We have arrived at the place where legends are made. Hockey is shared memory, tying us together through events that live forever because of the importance we place on them. Pisani’s OT goal against the Carolina Hurricanes, Gretzky over the shoulder of Vernon, Fuhr stones the Islanders and on it goes.
Some of you don’t have real-time recall of your own on those plays, just the video evidence and the lore of each event passed down from generation to generation. That’s what tonight is about: A shared passion for this beautiful game, a story to tell your grandchildren on a July long weekend many miles away.
You can’t script this, and the collision of elite talent we’re about to witness doesn’t come along every year. Enjoy this, heaven or heartbreak. Game One is tonight.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New DNB: Oilers vs. Avalanche is Manson vs. Manson
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Ryan McLeod uses blazing speed to move up depth chart
- DNB and Dan Robson: Connor McDavid is the best skater NHL’s skating greats have ever seen
- Peter Baugh and Lowetide: Breaking down Oilers vs. Avalanche
- Lowetide: Why Jordan Dumais could be NHL Draft steal for Edmonton Oilers
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Zach Hyman’s value continues to rise in playoffs
- DNB: Connor McDavid scored the most important goal of his career with his Battle of Alberta OT winner
- Lowetide: Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins having effective playoffs before big goals
- DNB: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gets his chance to shine in the playoffs
- DNB: Cody Ceci making himself ‘irreplaceable’ in playoffs
- Lowetide: Oilers future relies on quality coaching replacement in Bakersfield
- DNB: Leon Draisaitl assists on all four Oilers goals in win over Flames
- Lowetide: Has Oilers goalie Mike Smith earned the net in 2022-23?
- DNB: This is how Connor McDavid wins: ‘He’s like a shark circling the waters’
- Lowetide: Reasonable expectations for Oilers could not see chaos ahead
- DNB: How Dave Manson is making the Oilers blue line better
- Lowetide: Oilers regular season report card for 2021-22
POSSIBLE OILERS LINEUP
- Draisaitl [7-19-26]-McDavid [7-19-26]-Hyman [8-4-12]
- Kane [12-3-15]-RNH [4-7-11]-Yamamoto [2-4-6]
- Foegele [0-0-0]-McLeod [1-1-2]-Puljujarvi [2-1-3]
- Archibald [0-1-1]-Ryan [0-1-1]-Kassian [1-1-2]
- Nurse [2-1-3]-Ceci [1-6-7]
- Keith [1-4-5]-Bouchard [3-5-8]
- Kulak [0-3-3]-Barrie [1-3-4]
- Smith [12, 2.70 .927]
This was the setup at practice yesterday in Denver. Kane on the Nuge line suggests Woodcroft believes the Avalanche will run the Kadri line against Nuge, and that makes sense. For Edmonton to win, I think the third line needs to score a few. The good news is I like that third line plenty. Josh Archibald looks like he’ll win the last spot, this will incense many fans but if Holloway enters and gets hurt, or makes a memorable negative play, that’s less than ideal. I’d play Devin Shore but I think Woodcroft likes the speed and hitting. NOTE: This does not represent an endorsement of hitting as a valuable tool, nor does it suggest this blog’s author is not convinced of Holloway. His injury was bad damn luck, he would be a great plug-and-play if the coaching staff thought he was ready.
POSSIBLE AVALANCHE LINEUP
- Landeskog [6-5-11]-MacKinnon [8-5-13]-Nichushkin [3-4-7]
- Lehkonen [4-1-5]-Kadri [5-5-10]-Rantanen [1-10-11]
- Burakovksy [1-3-4]-Compher [2-2-4]-Aube Kubel [0-0-0]
- Cogliano [1-0-1]-Helm [1-1-2]-Sturm [0-1-1]
- Toews [4-4-8]-Makar [3-10-13]
- Ja Johnson [0-0-0]-Manson [1-4-5]
- Byram [0-6-6]-E Johnson [1-4-5]
- Kuemper [9, 2.44 .904]
The Avalanche have plenty of offense and some of it comes from their defensive group. The top pairing is damned dangerous. The top two lines are your basic nightmater, the third line is hit and miss and the fourth line is old and speedy. Speedy old men line? Kuemper is a good goalie but hasn’t been strong this postseason. Remember, goalies can turn it around in a heartbeat.
