In the end, he was largely to blame for the loss with a terrible hand in less than five minutes until the end of the match, which was a draw.
Even with the mistake Smith made, it’s hard to imagine Woodcroft not starting it in the second game. Smith was hot as he entered the playoffs, and frankly, he probably still gives the Oilers the best chance to take the lead on Wednesday night.
It won’t be all for him. The rest of the team also needs to be strengthened more seriously. The first game saw that the Oilers had a lot of nerves to start the game, but settled into the game in the second. The third was heavily dominated by the Kings last night, so Edmonton must find a way to take a deep breath.
They know the game system. They know where to be on the ice. They know their roles.
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But honestly, those worries put Oilers in an awkward spot, where we suddenly saw major damage over and over again last night that hadn’t happened in Woodcroft in a while.
In the playoffs in 2017, the Oilers played against the San Jose Sharks in the first game and faced a similar fate by falling on home ice. Edmonton is back to win this series in six games, so the location of the Oilers is not unprecedented in any sense of the word.
A strong start and a solid structure are what you will need in a match tomorrow.
Zack Laing is a news director and senior columnist for the Nation Network. It can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor contact by email at [email protected]
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