This edition of the playoff Oilers are running exactly zero rookies in the postseason, but do have some interesting players who can be listed as surprise contributors. Chief among them is goaltender Calvin Pickard, who has precious and few playoff appearances across a long career.
Pickard was stellar last night in Vegas, and can accurately be described as an NHL goalie who stole a game from an exceptional team after what he accomplished against the Golden Knights. You may disagree, but I’m confident in calling it a brazen robbery in plain sight. Calvin Pickard’s NHL story may just be starting, and that’s the truth.
THE NUMBERS
Where to start. How about the ending? Evan Bouchard plays a physical style to separate Golden Knight from puck and then sends a hard pass along the wall. Corey Perry is in the neutral zone, kicks the puck to his stick and sends a short and effective pass out to the McDavid Speedway. The captain captures the puck and is gone, gone, gone. I cannot imagine what it feels like to stare down McDavid in full flight once he sets his jaw and takes flight. He fairly skipped past Jack Eichel, drove to the net and did what the entire hockey world knew he would do: Pass it to Leon Draisaitl.
The forwards are playing well across the board to my eye, and one suspects the coaching staff agrees. At five-on-five, the top icetime total (Connor McDavid, 20:15) and the lowest total (Vasily Podkolzin, 9:27) reflected Kris Knoblauch’s willingness to trust the entire playing roster. This kind of consistency is blue rare in Edmonton and the lines are earning minutes with fine play. Music!
The pairings were all over hell’s half acre as usual, but I think it might be due to inexperience (Ty Emberson) and possible illness/injury (Jake Walman). Either way, I don’t have anything bad to say about the defense today, would point out lovely goals by Walman and Darnell Nurse, and great passing from Evan Bouchard and John Klingberg.
This series isn’t over, that’s for certain. Oilers fans can take heart in the fact that the usual demons are being kept at bay. The goaltending is so good no one is talking about it, the defense is making plays and getting the puck out of the zone under control consistently, and the forwards are a marvel. It’s a fantastic spring in Edmonton.
At noon today the Lowdown hits, Sports 1440. We’ll talk Oilers wall to wall with feature guests Steve Lansky and Tyler Yaremchuk, as well as Declanations and a look at the Oilers game Saturday. Loving this run, folks. I’m at Lowetide on twitter, in the comments section here and on the Sports 1440 text line at 1.833.401.1440 directly. We can be heard at sports1440.ca; iHeartRadio, Radioplayer Canada, it’s available post-show on apple and spotify, and we tweet it out on X.
Ages 4-140, Oilers fans are behind this year’s team. Breaking down the fanbase, from easygoing to “He may know more than the GM” plus a look at Kris Knoblauch’s winning streaks and what may come.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6342397/2025/05/09/edmonton-oilers-nhl-playoffs-2025-stats/
Fans of age 140!? Fake News!
I’m pretty sure Strudwick is older than that!
Good one LT!
I have a friend (Canucks fan, a little bitter) who says he hates the Oilers for the fans’ sense of entitlement, that we’re “owed” Stanley just because we have McDrai. I love how you’ve done the history and demographics on this Cult of McDavid.
I returned to the fold of hockey fandom after 40+ years in the wilderness thanks to McJesus a couple of years ago. Do I think we’re owed Stanley? No. But I do think this team is worthy. And I love how a town can become, as Hyman said recently, a “hockey heaven.” I love that Montreal is that. I love that Edmonton is that.
Thanks for your insights & thoughts on the culture of this team, its fans.
I’m not so sure we feel we are owed a cup, more like we feel pressure as a fanbase that with a generational player (or two) you are expected to win a cup. You can be sure other fan bases will take glee in that we had a generational talent but couldnt win a cup with him. That is Flames fans dreams, to be able to say this.
Doug Weight was on Morning Cuppa Coffee today, for the fans born in the eighties.
He is working with Mike Grier and the Sharks these days.
Also applicable to fans born in the mid-70s.
And the late 70’s
My all time favourite Oiler.
Dougie bled Oiler blue when he was here. That was the era of the Oilers that made me a fan. Cheering for the underdog Oilers against the Stars every spring converted me from a habs fan to an Oil fan. My hatred for the Leafs was born out of them signing CuJo in the summer of 98.
Fine, no suspension, for Roy.
DOPS must have believed that he was trying to play the puck….
At some point people making decisions that are other than what the facts present expose themselves as corrupt. There is no defense or explanation for cross checking in the face with no deflection from the recipient
They are corrupted for whatever reason. This is now without doubt
The facts are not subjective in this case and Roy has nothing to do with McNabb
Also has nothing to do with injury or not. The response is not to go after Roy but to make Hertl aware he cannot go near the goalie and whomever else contacted Pick
TF can settle his score later, bigger things at hand
Show me a clip of any nhl player in history playing a puck by two-handing the shaft of their stick into the puck.
His follow through was not towards the puck whatsoever.
If anything they bought that he tried to cross check to the chest but the puck distracted him and he hit face instead. Which is likely what happened.
That’s still a suspension in my books. It sure feels like DOPS decisions tend to favour the Knights.
This is crazy even If he was a star player he should of recieved 1 game at least. They are going to regret this as now it’s open season with no consequences.
Ugh.
Roy just fined, not suspended.
Of course.
Would be interesting to watch a split screen of the Roy cross check and the McDavid cross check that earned him 3 regular season game. From memory, the two infractions were pretty much the same.
