It’s about survival now, as the Edmonton Oilers are down 2-1 in a tough and exasperating series. The Los Angeles Kings are whatever is beyond indefatigable, focusing on the Oilers lack of discipline and the referees predilection to call penalties on the blue, white and orange. The Oilers can win this series, should win it, but there must be more discipline. I don’t know if this team has it in them.
THE ATHLETIC!
- New DNB: Oilers question OT review decision. Their penalty issues are a bigger concern
- Lowetide: Key early Oilers vs. Kings matchups that are impacting the series
- DNB: Stuart Skinner can still step up as a difference-maker in his first NHL playoff series
- Lowetide: Oilers’ quality of ‘next man up’ could be key to deep playoff run
- DNB: Klim Kostin relishes playoff atmosphere in role that could swing a series
- DNB: Oilers’ playoff excitement, expectations have already given way to Game 1 pain again
- Lowetide: How winning the Stanley Cup would change the Oilers organization
- DNB: Connor McDavid, the NHL’s best player, has ‘freed his mind’: Will an Oilers Stanley Cup follow?
- Lowetide: Why Stuart Skinner should be the Oilers first Calder winner
- New DNB: Stuart Skinner Q and A
- Lowetide: Oilers transcend reasonable expectations in 2022-23, led by Connor McDavid
- Lowetide: Who could be the Oilers’ playoff Fernando Pisani this year?
- DNB: Oilers ready for a playoff rematch with Avalanche
- DNB: Top seed in West and ‘momentum’ for playoffs
- Lowetide: Oilers’ second half spike owes much to Jay Woodcroft’s innovation
- Lowetide: Stock up or down for every Oilers prospect in the system
- Lowetide: Oilers top 20 prospects, winter 2022
GOALIE AND DEFENSE
Mattias Ekholm performed well on the night, had a couple of shots and a HDSC offensively. His instincts when Oilers are in possession and in the opposition end are excellent. He was in photo but not able to tie up Gabriel Valardi or stop the pass to the slot. It’s a tough ask but that was ballgame. Evan Bouchard had a good game, two assists, four shots and a HDSC.
Darnell Nurse had a tough night, one of the most difficult of his playoff career. He left the slot uncovered and wandered on the first goal against, and then (I think) turned the wrong way on the winner, effectively taking himself out of the key play of the game after being in good position. Cody Ceci had an equally difficult time of it, accomplishing little on the first GA (he was lost at sea when the puck finally reached the slot) and was generally ineffective to my eye.
Brett Kulak has quietly delivered a rock solid performance in this series. One of the tweaks we may see is a more significant role for this player in the coming games. Vincent Desharnais was charged with a penalty that should not have been called, the stripes level of consistency on calls having long taken a powder. Philip Broberg didn’t play much, I’m not sure he will play with the game on the line Sunday.
FORWARDS
Connor McDavid did the expected, scoring twice and quieting critics and those who were genuinely worried about his health. That worry may be well-founded today, after the captain took some heavy hits from Drew Doughty (one specifically concerning). Evander Kane was on the ice for the five-on-five GA, was unable to impact the point shot. He had four shots but nothing dangerous I recall. Took a penalty and drew two, perhaps his biggest impact is letting Doughty know there will be a response to his shenanigans. Zach Hyman was not in any way helpful on the first goal by Los Angeles, and it was his mark who was stone alone in the slot. Three shots and no HDSC, that is not the Hyman we have come to know. Both Kane and Hyman need to impact the scoresheet, and all Oilers have to start scoring five-on-fiive. The series total is currently 4-4 but Edmonton owns a 61 percent expected goals total. It’s the goalie, sure. However, this is the assigment. Work to do. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit a post, had an assist and then took a penalty (it was a penalty) that would end the game. Need more from 93. Klim Kostin also took a penalty that was a penalty on the night. Need to iron that out of your game, young man.
Leon Draisaitl’s main contribution to the game was a love tap that got him two minutes (less, because LA scored) in the box. Leon, like all of the Oilers, is in a spot of bother. The penalty, and the overall feel of the series, has Edmonton cast as the bully on the block. It’s currently 21 power-play minutes for LA, nine for Edmonton. Both teams have scored three on the power play. It isn’t Leon’s fault, but it is his problem.
The answer is to play a more disciplined game, but I’m not sure this group will be able to comply. It appears to be an extreme line in the sand for Oilers players in this series, and I’m uncertain it’s fair to suggest the lack of discipline is defining the series. The number of penalties certainly are, but I would suggest that last night’s Leon and Desharnais penalties are just hockey plays and the stripes are too focused on sins real or imagined.
Edmonton has to get the penalties under control, I can tell you that much. I just don’t know how they can. It’s like when your Dad gives you hell for something you didn’t do, and you push back and get more hell. You can burn, you can remember it, but justice will not prevail.
Are the penalties the reason Edmonton lost? It didn’t help, but in all honesty Edmonton’s lack of five-on-five scoring is a growing concern. In this series, Kailer Yamamoto has played 44 minutes with high skill and has three shots on goal. The other top-six forwards are more productive. Leon has 11 shots, Hyman 10, eight for McDavid and Nuge, seven for Kane. Warren Foegele has six shots in 29 minutes playing lower in the lineup than Yamamoto. He had a point blank chance last night and didn’t cash. Something’s gotta give. I like this player, he isn’t producing.
I mentioned at the beginning of this series that the Kings were good enough to win it. That is even more the case than it was last night. Edmonton’s lack of discipline (they are taking penalties that are penalties) added to the jaundiced eye of the referees may be too much to overcome. This isn’t on the goalie, I didn’t mention Stuart Skinner for a reason. He’s good enough to win this series.
The key to this series will be solving Los Angeles goalie Joonas Korpisalo at five-on-five. In my opinion.
New for The Athletic: Oilers’ forward-heavy pipeline suggests defence-driven 2023 NHL Draft
https://theathletic.com/4436584/2023/04/22/oilers-prospects-defence-2023-draft/
Boom boom and Colorado scores two more.
The Avalanche are running Makar and Byram as a pairing…this is not fair and the league should step in.
Eyeroll.
Summarizing!
Petrov paced the Battalion attack with 1+2 and was named 2nd tsar* as NB won to take a 3-2 series lead.
Lachance scored as Youngstown won to clinch 2nd in their division and a bye through the first round of the USHL playoffs next week.
Wanner went without soup as MJ couldn’t hold on to a 2-0 second-period lead and lost 5-2. They head back to the Friendly City trailing 3-2 vs. Winnipeg.
