At some point this weekend in beautiful California, the Edmonton Oilers will get screwed over by any and all of the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, bad luck, the black and white stripes, Jack White and Jack Black and the Hand of God. This combination of events will make you and I angry enough to meet Joe Black. You know what? None of that matters. What matters is the Edmonton Oilers reaction to these ‘outside the law and the law is no damn good in this town’ events. This team can win Stanley, but badly needs to stay in the moment, not lose focus, and to win the day.
The Athletic article today is about possible roster needs and internal/external replacement options. Article is here.
WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER
- On the road to: VEG (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
- At home to: CBJ, STL, TBAY (Expected 2-1-0) (Actual 3-0-0)
- On the road to: MIN (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
- At home to: VEG, FLA, BOS, SJS, OTT (Expected 4-1-0) (Actual 4-1-0)
- On the road to: LAK, ANA (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- At home to: UTA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
- Overall expected result: 9-4-0, 18 points in 13 games
- December results: 8-2-0
- Oilers in 2024-25: 21-11-2, 44 points in 34 games
The Oilers need win just one of the next three games to reach my predicted total, but hell’s bells they’ve gone this far why not (in the words of the great philosopher Nigel Tufnel) “go to 11” for the month? Makes sense to me.
Sean Shanahan
Sean Shanahan didn’t play much for the Montreal Canadiens, but had a significant role in the Habs’ quest to overcome Fred Shero’s Philadelphia Flyers. People often get the 1970’s Flyers wrong when describing their success. The story goes that they were all thugs and couldn’t win without intimidation, but that isn’t completely true. The Flyers had several key elements to the style that won two Stanley Cups.
First, Bernie Parent was the best goalie of his era. I would suggest that Dom Hasek and Patrick Roy exceeded him in later years, and that any combination of Jacques Plante, Glenn Hall and Johnny Bower were as good or better in the previous era. Among his peers, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito and Gerry Cheevers (shut up, I loved him) could be mentioned in the same breath, but for me Parent was the goalie of the 1970’s.
Second, the Flyers owned electric skill. Rick MacLeish was fast and furious, he was vital to the cause (as witnessed by the Philadelphia playoff loss the spring he was hurt). Reggie Leach was Mike Bossy before Mike Bossy, although the Islander had more sustain at peak levels. Bobby Clarke was a toothless hag by 25 but he was also a fantastic two-way center, and his peak years were among the best I’ve ever seen. Bill Barber could score and dive, Ross Lonsberry could score and check.
Add that to pure offensive defenseman Tom Bladon and a host of tough actual NHL players like Andre Dupont, Barry Ashbee, Don Saleski, Dave Schultz, Gary Dornhoefer, Jim and Joe Watson, Ed Van Impe and others. Dave Schultz and Bob “Hound Dog” Kelly were ruffians but they could also play.
Fred Shero added two pieces to the pie. First, short shifts. His men got on and off the ice quickly enough to make Phil Esposito look like a running Zebra being caught by a pack of hyenas. Believe me, it happened just that way.
Shero also knew the referee would call penalties against his team. He needed Parent and good PK men, and he had them in names like Orest Kindrachuk, Terry Crisp and the aforementioned Lonsberry. However, Shero was a smart man and he discovered something curious about the NHL:
If the Flyers committed three fouls in a game, there would be six penalty minutes. If his team commited 20 fouls in a game, there would be six penalty minutes.
All credit to Parent, Ashbee, Dupont, the Watson brothers, Clarke, Leach, Barber, MacLeish, Lonsberry and the gang, but save a moment to consider what Shero did to the game. He turned it upside down.
Now, Sam Pollock and Scotty Bowman were smart people, too. So, in preseason 1975 Pollock called up Sean Shanahan to the NHL for a game against the Flyers. It was war. The Canadiens had supreme talent, and asking Larry Robinson to risk injury was a bad idea. However, that preseason war set the tone for the season, and the Flyers would lose four games straight in the final. Montreal answering back was part of it, but injuries to MacLeish and Parent cannot be disregarded (Ashbee, a key to the defense, had retired by then and that didn’t help).
