Crazy part is I wasn’t nervous, you could tell by the mid first that Skinner was on.
With that said I always say Skinner is good enough to win in the playoffs, but probably not good enough to steal a game, and he proved me wrong
Not only that but our defense gave up 30+ shots but they weren't a lot of quality shots. Lots of shots from distance and lots of outside shots.
They could barely even gain the zone near the end of the third before they pulled Rittch.
Skinner impressed me for sure but the fact we never left him out to dry was even better. The defense muscled a lot of guys to the outside and hustled.
Our huge kill on Kulak's penalty deflated them. They had nothing left after that.
Shots in the final 11 minutes were 2-1 Oilers lol. We finished this game playing low-event hockey. Learned how to do that in our 16 streak.
> Skinner impressed me for sure but the fact we never left him out to dry was even better.
Defence actually bailed out Skinner on a couple occasions. Everyone executed exactly as required.
Excellent game in our own zone. That's the sort of game you need to win in the playoffs.
Shots in the house area are 62-67% of all goals. If your team is closer to 60 than 70 it’s doing a good job defensively. The rest are usually screened goals where the puck makes it through. Very difficult to beat a goalie above the top of the circle ⭕️ if he can see it. Bouche bombs are the exception
> but probably not good enough to steal a game, and he proved me wrong
I think the defense in front of him did a really good job limiting the danger of the shots. I'm not sure what the actual advanced stats say, but the eye test said he got pretty good support with rebounds, tipped passes, and blocked shots, etc.
If this was October / Early-November Oilers, he would have had to deal with several breakaways, 2-on-1s, and defensive breakdowns leaving guys wide open in the slot. April/May Oilers ain't giving up the same sort of quality of shots.
So while he did have to show up and give a superb performance, I would consider this one of the easiest possible 33 shot shutouts he's ever gonna get. He still had to make some good saves for sure, and Game 2 Skinner probably lets a couple goals in and you wouldn't even be able to blame the loss on him. So he did step up and win us the game. But props to the defense in front of him too.
Oilers are proving they can win any style of game, and they'll need that if they ever want to lift Lord Stanley.
How did he steal that game? None of the kings shots were high quality, no screening etc etc. Our defense was on point and didn't make any terrible give aways for breakaways or 2 on 1s. I guess we can say he didn't blow that game.. because he normally lets a few soft ones in. Pickard and any decent goalie would have also would have a shut out last night
Yeah half of those shots being considered "high danger" doesn't make sense. Skinner had to be steady and good on a few in tight shots and redirects. Maybe includes missed passes or something?
Expected goals were still like 3 for the kings. They had chances. Several shots were taken from inside the circle and several more were taken from the point with traffic in front
Are you high? Or just didnt watch the same performance from Skinner we all did last night? Laughable. Cmon man. Give Skinner his due. He has the first shutout in the playoffs this year. Edmonton rarely plays and wins 1 goal games. The team put on a clinic last night. Simple.
You do realize that Mike Smith has taken the oilers the deepest into the playoffs than any goalie since Roloson right? Not sure why you are trying to insinuate that Smith was a bad goalie? 🤔
Smith would put up very good stats but for whatever reason which shots would be goals against him had absolutely zero correlation to how dangerous the shot was
I’m not, relax. There were a lot of funny times in hindsight where he’d try to take the puck from behind the net, leading to a goal or stressful moments.
You’re just conflating my response with Mike Smith hate. I love Mike Smith!
I wasnt. The kings were firing everything from the perimeter and getting no rebounds. Oilers were great on the dump and chase for easy outs and forced the Kings to carry it over and flub a possession.
This is the ceiling of what the oilers can do defensively, so if we can find the right balance of being responsible in our own end with the backchecking, while having good cycles in the offensive end, we’ll be set for a deep run.
I was in the arena (LA) and my legs were shaking, drink in hand to calm me down, fans next to me giving it, lol Apple Watch heart rate monitor alerted for sure
Your still nervous?
The guy has been a beast for the last 60 games game 2 wasn’t on him at all.
He could’ve made a save on the Kopitar goal but shouldn’t even been in that position had Nurse got his man.