I presume we can close the door on the Arvidsson missed call now?
Somebody in the future is really going to get hurt if this is the standard. We all know it was Kane or any other Oiler it’s 2 games. I hope they get up enough to get some retribution on this dirty effer.
The Stanley Cup champs are not going to go down without a fight. I’m hoping the Jets have pushback but I doubt it.
I hope Winnipeg has a heartbeat and gives Dallas a half-ass series. Chevy builds a hardworking trap team that ges busted in the playoffs. If you get physical with Dallas they will fold the tent except for Benn who will snap and do something criminal like Roy.
The PK is the one area of concern – currently running at 60%, the worst of all 16 teams – and the only surprising thing is that it is that high. It looks a complete shambles. This is not an easy fix and I fear it is going to bite us.
Watching the FLA v TML game. They need a new nickname for Bob. His play so far supports Brutal Bob as his new nickname.
Just watching 1985 highlights where we only lost 3 games the whole playoff. This team reminds me of that team the only difference is Sather was a stone cold assassin. There was lots of close games then the Oilers would pounce and never sit back. They kept attacking even when they were up by 5 goals. This team is not good at going in a shell they need to keep going offensively once we get the lead.
Well, my family and I rolled into the Sugar Shack at 6:05pm, only to realize that the Sugar Shack closed at 6pm. Disappoint ruled as we missed out on the best poutine West of Quebec (truth) and possibly the best Montreal smoked meat sandwich this side of Dunn’s on St Catherine St. In Montreal. However, the upside was we were able to get to Kamloops earlier as the Sugar Shack is not just a meal, but an event that takes time. Waiting in such a fashion that is slow probably contributes to what dieticians call “the French Paradox”, but I digress.
The game last night might have been a case study of winning a game you had no business of winning. The coach in me would say it was a case of taking advantage of every opportunity presented to you, but be careful as the opportunities will be shrinking. One thing I noticed from a tactical point of view was that Vegas did a better job of clogging up the neutral zone, so those long Hollywood passes up the middle were not as effective. I would try the short passes a little more and ensure all the forwards are coming back lower and timing their swings quicker to counter the quick forecheck. Plus it allows a quicker transition to defence in case of turnovers.
I didn’t see the line changes Coach Garlic put forward, but I imagine his tactic was to match speed with speed and tough with tough. Nothing wrong with that, but you don’t pull the reins on Secretariat.
What would I do for tomorrow’s game? Adjust a little in your own end so the Knights aren’t getting a long look for a shot or a pass. Secondly, work on the puck retrieval. I just found the Oilers were not able to corral a rebound or win a battle on the half boards. That’s my bias though as I preach puck possession and every second we have the puck is one less second the opponent has a chance to score.
Any way, taking a break from working on getting more Indigenous kids into hockey in BC. One thing I love about hockey and sport, is that is gives us all common ground and allows us to have civilized discussions while finding solutions to common issues.
Go Oilers.
Agree with this. Much of their missed offensive sorties and vulnerability defensively can be fixed by asking the forwards to play closer to the puck. The big boys are especially prone to jail break at the first sign of possession which gives the D who has come into possession limited options other than 70+ foot passes which are necessarily telegraphed and easy to intercept or interrupt the reception. Then it’s potentially an odd man break against with the forwards traveling in the wrong direction.
Forwards playing deep in their own end makes the breakouts and transitions easier and also helps protect the nut if there is an unexpected turnover.
The first goal against was a beauty and is a set play on an angled pass through the crease from a net side Knight to the open weak side man for a one timer. It’s clever because the four PK players collapse toward the player (stone in this case) since he is so close to the net and the goalie drops to cover the wrap around but now is out of position to push across to save the one timer from the open weak side player. They tried it several times after that goal as well. Either that pass has to be interrupted or the weakside wing defender has to be more aware or both. The defender can be more aggressive on the pass as well. But we can’t leave that guy so wide open on the PK. They are in a box zone, but the weakside winger can cheat over there a little bit knowing they are trying to hit that guy. It leaves a one timer point shot open at the blueline, but that’s easier for Pickard to save than trying to push across the whole crease from his knees.
Sounds like we share a lot of ideas.
Need an assistant coach?
I was going to ask you the same thing. If our kids ended up on the same team, we would make a good duo behind the bench, I suspect
Holland last year in Edmonton he was a Dead Man Walking. Decisions were definitely being made for him in my opinion. Starting from the quick firing of Woody to the quick hiring of K.K-Coffey to the firing of Archie-Wright the writing was on the wall for Holland who at 5 million per year was a constant professional but he was not making decisions. I think Holland has been scorned and if he takes the L.A job it’ll be his opportunity for payback.
Or Connor’s opportunity for payback, as Holland finds more mediocre guys (they have no AHL players to replace on the NHL roster, no brainer moves he made in Edmonton), crushes their talented youth, and caps the team out. And makes a mediocre – rep hire for coach, like Tortorella or Laviolette
LA has $23 million in offseason cap space with the only notable UFA to sign being Gavrikov.
Pretty sure they can add to the roster with that flexibility.
Holland will make hay
I know it’s a long standing tradition on here to crap on the last guy out the door, but didn’t Holland add a few valuable pieces to the Oiler roster?
Hyman
Kane
Perry
Brown
Podkholzin
Henrique
Janmark
Ekholm
Stetcher
Emberson
Pickard
Have I missed anyone or is half the current roster sufficient?
