Game 1, Stanley Cup Final: Panthers at Edmonton

by Lowetide

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slambanna

I loathe to bring up a contentious point on this glorious morning, but it needs to be made…

The Edmonton Oilers coaching staff were 100% right to challenge the Panthers first goal. Glad to see KK defend the decision to challenge post game.
The NHL and their employees neglected to actually review the play and decided to get the Florida Panthers in a game they were being dominated.

There was clear incidental contact that impeded the the goalie from making the save. That contact occurred inside the crease. That is a factual statement. We have all seen Oilers goals taken away for less.

Kulak’s skate is relatively stationary. Bennett is fully responsible for the contact. Whether it was accidently or accidently on purpose is irrelevant.

If the media or the players do anything more than question the call they get fined or fired.

The NHL will not defend the call because they cannot. A previous precedent has been set and ignored. The NHL have insulated themselves from accountability.

IMO The NHLPA has to wrestle the oversight of Player Safety and Officiating away from the owners in the upcoming CBA. Full Stop. End rant.

Last edited 16 hours ago by slambanna
Moonlight

Agreed. The boys need to file that away in the memory bank for another time in the series. The precedent has been set. Perry was in front and performed acrobatics to avoid contact with Bobrovsky, maybe next time he doesn’t 😏

Last edited 16 hours ago by Moonlight
TheGreatBigMac

No, play it straight, you know that call goes against us.

fishman

Bennet knew exactly what he was doing. He actually could have been penalized for interfering with Walman before he “accidentally ” fell into Skinner. Oilers will have to defeat Panthers and NHL establishment to win the cup.

Benign Bone

TOI distribution on the backend is absolutely GORGEOUS!

Bouchard 31:51
Ekholm 25:19
Nurse 25:04
Kulak 25:03
Klingberg 23:30
Walman 23:07

Lewis Grant

It’s just beautiful to have a third pairing that’s a second pairing.

Some of us remember the 2006 run. At least 10 minutes a game, you had to send over the boards Matt Greene and Marc-Andre Bergeron. Every moment they were on the ice at ES, I was worried we would surrender a goal.

I’m not sure we’ve ever had defensive depth like this before.

pixel-bender

Some of us remember the 2006 run. At least 10 minutes a game, you had to send over the boards Matt Greene and Marc-Andre Bergeron. Every moment they were on the ice at ES, I was worried we would surrender a goal.

Or, you know, drive an opposing player into your goaltender fundamentally shifting the series in a way that provided Carolina an insurmountable advantage.

LMHF#1

They probably didn’t show it, but Kasperi was absolutely jacked for his third star moment. The crowd loved it.

khildahl

Was at the game. He was intense.

delooper

It looks like ?every? Oiler skater has a goal in the playoffs. i.e. the only Oilers without goals were not in the lineup.

dangilitis

Stech, Emberson, J Brown?

dangilitis

Hot take: Holloway and Foegele couldn’t have played as well as Kapanen, Podkolzin, or Arvidsson did tonight. And Broberg wouldn’t have made tonight’s lineup.

On the flip side, Holloway would have made the lineup while Skinner is still a call up

Last edited 1 day ago by dangilitis
Just J

Too true. It took a year to get here, but the whole thing makes sense today in a way it just didn’t last summer.

Gaz Gazzersson

Ka$h-peri Kapanen was a monster tonight. πŸ‘πŸΌ

delooper

He had several river-pushing moments. Must have been a giant headache for Florida.

smellyglove

Four points in his last three games.

Mirakodus

What a story his playoffs has been!

dangilitis

Moneypuck has xGF as 4.65 – 3.71 for Edmonton. Matches the eye test that each goalie saved 2/3 a goal above average, and the better team won. However, the model doesn’t account for dirty rats and biased officiating…

delooper

I’m looking at the NHL stats page and I’m noticing a pattern. It seem like almost every year, the teams with rookie NHL playoff scoring leaders lose.

Are there many teams that won the cup that played rookies? I remember the 90’s Oilers with the kid line. Forget if they were rookies then. But they were close.

giddy

Bruins played Seguin just over half their playoff games when they won in 2011 at 19. Think Marchand was in his second season that year too but he was a few years older yet.