Also, many thanks to Munny 2.0 for more intrepid reporting.
*Was actually a typo but was kept as is because it fits Petrov’s heritage.
Watched the Bolts Leafs. Lots of penalties committed, few called, late at least. Total opposite to our series
That bum O Reilly seems to have revived his game in the post season. If there was clutch he’d be that
Leafs win in OT. Krak have a 1-0 lead on the Avs and have a powerplay after surviving a tough shift
that didn’t age well – SHG 1-1
Now 3-1 for Colorado.
Cale Makar now holds the record for most playoff points by a defenseman before the age of 25 passing Bobby Orr.
Where did you get that tidbit?
As far as I can tell Paul Coffey had 92 playoff points before his 25th birthday.
I think the obscure record you speak of is pretty safe unless you think Makar has 30 more points in him this post season.
Orr also had 66 points before turning 25. Maker only has 63 including tonight, though it’s true he is in a good spot to pass Orr for this non-record this playoff season.
I double checked JPs numbers (not that i had to because he doesnt post things that are ridiculous), and he is indeed correct.
HH, this is not the first time you’ve posted incorrect statements involving points. I recommend a peer review before posting.
Brian Leetch got his 72 point just after passing 25. Can we move the bar slightly to 25 yrs, 3 months?
Bolts stop skating and give up tying goal.
This OT’s been great. After watching the Oilers-Kings-Refs debacle, it’s refreshing to watch teams flowing and swirling. I envy Bolts and Leaves fans right now.
O Reilly should be suspended. That is a dangerous dangerous play on Point
It was Reilly not O’Reilly but yes.
Yes I meant the Toronto Dman Reilly
Not even a penalty…both were going for the puck.
and of course he scores the winner
Two quick goals for NB two-thirds of the way into the 3rd. Petrov on for the first one, another from Zito, but did not produce an apple. 6-3 with 7.5 minutes to play.
Bakes an apple on the succeeding powerplay though
So, Josh Morrisey is out for the rest of the series against Vegas with a knee injury.
Looks like Vegas may now cruise to a series win,
The Jets played almost 80 minutes without Morrisey tonight and lost by a goal. Doesn’t look like cruising to me.
I’ll see your small sample size and raise you a team losing their best player.
Better to have a small sample size, than none at all in your case. We won’t have to wait long to find out.
Hellebuyck’s out???
Does cruising include blowing a 3 goal lead?
Lachance scores his 33rd of the season as Youngstown extends their lead to 3-1 going into the third.
Petrov is having a serious impact in this game. Just created a rebound for a Zito goal with a good second effort lunge for the puck and then the Battalion score again seconds later, 4-2 NB.
Video evidence:
https://twitter.com/OHLBattalion/status/1649933388441157634?cxt=HHwWhIC8kZrr3uUtAAAA
Penalties have been the difference. Players need to play within themselves. Hard to do, but keep your emotions in check.
We as fans can bitch & moan all we want about the officiating but that’s the thing the players can’t allow to get in their heads. Breathe, execute, trust each other and win.
In B.C it’s legal to have Crack Cocaine Junk and Meth as long as it’s for personal use. In B.C you can prance right up to a Cop smoke some Junk then shit your pants and it’s just another day in Utopia. Anyhow it’s only a matter of time before Cabbie starts peddling some Smack with your Gambling odds.
Having seemingly satiated his craving for apples, Petrov has now scored in back-to-back games as his one-timer finds nothing but nyet on the PP to tie the game late in the first.
Playoffs aren’t fair. All that matters is who wins. This team’s core has been sideswiped twice by far lesser teams. Almost lost to these guys last year
The question is what have they learned through all of it? Right now, I’m not sure. Still a lot of high risk passes you just don’t do at this time of year, during the heart of the game, we aren’t talking desperation comeback attempts
I’m hopeful they will come out with more of what they need to do tomorrow. And hopefully find a way to play that limits what the refs call
When’s the last time a team lost 2 games while shorthanded in overtime in a 7 game series.I’m guessing Never these are the kind of things that should be talked about by the gutless panel Instead they talk about nonsense. I wish Cherry who was never a big Oiler fan but he still respected us had a say about this series he would tell it like it is total incompetence or worse.
I had this very same thought today.
Further to this – and I really never liked Don Cherry – but now the conversation is directed by a ref, too. Can’t help but think the panel is “managed” just like the game is. A bit here, a bit there, but never a commitment to the truth, full and bare. When Coaches Corner was on, you had two people going at it with much less filter, for good and for bad.
Go back to the 1 competent Referee he sets the ground rules and dictates what is a penalty there’s no good cop bad cop it’s straight forward and all the players know what the boundaries are.
Agreed completely I’ve often thought the more significant change wasn’t taking their names off their backs it was adding a whole extra one of them. With two refs both have plausible deniability. Nobody is accountable not because we don’t know their names, but because, simply, no ONE is accountable.
Good idea. One ref maybe keep the extra body as another linesman who could watch behind the play, ref watches play on the puck where the critical stuff happens
And the Jets tie it up with 21.9 secs to play. Wow.
Lol and they almost give it away before time elapses and take a penalty.
LA has not led for 1 second of any game.
And they have the series lead.
Its not sustainable.
The Oilers are better, and have a chip on their shoulder now.
I’m getting madder and madder at seeing some of these replays of the series. I know the players are as well, anger is a valuable weapon if harnessed properly. I’m phoning my bookie and going all in that we win 3 in a row. Replace Yamo wth Holloway we need someone that’ll drive too the net.
That’s not actually true … the Kings led after the first last night until the Oilers came back and scored 2 on the PP.
I remain more confident that Edmonton can win 3 times the way they’ve played than that L.A. can pull that off 2 more times. Look at how they’ve won, this is their ceiling, Edmonton needs to keep doing what they’re doing, things will break.
LA has played the entire series without their leading scorer.
Normally, Fiala plays on the third line with Lizzote and Iaffolo creating matchups issues for opposing coaches.
No word on when, or if, Fiala will return to action,
Who needs Fiala when you have the Refs in your pocket.
Irrelevant to the conversation troll.
Absolutely relevant.
Chelios said this is the Kings ceiling.
It isn’t,
Fiala has skill but the Kings have baked in their system and one more skill guy isn’t going to push them off this system. He might be the guy to pounce on an Oiler mistake but that could be a number of skaters who are already doing that. So this is the Kings game. We’ve seen it. Edmonton on the other hand, can still improve their game. That’s clear. And when it happens, namely finishing their own chances and cutting the coverage errors (two of the three pillars of this 3 game house of cards I’ll let you guess the third) this chickenshit hockey will be a a memory.
