The Edmonton Oilers delivered in a big way last night in Texas. We can’t call this game an outlier, we’ve seen complete efforts versus Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights in recent weeks. What we might be able to say, that is new, is this: Oilers can deliver this kind of game on command. The team needed it, and made it so. That’s an impressive wrinkle.
THE NUMBERS
It was a complete game. The skill was on display, including strong puck movement and good use of time and space on exits. The entry into offensive zone on sorties was a mixed bag, but part of that is Dallas being a fine team.
The Oilers were physical (holy crap Darnell Nurse!) and intimidation is part of the game. The penalty kill was effective, much of that coming from (I hate this phrase but don’t have a better one) ‘active sticks’ from all involved. Evan Bouchard led the team in PK TOI (2:34) and is averaging 1:40 per game this spring. He averaged 14 seconds per game during the regular season.
Stuart Skinner delivered his third shutout in four games, you’ll notice the low number of HDSC’s and the Oilers have been mostly consistent in suppressing those tough chances over the piece. There were some anxious moments, and plenty of physical contact, but Skinner held his net and delivered in an important game.
Connor Brown scored a fantastic goal last night, the other markers coming from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Brett Kulak. The Glimmer Twins were involved (both had assists) and Bouchard counted two helpers on the night. I think it’s fair to say this team has balanced scoring, although Draisaitl (13, 6-14-20), McDavod (13, 3-17-20) and Bouchard (13, 5-10-15) are clearly pushing the river.
It’s fair to credit Brown, Nuge and Corey Perry (all with five goals now); Zach Hyman (13, 3-5-8), Evander Kane (13, 4-3-7), Vasily Podkolzin (13, 1-6-7) and Nurse (13, 2-3-5) for keeping time with the impact scorers.
The only question left is can the Oilers bring that game (or similar) to the rink seven more times in the next (potentially) 12 games? I believe they can.
One final note: I expect they’re patching Troy Stecher together with chicken wire, binder twine, a combination of chewing tobacco, mud and spackle, and man do they need to keep him upright. This guy is five-foot-nothing, but he delivers like a giant. Holy crap what an underrated player.
HAPPY (Jagger, Richards)
Well, I never kept a dollar past sunset
Always burned a hole in my pants
Never made the school mama happy
Never blew a second chance, oh no
I need a love to keep me happy
I need a love to keep me happy
Baby, baby keep me happy
Baby, baby keep me happy
Always took candy from strangers
Didn’t wanna get me no trade
Never wanna be like papa
Workin’ for the boss every night and day
Google pays $300 on a regular basis. My latest salary check was $8600 for working 10 hours a week on the internet. My younger sibling has been averaging $19k for the last few months, and he constantly works approximately 24 hours. I’m not sure how simple it was once I checked it out.
This is my main concern………. https://www.Jobs99.site
If you had to choose an Oiler for Conn Smythe based on the playoffs to date would it be Bouchard?
The mic’d up video of Hyman hitting Harley in game 1, Harley giving him a little shot and Zack responding verbally with “its coming all series long” – was beautiful.
Early days but Oettinger has an .884 in this series. A few missed posts and wide open cages and he could just as easily be the story right now
Odd seeing Robertson on 4th line. Wonder if they returned him less than 100%
He has to be hurt he can’t keep up with the play.
Why would they rush him back when they were in control of the Winnipeg series?
They mentioned on the broadcast that he was interviewed and is banged up. Probably wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t playoffs
If Bouchard starts laying the boom on folks he’s pretty much turned into Chris Pronger.
Needs more than the boom.
the cross checks where you rake the guys unprotected spine, the ankle slashes, all the pain given for standing in front of the net. The pure intimidation of CP staring at you with that menacing grin knowing full well your ankles, wrists or spine is gonna hurt for a week if you try to score.
I like the fact that Bouchard doesn’t get physical and shy’s away from it during the regular season. His durability and being right handed is irreplaceable. Do the naysayers still take Dobson as Bouchard is becoming a legend in the playoffs. If he signs for another 8 years of going deep in the playoff he could end up beng the all-time points leader among D-men.
When I term laying the boom, everything you’ve described is included with laying the boom.
Don’t see Bouchard ever having that level of physicality or dirtiness but, while not Pronger size, he is a big and strong man, and he is NOT a shrinking violet. He definitely amps up his physicality and board battle level of in the playoffs, and can be sneaky dirty. I could stand for him to up the net-front battle level at some point – one thing at a time though.
We may need to wait until he has a kid and accumulates dad strength for the net front aggressiveness.
My comment was more directed towards becoming the Oilers leading DMAN in all situation of the game. 5×5 driver, powerplay quarterback, and now PK lead option.