Wow! Holland was a long gone disgruntled employee fishing with Armstrong talking about poaching Broberg and Holloway when Ceci was traded for Emberson and Podkolzin was traded for a fourth from your dear Kanucks.
But what about Kuzmenko? He is a key free agent. I remember reading that he is absolutely key to the Kings stunning power play and not a defensive liability at all.
and yes, your Holland list is missing:
Jack Campbell
zach kassian
The ghost of Duncan Keith
Holland made a few mistakes, as all GM’s do, but tend to agree that the good he did outweighs the bad by a wide margin. Maybe some recency bias creeps in for me as i mostly compare Holland to his predecessor Chia Pocklington.
Just nine more downvotes and you will disappear like a pumpkin again. Everyone needs to remember that a -10 makes you go away. Sometimes I wonder what Al ever did to you that you continue to post (and create new accounts) to a small place on the internet that doesn’t want you around.
Sather built a team from horse manure he had a vision and wheeled and dealed often. Holland rich boss bought the Russian national team from some very hardcore comrades. Bowman was gifted the nucleus but he built a fanatic play any style team. Obviously of the 3 Sather will be King as a G.M and Coach. I’ll be bug food by then but I see a old boys club of Nuge-Hyman-Connor-Leon being G.M – Coaches etc continuing on for Cups 8-9-10 as executives.
The defenve Roy will use is that he was going for the puck. Frederic must of really got under Roy skin for such a viscous cross-check. Its amazing if Frederic doesn’t have a broken nose and 2 black eyes as I speak.
And if they don’t respond that no one in the history of hockey has tried to crosscheck a puck before, they’re clowns.
I don’t want him to get suspended. How are the Oilers going to get PP time without the 7 minutes he gifted us last night? -4 through first 2 games and destroyed his team’s momentum in OT. Plus it’s just going to play into the narrative that Oilers are being favored, which we don’t need going into game 3 with terrible special teams
The league has no option that is as bad a look ss you’ll ever see. Anywhere else in society that’s assault with a weapon.
I’m being facetious.
It lacked the premeditation of McDavid’s check to Garland, but all the talk at the time was eliminating stick to face shots. I think it will be a 1 game suspension.
Roy was centering the 4th line and playing 2nd PP and PK. Losing him for a game is likely a net negative as they will likely have to move Brett Howden to the 4th line C.
Possibly no Dorofeyev, Roy and/or McNabb presents an opportunity in game 3 at home that an aspiring championship team would want to pounce on. Mind you, all 3 together may be equal to the impact of a healthy Ekholm, but VGK apologizers will definitely cite this for future reference
Friedman is saying Ken Holland is in the running as the potential GM for the Kings.
That would be hilarious.
So they spend all of their futures to get beat for a 5th year in a row?
Jurco-Hass-Rattie-Rieder-Kahun-AA-Bumstead. This is just off the top of my head but whoever was evaluating forwards was tipping one to many back. As for the Draft after 5 years we don’t 1 single player (Holland) on the team and none realistically in the system. I’ll take all the little moves by Bowman over Hollands anyday.
Pete Blackburn won the internet last night on X:
“Every Oilers game is like watching someone start a bar fight by immediately giving the other person a gun & then kicking their ass in self-defense”
9:28 PM · May 8, 2025
Wanting to split up McDavid and Drai because they were, not only ineffective, but, arguably, a liability but not doing so because not wanting to mess with the other 3 lines…… that’s new!
I know, right? I referred to this during game 1. Line 2 has been playing so well, it is a gift and so our top line should be capitalizing.
To be fair, line 1 tied at ES in game 1, were +1 in game 2. They are seemingly losing because of the poor special teams
Podz barely plays and has Mattias Janmark as his center and he’s got 6 points in 8 games.
My goodness!!!
Playoff Janmark disrespect will not be tolerated, the entire line is cooking. Playoff Janmark is the best 4C the team has iced in ages while being a career winger himself.
Podkolzin is 1 point behind Supernova Holloway’s pace last season and has made Warren Foegele’s entire tenure in Edmonton now seem like an overpay.
Podkolzin was an inspired buy-low acquisition. He’s been great through the regular season, even if the counting stats were a bit shy, but his performance in the playoffs has been something else.
I was very heartened to see Stuart Skinner in the on-ice celebration last night – pure jubilation in general and for Pickard. I’m sure this is very tough on Stu but, from what I can tell, he’s a true professional and great teammate!
Stu is a genuinely great guy.
Skinner and Pickard have a bond Stu knows Pickard is just entering the “zone” I was hoping Pickard had a game like this it’s wierd to say as we hit 2 crossbars and 1 post we’re lucky to win. For me thr biggest save was the 1-1 breakaway save Pickard fought it off and would’nt allow it to go 5 hole. After that huge save we immediately score 2 in a row. I do hope Pickard is not feeling the effects of Hertl our D needs to protect him better. Vegas tried going at him 3-4 times as Pickard is really coming out and challenging the shooters. Vegas has missed the net on a ton of changes because Pickard is cutting down the net by being so far out.