The 2024-25 Oilers should not be expected to ‘answer back’ with a Sean Shanahan game, but the team can respond to whatever nasty event happens in California this weekend. How do the Oilers do it successfully?
Stay focused.
If some dim bulb is running around being a nimrod, focus on the hockey play at hand. Today’s game matters, in the standings now, and next spring should these teams meet in the playoffs. For some time now, we’ve seen clubs play outside the law against Edmonton in an effort to get players to lose focus.
If the Oilers are going to win the Stanley Cup, the team does need to play a rugged style and win at even strength and on the special teams. They key to finding that success? Stay on task. The Kings are going to do Fred Shero things today, many times. The smart play is to skate past that moment, win on the scoreboard, and smile in the receiving line.
That big line of Byfield, Foegle and Jeannot were dominant. They are huge and can all skate. Our 3rd line was terrible last night and got out muscled quite badly.
when playoff hockey comes, the Oilers will need Kane and another rambunctious forward that has speed, can hit and bigger.
I said it yesterday and if this coach won’t play Skinner higher than the 4 th line trade him.
Perry needs to play every 2nd game now.
The Oilers need a 3rd line C man as well and drop Henrique to the 4th.
But it actually was a fun game besides the debacle in OT. Where Bouchard sucked and Nuge stayed out way way to long on that losing goal gifted .
And Skinner if your helmet strap is off rip ur mask off. Most goalies do when that happens.
Missed the 3rd period last night but watched it this morning getting ready for the gym – great comeback by the Condors to turn a 3-2 deficit in to a 5-3 win. Savoie with a nifty area pass assist for Pederson for the insurance goal.
3 assists for Savoie and he’s now impacting the play on most shifts.
He’s coming and he’s real!
Before the loss during the final minutes Bouchard looked like he was handling the opposition player like he was a live grenade. Ditto Skinner – you could see the panic in his movements.
For sure it’s possible to calm these birds down, from moments like this. Both are superior players.
On the other hand, maybe Bouchard doesn’t kill the salary cap with this kind of flat out lousy play. Maybe the Oilers, his agent and the player stop acting like he’s the second coming of Paul Coffey. This he clearly isn’t – as good as he can be.
And for all of the Paul Coffey haters, he was compared to Gretzky in pure talent during his Oiler days. So no need to start panicking over these innocuous remarks.
Some poor defending following by some atrocious goaltending and the 2-0 lead is now a 3-2 deficit and Rodrigue is coming in for Delia – third goal, AWFUL!
Summarizing!
Day repelled all but one of the 26 shots he faced in a 4-1 win. He was named 1st star for his efforts.
Clattenburg and Berry (!) each picked up an assist.
Wakely and Stonehouse were denied soup.
The BU game was moved to tomorrow.
For skaters my take is they are thin down the middle and at RD
It’s been this way for years. I like Henrique, but he’s a winger now
Nuge hasn’t been a centre for years
The ‘nice’ undersized players with their mostly reliable play is not going to work
A team like this should dominate lesser teams. The balance is too far out to do that
But… SCF!!!
Ok. But the same issues remain. Can’t score enough 5v5 or defend enough there to win key games
Now it’s on Stan. If he has the goods he might make some good deals. Not giving him much rope given the talent
What is your definition of a key game? They won 15 playoff games last season and lost 10. If that is too broad, they won 7 and lost 1 when either facing elimination or a chance to close out a series. And they defended well in game 7 of the final as well.
This year’s team isn’t there yet, but it is well ahead of last year’s team at this point.
Savoie on the PP, comes off the half wall towards the slot, passes back, down-low to Pederson for a one-timer and a 2-0 lead.
Savoie is really starting to come on – impacting the game most shifts now.
Holy Hell what a play by Matvey Petrov – gets a pass with speed at the offensive blueline – takes on 3 defenders, a little dipsy doodle and a pass across the seam for a back door tap in for Carrick.
Play of Petrov’s pro career!
https://x.com/bcurlock/status/1873190622468948091
Shesterkin pulled with a .615, giving up 5 goals on 13 shots.