I imagine he gets more gnarly as time goes on while never reaching the filth levels of Pronger.
For all the heat, light, and hand-wringing that comes with playoff hockey in Edmonton, the 2025 edition of the Oilers are quietly—relentlessly—shaping up to be one of the most territorially deceptive forces we’ve seen in recent memory.
Let’s get right to the numbers. Through the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs to date, the Oilers rank:
1st in Even Strength Expected Goals For % at 57.40%
2nd in Even Strength Goals For % at 61.19%
Yet, curiously, when we pull back the curtain on the territorial game—a stat one might assume aligns with their underlying dominance—we find something that defies conventional hockey logic:
40.6% Offensive Zone Time at evens, as measured by NHL Edge (League average: 41.6%; Oilers sit below the 50th percentile). That’s right. The team second in even strength goal share is doing so while spending less time in the offensive zone than most of their playoff peers.
To make sense of this, I conducted a deeper analysis using the full 2024–25 NHL regular season data. Specifically, I compared Even Strength GF% and several other play-driving metrics—such as against Offensive Zone Time, as tracked by NHL Edge.
Here’s the takeaway: While shot-based and expected goal metrics show a positive correlation with GF%, offensive zone time does not.
None. Nil. Nada. Measured by R², the correlation between zone time and actual goals-for percentage is virtually nonexistent.
This raises some fascinating questions.
For one, it challenges the long-standing assumption that more time in the offensive zone naturally leads to more goals. For another, it highlights the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to puck possession in today’s NHL—particularly for a team like the Oilers, who often trade in high-leverage scoring chances, often off the rush or with pinpoint precision off the cycle.
It also brings to light potential limitations in the current iteration of NHL Edge’s zone time tracking. Does the system accurately reflect control versus mere presence? Does it weigh dump-and-chase entries the same as sustained, dangerous pressure? If so, teams like the Oilers—who thrive in transition and can generate danger in a flash—may not be fully rewarded by such a measure.
In essence, Edmonton’s playoff run serves as a case study in the evolution of offense in the modern NHL. Gone are the days where brute force and zone cycling alone sufficed. Today’s elite teams—particularly ones with the likes of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Bouchard on the backend—have weaponized efficiency, striking with surgical precision even when the clock suggests they shouldn’t be.
Excellent work. It’s interesting data. Especially in the 3rd, the Oilers took only 2 shots but intended to get pucks in deep and hold. Teams that score off the rush and forecheck (still scoring shortly after entering zone) can be frustrating to play against
Fantastic work.
Agreed on Stecher. Punching above his weight
Stretcher is a beauty! LT, when 14 comes back, do you go 11-7 to keep 51 in to play with 25?
https://x.com/OADsBraydonW/status/1926086321904222574?t=1s1Ax_xbcejuVaezt0qC_A&s=19
This was a great moment for certain.
You take out Stecher and roll 4 lines, Kulak will not look out of place with Nurse.
What is our all-time record in afternoon playoff games?
I don’t remember any.
Has there ever been one before?
What is the reason for the matinee? NBA evening game they don’t want TV ratings to compete with?
It’s American TV networks- ABC is carrying the game, and weekend matinee’s in the US have been a thing since forever
Canadians will tune in no matter what time you broadcast
It’s the Monaco Grand Prix, then the Indy 500, followed by the Coca cola 600. Its the yearly greatest day of racing Sunday.
https://x.com/domluszczyszyn/status/1926301703214637329?s=46&t=VKZ79-9hN-xwMNTBjohq7w
Just pay Bouchard
I don’t know what those numbers mean, but Dom dropping an F-bomb like that tells me it’s probably pretty good!
Only elite D get paid and they show themselves early.
Sorry, Bouchard.
Bouchard did not show himself early and it’s cost him tens of millions of dollars that he can’t recover.
Bouchard has career earnings of $10.75 million.
Cale Makar has earned $50,075 million.
Bouchard, of course, can narrow the gap somewhat in the next couple of seasons but Makar will blow that away with his next contract.
Quinn Hughes BTW is sitting at over $40 million and, like Makar, his next contract will only increase the margin.
That’s a lot of words to say you think Bouchard is elite like Makar and Hughes. Progress!
The Oilers slow played Bouchard, as soon as they stopped slow playing him he has been elite.
How much better of a all around D if he plays bottom pairing PP2 when Barrie earned his 2nd contract. Holland doesn’t develop never has he’s always bought his players Dylan Larkin being the exception. Anyhow Bowman is much more into searching and developing players. Along with the draft Bowman has signed all these young half developed players that really have a chance, All Holland did was clean out the cupboards to get proven NHLers Bowman is trusting his team to find single-double and possibly a home-run talent that is on a bargain to play with Connor-Leon-Bouchard.
