How often does one get an opportunity to cheer for his/her team on a championship run? I’ve cheered for the Bruins, Oilers, Eagles, Eskimos-Elks, Expos, 76ers in my lifetime and would guess that adds up to something close to 35-40 deep runs. I’ve enjoyed all of them, with only the 1971 Bruins, the 1981 Expos and the 2006 Oilers truly breaking my heart.
This blog is more than 20 years old. This is just the second SCF we’ve experienced together. Much of the time I sit at my typewriter, observing the trembling foolscap awaiting its fate, I frame the negative in a positive light. I’ve written about six “Nadir’s Raiders” articles, my “Standing on the Shoreline, first day of xxxx” January 1 articles were mostly downbeat. I’ve been going left for so long, going right is a road less traveled.
I’m thinking today of younger fans, who don’t remember 1990 well. I guess that means anyone born 1980 or later, and I suspect that is a good percentage of those reading these passages today.
If you’ve endured my quatrains and one word sentences for more than five years, suspect you know that the draft and development are key elements in my belief system about team building. Those elements are all over this roster, and are reflected in my article today at The Athletic.
There are nine draft picks who will likely play a significant role in tonight’s game, ranging from the Nuge (2011 draft) to Dylan Holloway (2020). No matter what happens over the rest of this series, the organization will benefit from the games played by the men who are under 26. Stuart Skinner, Evan Bouchard, Philip Broberg and Ryan McLeod join Holloway in that group. That’s a nice cluster running up behind the captain.
This is one of the most interesting Oilers teams since 2006, and if I’m honest it’s probably the most interesting since the 1990 crew. Connor McDavid is inevitable, if not this season then next, and we are all truly blessed to be watching such a special player and team.
The Stanley Cup lore of these Edmonton Oilers has always been other worldly. I believe the best team in history was that 1987 Oilers team. This edition of the club is two wins away from joining them. For these Oilers, win today and walk together forever. Bless you boys. You’re making history. I’m still living the dream we had, For me it’s not over. I’m still living the dream we had, For me it’s not over.
A brilliant day requires some verbal and we’ll have it for you at noon on the Lowdown, Sports 1440. Steve Lansky from Big Mouth Sports and Tyler Yaremchuk from Daily Faceoff will join me and we’ll read your texts plus Declan will have Declanations. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. Question: Would you like to see an updated 2024 Lowetide draft list later this week?
I love thar Bennet I’d getting boy who cried wolf treatment. I knew right when they called that diving penalty in the one game -> these weasels tricks have bern put on notice. The NHL actually is addressing bullshit. I can’t believe it.
Dear Zack Hyman:
Congratulation on leading the NHL for the 2024 playoffs.
-the fans-
PS: Score a hat trick next game lol
pps: 1 goal will do : p
Lifted from Sportsnet…
How does that work in terms of cap dollars again?
With the goalies in the net, Oil have out-scored the Cats 15-5 in these last three games. High Danger chances are 30-29 Cats by TSN stats.
Buy Stuart Skinner a nice bottle of wine next time you see him out dining.
Stu the Glue has a .941 save percentage in games four, five and six of the Stanley Cup Finals. He is 25.
Skinner has been fantastic.
Have to give Janmark some love. He was in Tkachuk’s head all night, playing Tkachuks own game against him. Turtle was never a factor.
Most definitely. He has played so well, an unsung hero.
Such a treat to watch! Feel comfortable when he’s on the ice
This is a purely emotional and non-analytics post.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take my son to gamed 6 against Vancouver and Florida, both times being treated to a serious team effort in earning a game 7. We almost didn’t make the game in time, the traffic getting in from Calgary was next level.
My voice is hoarse and my heart is full. I was at game 3 in the SCF 18 years ago, while my wife and her father, who has since passed away, went to game 6. The 3 of us used to watch Oilers games together, and have many fond memories from that run in ‘06 (including the game 5 Pisani SHG OT). Surreal that it’s taken so long and that I could now take my son to game 6 SCF and chant “we want the cup.” A goal which has never changed,
Hyman was a beast, collective and generally smothering team D, electric Skinner, and Draisaitl’s line along with Rico’s line doing the damage. Great PK. 1st PP was best but players still hesitating too long. And someone should tell the Oilers to hold their leads the way they generate their leads
LFG in game 7, it’s been way too long
Ceci stood up!!
The sense of history is palpable.
If the Oilers win game seven, this will be one of the greatest comeback seasons the league has seen, capped by one of the greatest comeback Finals in any sport—and only done 82 years ago with a war on at that. These two comebacks were led by a captain who writes his name in the record book with seemingly every game. Nowhere in the history of star maps or horoscopes does that triple conjunction exist. Ask McCurdy.