Paying $11.5 million for a player who doesn’t even play every game, and for the games they play, may not even play the full 60 minutes, is crazy.
I would take him in a heartbeat at that salary.
There is nothing more valuable than a consistently good goaltender. The Jets (not a strong team) will always be a contender as long as Hellebuyck is in his semi-prime.
Bako lineup the same but Hamblin out for De Jong (the said yesterday he wouldn’t play both ends of the back to backs) and Delia starting.
I love the way the knuckleheads lost today with demko in net.
Thought the Oilers played a pretty good game. McDavid wasn’t great and Bouchard was terrible. That OT goal started with a loss of possession from Bouchard. At one point in the second period he made 4 bad passes in a row and multiple times tonight he was too cute on the blue line which ended badly.
0 SOG for 97 in that game against those guys?
Unacceptable.
Agreed. I kept waiting for McDavid to have a positive impact on the game at 5 on 5. Alas, it never came. Credit to the Kings for neutralizing him.
0 shot *attempts*
Nucks were up 4-1 with less than 5 minutes left against a non-playoff team and lost in OT so there IS that…..
Haha- inadvertently set the troll off…Or maybe you meant to.
Shoot high on Skinner. He struggles mightily on those
I think league wide most goals scored on a clean shot are hitting the top corners. Not sure Skinner would be much different.
He’s deep in his net the shooter see’s nothing if he comes out.
He’s always on his knees. He needs to be a couple inches taller to play that way
I do understand calls get missed, it’s a fast game.
In OT, Bouch’s stick getting slashed out of his hands, and the footage of Skinner letting the ref know his helmet was loose…. those are blatant. Those aren’t missed calls, they’re just simply not called. Le sigh.
Take the point and on to tomorrow’s match up.
I don’t get the slash on Bouchard. That one seems to get called 100% of the time in today’s game. It’s almost like the ref wanted to show up Bouch on that one
Oilers were in desperate need of a change I believe Skinner was using some gamesmanship to get a whistle.
Strap was clearly broken. It’s a safety issue, ref screwed the pooch.
Gadzooks! That was some display of a double standard in reffing… Arvidsson gets called for a high stick, nothing in favour of Hyman. Kuemper gets the whistle for a loose helmet, Skinner gets “let them play” and a game winner against him.
Having said that, the refs are not the reason the Oilers lost, although they were a contributing factor. Byfield’s line dominating and the Oilers not having an adequate response to them, Henrique getting owned (by Byfield’s line), McDavid being neutralized or not being up for the game, Skinner giving up a weak OT winner, and a lack of killer instinct (inability to shut down the Kings in the 3rd, ineffective 2nd PP with PP1 staying out way too long, and general inability to score to take a 2 goal lead) did them in.
Unsurprisingly bush league. Missed 3 calls in last 5 minutes, let alone rest of game.
“Missed’ is actually inaccurate and generous. Willfully ignored is more appropriate.
Stu got refs attention about loose strap, ref did nothing
California officiating at its finest
Henrique standing still
-4
If you’re referring to the moment on the LA PP (I think that was the moment), I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Henrique was in the slot and just watched.
That too, but overtime. Watching Byfield skate past him with the puck thinking he’ll be covered during 3×3.
Henrique completely had his head up his arse today. Worse game in Oiler silks by a kilometer.
I’ll take a hard-earned point on the road against a very good and structured team coming out of the break.
Now, go get the second point.
Perry taking Podz’s spot on that shift – I have liked Podz’s game today….
Henrique with a failed clear on the PK – it was a tough clear but he failed – he’s NOT having a good game.
Knew an Oilers penalty was being called shortly…..
Refs will feel the need to give LA a PP here shortly, just because
lol, oh dear…Arvidsson made that easy for them
Coach could try not having Henrique out against the Byfield line.
Or he could put some effort into his job. There’s that option
So keep throwing him out there until he does? Bench his ass and send a message.
And send out Janmark? The winger playing centre? Only so many options and Kings have last change
Henrique just lets the attacker go to the net untouched…..
