This is Jo-Anne, Mrs. Lowetide, when we first met. I was a goner from go, and she was my North Star. She had all kinds of phrases I’ve used for years on this site, the most famous being “start as you mean to go” and it remains true. She called me on everything, saying things like “just because I’m a clean freak doesn’t mean you can be a slob” and “for a guy who says he’s busy, you don’t do much” with a smile on her face. She had mountains of nicknames for me, nicknames I would never have allowed others to use. Names like “Lummox” or “Stupidious” flattened me in real time. She didn’t have a mean fibre in her whole body so I giggled and rolled with the flow. She’d say something funny, cackle, and smile just like the photo that is featured above.
When I snored, she perfected a three strike combination that moved me to a new spot without waking either of us up. She was amazing. Jo-Anne was a great Mom, she had an unending supply of love for her children and all about her. Jo-Anne didn’t know a lot of people, her circle of influence was family and friends. Those who knew her, loved her. I can tell you dozens of examples of people I met, befriended, and then watched them migrate to Jo-Anne and her shining light of goodness and love. I could never blame them, it was irresistible.
I miss her. I mourn her. I have reached a point where it’s okay to move on. That’s a significant thing, you know. I don’t know that everyone recovers from losing their Jo-Anne after 40 years of (to borrow a line from Stevie Nicks) drowning in a sea of love. I will call Jo-Anne’s Mom today, she’s 98 and remains an inspiration, quick wit and a great Mom. All Jo-Anne ever wanted to do is to be as good a Mom as the one she had, and I believe she achieved that goal before she passed. Will you do me a favour? Call your Mom, and your Mother-in-Law, and wish them a great Mother’s Day. Even if they aren’t your birth Mom, you know who your Mother is. Do that today. Will you? Thanks. PS: You can’t call me stupidious. Only Jo-Anne could get away with that one. 🙂
BRASS IN POCKET
Leon Draisaitl has been to hell and back during recent Stanley Cup playoff runs. His size, style of play and determination make him a load, a target, and ultimately a lead story in any series this Oilers club is involved in. Leon’s scoring in the playoffs is exceptional, making him a rare item, an actual outlier in the game’s history. That could change as his career continues, but at this point we can include him alongside names like Beliveau, Messier and Frank Mahovlich.
Connor McDavid sets his jaw, says ‘to hell with this noise’ and then hammers the opponent into submission. He did it against the LAK when the series was in doubt a couple of years ago and he was enormous in the Oilers Game 2 victory over the Canucks on Friday. Should you expect another outrageous performance from the captain this evening? Why yes, yes you should.
The great pitcher Jim Palmer always says the most important pitch is strike one. I always relate that saying to games won in the playoffs. The Canucks got strike one, but the Oilers evened the count. That makes the most important pitch strike two. That’s tonight.
I see plenty of anger about Stuart Skinner, Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci these days, and I do understand that it’s a big series against a rival. However, surely we can agree these men are playing a tough opponent and in fact could lose the series even if the club plays well.
So, when you hammer Kris Knoblauch for his deployment decisions tonight, I would hope you’ll remember these facts. When Connor McDavid is on the ice at five-on-five with Evan Bouchard (98 minutes), the Oilers enjoy an 8-2 edge in goals. When McDavid is on the ice with Darnell Nurse (15 minutes) the team is 0-1 goals. With Kulak and McDavid (13 minutes) it is 1-0 goals. Nurse without McDavid is 4-7 goals in seven games. Based on my limited knowledge of stats, trends and regression, my suspicion is that it’s too small a sample size to justify just how angry you are at Darnell Nurse. For me, some of the verbal about Nurse online is over the top and I suspect even the people doing it are aware that’s the case. The Al Gore has unleashed brilliance and rage in equal parts. I encourage you to regress to the smart.
Game 3
Even Strength High Danger
Edm 11 : Van 6
Overall High Danger
Edm 18 : Van 9
Tighten up the PK
I wish we could see Sportslogic data. I sure didn’t see us having better scoring chances overall. All of these posts they are scoring chances, ones that beat the goalie, but if you can’t put them in it doesn’t matter anyway
I wonder if the public data counts each time Hyman pounded the puck into Silovs’ pads with a 2% chance of scoring that way
A stat I found interesting from a commentator yesterday on Sirius XM… In the past 3 years of playoffs if you remove the L.A. series’ the Oilers are now 8-18 in the playoffs.