The Bouchard call was horrible the Knight player is holding his stick and when Bouchard tries to pull it away the Knight promptly dives. How about Eichel flopping like no tomorrow when a errant stick glances off his helmet. The knights are sneaky dirty they had the edge I believe 3-1 on the penalty calls before the brain cramp by Roy. The Roy penalty had to be 5 and a game you can’t allow this in hockey. He connected with full force on Frederic face who’s lucky it didn’t do more damage. For Louie to downplay that maybe it’s only a 4 minute call is him trying again not to be bias. If this is regular season it would of been 5 games at least.
Eichel is taking European football diving lessons from Hertl. Anything to win baby.
There were so many articles about how awful McDavids cross check was. Roys was more forceful, but seems like it’s kinda been an after thought.
Yes Roy got lucky that we didn’t score on the PP as all the attention fell on little Arvidsson. Viktor has always quietly had a pest quality and he brought down a big tree like McNabb in one swoop. I believe at 1 minute extra PP time this is the first game this playoff (eight) that we had more PP time and in took one of the nastiest cross-check to the face you’ll ever see. I do hope Frederic gets the opportunity to thump Roy in the future as that play isn’t good in the eyes of hockey players.
That was a great game to watch.
Vegas adjusted well and took away the stretch pass; clogged up the Neutral zone.
We struggled with that adjustment at times. Need more shorter passes.
Picks was a beast and Podz had himself a game.
We gotta do something about the PP
We’re holding on to the puck for long stretches and we’re too static.
Gotta move it around faster and get the D moving to open up the schemes.
Yes to the long passes needing to stop.
Lets see what happens in the next few days – the PP is 5/6 on home ice (I think) and bagels on the road.
One of the things we can also say about Hill is he’s been at his best on PK. They may need more screened shots and even shots that make their way through to create havoc
I mentioned in last nights thread that it seemed odd to me that Knoblach changed the lines after Kane made it 4-2. Not sure why he would do that. Sure, the Oilers may have been being out played by a small margin, but most of the lines looked fine. It was The McDrai line that was not generating like they usually do. So he switches it up, putting McDavid with Hyman and RNH. They promptly get owned for a shift. He follows it up with Draisaitl with Arvidsson and I believe Frederic? They are also buried in their own zone and get scored on. Knoblach then changes the lines back to original, and the Oilers are fine the rest of the game. This coach just likes to tinker I guess.
On the winning goal I thought Stone was going to angle Bouchard as he had a few steps on him and then take a dive as Bouchard was closing in. Stone seemed to ease to my amazement and let Bouchard have the puck who he then went around the world to Perry. Maybe Stone is trying to deflect the blame on to Arvidsson after his weak play on Bouchard.
Yeah, Stone totally quit on that play. Probably tired as he had played over 26 minutes by that point and chasing 97 around for a lot of that time.
Hold on. Your saying that’s on Stone. Ridiculous. That goal was on the ref. Why? Cause Stone cold said so!!!!!
🤣
So…
It’s not entirely fair to compare last night’s OT goal to perhaps the most famous goal in Oiler history: Gretzky’s 1988 G2 SH OT winner in Calgary, to put the Oilers up 2-0 coming home to Edmonton.
Last night, the Oilers weren’t short-handed (although maybe they should have been), Vegas isn’t the cross-provincial rival like Calgary, Vegas isn’t the biggest obstacle to the Cup, and Draisaitl isn’t Gretzky.
Still….the parallels aren’t *that* far off. Vegas is a pretty big rival, a pretty big Cup obstacle, and Drai is a first-ballot HOFer. And we’re coming home with a 2-0 lead….on a 6-game winning streak.
Sure, this team has a much lower floor than Gretzky’s 1988 Oilers. But the ceiling is just as high. After a long, long wait, it’s a good time to be an Oiler fan.
I thought the exact same thing after watching the replay over and over. What a beautiful goal we witnessed this will live with younger fans for the next 36 years just as Gretzky goal has for me
I started watching hockey around ’03, so missed a lot of the Dallas rivalry, and to be honest the battle of alberta has waxed and waned in intensity through the years. So with that said, I think I hate Vegas about as much as any team in the league, second maybe only to Florida. From their status as Bettman’s darling team to the blatant cap circumvention to knocking us out of the playoffs 2 years ago. I’m fully emotionally invested in this series, and last night’s game was an exhausting rollercoaster that ended on such an iconic moment. If the oilers take the series, I think that OT period will be the one that gives Vegas fans collective PTSD in the years to come
Unfortunately the most famous Oilers goal likely was scored by Steve Smith 😕
Petr Klima goal is also in the running.
Wrong word. The Smith goal is/was infamous.
And the biggest difference between the two goals:
This time around, our coach didn’t flip off the opposing fans right after the goal.
Slats was epic.
Seravalli: Roy will have a hearing for the cross check. Arvidsson will not.
good. I was a little worried last night
There’s no way around it he should get 2-3 games instead it’ll only be 1.
The league tends to look at playoff games having twice the value of regular (that’s Servalli’s take) so I think you’re spot on.
I am not sure why Arvidsson not having a review for suspension is even newsworthy. Has anyone ever been suspended for a trip in the NHL, called or uncalled, regardless of outcome of the trip (see Giordano v. McDavid for example)?
That McNabb may be injured makes it a talked about play but if it happened in the first period instead of just before the Oilers winning goal, it would get very little ink today.
I’m in general agreement with everything you’re saying.
It’s just that Nurse got suspended for a lot less to “even up” the Pietrangelo Suspension. I’m pleasantly surprised that the NHL did not repeat that travesty.