POSSIBLE 2022-23 ROSTER
Plenty of talk about this summer and what the Oilers can or should do with the roster. I believe general manager Ken Holland will push to add or keep veterans, and that young players looking for an increase in salary on their next contracts are going to get squeezed. It wouldn’t be easy, here’s an example of the roster carnage required:
This roster comes in just under $100,000 in cap room. Zack Kassian is bought out, Jesse Puljujarvi is dealt for Lawson Crouse, Tyson Barrie for Morgan Geekie and Warren Foegele for Rudolfs Balcers. There are 21 players on the roster, two rookie defensemen (one starter) and Stuart Skinner destined to play a significant role.
ETHAN BEAR TRADE
I have received lots of notes from various electronic communication links about Ethan Bear’s being shut out of the playoffs. I’m not certain of the reason for it, but the Hurricanes are a well run organization that came within an eyelash of the final four, so we can assume they’re making good decisions.
At the time of the Bear-for-Warren Foegele deal, I wrote the following: “I see the Bear trade as Holland measuring Bear’s future value (one year at $2 million, plus two more RFA seasons after his current contract expires) against signing Barrie to a three-year deal worth $4.5 million per season as well as the return he got for Bear in Warren Foegele.”
I always liked Foegele, and for me his season in Edmonton was a net positive. His playoffs has been less than stellar, but there’s still time and he brings size and speed to the bottom-six lines. Your mileage may vary, but most Oilers fans I’ve interacted with have generally been positive about Foegele. Tyson Barrie has also performed well, especially late in the year and in the postseason.
What about Bear? He didn’t get into a playoff game, and that’s an important point. The Hurricanes had a value on Foegele, and the plan didn’t involve benching the guy acquired in a deal for their left winger.
What do the numbers show about Ethan Bear’s regular season? The numbers I value show a solid year. As the last man on planet earth who values five-on-five Corsi Rel, I will tell you Bear ranks No. 2 to Ian Cole in the metric. Five-on-five shot differential? 53 percent. Goal share? 50 percent. Expected goals? 55.5 percent. He was effective with Jaccob Slavin in all metrics, but his goal share without Slavin was poor (other numbers remained positive). That tells me he played in bad luck, and he did have Covid in the middle of the year. The biggest factor appears to be that Slavin was outstanding when played with Tony DeAngelo and that pairing rode the wild surf for much of the year.
Bear and DeAngelo are both RFA and it stands to reason Carolina will move one of them. Based on the publicly available information, including some solid numbers against elites via PuckIQ, if I was asked about Bear as a potential trade target, I would answer in the affirmative.
It would be a wildly unpopular recommendation and perhaps there are reasons I am not aware of that make this acquisition a poor idea. The only reason I can see for dumping on Ethan Bear this morning is to be on the side of a perceived winner of an argument. For me, that’s not a good enough reason. In life, you have to have the courage of your convictions, and in this case it’s a fairly easy decision. I grew up Jehovah’s Witness, so being on the unpopular side of a discussion is my comfort zone.
Ethan Bear, absent evidence currently unavailable to me, is a solid NHL defenseman who can in fact play against elites successfully. That’s the definition of a top-four defenseman. In three seasons now, via Puck IQ, Bear has played against elites and performed as well or better relative to his fellow defenders.
You are welcome to disagree with me in the comments section, but I will delete abuse and remind you that we now have a ‘one week’ policy on comments outside the line. That means you will be unable to comment for seven days. Since this is a pretty important week ahead, I encourage you to make your arguments without being abusive. You are a valued member of the community, but rules apply to everyone.
LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE
At 10 this morning, TSN1260, we will preview a mammoth game for the Oilers. Edmonton lost the first game against Los Angeles and against Calgary, will this team do it again? Guests include Travis Yost from TSN, Tyler Yaremchuk from Daily Faceoff and there’s one more to confirm who you will like. I will make my playoff predictions about 10:10. You can reach us 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter.
Leon’s a warrior hopefully it’s just a stinger.
I dont think a player should be considered to lose control of the puck for fractions of a second everytime he stickhandles. That offside rule basically says he does.
Maybe I’ve missed something so feel free to chime in, but here’s what I’ve arrived at after a thorough analysis. Let’s start with Rule 83.1 Offside:
There’s actually nothing mentioned about puck control, possession, or puck contact; merely that the player must not precede the puck into the attacking zone. This doesn’t play in favour of either side of the argument, but acts as the basis we need to understand before reading the delayed offside rule.
As we have to be equally particular with this rule as we were regarding the lack of explicit mention of puck possession/control/contact in the initial offside rule, we also need to concede that the assumption that ‘Situation i’ would thereore be making is that any player would have to clear the zone prior to the PUCK merely entering the zone and not prior to the puck entering the zone under full control of his attacking teammate.
However, even operating within that interpretive grey area, one could and should just as easily interpret Makar’s objectively fully-controlled entry (w/o contacting the puck) as constituting an “attempt to gain possession of a loose puck”.
It’s disappointing that this goal and the ensuing PP proved to be the difference in the game. Best we can do is chalk it up as ‘NHL rulebook karma’ from the Coleman goal and move on.
This play really “rattled me” as it turned my understanding of the rule upside down.
Ultimately, because it rests entirely within in the purview of the linesmen this is a case of confirmation bias. It is the situation, in a way, when Kessler pried open Talbot’s pads. In both cases the officials were more focused on justifying their call, rather than overturning it.
Anyway that is how I’ve “made peace” with this, so I can move on.
As someone below has stated, the rule has never before in the history of the game been interpreted the way it was tonight. The NHL should be ashamed.
Too bad we can’t put an ordinary 8 year old in charge of the rule book.
Who are our best Dmen?
Nurse catching a lot of heat tonight. Rightly so.
However another well paid veteran had a night as well.
Tonight:
Nurse
1GF / 3GA
Keith
1GF / 3GA
McDavid
CF 41%
SF38%
Drai
CF44%
SF 37%
Drai needs to be on a different line
McLeod was -2 tonight, but I thought he looked terrific. He’s so much more aggressive in the ozone.
Mike Smith …gives up another touchdown.
Man, I mean some have to hit you even accidentally.
Re: Clear offside goal,
I know it is not …but almost felt like retribution for the Blake Coleman thing.
I find that explanation much more satisfying than the actual explanation. Now there’s a bunch of new grey area in offsides we can be frustrated by. Why?
I don’t like the offside reviews and am fine with some level of human error (a play being a millimeter offside). I’m not overly chapped with the goal standing, but the PP being awarded, which they scored on hurts.
I don’t know how to add a picture here but to me it looks like Makar is in the zone before Nichushkin clears. So if the puck goes into the zone and player A is offside it is a delayed offside. If player B enters the zone before player A has cleared the delayed offside should stand, which I think happened here (by a millimeter or two)
To be clear, I’m ignoring the debate over possession and touching the stick entirely and simply saying the delayed offside should stand because after the puck entered the zone on a delayed offside, they never got all players onside (again, by millimeters)
I’m not sure I understand. Makar would have been onside as long as either of his skates was either on his side of or on the blueline. Nichuskin touched up a fraction of a second after the puck went in, just as Makar was beginning to encounter the blueline. It’s not when Makar’s skate first pokes past the offensive zone side of the blueline. He’s onside as long as he’s in contact with the blueline.
Did they implement something about just having to have a part of your body still outside the zone regardless of contact with the ice? Cause then it would be fine.