Scheifele finally executes
NHL: where grinding teams lacking talent are rewarded for interference, clutching and slashing the heck out of the ‘star players’. Rulebook is thrown out in the playoffs and biases are encouraged. Oilers better figure this out soon or the Country Club awaits. Drive the net hard and make life miserable for Korpisalo.
Ok…finally saw the interview with Woody, and holy shit I have a bone to pick. To whomever posited that Woody looked rattled earlier today…kindly take your head out of your frustrated ass and watch again. Holy fuck was that post misleading…Woody is pissed and frustrated. But not effing rattled. As I don’t possess the doctorate in psychology that many posters have, I wont assume body language. But jebus, that was a man thoroughly disgusted with the bizarre officiating, not throwing in the effing series…Jesus…I get were frustrated but that was so fucking misleading.
I knew checking in with the blog today would give me a headache (nothing to do with that vodka and cider). Here’s me flushing my brain until the next game.
Knighttown has put it nicely what is actually happening in this series. To me much of the East plays playoff hockey all season. More meat and potatoes. Not always as fun to watch as the rush teams, but it works. Bruins 1st in GA and 2nd in GF. They play a pretty basic style, with the occasional highlight reelers like all teams get at some point
The Oilers are going to have to go meat and pototoes. The Kings aren’t giving them the easy fancy plays they can feast on often enough. To my eye Woody doesn’t have them focused on what they need to do in the O zone against what they are facing. Or they aren’t doing it
They have to get traffic and make plays. Not just banging away as the first option, but setting up shots from the circles with a body screening and causing problems for the smaller Kings D. Kane is struggling, he can stand in there and wreak havoc. Lots of Oiler forwards are bigger than the Kings D
Plays from the corners – low high plays to a guy skating into a shot lane. Cross ice passes for shots to get Korpi moving and opening up. Players looking for tips and the appropriate shot from the D. Shot passes from the D. D sneaking down for shots. Things that are hard to stop for the D and G
It’s all about timing. The forecheck needs dumps with someone closing fast, with support so if they get the puck there is an outlet for a play, not just rimming it around back and forth with few plays to the net front to a player with a chance to shoot
Basic hockey. Enough players below the puck, they can’t all be trying to beat the 1-3-1 at the same time. If they do it all game they will get their much needed 5v5. If they do what they have been, they will need luck and bounces and the Kings to break down. I think you take as much luck out of the game as possible. If you want to go deep
Woody probably should have had the Oilers play 1-3-1 and let the skill, size and speed be the difference. Give them nothing
The Oilers have been attempting to beat the Kings by outplaying them at Kings hockey.
Play Oilers attacking hockey, shoot upstairs on Joonas and this turns into a laugher.
Where are the stretch passes? Where’s the attack up the middle? Where’s the SH attack up high? Hitting forwards with the puck at speed?
Instead they’re attempting to dump and chase, attack from wide, hope like hell for power plays and shoot low.
Time to get 93 on his own line, demote 56 and maybe 18 too, get 71, 37 and 21 more ice, and get back to plan A being to score 5.
They’ve played maybe 1 period combined of attacking hockey in this series.
The only thing is that i thing that they have outplayed the kings every game. I beleive the reults will come, if they can avoid the untimely penalties. But man, we need those results now….
I think the 1-3-1 makes it hard to go up the middle
Those Curlock pieces at ON detailed the opposing tactics the two are using
I agree overall they aren’t attacking enough or aggressively enough. And my deal with not enough plays to the net that are more purposeful
And yes shoot upstairs. Unless you can’t. Korpi like most play the odds (lower half) and he’s giving rebounds. Fake him he’ll drop down. Get some traffic so he has to fight to to see. But somebody has to be there in a position to get them
Someone mentioned it earlier….but it needs to be repeated.
Cult of Hockey – Grade A shots slight lead to ***LA*** – ( 16-15)
****LA**** had a whopping 9-2 edge in five alarm shots.
Matched my eye to perfection.
A lot of forwards are covering up the rink board advertising.
Get to home plate.
Korpisalo is the star of the series.
Oilers need to start crashing the net. Korpisalo is giving up a lot of rebounds but no one is there to cash in. Hopefully Holloway will come in and move Yamo down to the 3rd line.
We need traffic and Bouchard who’s had at least 10 excellent looks needs to hit the net. McDavid and especially Leon are getting double teamed. Kane is trying to go the net Yamo is completely useless sign Haley to a 2 week contract at least she’ll drive to the net.
Maybe time to load up Connor, Drai and Kane.
Bouchard is still a shinpad assassin – he needs to stop dusting the puck off at the point and make a quicker decision about whether he’s shooting or passing. He doesn’t need to try to unload with a clapper every time. Just take the pass and immediately get a wrister through before the forward covering him has a chance to move in position to block his shot.
That also means someone is open, they need to find them
Yamo avoids the puck like leprosy for a supposed skilled player he’s scared shitless of getting the puck. Something is up with Hyman and Nuge. Bring in Lavoie or Hollaway how many times has Foegele been tackled or Ryan cross checked twice as hard as Ekholm love tap for that ridiculous call. Ryan’s been getting hit between the numbers all series. It’s time for the Oilers to start diving embarrass these cheaters. Watch L.A every time there’s contract they flop
fight fire with fire there’s a clear path to the Cup whatever it takes.
Their timing and going to the net has been poor for sure. So many times not an Oiler to be seen that wasn’t along the boards or behind the net. I don’t think Korpi has been as good as not challenged enough. Skinner has had a much harder I think
Okay, it looks like we’ve established the reffing was bad last night. And yes, the Oilers got screwed by it. So what can the Oilers do about it?
Every coach I’ve ever had, or listened to, will tell you the same thing. CONTROL THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL and forget about the rest. Easier said than done, but that’s the reality.
The Oilers can’t control what the refs are going to call. And they sure as hell can’t stop the Kings from diving. All they can control are their own actions.
I counted 4 stupid penalties taken last night. Nurse on Arvidson, Desharnais behind the net, Draisaitl on Doughty, and Kostin on Iaffolo. How many dumb penalties did the Kings take?
And yes, the penalties on Desharnais and Draisaitl were incredibly weak, but what did they think they were going to gain by their actions? Did they think that the Desharnais shoulder or the Draisaitl slash was going to intimidate the Kings? Did those plays affect a scoring chance?
It’s easy to say this from afar, but it still needs to be said. The Oilers need to decide if they want to win the game, or if it’s more important for them to win the testosterone battle. Cause that’s pretty much what this has come down to.