Somebody is trying to celebrate Bouchard and you feel the need to crap on him.
Just let it be.
Remember when you said you wouldn’t trade Rafferty for Bouchard. That was funny. What are Rafferty’s career earnings?
The best trade of the season is to trade Ceci so he ends up on the Stars. There’s no way he should play that high up the lineup on a team that is contending
Would the downvoter care to explain?
Right shot D are hard to come by. I think Florida only had Ekblad until they traded for Jones.
We really need to sign Bouchard.
They will get the Bouchard deal done – little doubt.
5 or 8 years at how much?
McDavid takes more abuse than probably any player in NHL history and has been injured on cheap shots where there isn’t even a penalty called.
Hintz is no Lady Byng candidate but DeBoer can kiss my whole asshole, did you watch the Jets series?
One of the major reasons the Panthers are so hard to play against is because the league has given them open licence to cheap shot
Florida’s been issued a license to kill.
I am certainly no Leafs fan, but Bennett concussed Stolarz and didn’t even get a penalty let alone a suspension. The series went to seven games. It’s not hard to imagine a different outcome if they didn’t have to play their backup.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/maple-leafs-anthony-stolarz-confirms-he-suffered-concussion-vs-panthers/
Last year, they got through a tough series against Boston after Bennett sucker punched Marchant. Again, no penalty or suspension.
Let’s not forget last year. Bennett “accidentally collided” with McDavid (who didn’t even have the puck) while Bennet’s feet were off the ground and his shoulder was the primary point of contact on McDavid’s head.
Bennett walks that line perfectly and does get away with things.
I wish we could sign him in the offseason! lol
It took him years but now he gets a longer leash if Kane makes the same hits he’s penalized and suspended. I can’t wait for round 2 with Florida Bennett and Tkachuk vs Kane and Frederic. Anyone that can take a 2 hand cross check to the beak and shake it off is one tough hombre.
Absolutely, If the Oilers were playing the Leafs in the SCF, and Kane makes the exact same play Bennett did and knocks out Solarz, He gets a 5 minute major/ match penalty, game misconduct… hearing and probably 3 games.
Part of Kane’s issues (and reputation) is he obviously tries to bully other players.
Bennett doesn’t, he is merely a stealth missile.
I’m really impressed how Kane is holding his temper. I believe he has 3 penalties and 2 of them were bunk the one on Pietrangelo should of had that Ref immediately fired. Kane is playing smart hockey somebody will overpay and sign him to a 3-4 year extension this Summer. Kane had to start over again he needs one more contract that pays and he is showing 31 G.M’s he has the goods. Why pay 8-9 million for Bennett when you can get Kane at half the price. This is a important final individually for Kane vs Bennett
Totally! Kane has very little leash.
Chucky is just a coward, great player but cowardly.
Funny, and Bennet was the kid that was mocked for not being able to do a chin up.
Bennett is sneaky dirty. On the McDavid hit, I had watched the replay a bunch of times last year.
It was case of going not where the puck is, but where the puck is going to be…except replace puck with McDavid.
He had processed McDavid’s skating loop and went to where McDavid was going to be. Prior to impact, he jumped up in the air and lined his shoulder square to McDavid’s head. He had his arms up and flailed a bit and dropped his owns stick to sell an accidental collision. There was nothing accidental about it.
The Panthers run through Bennett as Tkachuk can become invisable due to his skating. Bennett is a heat seaking missle if you punish Bennett and fight fire with fire you’ll neutralize the entire Panther squad. What was Calgary thinking as you could see how Bennett could impact a game with his open ice hits he just needed to figure out the fence line.
Bennett is a Cory Perry light 1.0 that would be a nice addition but the cap is nearly spent already between Bouchard and mcdavid
And then Marchand chose to go play with Bennett in Florida!
Remember Marchand’s quote after getting sucker punched? It was basically, “it’s the playoffs, of course you’re trying to hurt guys.”
One has to wonder if the league has stopped testing the Panthers.
Connor is so close to scoring, he’s hitting more iron than a blacksmith.
When he pots a couple, look out!
Hopefully the flood gates open as it’s so frustrating watching him come within a inch or two from scoring.
Nurse had a Pronger moment last night. Now, the timing was not ideal and I was pretty irritated with that part of it but not the overall message. If Hintz wants to keep going to the crease to be involved with Skinner then there you go Sir, here is my message for you and the rest.
DeBoer/Benn can whine and moan/posture the refs and league what ifs about 97 BUT what if Blackwood injured 97 on that intentional late hit, luckily 97 knows its coming. He takes so much abuse as most league stars do. If Blackwood knew he would have to answer to Kane for shite like that then it would happen once and once only.