I still don’t get it. On any given night, you’ll see somebody straddle or reach back or drag a skate to stay onside. It doesn’t matter if the rest of your body is in the offensive zone as long as one skate is still in contact with the blue line behind you. Makar had barely even begun to cross the blue line when Nichuskin touched up.
If I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying, please set me right.
What if the skate is not dragged? Do you know how I can post a screenshot? Or you can watch frame by frame and see. If you have to have contact outside the zone it’s offside. If you don’t have to have contact just a portion of your body above the neutral zone then it’s onside.
The comment section can’t host images, it can just point to an image on the internet. So you need to put your image on the internet somehow. Lots of sites will host your image, like imgur.com. Once you have it online someplace, you can paste a direct link to your image into a comment and it should show up.
Bednar didn’t give any update on Kuemper post-game. Avs hockey site guy says:
Adrian Dater
@adater
I’m told Kuemper absence related to previous right eye injury @ColHockeyNow
9:23 PM · May 31, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
Some lady on CHED complaining that the ambient hockey sounds make it too hard to hear Jack call the game lol
I bet she is streaming it. I’ve noticed in my car I need to run the EQ close to flat or it draws out the crowd noise more.
Seems obvious
https://twitter.com/Oilersfan9911/status/1531808972436537344
No, there are other angles that show, with certainty, he wasn’t touching the puck at that point – with that said, he was in clear control of the puck even if he wasn’t touching it at that point.
Leon is great offensively on the wing but hes a natural center and loses his man defensively.
Leon goes back to center. Breakout has to come up the middle. Avs were pinching every single time on the boards and having success
Rusty or Broberg need to come in as 7th d man. They need Nurse and want Nurse but he is down to 70%. If they dress him they need to dress 7 dmen.
I wonder if the replay judges that Friedman supposedly talked too were the same ones that told him which lane Michael Phelps was swimming in at the Olympic Games final.
Yes,have never heard Freidman have to call a friend before?Sounds strange,losing faith in that group.
Protip: If you have a choice of streams, the TNT crew is top-notch… like it’s not even close.
Hrudey hates the Oilers it’s rubbing off on Friedman, Mclame and Amber the only one that will challenge Hrudey is Beiska. I like Jenn but she’s just happy to have a job.
Does nurse start the next game? He is a shade of his usual physical self.
He looks identical or worse to last game. He’s below 50%. I think a 100% Broberg is superior. Or dare I say, Kris Russell (and I never suggest him).
Broberg + Holloway should both be in.
They both can keep-up to the Av’s speed.
I think if this is Nurse’s current level due to injury, he should sit for a 100% healthy Russell or Broberg to rest Nurse up. He was a liability tonight.
6 even strength goals against and the 4th line is even. not all lines can say that.
Yes but you’re looking at one game, not the entire playoffs, and certainly not the body of work that is Archibald’s, and to a lesser extent, Kassian’s career.
They need Holloway in and for sure a 7th D to spell Nurse and help shield Keith. Broberg would be a better choice than Russell.
You figure adding a guy who was -6 in 38 AHL regular season/playoff games this year (the actual worst mark on the team) is going to stop the 4th line from being outscored?
Holloway is a better hockey player than Archibald right now.
Remember when you and others were defending Archibald on the third line? Just wondering if you feel he is still better in that role than Foegele.
Perhaps, I haven’t watched him enough to have a strong opinion, though Woodcroft doesn’t seem to think he’s a better option for whatever reason.
More generally, expecting a guy who’s never played an NHL game, and who had pretty pedestrian AHL results, to outscore in the NHL playoffs seems a tall ask.
No, I don’t recall that. I argued that Woodcroft should have earned some latitude from fans and media in making lineup decisions, since he’s been a revelation behind the bench.
Because of that you seem to have labeled me an ‘Archibald lover’, which is both inaccurate and silly.
That -4 on Holloway, a forward, is more a reflection of the defenders, or the goalie, rather than him.