Yukon Jerk

Skinner was great

oilinthepeg

Yep. He is tracking the puck so well and looks quick on his crease. You love to see it. I maintain that if he can increase his quickness and athleticism he can be elite. Super pumped for him! Seems to be completely dialed in.

dangilitis

Hits were 51-51.

Interesting splits, though

22-6 D hits favored Florida, while
45-29 F hits favored Edmonton.

Maybe a sign of a better Edmonton forecheck?

Neumann

The puck spent more time in Florida’s end. Ozone time matters.

delooper

My Dachshund called it. Oilers victory again in game 2.

Reja

Hopefully the doggy has us winning wire to wire next game as this was way to stressful.

delooper

His main tell is the status of his Oilers jersey when he wakes up in the morning.

KnightRain

Resilience. That’s what they showed tonight. Got behind. Found away to fight back. Grabbed another gear and laid waste to their game.
They took over early in the third and pounded them into submission. It took two and a quarter periods but, after that, it was inevitable.
We’ve taken your measure, foriduh, and know your weaknesses, now.
Oilers in four.

Lewis Grant

I think Florida now knows they’re dealing with a different team this time around. One that can be locked-in on winning the Cup all the time, not just some of the time.

Still, Oilers in four is pretty optimistic. Florida is a good team.

colieo_87

My guess was 5 but I’ll take all the optimism needed

LMHF#1

John Klingberg played like a superstar tonight. It was truly something to watch him with the puck while nearly everyone else had struggles. It was beautiful.

Yukon Jerk

He’s been playing this way since the playoffs started

LMHF#1

Another level tonight because of the stage and the contrast. He’s been good. Tonight he was absolutely great.

Reja

It’s amazing how bad some players look while playing injured and then poof Klingberg gets his health back and he’s playing like shades of Dallas.

Moonlight

What an impact on the game. I expected that he would recover but never saw him find his game from 5 years ago.

SwedishPoster

Was a great interview with him in a swedish paper yesterday. Said last summer he was contemplating whether he would quit as he could barely move in his daily life let alone play hockey. He apparently had so much pain the last few years. And now he’s playing quality hockey in a Stanley Cup Final. I’d like the number to his surgeon.

Last edited 1 day ago by SwedishPoster
dangilitis

Hard fought game by all. So glad the refs didn’t end up being the story when by all mean they deserved to be. What a resilient team!

Skinner played really well and Bobrovsky is going to remain a tough nut to crack but we still deserve more bounces.

Defensive depth and 4 line effort kept us in it and the superstars pushed us to the finish line

pixel-bender

I like team depth. Team depth is fun. Highly recommend it.

Go you Oilers.

ekcomb 2.0

Now Panthers know what Dallas felt like late:

Dallas 4 shots In 3rd last 3 games.
Florida 8 shots total last 2 periods.

Yukon Jerk

All 8 shots felt dangerous

flea

Bennett β€œI didn’t just fall” – lol. No – you just skated through a oilers defenseman and fell over his skate. No idea how that goal should have counted.

Good to see the hockey gords make this game
right, I expect the Oilers will be even better in G2.

Clarkenstein

I’m still in disbelief that goal counted. If any of Hyman, Perry or Kane had done that move we all know the goal wouldn’d have counted.

Yukon Jerk

We love you Tarkus!

Gaz Gazzersson

team effort!!!

Funny Bissonness

Forwards under 10 mins of total ice time:
Panthers 3
Oilers 0

Defensemen under 20 minutes of ice time:
Panthers 2
Oilers 0

Last edited 1 day ago by Funny Bissonness
Tarkus

Depth is fun!

dangilitis

Just like against LA, that’s going to cost you late in games and into OT

Sierra

3 more!

dangilitis

I think I heard some crazy stat somewhere that Florida is now 31-1 when leading after first or second period in the playoffs πŸ˜‰

dangilitis

lol I was clearly beaten to this joke

KnightRain

Gotta thank HH for bringing this up, right? I think he was trying to motivate us, imo. Good job, bud.

HeavySig

#neverindoubt
I said Oilers in 4, but it could have easily gone the other way tonight. Florida is the best team the Oilers have faced this playoffs.
Destiny is with the Oilers.