Any trip, hook, or hold that results in a player going into the boards with speed should be looked at by the Department of Player Safety. I can’t recall anyone being suspended for a similar play though.
Kurtis Foster’s broken femur helped the NHL to eliminate a lot of these dangerous situations with the Hybrid Icing rules.
As should be the case.
Loved Mark Stone bitching at the refs on the way off to cover for getting absolutely dummied by Bouchard on the GWG.
If/when the Oilers win the series, someone should make like Mike Keane and tell Stone to go home. Handshake lineup would be a good time/place for that.
Real “you’re going to hear from my lawyers!” energy.
Kane should flatten his nose some more.
Not endearing himself to the stripes, is he?
Oh look, Vegas whining about refs missing the Arvidsson trip in OT!
It is too bad the player was injured, that is never something I like to see, but it reminds me of the many more times that the Oilers have been on the other side of such a situation.
Life is not fair, who knew?
These can be some scary words for an Oiler fan.
“Oilers up by two, are going to lock it down defensively for the win”
My brain
“Huh?”
“Oh jesus”
Going in to the third period, I told my wife, I think I’d feel better going in to the third down 1 than up 1…….
Just waiting for HH to show up to tell us that the team that is up 2-0 has gone on to win the series 86.3% of the time.
Don’t believe Vegas is out of this series. This is not over yet.
Oh, I agree. It’s just we heard all about the odds after G2 of the LA series.
It’s been tough times for the fan of every NHL team except for the Oilers, known as Harper’s Hair.
All of the teams Hair was gassing up as “real” contenders, the Kings, the Avs, the Lightning, all lost in the first round. Hair has one team left standing; the Knights, who are at least a bit hard to gas up at the moment.
Im sure we will find out he’s a lifelong die hard fan of Dallas in no time
Bad on me for looking ahead but Dallas scares me a little.
Odds of winning series.
After losing first 2 – 12.2%
Win 3rd game – 24.2%
Lose 3rd game – 1.6%
On with the show…this is it.
He’s using his ‘The Great One’ alias on the Knights fanblog:
“It’s worth noting that teams who are up 2-0 have gone on to win the series 86.3% of the time.”
Before logging onto his HH alias here:
“It doesn’t matter if the Oilers win the cup, their window will be closed after they do. They are very old and other teams are very young with lots of cap space”
Then logging onto the Jets fanblog under the alias of ‘Dallas Silver Fox’ saying:
“Rantanen was an incredible pickup. I wouldn’t be surprised if he scored another hattrick in the next game. Colorado really dropped the ball with mishandling his contract. They could have won multiple cups already”
Then he gets confused, logs on here and keeps talking about how Dallas is going to win it all thanks to Sakic trading Rantanen and putting Colorado in this position by not having the capspace to sign one of their star, homegrown, +50 goal scoring, +100 point season players. After forgetting he already said that Dallas doesn’t have the D to go deep.
Then he gets tired, huffs one of his whisky farts and has a nap on the sofa.
He will show you Money Puck that shows that Edmonton is only 80% favored to win the series, while in the same breath telling us that the Leafs currently have the highest odds to win the Cup
I know technically it was a comeback, but when I was tracking Power Wins I counted a comeback win as coming back from being down two to start the game. Giving up the first goal decreases odds but is far from the game being lost, unless that goal comes right at the end. Giving up leads is in the third es mucho peor
Overtime games for the Stanley Cup champs.
OIL ’25: 2-0 (so far)
FLA ’24: 2-2
VGK ’23: 3-2
COL ’22: 5-1
TBL ’21: 0-4
TBL ’20: 6-2
STL ’19: 2-2
So other than Tampa in 2021, the champs need to saw off OT or win the majority. Oilers off to a good start.
Ha, now do the 1993 Canadiens.
Luckiest playoff team in history: one OT loss, followed by TEN straight OT wins.
Gretz deserved another Cup in 1993. I’m still a little miffed about it.
Trying to at least get some work done this morning so did not go back that far. Should have remembered that one. Thanks for this.
Ha, I should be getting more work done too…
8-3 5v5 goals EDM
1-0 4v4 goals EDM
3-0 PP goals VGK
7-5 PP opportunities VGK
12 of 13 Oilers forwards have scored a goal. JSkinner has played one game and was denied soup. 3 of 7 DMen have scored goals. Kulak Emerson Klingberg and JBrown have yet to score.
Hopefully JBrown does not have an opportunity to correct this. Nothing against him personally, just knowing that if he is playing the Oiler d-corps has suffered some significant injuries.
The Oilers have Troy Stecher and Jeff Skinner (and Kap, D. Ryan, M. Jones) ready to come in as injury replacements.
That is very good depth even without considering they are missing their 1LD.
After years of getting the short end of the stick when it comes to officiating, including the last time we played the Knights, I am not about to shed a single tear about us getting a favorable non-call in OT.
I really loved Walman’s game last night. Good things happen when he is on the ice, and some of the is his offensive instincts, but he’s also a big dude and his using that size and reach to his advantage in the defensive zone. Great to see.
Especially since the NHL will surely make it up against us in the future.
But we’ve won 6 in a row even with tons and tons of non-calls for should-be penalties incurred against us. Eat that, NHL!