But Oiler fans also remember the joy of this team’s last game six and how our hearts were broken in game seven. And it was obvious the 06 Oil were going to lose that game in the first five minutes. Just that five minutes or so after puck drop when they were caught up in the magnitude of the moment and it was game over. Nothing is more heartwrenching than Cinderella losing the prince to her ugly, diving stepsister.
Any team, even the McDavid Oilers can succumb to the moment. The goalie is awfully young, if you haven’t noticed. And while there’s some history available to the Panthers too, it’s nowhere near what’s up for grabs for the Oilers, nor do Cats have a captain with the same level of very public expectations. While there will be a lot of pressure on the Panthers not to become an answer to a trivia question, there will conversely be a lot of “big moment” weighing on the Oil.
And, like 06, a lot of potential heartbreak here for the fans. In this case, redemption constantly tantalized, FOR MONTHS, and then at the very lastest of moments, stolen away.
I think the players have already shown us the best way to mentally deal with game seven. Don’t think of it is as a series and thus a Cup winning game. Think of it as an elimination game. That their backs are against the wall. Do or die. Just like they’ve been doing for three series now. I hope they can sincerely stick to that mantra. It’s a winning formula.
Tonight, the Panther forwards went 31 minutes without a shot on net. Oil play team D like that and Skinner will not be an issue. He makes the saves when not surrounded by chaos. But, Florida did miss a ton of open looks today, like missed the net completely. Can’t count on that in game seven. There’s always room for improvement. One last time.
Because it’s do or die. And so far, that’s exactly the way these guys have wanted it. Relished it. Don’t change that thinking. If you want to go to the prince’s ball, you can’t ever think you’re Cinderella. Stay humble and stave off elimination one last time.
Because then, like Cinderella, you’ll
get laidmake history.I agree with this 110%.
The Leafs did it in 1942, in Toronto. Mondays game will be on the road in Florida and a far more difficult achievement due to that fact!
Oilers so far have outscored the Panthers at even strength, on the PP, and shorthanded. If we can keep that up for one more game, I like our chances.
*checks notes*
Should work!
I agree. The math checks out!
Took the whole damn envelope though. I like to doodle. Now I’m out of white space.
Cheering for those early 90’s teams is one of my earliest memories. That little kid in me still loves this team.
Well, that game was rocky chair comfy to watch compared to game 5. What a great performance by the team.
And how lucky I feel to be watching it, even just on tv at home.
I was totally puckered, from first puck drop until about the final 10 seconds.
So, was it offside? And/or were you surprised it was called offside?
Big turning point it seems.
My perspective is it was offside, but by a smaller margin than usually would go in the Oilers favour.
Refereeing in these playoffs hasn’t been great, but it also hasn’t been biased, which is about all you can hope for.
Once it was ruled offside, I felt the hockey gods were finally on our side.
one image I saw later made it look pretty clear offside. But I did not expect the call.
Maurice was very salty about it.
“From the footage I got, if I saw that, I wouldn’t have challenged it. But I don’t know what footage the Oilers got, or the league got..”
As if the league is giving the Oilers secret footage or something.
Reminded me of the Perry goal, glove over the line….I was pretty sure it was offside, but thought the call would be too tough to overturn.
Regardless of how you see it, the Hockey Gods owed us this one for the bullshit the stripes had to invent on-the-fly up to justify Makar’s situation two years ago. We’re even now.
Yea that was such garbage oh man.
What a ballsy call by the video coach.
I think it was offside, there were some angles that showed it was. But it was close.
there hasn’t been a lot of reviewed goals this playoffs (thankfully) so credit the oilers for making that call. At that point of the game, I like the risk. If it fails, they are up 2-1 and have to kill a penalty but that’s no big deal for this group.
still – that extra goal would have made a huge difference in this game.
Karma of 20 years cashing in.
Was the goal in Game 1 Blown Dead? Or was the puck in the net before the whistle was blown? I know the answer I’m just sort of addressing the karma!
FLA1. After Florida had scored, my son (who is just learning to read) pointed at the score clock and said “It says fail!”
He’s developing some keen senses.
FLA was the team I was most worried about after they rolled into town before Christmas and curb-stomped the Oilers. They played a very high intensity game that the Oilers were simply no match for that night. You could see they had a lot of belief that they were the better team. That’s changed and it’s going to be another long quiet flight back for G7. Anyone who has played on a winning team knows the difference between a group hoping they can win and knowing they can win. The difference is real, if not quantifiable, and I think we all know which team is hoping and which team knows at this point.
I’ve been strangely calm and confident since they won G4. Lady luck will still have her say in this, but the Oilers as a group are both talented and mentally strong at this point. What a way to end a roller-coaster season.
Fantastic post.
I’m generally a stats guy, but I think you’ve identified one of the places where stats are limited.