I started a project to count some of his numbers on the weekend, but only made it through 3 games. It is incredibly time consuming. But part of the issue is his low scoring numbers.
For the last 10 games or so his linemates were Brad Malone, a not fleet-footed 33 year old 14 goal scorer and undrafted, low-scoring (7 goals), not fleet-footed Dino Kambeitz.
Holloway would have been best-served having Hamblin as his C and an offensive oriented player like Griffith or Marody on RW, IMO.
I think he might do okay on a 4th line with Ryan and Archibald to start. But Archibald is so snake bit, hitting the net seems like a pipe dream.
He was -4 in the regular season, 2nd worst on the team.
He was -6 regular season/playoffs combined, tied for worst on the team.
I’m not sure how you blame that on linemates, defenders, goalie.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him get a shot at all, but stating things like ‘Holloway is a better player than x right now’ as fact, is total hyperbole and speculation.
Not when you’ve seen him play.
On Nurse: you can tell he’s significantly hobbled when he pivoted on the MacKinnon goal. No push at all. They might have to cut his ice down and give more to Kulak.
Like the player a lot but he is not himself.
I’m not concerned, if anything this game makes me more bullish in my belief that the Oilers can hang with the Avs.
1 – Keith now sporting a 40% GF in the playoffs. I’ve said his puck skills are there, but it’s pretty clear he can’t defend at a high level any more. Remember how much he’s helping Bouchard? Well EB is at 45.5 and imagine if he had a partner who was solid top 4 quality.
2 – Archi at 33% after going 1-1 today. Why not ice the best fourth line you can? Of course Holloway will be better next year, but there’s no guarantee you make it back this far.
3 – Woody should have pulled Smith earlier.
4 – McDrai are amazing. The defensive detail we’ve seen recently wasn’t there tonight. They weren’t the only culprits.
Agree re: Keith. Bouchard is not a plus defender but his partner provides little to no cover and is as frequently the cause of danger as he is the solution.
I think the following moves are reasonable:
1.Move Nurse down the lineup to play against the bottom 6, play 7 defenders with Russell or Broberg coming in. I lean toward Broberg on a trial by fire scenario because skill is the #1 priority.
2.Sit Kassian and Arch. Split up McLeon.
18-97-13
56-29-91 (mix and match the top 6, whatever)
37-93-10
Holloway – 71 – (double shifted player)
3.Start Smith. If Kuemper is out, advantage not matter which Oilers G. Smith is the better puck handler and they’re a wash on first shot stops.
Jay going back to the old “we hung 6 goals on the Avs” strategy…also some subtle digs at AVS defensive play while also critiquing his own team. Go for it Jay, lead this team out of the woods.
I missed the game. Kids soccer.
I never put too much stock in game one of a series. Teams feeling each other out, shaking off some rust if there is a break between series, etc.
Reading comments here. Sounds like some tough officiating decided this one.
Encouraged that they were able to climb back into this one.
I did see the play where nurse couldn’t skate to a loose puck behind the net, which resulted in a grade A chance for Nikushkin. Not good. Definitely would look at 7 D for game 2. Need some options back there. Or swap Kulak for Nurse. Problem being he has been so good for Barrie
I missed the game as well, kids and such. Water off a ducks back for old Smitty, the seeds of doubt have been planted in Colorada
To be fair, Oilers to my eye were the clearly inferior team 40 minutes of the night at least. Impressive that they managed to make a game of it.
I’ll eat my words. That call absolutely mattered (after I suggested it didn’t). How can one make the argument that he didn’t have control? Makar legit carried the puck, on his stick, across the blueline.
Honestly, this is up there with the Kesler hold.
It was an absurd interpretation of that play by the refs. He gets the puck, pushes it forward and it separates at most a couple of millimeters off his stick as he’s entering the zone. At no point whatsoever did he lose possession once he had gained possession outside the line. Common sense, and to rule otherwise raises serious questions.