Do you want to win the series? Or do you want to get the last shot in?
These kind interaction happen a 100 times a game.
Yes, I’m in this camp.
Did they take dumb penalties, or were targeted and received dumb calls?
It would be just as easy to call the other guy in the scrum, but they didn’t.
Yes, and the Oilers are getting nailed when they do them.
So the question still stands, why do them?
What do the Oilers gain from the Desharnais or Draisaitl actions?
Even if they didn’t get called as penalties, what does the team gain by them?
Because they’re are human have you ever had someone rub their sticky glove hard in your face. Kempe gave Nuge a little spear to Nuge right in front of the Ref after the whistle. No one is on the Oilers side the dipshit announcer is clueless he called the 1st penalty on McDavid a slip, no dumbass it’s a trip. Louie needs to go as well he’s trying to be so objective he’s over compensating. Hrudey was laughing when McDavid got kneed. Watch Doughty slyly stick out the knee then go watch Nurse who didn’t move his leg at all. Nurse could of destroyed that little weasel but it’s not in his nature.
Yes I have. Numerous times. And when I was younger, I occasionally lost it out on the ice as well. Much like some of the Oilers are currently losing their composure.
The difference is that I wasn’t a professional hockey player. And I wasn’t playing for a Stanley Cup.
The stakes are considerably higher for the Oilers players than they were for me. You would think that might motivate them to be a little more disciplined.
Combination of bad reffing and stupid penalties. The Oilers need to smarten up and stop taking stupid penalties; can’t do anything about bad reffing. Crazy that the players cannot control themselves at this stage of their careers.
This is called gaslighting.
The Ekholm, Leon, and Deharnais plays that resulted in penalties happen 100x a game. These exact plays happened all night by both teams. It’s only a “dumb penalty” when it’s called. When it isn’t called, it’s referred to as “playing tough”. And the Kings did that all game. Holding, slashing, cross checks, pops to the head.
These Oilers players aren’t idiots either. Leon put it perfectly when he said they don’t know what a penalty is anymore. The knee on McDavid could have been a “dumb penalty”. All the cross checks by the kings in their zone could have been dumb penalties. The how many times Iafallo chops or punches an Oiler could have been a “dumb penalty”.
The referees have created, with inconsistent calls, a significant uneasiness in the Oilers because they have no idea where the line is. They try to walk the same line the Kings do and still get called (while the other team doesn’t). I think they’d happily walk their own line if it was clear where it was but it really isn’t. If you want to win, you have to play with an edge. And expecting a team to play a flawless non-penalty game is just not a reasonable expectation in the playoffs. Playing with an edge involves playing right up to a point and not crossing a line.
They aren’t throwing tantrums nor even whining. You can see all game that they’re trying to figure out where the line is. I’m sorry, if a team cannot figure out where the line is after 3 games, that’s on the refereeing. The line should absolutely not be a moving target.
So if Desharnais or Draisaitl don’t get called they are playing tough? What exactly was tough about those plays?
What message was Draisaitl sending to Doughty? Don’t touch McDavid or I’ll slash your shinpads?
I’m not arguing with you, they were ticky tack calls. But they were also ticky tack actions.
Circling back to my original question, where is the upsIde in those actions? Cause I don’t see any.
The Nurse trip on Arvidsson was dumb. The Kostin flop and hold was dumb. When I say ‘dumb’, I mean there is no reason to do that. It doesn’t prevent a scoring chance or help the team in any way.
Yet the Kings get to continue doing the same to the Oilers without impunity?
Double standard officiating needs to be called out by everyone.
Stop making excuses for the refs screwing our team over.
Desharnais gave him a bump and the Kings player embellished like he was getting shot … everyone called it out as such … stop making excuses for the refs.
Draisaitl tapped Doughty’s shin pad … Doughty didn’t even break stride but the refs awarded a free PP to the Kings to help them get back in the game … this just moments after Doughty tried to connect with a knee-on-knee hit on McDavid … stop making excuses for the refs.
Kostin made a standard play that gets repeated 10,000 times over the course of an NHL season. Yes, its interference, but the refs ALWAYS let that go … stop making excuses for the refs.
Ekholm’s penalty was for a crosscheck that will go unpenalized 1000 times in these playoffs and made the Oilers play the same situation in a passive manner in the last minute of the first period, leading to a goal for the Kings … stop making excuses for the refs.
Those four penalties were blatant examples of the double standard that the Oilers players are facing. 16 teams out of 32 make the playoffs … they are all good teams with very little separating them. The margin for victory is very slim now … an embellished call against the Oilers here when the refs are “calling things tight”, together with an ‘overlooked’ call there when they’ve suddenly decided to “let them play”…. it doesn’t take much to tilt the momentum in the favour of one team over the course of a best of 7 series, and to kill any momentum that the other team has, but that’s we’re witnessing so far.
I get it … you’re trying to rationalize this discordant feeling that the biased officiating creates, which goes against the idea that the NHL should be a professional sports league where all teams operate on an even playing field. But that has never been the case throughout the history of the NHL, nor will be as long as Gary Bettman continues to be commissioner. Blaming our players the way Spec did in his column today is disingenuous to us as fans who pay with our time and money to consume this product.
I didn’t see anyone making excuses for the refs.
What I am seeing is some posters making excuses for the Oilers lack of discipline.
No one is disputing that Nurse took a completely unnecessary run at Arvidsson last night that negated a PP. Everyone agrees that the RNH penalty in OT was warranted. When the Oilers have actually taken dumb penalties that are deserved, we have been some of their harshest critics – everyone here agrees that the Oilers were full value for the foolish penalties they took in game 1.
What now pisses everyone off is that the Oilers worked themselves into a position to take a lead last night … the second McDavid PP goal completely turned the volume off in the King’s arena. The Kings were down finally and the Oilers had momentum … so the refs immediately took it upon themselves to take matters into their own hands by awarding one of the most chintziest penalties ever given out in the playoffs.
The refs became the story last night for setting a double standard of what one team can get away with, that the other team can’t, and in the process gave the Kings just enough rope to stay in the game and drag it to overtime, where yes the Oilers shot themselves in the foot.
… but again, it doesn’t take much to tilt the momentum in favour of one team over the course of a best of 7 series, especially when there is not much separating them talent-wise. Last night the referees did just enough to ensure that the deck was stacked against the Oilers.
Either call the infarctions equally on both teams and have a parade to the penalty box or swallow the whistles and let the players decide the outcome of the game.
