McDavid compares Skinner's broken stick to infamous Mike Smith gaffe for Oilers

Forgive Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid for getting a little nervous last night.

With his team up 4-3 in the third period of Game 6 and having a chance to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings in Game 6 of their first round playoff series, a routine clearance from goalie Stuart Skinner ended up as the tying goal in the back of Edmonton’s net by the stick of Phillip Danault.

Skinner fans on the clear, Danault capitalizes to tie the game with a short-handed goal pic.twitter.com/EOu3PQu3Ib

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) April 30, 2023

Upon further review, Skinner’s stick was actually broken on the play, but it didn’t make LA’s tying goal count any less.

Everyone ripping on Skinner but his stick broke trying to make that pass, was clearly compromised before but in a spot you wouldn’t really expect it pic.twitter.com/Nq7ibSi9nF

— Kevin Woodley (@KevinisInGoal) April 30, 2023

Edmonton eventually pulled off the win by way of a late third-period goal from Kailer Yamamoto to clinch the win, but it wasn’t without a bit of sweat for Edmonton and their fans.

And like many Oilers fans, McDavid couldn’t help but think of an infamous moment from the 2022 playoffs when he saw the puck cross Edmonton’s goal line,

In Game 4 of last season’s Battle of Alberta matchup in the second round of the playoffs, Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson beat former Edmonton goalie Mike Smith with a seeing-eye shot from behind his own blue line to tie the game 3-3 midway through the third period of a game that Oilers seemed to have under control.

“I was having flashbacks to Game 4 against Calgary last year,” McDavid said. “It’s good that we’ve been in that situation before where a weird one goes in when you feel like you’re doing a lot of good things.”

“It feels funny that the game’s tied when you didn’t do anything wrong,” McDavid added.

But just like last year, the Oilers put the mistake behind them and were able to win that game and ultimately the series.

The Oilers will be taking on the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the NHL playoffs, with the schedule for the series likely to drop at some point today or tomorrow.

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