What if it wasn’t Henri getting his face mashed at the blueline by Robertson and again with no call. If that was Heiskenan it would be a penalty or suspension. Wouldn’t it??
So whah, whah DeBoer and Benn.
The league won’t protect it’s stars and this is the kind of shite that happens. I have no sympathy.
Well done Stu Skinner, now that was a solid performance.
The save just prior to the 2nd goal was huge.
The whole 3rd period was huge. Please let this be the start of a heater for you.
If the start of a heater is 3 shutouts in the last 4 sign me the hell up.
lol fair statement haha…. his stats are such a yo yo and he is hitting/closing in on Franchise/Cujo/Ranford records now
Henrique gets an elbow to the head, Brown a skate to the face, and Hintz and his coach are complaining about that little slash?
Does K.K mess with a winning line-up? If healthy I would play Viktor who should be chomping at the bit. I thought Kane and Frederic would hit the scoresheet in Dallas I think as the series goes on these two will connect at some point as you need traffic to get to Oettinger. I hope they go at Jake the way we got to Hill in game 4
Problem is who comes out for Viktor…. as a matter of fact I can see them going 11-7 for Ekholm when he’s ready if that’s the case Victor’s definitely not getting back in the lineup. Either way good problems to have.
The attitude in hockey that it is “messing with” something is so odd.
Strategic deployment is part of every other sport. Lefty/righty hitting. Speed vs power. Rotations.
Hockey should be the same. Especially because we’re talking about 100+ games.
Isn’t it wonderful they have the depth to make decisions like ‘power v speed’.
Having Arvi and Skinner as options is something most NHL teams can’t champion at the bottom of a roster.
Certain people can’t stop talking about Stars depth scoring drying up and how fearful we should be all be if this turns around.
I say the Stars and their fans should be fearful of McDrai. The Oil have 6 goals in this series with only 1 coming from McDrai. Watch out!
The likelihood of Connor shooting at 5.9% for much longer is next to nil.
Leon is at 15.4%, which is actually below his career playoff average of 18.1% so he’s even got some room to regress to the meat.
Solid game last night. An all-around solid effort is a thing of beauty!
I thought Kane was a good game, but overall the Henrique line is concerning, even when accounting for the uncalled elbow to the head. DeBoer’s not complaining about that.
I didn’t think Nurse’s slash was anything egregious, just a common retaliatory action that he received the appropriate penalty for, maybe. I say ‘maybe’ because so many retaliatory slashes do not get called at all. Heinz is either faking or the slash caught him on the top of the foot where the slash was in that one spot to cause pain/damage, or there could be an existing foot injury.
Agreed about the Henrique line. The best that line looked was for the brief time Henrique was out of the game and other centres were rotating through with the wingers. Henrique is not winning draws and he is not good at defending.
There is no morality on the way to the cup. Drai hurt his back and spent 7 games getting cross checks to it in the Van series.
Marchand said it best. Nobody wants to admit it, but if you know a guy is hurt you’re targeting it. If they knew 97 had a hurt foot, every single chance given the other teams would target it.
We’d be praising CFP or Gator for filth like that. Players know what they’re doing.
Nobody will care about the how if the name is engraved on the trophy.
100%. There are no friends and players play to hurt. Late hits, targeted slashes, hidden head punches (cough Bennett cough), between the pads crosschecks.
The late hits are so fricken obvious but they go on. Just watch Hagel on Barkov earlier in the playoffs, he wanted to hurt him.
Blackwood last night on 97, not as bad a result because 97 saw him but what is the purpose?
This is well-articulated. Agree 100%.
Even if we allow for a potential injury to Heinze, it would have been more of a fluke than anything. Those types of retaliatory slashes happen all of the time.
As well, Heinze was taken off the ice like he had a broken foot and ruptured ACL. Either, he is one soft player or he was selling a potential injury really hard.
What rink doesn’t have X-Ray equipment on site? I’d imagine if Heinze actually had a broken foot, we would have already heard about it.
If the Heinrich line is ailing, again another opportunity for Arvi methinks.
Nurse at 11-13 and Skinner at 1-3 are the only Oilers sub-50% goal share at 5v5.
Pretty impressive.
In the current series, Nurse has played the most TOI at 5 on 5, his most common opponent is Rantanen and he’s 1-0 goals.
I’ll take current Nurse (lots of wobble against LA).
Hey Mick. Whaddaya think about this matinee tomorrow?
“The sunshine bores the daylights out of me!”
nice
A PPG, a third liner goal and a non-Bouch/Nurse dman goal – I say they are balanced!!!
Bouch on the PK is a thing. He’s had good numbers historically in a small sample size.
He’s smart, he’s got a good stick and sure handed when he gets the puck on his stick – a great skill set for the PK.
