Edmonton's One-Two Punch: Smith and Koskinen
With Edmonton’s thrilling overtime win last night, “Mikko Koskinen becomes the first goaltender in #Oilers franchise history to start a season 5-0-0,” as confirmed on Twitter by Edmonton. Having a two-goalie system seems to be a new trend in the league that is becoming more and more popular as multiple teams are finding success with it. There were many doubters at the start of the season as to whether Koskinen would perform this year. I had friends tell me that they should just play Mike Smith every game. I bet those friends are eating their words now. Smith has performed remarkably well in his own right; but, the one-two punch of Smith and Koskinen are definitely solidifying Edmonton’s players confidence on a nightly basis. As soon as the players feet touch the ice, they know that their goalies will give them a shot at a win.
Koskinen’s success cannot be attributed 100% to himself. I’ve noticed that since Smith joined the team, he’s certainly been helping Koskinen one-on-one in practice. Koskinen seems much more comfortable playing the puck, a skill that Smith is renowned for in the league. This talent, however, does not come without its setbacks. We’ve seen Smith make a couple mistakes already by giving up the puck while trying to make a play. On the flip side, Edmonton’s neutral zone transition flows smoothly when the goalie can successfully move the puck up the ice.
One of the best examples in recent history of a goalie tandem finding extreme success was in the 2016-17 season. Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury both found success in the playoffs, resulting in Pittsburgh winning the Stanley cup. Watching the playoffs during this year opened my eyes to the idea of a goalie tandem. If the improved glove hand of Koskinen and remarkable puck-handling of Smith can continue to help Edmonton succeed, perhaps their fans can follow suit when they find similar success this year.
Let’s look at Edmonton’s current record, 8-2-1. In two of the three games that Edmonton lost, they put up no goals, the other loss only putting up one. Regardless of goaltending, teams cannot expect to win a game when putting up no goals on the scoreboard. In all of the eleven games thus far, Edmonton’s goalies have given them a chance to win. Mike Smith’s bobbles aside, the goaltending tandem have saved pretty much all of the shots that they needed to. Most of the goals against have come due to defensive zone breakdowns, leaving a man wide open in front. While Edmonton’s defensive zone structure has largely improved this year, their goaltending has improved with it; this correlation is likely not random.
Isaac Lamoureux
Edmonton Journalist