Messier on the US games basically said this. No one road to the Cup. You have to deal with what’s in front of you and adjust as you go along. He was referring to the Leafs Bolts and yes it sucks they scored late, but you have to move on and go out and get it done
So, if the refs are being unfair just play clean. No late hits, no holding, sticks down and don’t reach in unless necessary. Skate hard and be where you need to be. Maybe that will focus them on system play and not blowing coverage
Let the Kings hack and cheat away and dive, and beat them. Heads up and avoid the dirty hits. Maybe next series it’s back to fair. Go full Messier and save it for next reg season with bragging rights, lots of things to get at them with like calling them soccer players, and payback served cold
Oilers penalty min leaders so far in series.
Kane 8min
Draisaitl 6min
Kostin 6min
Nuge 4min
Bouchard 4 min
Vinny 4 min
It’s only 2-1 and two of those games were overtime.
LA has the luck.
But the dice have no memory.
Game 4 to even the series!
If the dice have no memory, they could easily do it again.
Lol. True. But the Oilers are a better team. They “need” LA to teach them this lesson and if they don’t tighten up their penalty issues, well, they didn’t learn!
Finally….great write up on how some key forwards need to impact the game more.
In 2 of the 3 games here – here is a list of the 5 on 5 goal scorers.
Leon Draisaitl
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Kane, Hyman and RNH were absolutely no threat to score last night.
This group needs to get to home plate. Ugly goal please.
I had assumed this was going to be Kane and Hyman’s series. They are built for this kind
of battle. Garbage goals in front of the net are needed.
It’s on the coaches IMO
I just took a quick trip round the internet and I was somewhat surprised.
Oilers still have so much dislike and anger directed towards them. A lot of disrespect.
Same with McDavid who is referred to in every negative way.
This reminds me exactly, exactly of Gretzky. He was not the great one, his talents were resented and hated. It took years and retirement so he was no longer a threat to anyone, then he be The Great One.
so I was a bit surprised. This also reminds me of Calgary and the war between the cities back in the 80’s. Such emotion stirred up
Right now, I want this team to win this series so badly. If I’m thinking this from afar, man these players must be burning up.
“It’s quite sad, actually.” — Punjabi Oil
First time poster here, though I have been admiring your work for many years on this blog Lowetide. T
Though the officiating in this series should be enough to prompt my first ever post (I think, maybe there was a time many moons ago that I made a post, turns out I did have an account all along), it is something else that has been eating away at me since I left the watch party with my 8 year old son last night.
These hockey games have always been marketed as a family event and boy was my son engaged. I always look at him and envy the innocence with which he watches the games.
As much fun as he had, I will never take him back. As someone who raises him to understand that the way you talk, how you carry yourself and the language that comes out of your mouth matters, I can’t in good conscience put him in the atmosphere that I witnessed last night.
They should almost make these events 18+ admissions only. I can’t understand somebody starting a conversation with my my kid and using every curse word on the planet to complain about the refs. Or somebody sitting in the row behind an 8 year old and having zero filter when watching the game.
This doesn’t even take into account the countless drunks we had to weave in and out of just to get back to our van. Maybe I’m being sensitive here but I’ve been to some games before and I don’t remember it being this bad.
I suppose the only solution is earmuffs.
That is very unfortunate, not surprising though. Especially with booze involved. I recently went to an Ottawa game and saw the same a couple rows up.
As we have slowly eroded societal norms, like watching what you say depending on who you are around and talking to, this is what you get. Everyone can do what they want, no right and wrong, everything is subjective. Sad
We couldn’t even have the CBC on the radio without having to turn it off all the time when our kids were little. Didn’t want try to explain to little kids the very adult topics and humour that come up no matter the time of day. And our kids asked
Everything you say can offend someone today, yet everybody can still say whatever they want.
wait, what?
That is true. Things are very polarized. In my business we have both types of customers. Hyper sensitive and the orangutans. The orangutans used to have more cooth, even a little. I’ve been doing this a while. Not any more. Have to be on your toes
I think it’s the watch party vs regular seat holders. Many season ticket holders are much more sensitive of such things. I have had good experiences in the past.
If we manage to win, the disrespectful will increase in volume and severity
You aren’t being excessively sensitive. There should be a PSA.
I surrendered my season’s tickets for exactly that reason.
What would be fun would be a video showing several analogous plays and getting the viewer to identify which play was called. Remove in-game context.
How about we let NHL refs view said video and see what calls they make?
Even better!
and then use it to train an AI referee to put those game management dinosaurs out of a job. 🤭😆
What a frustrating series. Oilers better team in every respect (including toughness) and blowing themselves up with immaturity bordering on insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different results).
What I wouldn’t give for Ryan Smyth and Sather in this series. Korpisalo is now in their heads and the only way they will beat him clean is with an other worldly shot (see mcdavid, connor) or getting in his grille with tips etc. Kane was effective at that in his first few months in Edmonton but haven’t seen it in awhile. Not sure what is up with Hyman
Sather would find the right buttons to push with his own team and the opposition. Yes the refs have been terrible and the calls are very weak but stop being so undisciplined. Bench people if you have to. Tell them to concentrate on getting up 4 or 5 goals and go wild (nothing suspension worthy). It will be much more satisfying than a couple light stick taps for 2 minutes of box time. Doughty (he of one career fight) and the rest of his yappy bunch of Manhattan beach pretenders will fold like a cheap suit if forced to back up the big talk.
Sorry, I don’t see the Oilers blowing up with immaturity bordering on insanity (doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results). They certainly deserve to be well ahead in this series.
Kings were better in most facets of the game yesterday. Oilers were kept to the outside.
I hope Holland invites the referee supervisors to the next few games and evaluate their work. Would love to see if game mgmt changes by having their superiors witnessing and evaluating their every call or non call. Doubt this happens, but nice to think about it. Oilers just needs to play their game and avoid those stupid retaliatory penalties.if the trend continues and hate to say it, we may lose this series.
This all happens after every game and the teams involved have input into the review process.
Officials who perform poorly are denied the opportunity to work subsequent playoff rounds which hits them in the wallet,
Fair point but the system is not working. There’s no accountability, because if there is…there’s no referees left to ref the games, so collectivity they turn a blind eye. What I or we like to see is that REF calls by the rule book…pretty simple and straight forward, but this will never happen cause it’s NHL..4th tier league
This is from a few years back but outlines the process pretty well.
https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Paul-Stewart/Here-is-How-Officials-Get-Evaluated/196/70170
I believe a lot of the issues in officiating in hockey are a product of abusive fans especially parents in youth leagues who drive good refs out of the game.