Speaking of which, here are the Oilers 5v5 scoring leaders [TOI]:
McDavid: 0-8-8 [145:46]
Draisaitl: 4-2-6 [146:52]
Podkolzin: 1-4-5 [71:52]
Kane: 3-2-5 [114:40]
Bouchard: 1-4-5 [165:58]
Brown: 2-2-4 [101:21]
Nuge: 1-3-4 [106:19]
Hyman: 2-2-4 [125:46]
Arvidsson: 1-3-4 [86:37]
I feel like Podkolzin isn’t getting enough credit for what he’s done so far this postseason. He’s also 5-1 on-ice goals too.
And Pods is signed for another year and then only RFA. He should get a raise and be thankful that the Oilers rescued him and his family from the depths of NHL hell that is the Canucks organization.
Player that outperform contacts. This is the way to go.
Depending on next year you could pencil in 3LW at 2 million or less for 3 or 4 years.
Can he be an honorary Kulak for his playoffs so far?
Pickard had an excellent game last night — outplaying Hill by a country mile and then some.
But, the debate if he stole the game or not is an irrelevant one. No one suggested that when Vegas knocked the Oilers out on their way to their Cup win it came with an asterisk because Hill was stellar.
Oilers fans are so accustomed to having the opposition goaltender outplay ours we don’t know how to incorporate that into the conversation.
The Oilers were outplayed by Vegas, but not massively so. Our goaltender outplayed theirs and our stars buried their chance when given the chance — so we won.
And now, we’re in an excellent position in regards to the series.
The officiating is a similar situation. Everyone — fans, broadcast teams, podcasters, underground algae on Mars — expect McDavid to be tackled and sat on with no call so when the bad officiating goes our way confusion reigns.
Nailed it again LT…Picks absolutely stole that game last night.
And of course, the “most-disciplined” team in the NHL targeted him consistently and heavily as the game wore on. I saw multiple deliberate attempts to land on/push guys on top/poke/slash/hack/accidentally on purpose try to injure him because of his performance. So they noticed his escalating play too I think.
Trouble is…I think they succeeded. He looked hurt and my bet is he is now at 90% at best.
Feels like Rolly all over again…really hope I’m wrong.
It’s so nice to finally see the individuals on this team, besides McDrai, believe in themelves and actually try to make plays. Instead of just pass to McDrai and watch. Bowman really did build a good playoff team…kudos to his adds to this team.
And I love Podz…give him 5x2mil.
Oh and if anyone has the twitters…please send the Kinghts the gif of Roy cross-checking Freddy in the face. Verdict is…Vegas is vile.
GOG!!!!!!
Cal made a lot of great saves last night, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that he was also really good with the puck on his stick. His play with the puck is making it harder for Vegas to get going in our zone and it’s an important ingredient in the success right now.
His puck handling is something I’ve never noticed before. I sure am noticing it now.
A lot of comments in regular season about how much easier Picks workload is than Stu’s. You have to wonder how much of that he does himself. He’s no Mike Smith back there but he does like to get the puck moving
True, he’s no Mike Smith.
That also means he hasn’t directly assisted on any goals against.
I didn’t like Smyth’s over involvement with the puck. The reason being he was starting the breakouts a lot. Against the Avs Bednar just had the wingers go down the half wall and it cut Smyth’s go to pass off, the Oilers had a terrible time getting out with control
Pick just gives the puck to the D quickly if it’s near him and the D starts the break out. That helps speed things up without being stoppable easily or changing things to something unusual
What I do not have is the incredible anxiety that was overwhelming when Smith left his net. CP appears calm in all situations which helps him handle the puck well.
It’s not very common for both Draisaitl and McDavid to have a pretty bad game overall, so it’s nice that when they did, the Oilers were still able to beat the division champs at their home ice in the playoffs.
A player on our team got 3 reg season games for a blatant head contact crosscheck.
By rule of playoffs, thats at least a game. He has served 5/60 minutes of that suspension. He won’t get supplemental because of the Arvi miss which just shows it never has been about player safety.
I dont feel bad for the team that ran Pickard on 3 separate occasions and accidently on purpose fell over his legs behind him.
Hockey can be ugly, we aren’t always the good guys but Florida, Vegas, Tampa x2, and Colorado with Kadri have rings. Ask them if they feel bad for some of the stuff they did.
Agree with all the above. I will say that NHL Department of ‘Hey Gary How Should We Handle This’ will most probably use a non-call to offset a blatant attempt to injure. This would be consistent as ‘over-handing chopping a player with a weapon’ being equal to ‘instigating a fight’.
They should probably both be given a game, especially if the NHL wants to quieten things down.
(Arvi’s probably had a worse outcome than Roy’s, but less bad intent. Which matters more?)
They should just call the rules, that will work. Arvi’s was a trip (bad outcome yes) and it should have been called, but they shouldn’t use suspensions to send messages if the suspension isn’t warranted or typical
The Knits getting after Pick should have been called as well. Hertl tried to hurt him he didn’t have to dump his heavy carcass on him, but he did. I think Kane should light Hertl early in the game up and send an on ice message that their dirt play will have to be answered
If he chickens out you go old school and go after Eichel or a skill guy, or return the favour to Hill. I don’t think they can take the risk of a goalie getting hurt and the Knits seem to be trying. Being up 2-0 and at home gives them the leeway they haven’t had in a lot of series
Intent. Always.
Draisaitl, McDavid, Kulak.
All looked like shells of their best selves. You gotta think another round of that McDavid flu? We know Petro was sick. Louie sounded as sick as a dog. Rob Brown on GYB has been really sick. Hrudey has had to skip his appearances due to pneumonia.