That is an ugly number
If you take away other team’s series that they won, they’ll also have a losing record.
Is there any easy way to find out what Skinner’s regular season saver percentage was this past season, against only teams that actually made the playoffs?
I posted this previously…did not include the last loss of the regular season against Vancouver.
here are the analytics against the top 8 teams in the league:
New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche
GP 20, PTS 11, PTS% 28
GA 75, GF 55, GF% 42.31
xGA 59, xGF 76, xGF% 56.36
Goals For Above Expected -21
Goals Against Above Expected 16
Team, SV% against EDM
New York Rangers 92.98
Carolina Hurricanes 84.21
Dallas Stars 93.52
Boston Bruins 89.71
Florida Panthers 94.12
Vancouver Canucks 95.1
Winnipeg Jets 92.56
Colorado Avalanche 90.12
EDM SV% against the top-8: 87.62%
It might be that Skinner is having trouble performing in the town he grew up in. Tons of added pressure. Not everybody is Grant Fuhr.
Tough loss.
Some positives:
1) Tons of chances created, and I thought quite a few from non McDrai players.
2) I thought they absorbed a lot of punishment and generally played pretty well in the hard areas.
3) I thought Nurse – Ceci were better.
4) Among bottom sizers, Ryan and Holloway stood out. Brown was making things happen on the forecheck.
5) Drai was a force of nature. Unbelievable. Could have had a hat trick.
Some bad:
1) No one wants to hear about bad luck, but that’s a lot of posts and 2 goals saved at the goal line. At the same time, part of the game is cashing.
2) I think 97 has to shoot more. It’s really, really tough to get passes through the middle with the Nucks collapsing so much.
3) Skinner. Like the guy but it has to be Pickard from here on out.
4) Too/Two many 5 alarm break downs. McDrai line leaves Boeser wide wide open, Foegele with the brutal giveaway. Sure Skinner was poor but that’s two comedically bad errors.
It’s a bit frustrating but the guys are fighting like hell. I was talking about the Oilers finding their game…I take this as a step in that direction, without the desired result.
Being down 2-1 stinks. Big picture wise, they have played well enough to win all three games. Suspect it’s time to split McDrai, make a bottom six change, and go forward with Pickard.
Agreed. Picks needs to come in and you need to bring some new juice. Gagner, Carrick. Split up McD and Drai. Outside of McD, Drai, Hyman, Bouch, Eks and RNH (only because of PP), throw in Holloway too, everyone has shown to be basically expendable or have no playoff mustard. Even after round 1 Vinnie looked to be building up some serious contract equity and now it feels like he has lost all leverage.
We lose this round and you could easily make the case for replacing half the roster based off of who actually is a playoff style player. The ‘one line team’ strategy isn’t good enough anymore to win the cup, even with maybe the best PP of all time. Col is in a similar situation, Boston too. Great teams but you need a lot more than a couple bullets in the chamber, especially given health of your roster is something you can’t predict.
Agreed. Especially point 4.
Those are the kinds of errors they were making at the start of the year. You just can’t give away free looks like that.
0 5×5 goals. Brutal
Stuart Skinner has made 20 postseason appearances. His career playoff save percentage is .881, the worst of any Oilers goalie to play even one full game.
For all his regular season value – and it’s real, especially given Campbell’s implosion – can you keep him in net?
https://x.com/jonathanwillis/status/1789885384039526704?s=46&t=eJhhNPA4I32vVTDvo2_ETA
For me if he starts there needs to be a top down rethink about anyone putting other priorities in front of winning hockey games. Winning comes first, then do the best you can after that. Starting him can’t be justified because of what has happened so far
“No media for Stuart Skinner tonight. Team wouldn’t make him available despite him being requested.”
https://x.com/dnbsports/status/1789878558380151243?s=46&t=eJhhNPA4I32vVTDvo2_ETA
I mean he gave this humdinger of a quote after his game 1 collapse I bet “the team” might be a little chapped with Stu and his play lately.