As for last night, it’s important to remember that it was the Command Centre that ruled on the Vilardi high stick and there would have been multiple people including senior referee supervisors involved in the call.
I’ve seen multiple replays of the Ekholm cross check and it was indeed a penalty. Of note, McDavid also blatantly cross checked a Kings player behind the net and it was not called.
The Leon thing was just dumb..he was obviously trying to rile up Doughty but it backfired in a big way. While the love tap wasn’t significant, it was unnecessary and the ref may have been attempting to ensure that a stick swinging incident didn’t break out.
If you talk to experienced referees who have not made it – and also look at who the NHL is hiring – it appears officiating is in essentially no way a meritocracy.
Lots of friends of friends rather than promoting people doing a good job at lower levels. These former players who basically get sent straight in are the worst.
But I mean this is also a league that hired Stephen Walkom – one of the worst NHL referees there’s ever been – to run officiating.
I think the issue is that the Ekholm cross check happens 20 times a game, at least. Sometimes 5 times in a single board battle. It’s never called unless the player crosses the line, which didn’t happen here. Plus it was an obvious embellishment. Same with Desharnais. Never called. Same with Draisatl. We can rationalise why they chose to make the calls then, and by the letter of the law they are all penalties, but it they are not calls that players would expect and they were not applied both ways. It creates an imbalance, and this is a tight series. It matters.
And as for the high stick, I’d like them to remove all review except high sticking on a puck going into the net and goalie interference (plus confirming if pucks are in), such that this kind of play isn’t reviewable. But under current rules, it is tough to understand their conclusion. There are two TV angles and then some others that TNT had that might have been phones that clearly showed contact and/or the puck changing direction/rotation. Then the king player touched it next. Cut and dry IMO.
And as a general comment, every other major league protects their stars. Look at how star players are treated in NBA and protection for QBs in NFL. For some reason, hockedy does the opposite and McDavid has to play through more interference, knees, slashes, hooks than any other player, and only a fraction are called.
Again, call the rule book, and apply it the same to every player. The RNH penalty was a clear slash, so was Danault on McDavid earlier (uncalled). The uncalled knee by Doughty was clear, and if you want to protect your stars you call it every time. Just doesn’t make sense to me.
Are these officials performing poorly, or are they doing what they are told to do?
I’d say door # 2. Or it started there and now you’ve got a self-perpetuating culture of like-minded officials.
Million dollar question cowboy bill … we’ll never know since it has never been particularly transparent how NHL officiating is critiqued by the league. No one can speak out either cause it’s an automatic fine. But we got a glimpse of it from Tim Peel though …. game management …. so you can guess at the answer.
Bush league.
More of your lies.
There is no accountability.
Stop with your incessant lies.
Who were the Refs? Do they have a past with the Oilers? Do these Refs get a hometown welcome in Tinseltown are they gifted free meals in a posh L.A restaurant? Do the Will Ferrell and other Stars have a conversation where the Refs get autographs for the kids do these Refs have a Bias for Hollyweird. This series is about the Reffering they are the real Stars of the series. Meanwhile in actual hockey the Oilers have controlled 75% of the play yet we have 75% of the penalties.
I would love to see the referees be made to take questions from the media after games, the players and coach’s have to, and as such it adds to them being held accountable for their choices during the game. So why not officials too?
If a league and it’s officiants are confident in their abilities and lack of bias, it shouldn’t be a problem to answer questions and explain thought processes as to why things were called how they were called.
It just comes down to accountability, and there is ZERO accountability when it comes to officiating. Just garbage.
Every incentive is present to enable the Kings to play the way they’re playing. The underdog resorts to “gamesmanship” (aka legal cheating) if they know they can’t win the skill game. Should a team be punished for taking that strategy? Obv. Is that happening? Nope. Not even close.
The Kings game plan operates under the assumption that penalty calls will be at least even despite their on-ice behaviour being significantly worse. And then on top of it all, they’re actually getting more calls while behaving worse. The height of unjustice.
This is beyond cringeworthy. I switched the game off yesterday because I’d have been filled with rage win or lose. This has robbed me of any possible enjoyment from this series.
Exactly. You watch the whole game waiting for the shoe to drop because you know, to the depths of your soul, that you are playing with a tilted deck. Even if you win, you hated the game. It is irredeemable.
With most sports I am a fan of the game, not a team, and what I want is a good game. Hockey never has a good game, you have a team beating the officials or losing to the officials.
Would winning the Stanley Cup change that? Maybe, I like it when the city is happy. But winning one series will not change that, let alone one game.
— Good luck on the book signing: sounds like a blast LT!
— Anyone else get the sense we are being “out coached “? Or am I just conflating coaching with results?
I think this is an execution issue.
Some of you may recall that I gave a coach’s overview of the 1-3-1 and what the Oilers are doing to combat it. Quick recap…Oilers are resetting with the left defenseman skating towards the “1” in the middle of the ice. Single swing with the right winger, double swing with the centre and left wing…but inevitably the puck goes to the right defense to gain the redline and dump it into the path of the LW/C double stack. The Kings are using a “sweeper”; a right defense playing super deep so he can get to the puck first and move it out.
In games 1 and 2 the majority of those plays resulted in a chip out to safety by the Kings but with some productive results for the Oilers; either;
The end result was about 65/35 possession at evens and I think both coaches were willing to live with that. Woody believes that if you keep dominating evens to that level the goal share will follow. MacLellan will take his 35% possession and rely on his teams ability to limit Grade A scoring chances and his goalie’s ability to stop the puck plus the Oilers propensity to crack open once or twice a period and take penalties (whether due to discipline or diving). I’d say it WAS a stalemate after game 2 with both teams choosing to stick with their plan in game 3.
And it was both obvious and mind numbing. I saw DOZENS of the exact same play described above.
BUT…I saw far less success for the Oilers based on the two metrics above; either direct puck retrievals or zone entries off the secondary rush. Do the Oilers try something more radical or stay with the plan?
Option 1- vary the side of the ice for the dump-in. Picture a punt in football where 2/3 of the kicking team are standing on one side of the field where the receiving team is also stacked up and the receiver himself is setup perfectly for a retrieval. Wouldn’t it make sense to try the other side some of the time?
It would be pretty easy for the Oilers to stack up the right side of the ice and bring the centre down the left side to make a hard rim left-to-right. Those right shot defense; Doughty, Roy and Durzi (returners) are doing a great job on their forehand but they might struggle a bit fielding those pucks on the backhand and getting the puck by an onrushing Hyman and Desharnais for example. I see very little downside here.