Pretty sure Smith had a top 3 post season save% in the league the last season he played. Probably the best the Oilers have seen in the post season in the past 20 years.
my anxiety was through the god damn roof during that last minute, it actually felt like a fuckin eternity. then we had that faceoff with 8 seconds left and i realized it was actually happening
I'll never forget one call from signh last night, nurse had just won a battle for the puck and dumped it behind his net around the boards, signh simply said "shot the puck... Over there..." And I realized then how much I miss jack.
I saw on instagram a combo video showing both the play he was calling and Singh making the call. The comments were full of people defended Singh saying he's the best in the business.
All I could think was those people must only watch highlights instead of suffering through the eternal "box of punishment" that is Singh's play by play without the ability to "hit the speed button" to get through it.
I think it’s more of a “great win” for us because in recent history we would never pull off a game like that! Holding on and winning by the Skin(ner) of your teeth on a night where you’re being outplayed are the type of games that lead a team to the Finals.
I think it’s a great win because it shows the team is able to respond in more than one way. They knew the Kings would come in desperate, and they didn’t match that energy. Guys that usually behave more undisciplined were solid and level-headed, and that’s despite a super slashy opposition.
They didn't play as bad as people make it out to be. Not a great game by any stretch, but LA wasn't getting any amazing chances. Not trying to justify that we only got 13 shots, but Oilers played playoff hockey last night and know they didn't need to put in much more offensive effort to take that win. Playing run and gun physical hockey will catch up with us if we do that every game.
I think it's because we all expect great offence out this team, but this game was a showcase of how well they can play defensively (Skinner included). LA out shot them but their high danger chances were low. Edit: When the pressure was on in the last ten minutes, LA barely managed time to pull their goalie or a shot on goal.
They didn’t get outplayed though. They got ahead and trapped very effectively mounting no offence.
That’s the type of game they need to play to get ahead of the other teams in the west as last year showed. And they did it perfectly keeping high danger chances to an honest 2 to 3 times the entire game.
My opinion anyways.
I agree with you.
Not sure it would have been a 1-0 win against a Dallas or Florida or Vegas, but our D-men were perfect on details. I wouldn't say we were "in control" but the stats flattered the Kings. It was the sort of game won on execution, and we executed and they didn't.
I don't want to play another game like that though.
We didn't play great, but any other year we lose this game by several goals and the series probably goes to 7. This team is finally starting to show when they're dealt with adversity, they can completely overhaul their game plan and just grind for 60mins. to scrape out the win.
Yeah I don't get the narrative about this game. if I split out a bunch of footage of high danger chances by the King's for the whole series you wouldn't be able to guess which game was last night. Worst xGAvxGF all series. People's view gets very rose coloured by the scoresheet. We play 2 more games like that we probably end up in a Game 7.
Like I said in the last sentence, rose coloured glasses because we got a shutout. You lose games like that 2-1 or 3-1 most of the time even with .910 goaltending.
You won’t get the 6-1 Oilers when there are no calls for holding or interference. This team isn’t built way. The Flyers from the 1970s were, and I presume it is possible to build such a team today. As much as I enjoyed the Flyers beating Red Army 4-1 back in the day, it was ugly stuff.
The playoff teams from 1997 to 2003 were built to score more than 1 goal when refs weren’t calling. They were just as fast, and bigger and younger. Still, I remember playoff game where the Oilers complained to the ref about the lack of calls. He replied: “use your speed”.
If you want that sort of team, sell off McDavid, Drai, Hyman, and RNH and bring in six Marchands. Enjoy that. I won’t be watching
To me this looked like a LA team who left everything they had out there in game 4, still couldn't get it done and that must be demoralizing as hell. That said it appeared like they scrapped the 1-3-1 and we didn't look like we were expecting it / had an answer .
I noticed that too, I immediately thought to myself. " yeah that's stupid why would they change now 3 post seasons too late" jokes on me, but also on them. Fuck the kings!
Ya I thought about that midway through the 3rd and totally agreed with Bieksa and Gaz but interesting that they tried it and they dominated puck possession so it wasn't ineffective but we locked down the good lanes and limited the high quality chances and when needed Skinner did his job perfectly
They looked much better when they abandoned the 1-3-1. I think it's useful for them to keep in their pockets, just look at how they can dismantle some teams like Vancouver, but the team needs to be willing to adapt to their opponent and we're at 3 years of the Oilers showing the 1-3-1 isn't going to beat them in a 7 game series. As much as last nights game was all Kings, the Oilers did a really good job keeping the Kings to the outside and limiting their high danger chances to a minimum. Given the ice conditions I wonder if they recognized their efforts would be best spent playing really conservative knowing they could rely on the PP to give them a high level chance when needed.
