Jeff Skinner sets to make postseason debut as Oilers clinch playoff spot

After defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Friday night, the Edmonton Oilers have clinched a playoff spot, meaning veteran forward Jeff Skinner will finally make his postseason debut.

Skinner is in his 15th NHL season after joining Edmonton on a one-year, $3 million deal this past offseason. He has previously missed the playoffs for eight consecutive years with Carolina and six straight with Buffalo.

The 32-year-old Skinner has caught fire down the stretch, scoring five goals over his last nine games to bring his season total to 16 goals and 28 points in 68 games.

In Friday's win over the Sharks, the Oilers got goals from Corey Perry, Evan Bouchard, Ty Emberson and Connor Brown while Connor McDavid made 4 assists. Calvin Pickard made 22 saves. Will Smith and Henry Thrun scored for San Jose and Georgi Romanov stopped 30 shots in defeat.

After falling short in their pursuit of the Stanley Cup last season with a Game 7 loss to Florida, the Oilers are looking to make another strong playoff push this spring.

While the matchups haven’t been finalized, Edmonton is on track to face the Los Angeles Kings in the first round — a potential fourth consecutive postseason clash between the two teams.

Oilers react to clinching NHL playoffs

Veteran Corey Perry, who won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007, emphasized getting that "X" by their name and taking the playoffs one step at a time:

"It's been up & down, but that X is beside our name & that's step one. That's what we talk about is you come to training camp, step one is to make the playoffs & step two is where we can go from there."

Defenseman Brett Kulak highlighted the benefits of meaningful late-season games:

"You're in the game getting more situations, more experience...it gets me ready for the post-season."

Goalie Calvin Pickard stressed staying healthy and playing the right way in their final three regular season matchups:

"Hopefully everybody's healthy when Game 1 starts. We've got three games left to keep playing the right way. The guys in the room gotta take care of business." said post-game.

Edmonton has three games remaining in the season, against Winnipeg on Sunday, Los Angeles on Monday, and San Jose again on Wednesday before the playoffs begin.