Option 2- “trap” the breakout. Instead of sending the three forwards roaring into the offensive zone allowing the Kings to make one simple chip to get the puck behind them, what about sending only one and stacking 3 across the offensive blueline. The pressuring forward creates the same feeling of “hurry” and so perhaps there are some weak chips up the wall or into the middle of the ice. Also seems like a safe play.
Option 3- mix in some PP breakout. Run it the exact same way except McDavid or Draisaitl breaks off their pattern to curl back. When Ceci or whomever gets the pass to get to the redline they bring the Kings defense up, hit the breaks and zip it back to the trailer ideally on the weak side.
It’ll be interesting to see if Coach Woody is first to blink and come out of their Game 1 game plan because we know MacLellan is ride or die with his.
Great observations – thank you for posting.
Like the concept of trapping the breakout as it might generate better scoring chances.
Great analysis, great post.
At the outset of this series, I said, all Skinner had to do was be good, and we will win. Just don’t cost us a game. Well, he has been good. He has not cost us a game, but we’re behind 2-1 in the series. Somehow we just have to find a way to score more goals. We know who the refs are so just quit taking the stupid penalties. Penalties will always happen but don’t take the needless ones.
So last night is why I’ve stopped watching hockey.
The talk about being more disciplined is so much nonsense. They aren’t taking penalties, they are being given penalties.
The only way for them to avoid penalties is to stop trying. Ekholm could have avoided his cross check easily by standing there and doing nothing. How would that have worked out?
Then we’d be hearing about how the Oilers lost because they were soft on defense.
The series isn’t over, because sometimes teams go 0 for the PP, but my enjoyment of it is.
I’m not upset about the video review though, that shouldn’t be reviewable anyway.
But I don’t even care if they win. Winning can’t redeem a stacked deck. The NHL is broken.
I encourage you not to stop watching. “They aren’t taking penalties, they are being given penalties” is generally an accurate take though. There’s no way to stop some of those without being completely passive
I switched the game off for this reason. I knew that, win or lose, I’d be enraged – and that’s not good entertainment. This league has no interest in fairness nor justice. “Gamesmanship”, (aka cheating) is celebrated in playoff hockey. At this point, the problem is cultural and almost fundamental.
I also turned the game off as well. Mind you I am in the East and was very tired and staying up until 1:30-2am is tough@! lol so that helped me once I saw how the first period went.
If you have stopped watching hockey, how do you know so many details about the game last night?
hi guys, just sticking my head in to see if anyone’s got the same thought as me:
i don’t think the Oilers can “discipline” their way into an even, or even better, penalty differential. i did think so, before this game.
i saw Dennis King post on twitter about how it looked like there was going to be calls on stick fouls, but not holding/interference/boarding, which suited the Kings but could be adapted to. that was a good point, and i wouldn’t be surprised if it group brought up internally on the day off.
however, now that that standard is out the window, what is the answer? i refuse to entertain a conspiracy.
this is my best idea: the officials/league do not mind wild powerplay opp differentials, they not mind wild discrepancies in penalty standards, but they do mind special teams goal differentials.
so, the system is this: powerplays will be awarded as “normal”, until one team (the Oilers, let’s be real) scores on one of them. after that, given enough time, there tends to be both nothing that the LA Kings can do to be called for a penalty, and nothing the Oilers can do to not be called for a penalty. this would explain Leon and Vincent’s penalties, as well as the non-call/call on Danault & Nuge’s identical slashing plays, respectively.
…
anyways, does anyone else have a good theory on why the veteran, established team gets so little deference? again, entertaining a conspiracy is both useless in that we can’t prove it, and it’s pretty goofy.
I’ll never suspect conspiracy when I competence more than adequately explains an observation. I agree with most of your thoughts, however, with one exception: the lack of a PPG differential is not a conscious goal, it’s considered a marker for fairness (which could only be applied to a large body of data). An individual game with unequal behaviours and equivalent power play production should end up with a PPG differential.
So, is anyone going to argue that behaviour has been equivalent between the two?
It’s plain sight that the Kings intend to muddy the waters and roll the dice on being better at scoring in chaos.
yes i should be clear, i’m saying it’s stupid and bad, but it seems to make more sense in terms of predictive value than the prior thoughts i had on how the officiating could possibly end up this way
I’m curious whether they will load up that top line next game.
97-29-91
hyman, nuge, X can probably saw off.
the kings are uniquely prepared for the double headed oilers with their two shut down centres.
but they won’t play danault and koptiar together will they?
i’m not saying it’s a good idea. Just curious about the coaching decisions.
if scoring goals is the problem, mcdrai can probably sort it out. Our depth is good enough now to try it for a period…
I think discipline would provide better results.
I also want a quick shout out to Mark Spector, one of the lead carpet crawlers.
He could of told the real story
But instead went with a weak, weak, politically correct piece of nonsense.
He might as well just say the real reason Kings are ahead in the series is because they won 2 games, the Oilers only 1. Thanks for that.
I don’t know. I thought he actually nailed it. Which part did you disagree with. Maybe I saw a different article.
Actually I was commenting on his post game presser, but I went and found his article.
iIt is very typical, minimize the impact or reffing, call out the team for not overcoming the double standard.
continuously we see this perspective that “they sucked, but refs didn’t lose the game”
it’s a tired narrative. Yes, refs can influence, turn momentum, blow calls and flat out cost a team. It’s real. It’s okay to acknowledge
Mark, why do you think the 5 on 5 play is suffering? What do you think affects 5 on 5 play?
The story here is how a top scoring team can’t score so his answer is “just score”
sure, thanks for that.
He could dive deeper. What is the effect of this diving? Double standard? How does a team change the game that was producing. .8 winning percentage when that game is not allowed in playoffs.
knee hit on McDavid, would Doughty be called for touching Drai? So many angles, so many stories of what might be affecting this series.
He went with the simplest blame the players , as per usual.
Each time this narrative is played, it gives the refs an out.
Sounds like a lot of posters on this board….
I see a lot of rose coloured glasses today thinking that the Oilers are dominating.
Just so you know, Cult had 5 alarm chances at 9-2 Kings.
We have a lot of puck time and shots but when we make a mistake it’s a doozy like Leon’s 2-on-0
The Oilers deserved to lose after giving up that putrid 2 on 0 when they were 4 on 4.