““When you get up, you can’t just shut it down and hope that we’re going to be able to stifle teams. You know that Vancouver is going to bring it,” Skinner said. “There’s definitely a lesson learned here for us: no matter what the score is, you’ve got to know that the other team is not going to just let you win.””
The NHL doesn’t care about its star players. Assault and murder is legalized during the playoffs, 9 out of 10 Sports Medicine Doctors view it as the professional sports version of The Purge.
If the NHL Department of Roulette really cared, Soucy would get a 1 game suspension, but if they decide that, expect it to be cancelled out by a 1 game suspension to Nurse for Because Oilers.
Those were all good hockey plays after the horn, not dangerous at all, the camera angles made it look worse than it was. We need more Zadorov’s and Dakota’s and less McDavid’s and Draisaitl’s on the ice as much as possible. The league is trying to appeal to the millions of WWE affectionados in US Markets.
Besides, this David O’Connor guy, he’ll be outta the league in a couple years…
NHL playoffs. Unfortunately your not wrong
Oilers getting beat by the Canucks without Demko. Canucks with more disciplined structure, better goaltending, better depth scoring, winning the bully battle. Tonight Oilers losing the special teams PP% battle 66% to 50%.
Our star players are better. But KK is riding them harder than Tippett when he was trying to save his job.
KK chalking it up to luck in the presser. If that’s the message to the team in the dressing room, that’s not coaching or leadership. And riding the hell out of the five man unit isn’t a plan forward.
Oilers 7 HD chances
Canucks 6 HD chances
You mean 5v5, right?
Oilers 27 shots 5v5
Canucks 13 shots 5v5
How many uncontested shots did the Oilers have in the high danger area vs. how many did the Canucks.
We are literally living Groundhog Day with McDrai.
Nuge-McD-Hyman was a good line. maybe go back to that? split up the 3 best players??
They need to go back to what worked during the regular season.
I’m avoiding the internet because it’s become really toxic. I can’t stand Vancouver fans.
Anyway I have hated this series but I still think Edmonton wins it. It’s going to go long and long favours superstars. They will adjust. Start Pickard, figure out Skinner later.
Skinner 20 career playoff games.
.881 save percentage.
And we will ride him until Draisaitl and McDavid ride away
we have followed this team through good and bad. A few observations.
Split up McDrai. If you play them together, they need to get 3 pts each or we lose. It’s so easy for the other coach when they are together. YES, they can be dominant, but playing them 29 mins is not a recipe for theCUP.
Split them up.
Start Pickard. Skinner was .883 last playoffs and is .888 (before tonight) this season. Roll the dice on Pickard, he actually played well during the season and deserves a chance.
Roll 4 lines. When Edm was playing excellent during reg season, they had a team playing well. Van is a heavy team. Need 4 lines taking and dishing punishment.
I think if KK gets it right EDM can still win this series.
When they get tunnel vision and start forcing is also a good time to split them
However, there aren’t a lot of options for the wingers that can help enough this time of year. Especially when you are always playing behind
Trademarked since 2016
If we get better goaltending- will that mean we can score at least 1 or 2 even strength goals?
Answer. it doesn’t matter if you can’t get any saves
True.
I’d like to know exactly what a cross checking penalty is? I saw 4 different ones get called. And of the four that were called only one was actually a penalty.
It’s whatever the ref thinks at any given moment.
No really.
Given that every coach before KK ended in the same spot, we can see that human nature plays a part in relying on the Mcdrai combo. Then games like game 2 where they single-handedly win it reinforce those decisions and over time this reinforces the approach while eroding the team game and concept. Not sure the solution to help KK see and change the pattern before it’s too late.. every Stanley cup winner has done so on the strength of four lines and better goaltending than we are getting.
Rinse. Repeat.
I really thought loading up McDrai would unlock lines 2 and 3 – even strength scoring.
Cuthbert and Simpson telling truth bombs about Oilers lines 2 and 3….
Foggy continues to humiliate on line 2
GF 2 / GA 8
RNH
GF 8 / GA ****9*****
Mcleod
GF 0 / GA 2
Kane
GF 5 / GA 7
On home ice, the Edmonton Oilers did not score 1 goal at even strength
Haven’t you heard McLeod is elite defensively . He doesn’t need to score or hit anyone.