Been a rough afternoon for him
Henri is getting hard to watch. Not a strong play there
Would love to see Connor’s line get an EV goal. One from each of the top 2 as a baseline, add PP, the other two lines, attribute D goals the the forward line they’re with
Very solid road period by the Oilers – very solid period, road or home, by the Oilers.
Wow, great strength by Kapanen there.
Draisaitl is a ice tilting monster
Arvidsson haha kings
Thank you Gavrikov…… a top pairing d-man making an egregious turnover.
Nice passes by Drai and Podz – great finish Arvy.
Great shot Nuge!
A very merry Nugent power play goal!!!!!!
That was an ELITE puck retrieval by Hyman – like one of the best board plays I’ve seen.
LA just does this constant subtle interference that rarely gets called. So frustrating.
They should learn to do it back. It’s not going away
McDavid should look to get his skating in to second and third gear this afternoon…..
Nice to see Connor pop Mikey with the reverse hit.
And rather comical watching Mikey complain to the ref after
10 goals for Foegele – all at 5 on 5.
It appears has was/is NOT a function of Drai only.
I’ll give him his props if he doesn’t get owned in playoffs again
Perhaps he could of produced anything without Draisaitl the past few seasons when he was a Oiler.
He is playing on the 3rd line with a legit top six power forward centrewinger in Byfield.
Byfield is eating the Oilers 3rd line alive so far. Byfield against most 3rd lines is a mismatch.
If Byfield is dominating, Foegele doesn’t have to play much defense.
Of course Foegle….
Foegle/Byfield have been a load for the Oilers in-zone so far.
#28 6’0 184 #19 6’0 195 #42 6’1 194
#37 6’2 204 #55 6’5 225 #10 6’2 220
None of the Oilers on that line are particularly aggressive players, which ties in to recent discussions about that and size
Goal 1 the D were 49 and 51 R/R and undersized, Goal 2 was 25 and 27 L/L. Nurse was the only typical size and weight player on the ice for either GA
If the smaller guys could use their overall speed advantage, be smarter than the bigger opponents, and be strong on sticks, they could get by. Not so far
You forgot Jeannot
Overpassing by the Kings leads to a broken play goal – Skinner slow to recognize on that ugly one.
Nuge needs to fight someone.
McDavid not expecting that pass in the slot from Hyman after the missed break – not sure he’s fully engaged right now – he’ll get going.
On the LA goal, looks like Stu came off the right post a bit and Byfield launched a good high shot in the now open space
I’m not sure why Gary thinks I like all these afternoon games.
I do – better than 8pm (if I’m not busy with client responsibilities).
I’m the exact opposite
Byfield just beat Connor Brown and ripped one under the bar – credit the power forward on that one.
So of these 9 teams that have been dominant making the finals and winning Cups in the post lockout era, these teams made the finals back to back – number of times, Cups:
Wings 2 (1)
Pens 2 (3)
Panthers 2 (1)
The Bolts did it in 3 consecutive seasons, winning 2. The Pens have have also been killers when they get there, 3 of 4, the other team with an all time great. As I have said over the years, it’s not unreasonable to think the McDavid/Draisaitl Oilers should have been able to walk in those circles
Making the playoffs isn’t the marker for me (of course you have to be able to), 16 teams do every season, but most don’t really have a chance to win the Cup. You can’t win every season, but you can be right there when you have the players the Oilers have, and win your fair (or unfair) share
Hopefully we are at that time. I have more confidence in this management group so far, their abilities in assessing and making decisions in a timely manner, being able to make good deals, actually making deals, and finding value players that take a team over the top
It’s been shown by several posters here over the years that teams that win actively make deals, and quickly address roster issues and organizational depth issues. They are always active in all of the aspects of running a team. They aren’t sentimental, as they shouldn’t be
The Knights, Bolts and Panthers have traded popular central or core players aggressively (Fluery with the sword through his back meme), and they haven’t gone off the rails with team culture as some others have. Zito spent the summer trying to trade Ekblad. It’s about a culture of winning and what that takes. It’s pro sports. These things are the main factor in winning, once you have the core players. The correct vision, and the ability to get to it, or close enough
Kapanen! You puck magnet beaut!
Kapscori Ktappeditin!