I just wrote a big comment about this but didn’t post it. I think Woody is being a bit too cute by half. His team doesn’t sport the players that can execute consistently what he wants. Which is odd because I believe he’s mentioned playing a style that suits the players you have
Any nuance to things seems to be too much. I think they need to play a very basic system and let the Duo swing the balance – less mess ups, less GA. Gallant does this and it’s effective. Let’s them just play without thinking too much and lets guys make mistakes without getting on them right away. Or so he says
Truth bomb alert…
The Arvidsson dive on Bouchard was so smart! A basic end boards battle and he LEAPS into the air to throw himself against the boards. Worst case…no penalty and the fans lose their mind at the refs likely leading to a makeup call. Best case the fall for it, call the penalty and you win the game. Heck of a player!
I’ve been and continue to be a Nurse supporter. Tough in the corners, durable, but my goodness does he lose his coverage a lot. No idea why he would be heading to the blueline on the first goal. Woodcroft’s post game was interesting – first time he’s seemed genuinely rattled. Kept saying “the best player in the world” was 3 ft away on the high stick call. No idea what McDavid’s being the best player in the world had to do with making that call. Maybe he just needed to say anything other than what he wanted to. Hope he can pull the boys back from the edge here.
Nurse didn’t lose his coverage. He followed his coverage when he should have broken from coverage and stayed net front. He was let down by trusting his teammates too much there though.
I didn’t see what you saw re. Woodcroft’s post game. Don’t agree at all.
https://www.nhl.com/oilers/video/post-raw–woodcroft-042123/t-277437406/c-16757730
What does Nurse accomplish skating to the top of the circles by himself when the puck has yet to clear the defensive zone?
Yes, he makes himself more available as a potential outlet but a true defenceman protects against the goal against first and the breakout second. Priorities.
I said he should have stayed net front. He did not lose coverage though, and if his teammates had done their jobs we wouldn’t be talking about the play today.
He’s covering Byfield in the high slot, who initially is in a dangerous position to receive an easy pass from the point man. But his teammates are covering nobody, nobody at all.
4 Oilers on the wall on that play, & they still lost the battle. Then they didn’t recover well at all.
The propensity to blame Nurse and let Hyman off with another crap game in his own end is astounding.
Hyman has been useless this series frankly. LT will keep giving him rope while ragging Yamo but he’s done nothing in either end this whole series and in fact has been the GOAT on three goals against. All at crucial times, all off of sad lost battles.
Zach Hyman needs to wake up and play better.
All of the top 6 wingers have been mediocre to poor in this series. Hyman (defensive coverage and lack of offense), Nuge (costly penalties, lack of offense), Kane (costly penalties, defensive coverage, lack of offense) and Yamamoto (lack of execution). If these four players don’t figure it out, it’s going to be difficult to win anything.
Nurse is exactly who he has always been. A physical specimen that skates pretty well (I think it was Bieksa who called out his edges and turns one time) with medium hockey sense (Darnell hears the dog whistles and bees) and medium puck skills (icing and passing)
He’s a good player, not a great player
He just happens to be at or near the top of all offensive and defensive metrics available for defensemen over a significant sample size. Must be a coincidence.
Depends what you mean. NHL SID whose work I like and tracks zone stats himself sees Nurse as having a weaker season, even in his typical strengths like puck retrieval. We all see the walk abouts and mistakes in coverage which are constant, even if his overall numbers aggregate well. He also plays with the two best C in the league, helps out the stats I’m pretty sure
This is where stats alone can be tricky. When you make a mistake is more important than how many. Some players, and with the Oilers it has been a long standing issue, are prone to critical errors at bad times
It’s the biggies that get you, result in GA. I did say he was a good D. I just don’t see him in the top tier because of game sense and long standing inconsistent passing. All players make mistakes, the top ones less so, and less so in critical moments. Like in OT in a huge game
Not sure why the NHL official’s supervisor for the playoff game are not interviewed after the game? Three are three teams on the ice and two of them have to face tough questions.
It will be interesting how politically correct SN is tonight. I am betting it is beige.
Yes having the refs have to answer for their decisions publicly would definitely cut down on the BS quickly.
As the Oilers digest their position today they should think about who they are and what they are proud of, win, or lose.
If they want to stand up for themselves, then do it if someone takes out their captains knee, then go punch him in the face and take the repercussions, but make it worth it.
If that’s what they decide as a team that’s what they want to be, then live with it.
Same with the reffing. Speak up and speak honest and be damned, it’s not whining if it’s simple truth. Speak honest and be proud
At the same time they need to decide if they’re going to stop taking the cheap penalties and just do it. To a man, just stop.
And finally in order to win the game, you simply have to beat the other bastard in every aspect of the game. Outwork them over and over and over.
I do believe the Players worked hard, but they definitely got the short end of the stick. I feel for them. It’s going to take some real guts to get some wins. And when you are playing with that intensity against such conniving little pukes, you lose your temper. I couldn’t do it but I hope they can.
Tbh, I kind of agree with the thesis “if you’re going to take penalties, make it hurt”. They could also try to not take penalties. Although I’m not sure how Deharnais feels about not getting phantom calls
Remember when some were calling this top 6 the best ever in Oiler’s history?
Nuge Hyman Kane and Yama are not the same as Tikkanen Kurri Anderson and Nilsson (or whomever)
Its taken time ( and yes, it could and should change) …but this is truth so far in this series.
easy to blame officiating but the reality is the Oilers aren’t getting anything special in goal either
agree… but that was horrendous, blatant so bad… awful…
Not sure how you can blame Skinner for this. He’s been holding up his end of the bargain as well as you can ever expect from a rookie goalie. The Oil with all their fire power can’t buy a goal at evens, and worse yet, have made Skinner fend off a pretty damn good power play 15 times now.
Clarification, I dont blame skinner at all i do think he has been very good. Last night though he got outplayed a little by korp, also on the oil forwards 17 shots is enough to bury one in the third with their talent… I am still fired up at the whole view of the that game. I meant officiating in my above comment, not Skinner
That was one of the most poorly officiated games I have watched and that was in the first period. I actually text my brother n law with a few mins left in the first wondering what was happening and that I might have to shut the game off lol.
Was it the only reason the oil lost ? no… but as fan I have a very difficult time watching this type of officiating, it was very blatant last night and it just makes me sad because it is not a real game when they are obviously directly involved in game outcomes.
All the same as most on here are saying. Yes oil are giving too much in a few ways… more discipline needed, bury more chances, shooting themselves in the foot with positioning etc. Skinner steal it etc etc etc.
BUT
that kind of officiating makes me not want to watch the nhl…
HUGE embarrassment.
Feels like watching WWE wrestling. Some athleticism and entertaining displays, rooting for the good guys but there is an invisible hand guiding the outcome.
Refereeing last night was Rank.
This is an indisputable truth.