McLeod gets different hand me downs for wingers every game, sometimes every period.
Wingers could say they’re getting the hand me down in McLeod, his most physical play in his tool bag is a fly by quick poke check
Coach K had himself a wicked out scoring 3rd line if he would have let Kane-McLeod-Perry develop a bit more chemistry.
also put Foegle on the 4th line. til he proves otherwise ..
I thought that when Foegle was moved down to bottom 6 in LA series he was better and also top 2 lines were better. I’d make that move again. Problem is who goes up? I’d choose Holloway.
Canucks get 4 goals on 15 shots and few state the obvious. Why? What’s the love here. It happened last year and hear we go again. The oilers dominated the game and lost. The reason is beyond obvious
100% if you deploy by Playoff SV% I think you end up with Campbell.
Yup, time to put in Soup!
I really really hope the coaching staff challenges TF out of the forwards on this team not numbered 97 or 29 or 18
Coach needs to look in the mirror first and give them more ice time with the top two centres. Drai can play 29 mins he can centre his own bloody line.
They cannot score from the bench. The 2nd PP unit scored a power play goal but didn’t get another chance.
It takes a team. 5 players do not make a team. You need to play more than 5 guys.
If you don’t trust the other 15, then get 15 different guys.
Given the last 3 coaches couldn’t figure it out, and maybe KK can’t, that would appear to be the root cause
Agreed. When both Woody and KK first took over, both times the team felt refreshed and commented how they were more engaged because everyone felt they had a role. Then each of them revert led to this “our top guys can take your whole team” nonsense.
We completely dominated that game.
Except in net you mean.
Sure looks like we are trying the same failing tactic since 2016….
Warren Foegele and RNH don’t scare anyone ( away from McDrai ) at even strength
Then they need to play with McDavid and Leon, on separate lines.
Lets get back to what worked during the 16 game win streak and what made them one of the top teams for the second half of the season.
So many third party people around the league keep pointing this out……to no avail.
as WOODGUY always said. Mostly Goalie.
I think if Edm rolls that game out again in game 4, we can win.
Pickard starts game 4.
If we have a goalie playing.900 we win.
.800 tonight.
And the result is predictable
Which – non McDrai – forward would you expect to score at even strength?
Soucy full on cross checked McDavid in the face, full strength, while Zadorov was doing the same to his spine.
Any response from his teammates?
Nevermind, I know the answer
They snooker themselves by not dominating a series , so can’t kick ass for fear of a suspension which they would get but not the other guys
Get a lead and make them pay
It is an automatic suspension for the next game. The fab five was on the ice. Who do you think should volunteer to get suspended?
It doesn’t matter. McDavid.
It’s hockey. If you get owned you will lose anyway. You have to have balls to win the cup.
Nurse did it last year against Hague. How did that turn out?
The other answer is this: Do you think JT Miller would let it go? Or would he respond?
I would have liked more aggression after that. But you take the gloves off and your looking at suspension.
Holloway-Draisaitl-Kane
Hopkins-McDavid-Hyman
Should be top 6 next game.
And play Gagner. He’s built for this, rested, and healthy. He will do whatever it takes and find a way to score.
Knoblauch mismanaged the fact that Ryan was going tonight. Should have been some double shifts for 97 or 29 with him.
Bouch over 31 minutes, McD and Drai over 29. They’re not gonna have a full tank in game 4. Someone needs to step up.
While I want a different mix, it is the playoffs and this is how much elite players should play.
JT Miller played 13 mins at evens
McDavid played almost 18 mins
McDavid played half the game a didn’t register a point. That’s a rarity.
He didn’t make many dangerous plays. They aren’t adapting they are forcing. Happens every playoffs, just before they go out
I hope KK has some magic tricks up his sleeve. Might squeak this series out but they sure are making it harder than needed
Ground Hog Day.
Some in here are expecting a different result from this tried and true Oiler tactic…
Time to start Pickard next game no question and turn this series around. Oilers only need average goaltending to win this series we are not asking for Grant Fuhr.
Goaltending problem again, we’re fukced
They aren’t showing it or mentioning the Soucy cross check to Connor’s head. Bullshit
What is it Zapruder film?