I think the most ridiculous part of the interpretation is that the rule says in the event of delayed offsides the play will be whistled for offsides if the attacking team “attempts to gain control of a loose puck.”
So they’re not just claiming Makar did not have control of the puck that was millimeters from his stick blade, they’re claiming HE WASN’T EVEN ATTEMPTING TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE “LOOSE” PUCK.
Rob Brown put it perfectly on the radio post game. He said, as a former player, if you’re in that situation, you lift your stick so the linesman knows you’re not in control and doesn’t whistle you. Makar did not lift his stick and charged into the offensive zone because he thought he was good to go.
Elliotte showed a few examples of the same interpretation of that play with the same results (goals counted)
Nonetheless, I don’t understand how it matters if the attacking player had possession (or not)
So the NHL is saying that if Makar HAD possession, the play would have been called offside..?
And I thought with a delayed offside, ALL players had to exit the zone before ANY players could re-enter
Rule book does insist on control, says even if offensive player is in close pursuit
I’m just not sure how one can make the case for him not having control. He guides the puck on his stick…. It’s so under control
doesn’t insist
This is a bizarre precedent because imagine the precedent hurdle they’ve created on ‘chipping’ the puck back into the zone. All you have to do is not keep the puck near your stick and you’re good……
Is this the twilight zone….?
At least they have a reason for this, even if it does sound like they made up some BS rationalization on the spot. The Kesler hold was just gaslighting. A clear cut example of the NHL not giving a singly moldy wet turd about the integrity of its own product. Ugh just thinking about it disgusts me.
NURSE ISLAND IS LONELY …
#IKnowHeIsHurt
Avs fans chanting ref you suck. Apparently they are used to entirely different officiating from what we are used to seeing. The irony…
It’s crazy.
Even Bednar was saying post-game they were ‘unlucky’ on some of their goals against, but of course no mention of being gifted a goal and a PP.
Kudos to the team for not giving up. They are a determined bunch when they want to be.
The reffing determined this game for three periods. Shouldn’t be that way.
I really thought Edmonton was getting dummied for much of the game fair and square. Lots of props to the lads for getting within a zebra job of a win on a night where so much went wrong.
Avs fans have no idea what they are in for. We are acclimatized to this type of hockey.
How many goals was Nurse on for? How many were primary errors by him? I truly can’t imagine that another d would be worse than what he was able to bring tonight.. Avs speed may be too much for him to manage. Could get away with playing through the lower body injury he has in the first two rounds, but not the avs.
He was god awful tonight. Hope we see 7 D next game
He looked lost- like a deer in headlights!
He actually looked like he played scared… Can’t have that. Even if a 75% Nurse is better than 100% Broberg, if he’s playing that timidly, he can’t play top 6 mins. Full stop.
Hmmm all four lines scored at 5v5 tonight. First time that’s happened in a while.
Got six past the Avs and their defense…
Really liked McLeod’s line tonight even with the goal against. JP has me feeling like he’s so close to putting it all together (but I’ve said that before). Kassian had his best game in a long while. Was around the puck a lot.
You cannot be thumbing your ass pace wise or making risky pinches against this team. They will eat you.
But they are top heavy too. The MacKinnon line is fire, Kadri less so and more less so after that. Gotta make hay there when you get the chances.
This is more LA than it is Calgary. Oilers need to stick to their game plane with urgency. They’ve got this.
Go Oilers!
Random thought. Does anyone anywhere think if the linesman rules that play on the goal was offside anyone would say it wasn’t and bring up there interpretation of the rule
Of course not. If they ruled it no-goal it would be just a footnote at the end of game summary. Because they ruled it a good goal it will become one of the most disputed goals in history. If you’re a ref, why would you bring so much attention to yourself when no one would second guess you if you ruled it a non goal.
The flipside of your comment is this: what linesman would blow down a close play at the blueline with the presence of video review? Think about it, if the play is offside then the coach’s challenge would provide a way out for the linesman. You can’t restart a close play at the line…..I can easily see the NHL telling lineys to err on the side of keeping the play going.