Game 4 apparently Snoop Dog came to the Oiler’s dressing room in a Laraque jersey, guaranteeing a victory. Did I hear that right?
Magic.
And Drake might cash in on his $500K wager after all.
Milhouse!
It was at a concert last night, referring to tonight.
He also asserted Rogers Place has done some possibly illegal things with its mother.
Truly bizarre exchange between Gene and the SN panel. At one pt Gene offered to loan Ken Reid his swimtrunks to go to the waterpark
Happy people do funny things.
Yeah it was innocent enough, just an odd conversation to watch in live tv
Might be from all of the sun Gene has been getting.
”What’s wrong with my boys?”
”Nothing, I just think they should stay in their own neighborhood“
Kind of frivolous, but for the members with young children, doesn’t Zito look like the wolf from Sing 2?
My wife and I have discussed it, and we concur, or at least can see it. Mr Crystal I believe is his name.
Lex Luthor.
Who are your favourites for the Conn Smythe?
If it’s awarded as a runner-up cup, I’d go for Barkov. He’s an excellent hockey player. RNH with additional meat.
Connor McDavid. No contest.
It’s McDrai no matter the outcome.
Mattias Conn Janmark
Dearest Oilers:
If you want to win the next game and the cup, just watch McDavid.
Follow him and you will all be immortal.
The fact that they’ve stopped simply watching and started following is part of the reason they’re one game away from immortality. It’s taken several years, but it’s nice to finally be here.
If this is a 4-game winning streak or the start of a 32-game winning streak, I’m totally easy, either way.
Watching the game less than two meters away from Chad Krueger and 4 meters from the owner wasn’t expected but here we are!
Connor McDavid: Leader of Men?
This is the answer to the question:
What is the best Nickelback song of all time?…
Beautiful team win. A win with zero points from McDavid and Bouch, and Brown! Crazy!
Game 7. Can’t wait. What a ride!
That can’t be right. I’ve heard we have no depth.
Even Ceci wasn’t bad tonight. I didn’t identify any Oilers I thought were bad overall. Team win.
doritogrande
June 21, 2024 9:49 am
My daughter turns five today (how the hell did that happen so fast?). On that same summer solstice day, the Edmonton Oilers drafted Broberg.
Godspeed tonight Philip.
Oh my. One incredibly egregious turnover, but an assist, +3 and almost 17 minutes in the end.
And now we celebrate with my daughter’s birthday bottle of Macallan Classic Cut. A beauty night indeed.
You rang?
Look. We’ve never met. But you seem like a well named person.
Alas, this bottle’s all mine. I might share with her on her 18th if there’s any left. Likewise for my younger’s Jura 18 year.
Ohhh Jura is terrific value. I’ve been going with a rotation Oban Distillers Edition, a Balvenie Doublewood or Highland Park 18 post wins this run. Oddly enough light on the Macallan haha
Balvenie has been my gold standard since I acquired my adult taste buds. Have dabbled in single cask and caribbean cask expressions but I can’t quit the doublewood.
Caribbean is my usual go to but Doublewood was an xmas gift and its been great, and apparently good luck!
I’ve elected to go with an 18 yr Arran Single Malt, for all the years since 2006. My tastes have certainly changed since then!
She’s only 5 but really, you’re never too young for your first nip of Macallan.
Reporter: These commercial flights are killing us old guys.
Draisaitl: I don’t feel bad for you.
edit: too slow!
That was Spector asking the question.
And Leon replying, I don’t feel bad for YOU!
Spector “Leon, you know these commercial flights are killing us old guys”
Leon “I don’t feel bad for you…”
Why is Leon more eloquent and engaging in his second language than most are in their first?
Germans and Swedes learn English in more detail than most native speakers. I work with quite a few, and they often ask subtle aspects of grammar I’ve never consciously contemplated before.
Bobrowski and Skinner essentially in a tie for GAA and S% stats.
There are 4 guys on Oil who could legitimately win Conn Smythe. Stu is in that conversation purely based on his game 4-7 numbers. Can you say clutch?!
McD kept his power ‘drai’ for G7.
There’s something eerily confident and ‘long game’ about this team.
One. more. game.
(yeah, baby, yeah)
Only bouch and ek over 20 min tonight. Top guys will be rested for Monday!!!
Ceci with 3rd highest Oiler TOI
Just a nitpick as Ceci did have a good game by eye. Same pairings for game 7 in my view.
According to NST, Ceci:
Both NHL and TSN have Ceci at #3 TOI
Bouch-Ek-Ceci-RNH
Ah. Figures I referenced the wrong one. Bottom line, Ceci had a good game to my eye, so there was no need to nitpick over a minute. My bad.
Let’s Go Oilers!!!
Reporter: how would you gauge your team’s mental state after three straight losses.