Zadorov should get suspended, but this is the NHL where the league doesn’t give a damn about the stars
What happened after is worse, far worse
Rewatched – you’re right. Suspend them both
That really boils my blood.
Stars take the shit all game, refs pick off ticky tac calls. its BS
I know winning the game is a bigger deal but you need to hold your own physically. Oilers got Kane, they need more.
End of the game Zadorov crosschecks your captain while Cole crosschecks to the face. Game is over guys, you don’t take that. Start swinging and keep swinging.
Imagine a world where both get suspended for dangerous play after the game was over
If Holland isn’t already on the phone unloading he’s not doing his job. Thats not ‘playoff hockey’ it’s intent to injure the game’s best player
F*****g losers
McD threw a slash and the inflicted Canuck and his teammates responded. Kind of what most oilers fans are now asking the oilers to do.
You cannot view this in isolation. Before the slash was another after the whistle crosscheck. And before that another 500.
And Connors team won’t stick up for him. They loaded the fourth line with smart penalty killers, but gave up a lot of jam.
It was an incited slash, it didn’t just come out of nowhere
Cross to the head is a suspension it’s not debatable
What is is whether Parrot will do it
How would you characterize McDavid’s obvious intent to injure Quinn Hughes in the last game?
Should have been an obvious 4 minutes for high sticking and 5 for intent to injure and perhaps a game misconduct.
Is that debatable?
4 minutes for sure. The rest is you baiting so not biting
You’re not stupid there is no valid comparison, it was also two players on one after time, a cross check is next level dangerous
Kirk out
This is a completely fabricated narrative.
Honestly I think Van was lucky to win this game, but I’ve got concerns about the mindset of this coaching staff and team in how they’re loading up the top 5. Hearing the commentators saying “the bottom 6 can’t just sit on the bench waiting for the top guys to do something” and then seeing the top 5 literally play the last 5 minutes of the game = expecting 97 and 29 to save them is literally the game plan! And while the rest of the bench becomes increasingly disengaged from sitting, you’re overworking your top guys and weakening your greatest strength for the rest of the series.
Having superstars is no excuse for abandoning the team game that got you here.
The Power Play Ponies are very vulnerable.
In what way? They dominated everywhere but on the score sheet tonight, after a hell of a game 2. What an ass clown
My team’s better than yours, we just get arrogant and forget it sometimes
It’s an interesting observation.
The Oilers and Canucks have played 7 games this season.
The Canucks have won 6 of them.
Who’s band wagon on you going to jump on next? Zero integrity.
Annoying and frustrating game.
No matter how much you put on Skinner vs. the team in front of him making some mistakes, it can’t be denied that the opposition goalie wss MUCH better and that was a major factor in the game.
Oilers have got this series.
We have dominated Vancouver. Its only a matter of time before it starts showing.
Time is not in great supply. Somebody has to finish or 74 shots doesn’t matter
The third period powerplay was so awful.
They’re not reading that the Canucks are cutting off McDavid on the high side, and the play is dying there.
Mirrors 5-on-5 where the Canucks are cutting off the drive-deep-pass-back play. The Oilers just keep trying it.
Got to adjust.
And because it’s “classic coach”, I bet they go back to Skinner Tuesday, even though that is a mistake.
It was bad. Nobody in position to get a shot, no screen, no deflection until Bouch’s goal
This is what they revert to under pressure, Everyone looking for Leon or Bouch, forcing it so hard
What Zadorov did to 97 at the end needs a response. But on Kitty Kat’s team it will never happen.
McDavid has been initiating this shit then whines to the refs when he gets a response.
Just a matter of time until the officials give him a lesson.
What a weird dance you do – using your burner accounts during the games and then reappearing any time the Oilers lose.
HH, these are the words of a sincerely gutless loser
You’re not actually serious? You couldn’t possibly be that stupid,but then again I have read some of your asinine remarks. I enjoyed the blog much more when you were gone.
Here, here…
You really a a piece of sh…work.
Any person that saw that and thinks that belongs in hockey…especially to the best player in the game is just a waste of skin.
Sorry, what did McDavid do to deserve a cross-check to the face?
You are literally an idiot if you think that’s justified.
You can’t let them continue to beat up Leon and Connor dress Carrick and start running at Hughes and Miller.
We deserved better.