I think Eichel had himself a game. That was the cause of the McDavid flu.. until it wasn’t. I do think Drai is not close to 100% though and Perry, although clever and timeless is still 40 and can’t play the kind of minutes the top 2 can handle.. don’t think flu is the issue imo
It was beautiful to see McDavid walk Eichel on that one.
(In fairness to Eichel, Hague made the primary error of an ill-advised pinch, forcing Eichel to cover. But that doesn’t make it any less delicious. Eichel must be awfully frustrated.)
McDavid did post-game (as did Drai) – both sounded and looked just fine (although Drai likely battling something material, either whatever it was a year end or something new).
Would be nice if special teams weren’t absolute hind banana.
Im glad Pickard is playing well. Ive been saying for quite some time that he’s better than Stu. What a gamer!
Arvi OT trip = Broberg phantom call in 2023. Even steven in my book.
I found myself thinking the exact same thing today.
How about the missed hooking call when Henrique put the puck over the glass. We get the call instead of Vegas, maybe we start the game 1-0.
14-8 goal share with McDavid and Drai off the ice. Now THAT will win a Stanley!
Hell yeah
Huge to win that game last night. The coach would have in all likelihood gone back to Skinner for game 3, possibly throwing Cal into another immediate must-win in game 4.
Averting that scenario could be a real turning point.
The 6-0 #1 goalie is doing the job. Let him keep doing it.
Focus in the next 2 days needs to be fixing the bottom of the PK, and making it so they never collapse to the net 5v5 with the lead in the 3rd again. Literally any team can and will score on them if they take that approach.
Or, maybe if Skinner were to be put in for Game 3, he runs with it and delivers like he did often last playoffs. We won’t know, but we can root for both of our goalies to do well when given the opportunity.
This made me laugh.
Has nothing to do with “root”ing. Just realistic analysis.
I don’t see a realistic analysis in using a hypothetical scenario that suggests Skinner would fail in Game 3 to the point that Pickard would have to be the Game 4 starter. Skinner could, just as possibly, bounce back with strong goaltending like he did in last year’s playoffs.
The point of me saying, “we can root for both of our goalies to do well,” was a tactful way of saying that there’s no need to drag Skinner through the mud.
I do agree that based on the body of work in this year’s playoffs, Pickard should continue to get the starts… for now.
Sure, I’ll cheer for whoever’s in net.
But it sure looks like the team is a LOT more confident with Pickard in net. A team has to be able to trust their goalie, and it looks like they trust Picks.
22-10-1 in the regular season, now 6-0 in the playoffs.
We can’t really know how Skinner would have played once the team gelled more, healed more, knocked the rust off more, and started playing better after Game 2. But, we do know that in last year’s playoffs, Skinner was 10-0, 1.50 GAA, .940 SP in Games 4-7, then gave up only 2 goals in the only game after this stat pack… you can’t reasonably ask for better numbers than those.
At some point:
Oilers will score a pp goal
Oilers will kill a pp
Oilers will score first
Oilers will get through P1 without taking a giant 4 min penalty
McDavid will go off
Oilers will the beneficiary of a missed call✓
I say we have a good chance to go up 3-0 in this series. Let’s go!
I might be bias, but that big Vagas defenseman went down excessively hard for the amount of pressure the tiny Oiler Swedish meatball was applying, granted his stick was near the area of devastation, however IMO it shouldn’t have been all that devastating. Hope the big VGK defenseman didn’t hurt himself too badly.
I don’t think Arvi wanted to wipe him out, but to be ready to tie him up on the boards. Arvi was looking in the replay at his stick, he knew it was a can opener. A dangerous but I don’t think intentionally dirty play
However McNabb was leaning really far forward and going fast, and when he brought his left leg forward he drove his stick and it pushed his right foot out. Boy did he go in awkward, I wouldn’t be surprised he hurt his knee and shoulder. Hope he’s ok and Frederic as well
They might be missing McNabb & Roy in the foreseeable future. Plus, I wonder if they consider replacing Hill between the pipes. I’m not even sure who their backup is?
Akira Schmid?
Yes. He can get hot, he has a career .924 in the playoffs although has only played 10 games (8 starts).
Yes, I think you are being biased, VERY biased.
A very dangerous play by Arvy (I think more reckless than intentional) and it could have ended up MUCH worse.
The only thing ALL the talking heads (TSN, Sportsnet et all) are discussing is the missed call on Arvidsson and how the Oilers are getting away non-calls. Yes, it should have been a 2-minute minor but how about all the other non-calls on VGKs.
McDavid is wrapped up from behind and taken down behind their net. The only thing missing was an arm bar for the tap out and a UFC contract (in Vegas after all). This was not an isolated incident – it happened at least one other time to 97.
I do not recall a time when the NHL refs actually called all the infractions against McDavid. Vegas fans can cry me a river. Or better yet visit the ‘Crying Stone’ in Kakamega, Kenya.
Hyman has been high sticked twice in these playoffs with no call. So don’t cry about missing Kulaks call on Eichal either.
Then stone wants a penalty on Mcdavid for literally getting ridden like a mule by Stone.
The Crying Stone indeed!
