Unsung Heroes: Skinner and Desharnais lead Oilers to gutty, gritty win in Game 4

LOS ANGELES — The two people they talk about more than anyone else on this Edmonton Oilers team are, well, so obvious that we don’t even need to name them. They carry the team so many nights, filling the highlight shows and All-Star ballots —until a gritty Game 4 in L.A.— on the muddiest of playoff tracks.

Then it’s someone else’s turn. Someone else’s job, on a night where the Kings were the better, more desperate team, limiting Edmonton to a franchise playoff-low 13 shots on goal, while L.A. peppered Edmonton’s goal with 33.

Now, after a gutty, gritty, 1-0 win, the two names come from the other end of the roster. Two guys who just four seasons ago were grinding it out together with the Wichita Thunder of the East Coast Hockey League, the thought of an NHL playoff game at Crypto.com Arena not just a distant dream, but more like a prayer.

They are Stuart Skinner and Vincent Desharnais, two old friends who found a way to become the story Sunday night in L.A., where the Oilers grabbed this series by the throat, heading home now with a 3-1 lead and a chance to clinch Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Skinner after his first career playoff shutout. “It’s pretty special for us to both be on the same team, six years later, after being in the dark days, in the dungeon. Going through that together is extremely helpful for us as friends and teammates. We wouldn’t change a thing.”

Skinner stopped everything he should have, plus a few more that the Kings likely thought he wouldn’t. Meanwhile, big Desharnais found himself elevated into an important role in a game that — it was clear early on — was going to have to be won with more crash than dash, more shot-blocking than goal-scoring.

“You can tell on the bench, after you have a couple periods of (this hockey),” said Mattias Ekholm. “We’re playing good defence, and guys kind of galvanize around that. They’re like, ‘We’re just going to have one of those nights tonight.’ On the back end, that’s how we want to play the game.”

And so the team that scored 17 goals in the opening three games of this series, scored just once in Game 4 and won in regulation.

“Having in our portfolio that we can play a lot of different games is going to be huge here coming down the stretch,” Ekholm said. “We showed tonight, we’re not afraid of them.”

We’ve written for a few years here, the Oilers would never win until they ceased being that team that only won games that Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl won for them. On some nights that means alternative scorers, on others it means guys like Cody Ceci lead the defence in ice time, and the Bottom Six are perfect defensively.

That pair of superstars will win you plenty, no question. But it’s nights like this one where that theory bears out — where the zero on the scoreboard means so much more than the one.

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“If you listen to any of Kenny’s (GM Holland) pressers, the biggest growth on this team was going to be from within,” said Zach Hyman. “It’s going to be from young guys taking the next step and maturing. Becoming better players.

“(Warren) Foegele had his first 20-goal season. (Ryan McLeod) is taking a step. (Dylan Holloway) came up and scored two big goals. Stu has been unbelievable, grabbing the reins in net and running with it.

“And Vinny has just been steady Eddie back there. On the PK he’s the first one over the boards. At the end of the game, he’s right there with (Ekholm)… That’s the key: the growth from within.”

Desharnais, 27 and only 114 games into his NHL career, is like Joel Edmundson, but without all those years of wear and tear. And Skinner? Who has a clue how good he may be — a Calder Trophy finalist as a rookie last spring, and infinitely better just one year later.

“It’s the calmness, the demeanour,” Ekholm said of the pair. “You can see it in their eyes, but you can also see it in the way they act. They’ve been through it. It’s experience. Not a ton of experience — it’s just a year — but in the beginning of your career, it makes wonders for you.

“You can tell. It’s almost like they’re just an inch taller. Chest out. I think Vinny has been one of — if not the — best Dmen we’ve had so far the series.”

The game’s lone goal was a powerplay bullet by Evan Bouchard — assisted by Draisaitl and McDavid — special teams being the glaring element that separates these two annual foes.

In this series, Edmonton’s powerplay is eight-for-15, while the Oilers penalty kill has been perfect, stuffing the Kings on 11 attempts. They’ve each scored 10 goals at even strength — the extra eight goals via Edmonton’s dominance on specials is winning this series for them.

Over the past three playoff meetings, Edmonton has 24 goals on 50 powerplay opportunities versus L.A. They’ve eviscerated the Los Angeles penalty killers, and in a game where each team had just one powerplay, the Oilers even won the special teams battle in Game 4: one goal to none.

This is not a game these Oilers traditionally find a way to win.

“No, no,” Hyman said. “We always win scoring goals, right? We scored one goal, and Stu played unbelievable. We shut ‘er down, and then we’re going into the third period with a 1-0 lead, and the sign of a mature team is just hold to on to it. Do whatever you need to do to hold on to it.

“It’s just massive. The difference between 2-2 and being up 3-1 is just huge.”

What’s the recipe for a lengthy playoff run?

“Your goalie has to steal you a game. Your penalty kill steals you a game. Your powerplay steals you a game,” Hyman listed off. “If you have different ways to win, you win more games. That’s the reality. The margins in the playoffs are so tight.

“Every year I’ve been here it’s felt like we could have done more, and now we have more options on how to win a game.”

In a game where the puck dropped at around 10:45 p.m. ET, most people will wake up, see a 1-0 score, and say, “Glad I didn’t stay up to watch that.”

But in this Oilers dressing room, this was a Rembrandt, an Oscar winner and a Pulitzer Prize game — all wrapped into one.

“These are the types of games you have to win in the playoffs. It’s not going to be 6-5, 7-4 every night,” said greasy winger Corey Perry. “You’re going have to dig deep, play defence and grind one out.

“We found a way tonight.”

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