Thankfully he seems tireless out there.
One of the impossible things to do is properly assign success/fail grades to anyone who kills penalties. It’s rare that the sample size is enough. The smart math folks tell me that the structure is most important, so I’ve always relied on the coach (time on ice) to identify the best.
Based on that, the coaching staff is late to Bouchard but like him recently. That’s encouraging.
I think the coaching staff has typically limited Bouchard’s time on the kill to limit his overall TOI. He already plays a ton 5v5 and 5v4. I don’t think it was really an issue of ability, rather the coaching staff did not think it was necessary to have Bouch PK. Same reasons why Drai and McD don’t PK more.
However, with Ek out and the PK struggling, Bouch is now needed on the PK.
I agree that Bouchard looks good on the kill. I agree the numbers are difficult to interpret, but Bouchard’s so far are good.
PK still has a way to go IMO.
agreed with all of this.
I’ll remind y’all that Bouch did PK earlier in his career during his development phase.
They wanted him to focus on the D side of his game and was a regular on the PK while Barrie was the PP Quarterback
This is true and I didn’t realize this – 1:40 PK TOI/G in 2021/22.
One of the biggest dangers for a PK unit is having individuals over commit, over pursue, or just plain chase the puck. Zero chance of Bouch doing that! at the same time he’s seeing the ice and the angles better than most. Make total sense this would be in his wheelhouse. This is the kind of brainiac(savant?) no-panic hockey he should excel in .
ps. People need to stop implying, ever or in any way, that Bouch plays soft. Seen many a mighty cross check every playoffs that he’s suited up.
Call me what you want, but I loved everything about Nurse’s slash. If DeBoer and Benn are that upset about Nurse, they should try playing the Florida Panthers (won’t happen this year). The bitching and moaning would be off the charts, with all the filth Florida brings.
I’m thinking “when to take the 2 minutes” is going to be something I teach my hockey team about this year.
One reason we didn’t reach provincials last season was that other teams did a better job of learning how to play at the right level of mean. We didn’t. It’s a trickier thing to figure out as a coach, but still important.
Also – I didn’t catch the intermission stuff last night – was Pronger on the panel and was he smiling?
Such a Pronger play.
Pronger said basically yeah that play happens a million times but sometimes you hear a THUD and if you hear a THUD you know you just hurt them
I think nurse towering over him afterwards and saying what looked to be “ get up you f*^king pussy” and not moving until the refs escorted him away. Was way more pronger than the slash.
Did Hintz go to Juilliard to learn how to dive like that?
Agree – Hintz is in blue paint on top of Skinner, gives Nurse a crosscheck to back bending Nurse right over, Nurse straightens up and wacks Hintz across the front of the shin pad as Skinner pushes him forward. Hintz sees the oil moving puck out zone as he’s going down. All green is screaming for a five minute penalty. Likely plays next game.
You know it’s a good morning when Keef’s got the lead. Roope Hintz won’t be taking any more candy from strangers for a while
Henrique was removed by the concussion spotter last night. Another area with a lack of consistency.
Actually worked to our benefit so I was ok with it. Brown scored his goal when Nuge was rotating through on that line while Henrique was out briefly, I believe.
Roope Hintz to undergo Sears catalog transplant after Nurse’s slash.
Seriously, the only way I can see him being as hurt as he was is that he was already injured and didn’t know it. I recently sold my hockey gear to a friend, who was watching with me last night. At first he said “man, that’s a brutal slash” and I said “that gear is over 15 years old, but has gel inserts. How much do you feel through them?” And he said “absolutely nothing”. Hintz has custom made pads. Unless he has them specifically made to be vulnerable exactly where Nurse hit, that’s a dive or he was already hurt.
What a game. Great effort. We should be 2 up. But hey-ho. Waddya gonna do?
Pretty good slash, never know it could of cracked a metatarsal.
Go to the net then you better be ready to take the abuse.
Let’s also not forget, the Oilers got 4 days extra rest over the Stars. You never know but the energy levels should favor the Oilers as this one goes on. Should.
How could we forget when you were constantly telling everyone how awful it was.
Cool value add.
I think one less days rest for each team, with the Stars only having two days rest, would be of more benefit to the Oilers.
An actual take on something related to the team as opposed to a personal shot, as per above.
Per Rishaug:
I say no to playing him tomorrow unless he truly is close to 100% with little chance of a set-back.
Why mess with a good thing? No need to rush reinforcements after a shutout
Because the good things are getting nicked up, worn out and depleted each game.
Keeping some freshness in the rotation is a wonderful thing.
Frederic, Henrique, and probably Kapanen are all candidates to be rotated out for a game or two.