Just gonna let that big dummy keep doing stuff like that?
Earn your paycheque, Kane.
I hope he’s ok
Cross from behind and Soucy in the face
That guy needs to have the most painful game of his life next game . And a suspension, no way that’s not after time
The series would be 3-0 Oilers if Coach yanked Skinner after the 4-2 goal, the 4-3 goal or the 4-4 goal in Game 1
People sometimes hate the truth.
Why would he have pulled skinner after the 4-2 goal? That game we got outshot like 15 nothing in the first 15 min of the 3rd. I dont want some coach who has knee jerk reactions to everything.
Self inflicted
I will be listening to our gracious host tomorrow. As a Skinner (huge)supporter this must be very hard to watch. I think it will be a tough day with the callers.Hard to spin this in a positive light for Skinner.
If Kris starts Skinner next game this series is toast.
100%
Flush this one and win the next one.
They’ve had a whale of a time holding the offensive blue line
Aim for Cole!!
BOOM. 1 more to go
A crap first period cost us dearly
Yup.
Canucks came out swinging and we couldn’t answer until into the second period.
No one came out swinging. It was pretty back and forth and then our goalie couldn’t make a big save, and then couldn’t make a little save
With nods to posts by Foegs and Clouder, might be time to dust off Gagner just to inject some creativity or luck or something. This squad has never looked more like a one line team, and we know that simply isn’t the case. Or it shouldn’t be.
No matter the outcome,I actually feel pretty good going into game 4. I think they have played pretty well tonight overall. We just didn’t get any timely stops from our goalie.
And the goal posts. But do you start pick or skin?
Pickard without hesitation and maybe go so far as sitting Skinner out and dress Campbell as a backup to give Skinner a chance to view the game from up top and maybe reset.
It’s 50/50
They need to execute some things better. Silovs has been good but the shot quality has been poor
Agree but Silovs made some stops when he needed to and ours didn’t. I think we also got a bit unlucky with all the posts.Again I feel pretty good about are effort tonight.
They need to get bodies in front of him. Smaller goalie can’t stop what he can’t see.
You can’t feel good when a series needs to go at least 6 for you to win. The margin for error is getting way too low against a team that has no business being anything but a speed bump.
Really, speed bump? The Nucks finished 1st in the division, 3rd in the conference and have beat the Oilers 6 out of 7 now.
They suck.
Honestly they do.
Skinner has masked how crap they are.
Who starts game 4?
Gotta be Pickard, especially if one thinks Skinner’s play is suffering because of workload.
Well if it’s Skinner I would be shocked
Stu’s save percentage now dead last in the playoffs. Not just those left either.
He can’t start the next game. He doesn’t have it.
That was obvious after the 3rd period in game one.
If they do they are practicing some kind of voodoo coaching, casting spells and hoping
Pick may not be ‘the answer ’ but very likely won’t be worse
Skinner is certainly the easiest one to scapegoat. Figuring out the actual problem requires a pretty detailed analysis of why Skinner is being asked to do the near-impossible.
Keeping proper positioning isn’t damn near impossible.
I’m pretty sure now that unfortunately Stu and Jack share the same issue
The stage is too big. Maybe Stu’s is bigger than Jack’s, but this one too big for both. That’s fine, not everyone can do it, one of the hardest positions in sports
Stu plays like he’s freezing up. Loss of positioning, glove issues, not reacting to the play. Lindholm goal he wasn’t really moving, normally the goalie just slides the pad wider, routine save where it happened, seen it hundreds of times
Sucks the story couldn’t have ended differently. I can’t see it changing much that you’d want to bet the farm on it
Well he moved a little bit watching replays but still weak
I can’t see it changing either, was hoping for the best but the lights are too bright.
You can’t be serious?
Nobody is asking Skinner to do the impossible, but the reality is, league average goaltending has the Oilers up 3-0 in this series…I was on full support of Skinner after game one, went so far as to predict be would be in the conversation for the Conn Smythe when the Oilers win the cup. I no longer believe that. Every, and I mean EVERY Stanley cup winner ever has goalies that make difficult saves, not only is Skinner not making ANY difficult saves, he’s also letting in softies.
Hyman has to give himself some room to shoot
Just need a goal to get this going!!!