The good news for Edmonton Oilers fans is that your team isn't the only favorite who is currently behind in their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoff series. The Vegas Golden Knights, allegedly playing an easier Wildcard opponent after winning the Pacific Division, are down 2-1 as well. Both teams will be looking to return to home ice with a series split at two games a piece, and both are having similar struggles in net.
Knights goaltender Carter Hart posted an abysmal .667 save percentage on Friday evening, in spite of only facing twelve shots. Connor Ingram, the Oilers' starter who took over the net from the struggling Tristan Jarry in the late season stretch, faced significantly more shots (38), but he simply didn't stop enough of them to keep his team competitive. He had goal support, as the Oilers scored 4 goals once again, but leaky defense and mistakes meant that wasn't enough offense.
Ingram has to improve
Very few playoff series end in 4-0 sweeps, and the Oilers and Ducks have been fairly evenly matched all season, but this is far from the most imposing opponent Connor McDavid and company will face if they manage a deep playoff drive. The team needs to limit its mistakes, take fewer penalties, and capitalize in the way that the Ducks have been doing over the past couple games.
Although there is plenty of blame to throw around, simply put; Ingram also needs to be better. Simply looking at the stats, he's the worst goaltender in the playoffs. His Goals Against Average (GAA) is 4.70, which is atrocious. He's faced 93 shots, but before Friday night's game, that number was 54 and the GAA was only slightly better. To the eye, he's giving up significant rebounds that, either through bad luck or Anaheim's design, are regularly landing on Duck sticks and then in the Oilers' net.
It also seems that Anaheim has scouted a weakness in Ingram's game, with several goals being scored over his glove hand shoulder. Ingram is surely studying video himself, and it may be that a small positional correction can limit Anaheim's scoring through that method, but it needs to get better soon.
Lukas Dostal isn't unbeatable
Ducks starter Lukas Dostal is having almost as many problems on his side of the ice, but his teammates are giving him the goal support to hide those deficiencies. Dostal is the third worst goalie in the playoffs, with a GAA of 4.05. In virtually any other scenario, there would be discussions around the Ducks changing out their starting goaltender as they looked up at a 0-3 series deficit.
The Oilers didn't add offensive players at the trade deadline. They had, it seemed, decided that their issues lay in their own zone, and that shoring up those deficiencies would turn this relatively pedestrian 2025-26 version of the club into the contender it has been for the past few years. The team's defense has been awful, and combined with the struggles of some of its biggest stars, the series could easily go Anaheim's way.
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