The D is tougher, but it would be great to give a couple of them a night off along the way.
Then put in Emberson…but the guys should be well rested after having played just 2 games in 9 days.
Agreed. Keep Ekholm out until he’s fully ready, at least while they’re on a roll.
But it’d be hard to justify taking Stetcher out for Emberson the way he’s playing.
My comment was in response to Stecher being injured, worn out, being held together with duct tape. Otherwise, I agree, leave him in the line-up.
My concern with inserting Ekholm is a re-injury early in the game leaving the D group down a man. Nasty groin injuries are just that, nasty (if the rumours are true).
Rested sure but I’m sure there’s a few guys other than Brown that need a month off
If Ekholm is 100% with little chance of a setback. Sit Nurse for taking that foolish retaliatory slash on Hintz to make him think twice before committing unnecessary bonehead infractions. Fortunately, the refs got it right but it doesn’t always happen that way, just ask Pete DeBoer.
Nope. He needs a couple words from the coach. But Nurse, Kane and Frederic need to be on the ice a lot early so that one of them can give Marchment or Benn a bit of a tuning. The Stars will be looking for their pound of flesh.
Not that it will happen. But with the added depth of Ekholm’s availability the opportunity is there to send a stronger message to Nurse and his carelessness. Because this isn’t the first time for Nurse, and the coach must have spoken more than a couple words about this very thing to deaf ears. Edmonton has been capable of surviving without Ekholm, they can certainly be more than capable of surviving without Nurse. Again, it’s probably not going to happen and that’s unfortunate, for Darnell Nurse and the team would be better off for it.
I think we both agree that Stecher is a good D-man and absolute bargain at his salary. Stecher is old school who plays with a edge that more than not leads to injuries. Stecher gets under the opposition skin as you’ve seen goons a foot taller like Kempe goung out of their way to clock him. Stecher is getting more and more comfortable as his playing time is increasing. No way do I take this man out unless he has a bad game or gets injured.
Who do you take out? Strange to say but Nurse is the weak link on D. but don’t think they take him out.
No way you mess with Walman Klingberg
Kulak stays. Bouchard absolutely no way. I like Stetchers game
And there’s no way I go 11-7. Keep that forecheck going. And if a forward gets injure you have a rested Arvidsson
If Stecher was 6’4″ & 215 lbs. like Nurse, there would be no question. That’s just the way it is.
Easy.
Ek-Bouch
Walman-Klingberg
Nurse-Kulak
THAT is a great D. Two first-pairing D and four second-pairing D.
I take noone out at this point unless Ekholm is truly near 100% with minimal risk of a set-back
Nurse leading the Oilers in 5 on 5 TOI through two games – 15 of those minutes against Rantanen (his most common opposition) and he’s 1-0 goals. There is little doubt that his teammates and coaches value him more than some of the fanbase.
Stecher is playing solidly, I like him and he doesn’t deserve a healthy. At the same time, we’ve seen over time that he generally plays best after coming off a break and he takes a beating out there. A game off for his body and energy levels, when Ekholm is ready, wouldn’t be the worst thing, in my opinion.
Yeah it’s Stech or Nurse or 7 D pretty much.
I’d be hesitant to play him unless he is 100%. If the Oilers were to be down 2-0 coming home, then I would likely play him as long as he was healthy enough to contribute. It’s also worth considering how game ready he is after the long time away from the game. Kane was able to come back and be effective immediately, but he had a long time to recover and build up his stamina, endurance, speed, power, etc. I’m not a kinesiologist or sports science expert, but I don’t think Ekholm has had the same time advantage from healing to readiness… relatively speaking.
This is all fair and I don’t disagree.
At the same time, not to get ahead of ourselves but Ekholm up to speed for the SCF would be very helpful. He’s not been skating fully with the team for 3-4 skates. Next step, when he’s truly ready, is game time.
There’s no need to rush Ekholm
but when he is ready I’m tempted to
play 7d and not throw him into the fire
we will need him for the final.
id take frederic out if one needs to chose
I understand the premise of 7D but I just can’t get on board right now – I truly think it messes with rhythm of the defense group as a whole too much – they are rolling as a group.
I was just as impressed with that defensive performance as I was games 4 and 5 versus Vegas. This one was a bit different as the Stars pressed in the third and had a ton of zone time but very few chances. The Oilers fronted everything and got in all the lanes. Get the ice bags out but that was a very pleasurable performance as far as team defence.
Star do generally get more O-zone time surprisingly throughout the game. But they don’t seem to get much done with it. At least they didn’t last night, thanks to the marvelous defensive play in front of their adventurous goaltender.