Damn. Why do we gotta crap the bed in the first game every series?
We played like crap for most of the game, got hosed on a review and didn’t help out Mike at all(he wasn’t sharp) and yet we had a chance to tie with under a minute.
Wait til these guys see our “A” game!!!
Do your thing, Woodcroft.
Can’t wait for game 2!!!
if we “crapped the bed” what did the Avs do? (they would’ve lost if not for being gifted 2-3 goals).
Yup
I hope they stop gifting goals
Same as the first flamerz game. They won but we were in it til the end, while playing like crap.
Woodcroft did his thing and we saw Oilers hockey after that.
His adjustments to our game have been on point.
I expect the same next game.
First game is the lesson. Second game is the application of the lesson.
Bit of a boner there by Barrie firing it into the crowd. But this team never quits which makes every game entertaining. Let the streak of losing game 1 continue.
Strong 30 minutes by Koskinen there.
We always said he was much better when he was rested, and he is very well rested (maybe even over-rested!). Could he be the answer?
We certainly put up a valiant effort to crawl back into this one. IMO…proves the Avs are beatable. Couple more saves early, and we could have won. Ah well, just 1st game. GO OILERS!!!
The games just get crazier and crazier. Goodness gracious
They didn’t quit and that’s a great ask in the WCF. It’s only Game 1 and there is a lot of hockey to go.
Well, we lost game 1 of the last series 9-6, so that’s progress!!
Oilers 6
Avs 5
CoreySplainers 3 (offside goal, challenge penalty, EN goal)
Hey man, it’s easy to sit and criticize the refs, but what would YOU tell Corey?
That was a really dumb play by Barrie.
Oh we’ll, that was fun.
Gotta cut down on the turnovers.
Onto the next one!
Damn. Oh well it’s one game. The Avalanche are beatable, there’s no doubt in my mind. Oilers need to come with their A game on Thursday.
pretend they’re down 3 to start the game!
Damn.
That offside goal and PP kicker hurts even more now.
They should’ve scored there. Why is Hyman not on the ice??
And Barrie for WAY too long.
Thought we lost our timeout when we “lost” our Coach’s Challenge on the offside?
That changed in the summer of 2019, now it’s just a penalty if you lose your challenge, and you can challenge as often as you want and still keep your timeout (but if you challenge everything, you might end up with a lot of penalties).
https://scoutingtherefs.com/2019/06/26650/nhl-rule-changes-for-2019-20-season/
No matter what happens, this team has NO quit in them
Regardless of outcome – chalk another in the “if only they had a starter” column.
Replaying the Makar goal Nurse gave him the screened car side
Probably a bad idea
I believe taking the far side and letting the goalie see the shot is normal
Far side
Colorado has a starter & the score would be tied without them getting gifted 2 goals on a BS (non) offside call that was absolutely offside.
You’re absolutely right.
Smith had a bad night tonight, but I am not going to complain about the goaltending we’ve gotten this playoffs, as a whole, from our goaltenders. It could have been SO much worse.
Call your TO now!
If we get this game to OT I think I’m going to have an aneurysm. And then I’ll have another…
Smith to old can’t breathe too high up
Can we get Koskinen for game 2?
He looked calm and square to everything.
Kind of the opposite of the other guy
Oilers up by 1!!! (OH, WAIT… COL got gifted 2 goals on a BS offside)
so much for you getting the over on your bet, refs.
I’d give money away before I gambled on the outcome of an NHL game. It’s kind of like playing poker at a table where you don’t know who the sucker is.
What a chance for Ceci. Hit Hyman in the leg going for the lower left corner.
McDavid
if he’s hurt the capt trade him
hehe
The tension! Pedal to the metal!!!
Give it all you got!!!
The next two goals are huge
Nuts
Entertaining game between Emonton and Colorao.
Both teams missing D.