SwedishPoster

What a beauty of an OT winner. And what a beauty of an OT winner Kapanen’s effort would have been. Or Bouchard’s for that matter. Never in doubt in deed.

Moonlight

They took that OT over about 5 minutes into it; never looked back. That was just a spectacular game from line one through line four. Just surgical.

MushedPeas

was not unlike that Kings OT. not on that level but not apples and oranges either.

Moonlight

I was just amazed in the 3rd and OT. The adjustments the coaching staff made were very noticeable. Something just clicked and their experience and battle level shone through.

Yukon Jerk

SwedishPoster for mayor!

oilinthepeg

Florida now 30-1 when leading after 2!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

Offside

Hey what’s Florida’s win/loss record leading after 2?

danny

Is Walman this generations Roman Hamrlik?

Reja

They gutted that game out showing a lot of character. I still hate the delay of game call deciding a OT game but hey we finally are getting some payback from the hockey Gods.

Ice Sage

Well, it’s a non-discretionary penalty and the result of the Oilers’ increasing pressure. Podkholzin was amazing on that play.
Also, the Oilers PP, including 90 sec of 4 on 3 was ass until then. Credit to them.
That little backpass by Perry is already legendary.

prefonmich

Skinner becoming Fuhr-esque not letting in the next one

OriginalPouzar

He didn’t have to do a ton afte the 2nd but there were a couple of moments – Stu locked it down!

dangilitis

Early OT was reminiscent of Pickard against Vegas

Mirakodus

BIG DRAISAITL ENERGY!!!!!!!

Yukon Jerk

Scored with that yuge tallywacker

smellyglove

I was reading The Athletic and all the prognostications leading into this. Athletic staff all predicting the Oilers, and LeBrun’s article where a surveyed NHL head coaches and execs, and they came out 50/50 Florida to Edmonton.

All the naysayers we’re citing Hyman being out as the difference. All the media, and Eastern watchers are totally missing out on the main storylines. Drai is healthy. Skinner is rolling. No weak links on D. Depth, four lines that can do it all. Kane healthy and a beast.

smellyglove

Sorry that should read The Athletic staff all picked Florida for the most part.

LMHF#1

Everything that could go wrong did, and they still kicked their ass for 3 periods.

We are here. It is good.

Lewis Grant

Florida has to be concerned. They got all the luck (well until that last penalty anyways) and still lost.

Tarkus

Oilers have won 4 of their last 5 playoff games vs. Florida.

Panthers are winless in their last one game when leading after two.

Gerta Rauss

And he shall be Leon

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!!!!!!!

Gaz Gazzersson

#PlayLaBambaBaby!!

comment image

MushedPeas

That was game ONE y’All.

Game One. #topdrawer #fortyproof

danny

Scorey Perry is forgiven for 2017

MushedPeas

Corey’s good. I’ll never forgive that sniveling official or his corrupt league.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

No.

Lewis Grant

Forgotten for 2017…not forgiven.

Thankfully, we don’t ever have to forget or forgive Kesler.

Last edited 1 day ago by Lewis Grant
giddy

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!!

Victoria Oil

McJesus to Pope Leo!!!!

Elgin R

Another comeback win.

MushedPeas

Awwwwww man.

That was sweet.

DevilsLettuce

HORNY TIME!!!

KnightRain

BOOM!!! Drai with the kill shot!!!

fishman

So about that 31-0 record Panthers have……….

prefonmich

These Oilers are streak breakers!! 30 and 1 now

Gaz Gazzersson

ALL HAIL POPE LEON!!! 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Tarkus

#NeverInDoubt

Three more, please.

Last edited 1 day ago by Tarkus
fishman

Take that you F**KING Rats!!!!!

Yukon Jerk

This PP hasn’t bothered anyone all night

KnightRain

Give it a minute.

MushedPeas

I did. solid.

smellyglove

Can someone please tell me why Leon gets thrown out of the circle literally every single draw?

2minutes4lookingsogood

Supposedly because he tries cheating on the draw when McDavid’s out there because if he gets tossed Conor is good on the draw too. I just think the linesman wants more camera time for his family to see him.

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