Paths differ, but Oilers, Jets having fortitude tested

Rarely has a playoff hockey team been as hard to figure out as this year's edition of the Edmonton Oilers.

Through four games, the Los Angeles Kings have outscored them in the first and second periods to the tune of 14-6. Bad!

But the Oilers have also won the cumulative third periods 11-5. Great! (And they have the only goal scored in overtime.)

Should Edmonton be lauded for showing the resilience to keep roaring back in games in which it's being comprehensively beaten? Or should it be criticized for starting slowly and repeatedly falling behind?

Yes.

After two periods in Edmonton on Sunday night, the story of the series looked fairly definitive. The Kings poured in 12 goals to win the opening two games and chase goaltender Stuart Skinner to the bench, but then they squandered a 4-3 lead in Game 3. That contest included a bizarre coach's challenge on the tying goal that handed the Oilers a pivotal power play, which they used to score the game-winner.

Following the blown lead, the Kings appeared to assert themselves again in Game 4, outshooting the Oilers 28-15 through 40 minutes and holding a 3-1 lead. Edmonton still hadn't solved its goaltending problem, and the defense desperately missed Matthias Ekholm. With Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both sidelined for extended stretches this season, maybe this wasn't the team's year anyway.

Then, the Oilers pulled off an overtime thriller to tie the series at 2-2, making the lady at Rogers Place in a Stanley Cup costume holding a "BELIEVE" sign look very prescient.

So, what should we make of this thing now? Edmonton lost two games, could have easily dropped the next two, and is somehow all square. Now that they've survived a couple of close calls, will the Oilers ride the talents of McDavid and Draisaitl to assert control of the series? Will the Kings figure out how to close out a contest?

Whatever happens next, the Oilers have passed the mantle of "the Western Canadian team whose fans are overwhelmed with angst" to the Winnipeg Jets.

A week ago, the Jets were the anti-Oilers. They had a dominant regular season, finishing with 56 wins and 116 points, and went up 2-0 in their first-round series following home-ice wins over the St. Louis Blues. They boasted a strong offense and, crucially, a stingy defense that allowed the fewest goals in the regular season, backstopped by Hart Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck. All the ingredients for a long playoff run were there.

And then, calamity. Winnipeg conceded 12 goals in two games in St. Louis, with Hellebuyck yanked in both. The two-time Vezina winner has a .817 save percentage in the postseason, a stark contrast to his league-leading .925 during the regular season among qualified goalies. His 2.00 goals-against average from the regular season has also ballooned to 4.24 against the Blues, continuing a somewhat alarming playoff trend in which Hellebuyck has allowed 4.27 goals per game over the last three postseasons.

His Jets teammates have said that the problem over the last couple of games has been them, not him. The Blues have successfully crowded the space in front of the net and increased the number of shots aimed in the general direction of all the chaos, especially from the blue line.

"We need to be better in front of him," Jets coach Scott Arniel said. "We need to let him see some pucks. There are things we have to do to help him. And there are things he has to do to help us."

I suspect that "stop pucks" is one of those things. While it may well be true that Hellebuyck is facing an unusual number of screened shots against St. Louis, if that's the only reason for his struggles, it raises a larger question. Why haven't more teams pursued that strategy between October and April when he's busy being the best netminder in the world?

Normally, there would be a simple solution to a goaltender being repeatedly shelled: give the net to the other guy. However, Hellebuyck is tied with Mark Scheifele as the highest-paid player on the Jets at $8.5 million per year. His backup, Eric Comrie, is a lightly used career journeyman who makes $825,000. There's no way for Arniel to make a goalie change that wouldn't seem like a hair-on-fire panic move, even if Hellebuyck becomes the goaltending version of Clayton Kershaw again. The coach's best (and only) bet is to hope that the loving embrace of the Canada Life Centre is enough to inject some confidence back into his guy.

A Game 5 win Wednesday would be a huge step forward for the Jets, if only because they've lost games in bunches in previous playoff ousters.

But first, it's over to the Oilers to see if they can keep their momentum going Tuesday night. Not that momentum has counted for much out West so far.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.