6-6 Total Goals TIE
4-2 5v5 Goals EDM
3-2 PP Goals DAL
1-0 EN Goals DAL
8-6 PP Opportunities EDM… this feels so weird and wonderful
DAL still hasn’t scored a 5v5 goal in a settled offensive situation. Both goals have been scored off the rush.
Skinner’s playoff stats are just wild.
3-4 W-L
.890 sv%
3 shutouts.
And 3W in his last 4. The thing about Skinner is that he has so much variance. AND he often responds well to a poor showing.
Feast or famine.
Total opposite from Picks who puts up an .890 every game and wins.
More and more evidence that the Oilers are simply a superior team at 5 on 5. Better top end talent and simply deeper. Drai is refreshed and, with him on a separate line from McDavid, this team comes in waves.
This is a continuation of the first two series.
Now, the Stars have some real depth on paper, and they can heat up at any time, but aside from the PP in game one, they remain quiet.
Agreed. They should not lose to this Stars team. These near miss bounces will eventually go in as well.
If the specials teams can rise higher this will be a short series.
Dallas is great team so it is definitely not over. I just believe this is up to the oil if they take this.
Oilers have been the better team in 5 of the 6 periods played in the first two games and seriously should have had two victories. As long as they play the right way they have to be very confident going home for the two game homestand.
There has been much narrative about the Oilers’ ability to defend and play a complete game. We also often refer to the old Oilers as a team that needed to outscore their defensive shortcomings. I’m curious what others think was a turning point for this team over the past few years that has them playing a complete game. Is it simply a commitment to defending and more experience for McDrai? A more solid defensive corps or system? I imagine there have been a handful of watershed moments over the past 3-5 years that have led to this. Interestingly, I felt like the Ekholm trade was one of the big factors, but it’s nice to see the team has transcended that and been able to play a very complete game without him in the lineup. Anyways, I was just curious what folks thought were the most important factors to this current success on the defensive side that has turned this team from a team that could always maybe come back in a game because of firepower upfront to a team that is tough to play against and can win in all the ways.
Heck of a win last night! This has been a fun run! 7 MORE TO GO!!! GOILERS!
The Sweep by Colorado in 2022 got it started.
The series loss to VGK in 2023 put it to top of mind.
Game 7 stanley cup loss to FLA in 2024 made it non negotiable.
Commitment.
A big part of this season’s success is the Oilers using that old Sutter quote as their north star. They don’t play defense as much as they have in previous seasons, because the puck is moving in a good direction.
They are really giving Stu a chance playing like they did last night. It wasn’t perfect but they are limiting 2nd chances, tons of blocks and making it easier for him with full effort on the back check.
Stu did his job last night and made some hella good saves to return the favour, especially in the 3rd.
This is what made the third period last night so impressive to me – they DID spend a ton of time in their defensive zone but they played great in-zone defence, defended long and hard and gave all but nothing up – that’s tough tough work.
I am very curious about this too.
For years and years, the team was less than the sum of its parts.
With all the depth scoring, now the team seems more than the sum of its parts.
I would have hoped that the 2017 ‘loss’ to Anaheim would have gotten it started.
Biggest single change? Knob.
What’s going on with Roope Heinz? Is he actually injured? At the time, I had thought it looked like a dive…unless he forgot to put his shin pads on.
Or his…Finn pads.
Irish Italian Davey even looks Finnish there!
Between Duchene’s massive dive in G1 (yes I know the flat of the blade grazed his cheek) and Roope last night, one would think this team is full of Hollywood actors.
For me, there is no chance that Hintz is leaving a WCF game that was not over yet and with his team about to go on the PP and not come back – for theatrics.
No doubt Nurse got him on a spot that caused some damage.
Nurse got him pretty good, might have hit him in a soft spot
I caught a replay overseas here and it didn’t show what lead up to the slash, but read here Rupee Hinds cross checked Nurse
If so that is exactly what should happen, it’s the only way to change minds. The more comfortable they have become being mean and often the aggressor, and with the addition of bigger players that can play, the better they have been. Same as it ever was in the NHL
The Panthers wear their two lobed hats to bed. Gord willing they may not like the results this time. They have nowhere near the beef and nasty the Oilers do now. And good luck Bob if it comes down to a goalie fight. If health keeps, Turtle didn’t have to worry about Kane or Perry last go. Now he does and add in Frederic. Not to count chickens
Absolute cross check before the shiv.
What it comes down to is the ref’s judgement of the severity of the infraction and the intent to injure. Obviously, Nurse’s retaliation wasn’t overly severe with no intent to injure, much to the Stars uproar. It will be interesting to see if Hintz is in the lineup for the Stars tomorrow afternoon
Lots has been said by our amazing host of floor to ceiling this season. We’ll I have it at ceiling, ceiling, floor, ceiling in their last 4… all three ceilings with a Skinner shutout. Man, Hyman is thumping everyone in sight, probably over 100 hits in the playoffs. Glad they kept Sticks Down! Hat tip to you Nurse!