I think Vegas has a very well developed sense if entitlement. They have been allowed to get away with far more over the last few seasons than the Oilers and most teams, in every way. The gall of Stone whining after what he did to Connor – which to me had more intent to injure than what Arvi did, not to mention the second certified Knit hack Roy – is beyond the pale
Staples posts reactions on CoH, the Vegas fans were more balanced than expected. One even saying the Knits shouldn’t even made OT because Hertl should have been called for goalie interference on their tying goal. I hope the Oilers whallop them the next two games and avoid getting hurt. Give them a summer of soul searching and a monster reality check. Maybe they can get a group chat going with the Avs
Didn’t notice any goaltender interference on the tying goal. But it was Hertl that fell on Pickard’s leg. Picks looked injured and appeared to still be shaking things off when VGK tied it up. I was thinking he should have stayed down but he jumped back up and carried on. Hope he’s ok for the home stand.
Stone literally leapfrogged over 97 standing upright at the blueline with the puck in the corner. It’s the time proximity and the potential injury.
100% a penalty but it was still 5 on 5. The missed call didn’t decide the game. They weren’t owed the next PP cause they got a 5 min.
Absolutely this.
Also the Knights were the beneficiaries of a bogus “high sticking” called on McDavid as he is skating away with his back turned to Whitecloud, 2 minutes after Kane made it 4-2 for the Oilers, which led to the Knights third goal.
That was absolutely a penalty. A player must be in control of his stick at all times. The play sucked but it is a penalty.
My wording of bogus is hyperbolic, ticky-tack would be fair.
McDavid was in a normal/natural skating motion while skating away (ie. his stick was not swinging) from Whitecloud and was at least 5 feet away before making marginal contact.
Calling it absolutely a penalty is also hyperbolic.
NHL rules have grey area in them, and NHL referees exploit this for the purpose of game management; which, in my opinion, that penalty was an example of.
Exactly there were plenty of missed calls to go around.
I keep seeing Jake Walman celebrating hard time and time again and I love it. Now, that I think about it, the man is plus 11 (I think) – lots of opportunities to celebrate.
Amazing acquisition (signed for value through next season).
He was keeping the puck in at the blue line like a boss last night.
Vegas fan’s ” Stop your whining already, it’s one play. “
It’s not how it’s supposed to go! They are supposed to be the beneficiary of that stuff!
But, but Vegas knows that the NHL always helps them win.
McCrimmon picks up the ‘bat phone’ to contact Bettman and get this straightened out PDQ.
Calvin Pickard made me a believer last night.
I saw him as the hot hand that you have to keep playing, but ultimately a placeholder because Skinner had the higher ceiling and would be needed at some point. Pickard was flat out brilliant last night. He shut up shop and made some saves late in the 3rd and in OT that he had no business making. This is our horse and hopefully we ride off into the glorious sunset with him.
Binnington-esque performance
Calwin Conkard?
Binnington has been dead average for the past 6 years. He also hasn’t won a playoff series in that time either. Binnington wishes he were Pickard-esque.
Clearly referring to Binnington’s rise, man. That’s where he earned the moniker.
4 Nations Team Canada is on Line 2 and would like to have a word.
Binnington was beating the Avalanche Cup team until the Avalanche/Kadri ran him and injured him.
Pickard was cut by the VGK. Now he’s exacting his revenge. They refer to him as the Oilers AHL goaltender. He deserves a ton of credit; it must also be noted the team is playing extremely well in front of him.
It’s been awhile since an Oilers goalie stole a game. Pickard with some unreal saves.
Has to be demoralizing to be Vegas. Play a very good game and still come up short.
I’m worried about his health. He didn’t look great leaving the ice
I will make zero apologies for winning a game that that the team maybe didn’t “deserve”, a game where the team got some breaks from the officials and took advantage of crappy opposition goaltending.
They may have been the second best team but it’s not like they got dominated – they did enough to win and this team is awesome!!!!
We have also been on the other side of those types of games many times. First time in recent memory we were the beneficiaries. Looking good Billy Ray, feeling good Lewis.
What a fine morning to be an Oiler fan. We are blessed to have such a fantastic hockey team. Would love to see a live home game before this all ends, but, wow, are they ever pricey. Popcorn and sofa at home I guess. We are so lucky!
Better washroom access, cheaper food / drinks and no (or very few) annoying fans at home!
— It’s such a weird feeling being up 2-0 so I looked it up.
— Last time the Oilers ahead 2-0 in a playoff series was vs Anaheim (they won that semis 4-1), in their 2005 Cup run
FUN FACT – the oilers have never won the first two games on the road to start a playoff series
Did you look up the 2017 series against Anaheim as well as the 2006 series against the same opponent? Believe both were 2-0 series leads on the road.
— True – I must have erased the memory of those 2017 playoffs as I didn’t look it up ..
— And yeah they won this first two in Anaheim on cup run.
If I could “delete” my post I would : carry on!
I may be mistaken but I thought the Oilers won the first 2 games in Anaheim in 2017 and then lost in 7. Hope that doesn’t happen again.
FUN FACT – 1988 series against Calgary. Possibly the most famous goal in Oilers history.
EVEN MORE FUN FACT – Four weeks later they were hoisting the Cup.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/playoffs/1988-calgary-flames-vs-edmonton-oilers-smythe-division-finals.html
Stars of the game for me…
1.Pickard who probably stole the game
2.Podkolzin 1G 1A and pivotal to the comeback
3.Frederic showing us all the very definition of receiving a true Sticks Up!
What on earth was Nicholas Roy thinking? He should get at least a game for that.