I don’t think I would have been as gracious as the Miami coach.
The broken defence that we are supposed to have. I have yelled more at a tv about bad defence than I should have. I have to say Ceci was great in our zone, won battles and worked like a horse.
Again these are out heartbreak kids! We can win this, just 1 more game. Let’s go boys!
This
Bob with another sub 0.900 game. Smythe my ass.
I’m sure someone mentioned it but holy shit
Skinner with more points than McDavid.
That’s spreading out the scoring.
For all the hard work that made it happen, our three non-EN goals were all pretty goals, and none scored by our snipers. Impressive.
Isn’t Hyman a sniper?
I think “sniper” does require some distance from the net to qualify for the box being placed in.
Drai is a sniper, Connor. To a lesser degree Kane, Nuge and then Hyman. Actually, Foegele is a better distance scorer than Hyman.
(Holloway is presently establishing his base line at present but it looks similar to Hyman’s, IMO, with more talent as if he’s not Hyman-lite but Hyman-heavy. In fact I will go as far to say that the Oil might have intentionally drafted from the Hyman tree, but with more juice. Forechecking, motor, strength and net-nose from 15 feet in. But Holloway has more speed, and also isn’t as forehand/backhand restricted as Hyman is.)
Destiny?
I Think the 3 days between games has been huge. Given our guys a chance to just play each game as an individual game with same approach rather than looking at it like they need to win 4 in a row.
they should honestly do it for all SC Finals. Gives one practice/rest day for the team after travelling.
I give a ton of credit to our ROOKIE (!!!) coach for this amazing accomplishment. Knobby has squeezed the very best juice (please no laughter) from every player in our “faulty” lineup, top – down. Spectacular really. At this point it doesn’t matter one bit, but does anyone think Woody could have gotten us here? I’m just happy to be here, celebrating where we are, not finished yet …
GO GO GO, YOU CRAZY OILERS!!!
Squeeze more juice, Knobby!
Broberg leaned on and tied up Barkov at the edge of the crease on the last empty netter.
He had a much better 3rd period. Coffey must have talked to him during the 2nd intermission.
Sprayed him for Bees, worked wonders.
Without bees, he is now Roerg.
Dutch slang for driver I believe.
Puck Roerg.
You and Swedish saw him. I will say I did as well. Not sure about RD full time
Knoblauch is a savant.
what a game what a team
Can we put the video replay guys names on the Cup?
Gazdic probably has it right there. Knoblauch was comfortable reviewing the icing because he knows the PK is essentially bullet-proof, if not an advantage.
So…what song for the game intro on Monday? La Bamba? Or save it for the win? We will rock you, or is that too on the nose? What would you choose for the intro?
Wins only!
So what is your choice for the intro? Enquiring minds want to know!
Rocky theme song.
’I got the six’ ZZ Top
Miami is looking like it will have thunderstorms on Monday. So I’d maybe go with the Pixies “Stormy Weather”.
Reiterating my choice from earlier:
Tool – “Triad“.
Blitzkrieg Bop!!!
The only hope in hell Florida has is to match the Oilers’ level of desperation in Game 7. And the Oilers have had more experience when facing elimination than they have.
Feeling good about Monday.
Line 3 Henrique with the winning goal.
Cucumbers wish they were as cool as the Oilers
Game seven of the Stanley Cup finals.
This is not a drill.
Check your corners!
Check your corners!
Oil are all business. Barely celebrating each win.
It was business from winning Game 5. Connor breathed life into the team’s hopes in Game 4. He held Stamford Bridge alone. The ranks reformed after that. We march onwards.
That’s exactly what I want to see. There’s still unfinished business. Nothing to celebrate yet.
We were 31st in the league in November. We clawed away back in to the playoffs. We clawed away back against Calgary, who were favourites. We clawed our way back against Dallas, who were favourites. We clawed our way back from firing our coach to the Finals. And we clawed our way back from a sweep to game 7. Whatever happens next, I am very proud to be an Edmonton Oilers fan today.
I think you mean Vancouver. The only way Calgary saw the playoffs this year was if they bought tickets…
eugh I do. Just replaced one hated team in my head with another. I’ll edit.
to be fair, it did start with the win vs Calgary 2 springs ago. The turtle abides.
Wonder if Paul Maurice spent more time coaching and less time practicing on his one liners to the press they’d be in a better spot.
He is doing all that he can
Everyone needs to and should recognize that having Connor is an earth shattering advantage
When he does nothing on the board they are still hooped
Lol, like tonight?
Like really.. what?
We. Believe.
The DoD, followed by a half-decade of playoff disappointment, has conditioned me not to believe.
But I gotta say, after that first period, for the first time, I started to truly think, I think this team can actually win the Stanley Cup.
What a team.