That floor was a bad 10 minute stretch – 40 minutes of game 1 was ceiling hockey, in my opinion.
When ‘a bunch’ is 60 minutes, one bad apple can spoil it.
One day we’ll have an AI powered search feature. I’ll be able to find the post I had written about Stetcher in his first or second season playing for Vancouver.
I did like him then.
Yeah, I recall hating playing against him. Seemed like a real gamer. Was excited when he became an Oiler and he has been solid for sure! Such an easy player to cheer for.
Signed at $787,500 through next season.
A great acquisition by Holland and a phenomenal re-sign by Jackson.
I legitimately couldn’t tell if you meant “Artificial Intelligence” powered search feature or “Allan” powered search feature.
If my memory serves, Skecher’s first game was against the Oilers. Lotta posts about how McDavid was going to burn this young fresh faced defensemen. He did rock solid. Pretty solid career overall he’s pieces together.
Including his whitewash to finish the regular season, Skinner has shutouts in 4 of his last 8 games.
The other four games? His best one was 83.3 SV%.
Jekyll and Hyde indeed.
As another poster last night hilariously said, you never know if you’re going to get good acid trip Skinner or bad acid trip Skinner.
You also never know if the team is going to be paying attention to details or not.
True! It is amazing to see how contagious the sloppy play is. If it’s breakdowns in the Oilers’ zone, Skinner starts playing flakey. And vice versa.
I noticed Duchene among others try several times to catch Skinner napping on the short side a couple of close calls as they know he cheats on side to side movement. I’m glad they didn’t get a cheap one as those types of goals are killer on the team and goalie.
We’ve all seen the stats yet it’s still crazy to me how Skinner through 7 games is 3W-4L while Pickard ran at 6-0 with virtually the same save percentage.
Smoke & mirrors.
Prospecticism!
The Knight twain sees their first Memorial Cup action vs. Moncton. This should be a dandy matchup as London held down top spot in the CHL rankings most of the season, while Moncton did that thing for the final month of the regular season. A Knights win will tie them with the Hat, who defeated host RImouski 5-4 yesternight.
O’Reilly enters the game with playoff boxcars of 17-7-15-22 (3rd on team), while Nicholl’s are 17-1-7-8 (12th).
This game, along with the other Memorial Cup matches, is visible on TSN (within Canada) and Victory+ (without).
Puck drops @ 4 p.m. Westlock time.
Stars are pp merchants. Shot down the pp you will win.
Granlund leads their team at +2
Got a huge race for the green jacket between Johnston – 15 and Duchenne -13
J. Skinner is the only one in the hole for us at -2
I apologize but I had to fact check you cause Johnston and Duchene at – 15 and – 13 just seemed wildly inaccurate. I stand corrected. That’s mind boggling. If they played for the Oilers, every poster on this site would be calling for them to be pressboxed.
Don’t look now but the new wunderkind, Harley, is – 6.
Johnston and Harley are young, Duchene has always been like that
The Stars skaters are a combined -58. It’s pretty incredible.
5 empty net goals against for their higher end guys skews it a bit but, yup, they have been brutal at 5 on 5.
Steel and Johnston at sub-40% CF% 5×5 versus the Oilers and logging huge minutes.
Duchene: 0-4 5×5 GF:GA
Ceci: 1-3
Only scary player right now is Seguin.
Only statistically scary player. I can name four guys I never want to see lining up a clean shot on either goalie.
What a game!!
the only negative I can say is they need to figure out how to play a 3 on 2. Need to take advantage of those opportunities
Everytime I doubt this team, they deliver. Been wrong most of the year. Didn’t think they would beat L.A. ; certain they wouldn’t get past Vegas, damn sure Dallas is / was too deep and too good. Been Wrong. Happy to be wrong.
Go Oilers
It seems what we saw play out as rounds 1 and 2 went on…… its the Oilers team that is too deep and too good!
Its only 1-1 in the series, I know, but those two games were in Dallas and, I think Dallas is lucky to not be down two.
Dallas’ depth continues to be non-existent at 5 on 5 despite many famous names – it may not hold but its been 2+ series now.
Math Blog, right?
This year my brother’s been closely following the Oilers’ postseason campaign, and he pulled out the following number:
”Oilers are 3-0 when Skinner posts a shutout.”
🙂
Lol
Very astute observation
Isn’t it Skinner only gives up 5+ in a loss or wins with a shutout? Sportsnet had a graphic of that up last night.
Skinner’s shutouts are team earned.
The numbers never lie!