Edmonton Oilers: Koskinen Impresses Early In Season

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 5-1 on Thursday night.

The win keeps the teams’ undefeated record intact for now, going into the next matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers are expected to let Mikko Koskinen start again, following his 27 save performance, posting a .964sv% and allowing one goal against the Coyotes.

With Mike Smith being sidelined for about a week, the Oilers are leaning on Koskinen to help the team continue the hot start to the season, and so far he’s been surprisingly good. Relieving Smith in the win against the Ducks, and keeping the Oilers in it for the early part of the game against Arizona, Koskinen is proving to skeptics that he came ready to play, and has improved his game immensely between the pipes.

Everyone knew that the Oilers top guys were coming into this season ready to push for a Stanley Cup, and they’re playing like it. There are some obvious weak spots that need to be addressed, but the weak spot that a lot of people expected was behind Mike Smith. Koskinen has done nothing but impress, and for the first time in a few seasons, there is belief that he can play at any time he is asked, and put out a good performance.

The one issue that still stands with Koskinen, is the lack of confidence in front of him. The Oilers did not play their best hockey in front of him against the Coyotes to start the game out, and it’s safe to say they were outplayed for a majority of the first half of the game. But, as time went on and Koskinen stayed calm in the crease, making clutch save after clutch save, the team began to play for him, and the goals just started rolling in.

The real competition begins Friday night in Vegas, who hasn’t started off too strong, but are always a top contender in the league. The toughness they bring nightly, and the amount of shots they take on a nightly basis will give Koskinen his next real test to see if he’s just on a hot stretch, or if he’s for real. The Oilers already give up a lot of shots per game as it is, so hopefully the hot start of Koskinen proves to be here for the long run, and the Oilers can clean up their play in the defensive zone.