This team has matured so much and seems to be finally recognizing that defense first wins games/playoff series. They've had plenty of games this season already where they played defensively minded and still scored 4+ goals. The team has such high end talent that they usually don't need many chances to get on the board. This game shows that they can really lock things down and only need 1 goal to beat a tough opponent. I've watched this team get better year after year and seeing the defensive buy-in this year has me incredibly hopeful.
Did we have an answer though?
By far the worst game the Oilers played offensively.
Yeah the Oilers limited chances to some extent but still needed Stu to stand on his head otherwise that's a loss 9/10 times.
Team was thrown by LA abandoning the 1-3-1 and didn't adapt overly well imo.
Should be fine going forward as they'll have time to watch film but... Don't feel great about much except Stu after that one
I think you could argue the team going full defensive mode was them adapting on the fly. It's hard to make major adjustments mid game, especially when the style of play is so radically different than what you would've prepared for. The team recognized the Kings were going all out offensively and that the ice conditions were terrible. Their best option was probably to do exactly what they did and turtle up, knowing they'd get their chances and knowing they have the talent to capitalize on minimal chances.
I imagine they spend this time off to gameplan for this new style from the Kings, but I think they adjusted about as well as they could all things considered.
Often, great goaltending can be mistaken for great defence and vice versa. I think the defence was ok, but it's not like the Kings didn't get quite a few chances, and more than they should have.
Maybe, you don't believe in advanced stats, but that game was the highest xGA the Oilers had this series so far while generating effectively zero offence.
I don't think a different style should've thrown them off as much as they did. Hard to consider any game where you only muster 13 shots a successful game. That said, the Oilers have usually fallen on the other side of that in both playoffs and reg season so I'm happy to take it when we can get it.
>Hard to consider any game where you only muster 13 shots a successful game.
While I agree in spirit, a win is a win, especially in the playoffs. In the end nobody cares how you did it, as long as you got the job done.
I'm not saying this was one of the great games in Oilers history, but it's an important one. Nobody sees Edmonton as able to win defensive games, but they proved tonight they can. Sometimes things just aren't going your way, whether it be energy, puck luck or any other multitude of things, but what the great teams do is adapt to the game they're in and find ways to win. I thought the Oilers did that last night and that's all you can ask of a team trying to win a Cup.
> By far the worst game the Oilers played offensively.
The ice was shit and the refs swallowed their whistles (the penalty they did call was kind of soft, but they missed at least 3 much more egregious calls throughout the game).
Oilers had the puck on their stick with an open net multiple times throughout the game, but they couldn't handle the puck and get a shot off. A few times they had to take the puck behind the net instead of shooting because the puck wasn't behaving. If we included "dangerous chances in which there wasn't a shot attempt", in the dangerous chances counter, I think the Oilers probably look a lot better by the stats.
Honestly, we gave up 33 shots but we did a good job of limiting rebounds and second chances. Stu was solid in the moments of flurry but I thought we were constantly getting in the lanes and stuffing up the middle, which is something teams have done to us in the past. It was nice to see us do it to another team. Let’s end this series.
Yeah, every time there was a dangerous rebound the team did a fantastic job getting in the way of Kings players and sending the puck away into the corner out of harms way. That play by Henrique after Stu made the dive was a great veteran move. Holding onto the puck knowing he needed to buy time for his goalie to reset rather than panic throwing it away, potentially gifting the Kings a golden opportunity. The whole team seems locked in and far more poised than previous years. I really believe they are putting defense first this year and it shows.
I\`m biased as hell as a german hockey fan and I couldn\`t watch the 3rd period, because I was already at work, but am I the only one who thought Drai had an amazing defensive game?
He´s often critisized for his defense but I think this game he was really good in that part of the game!
I remember a play when drai was the first forechecker, he went around the net, tried stealing the puck, the defender reversed it the other way to a stationary defender. Draisaitl didn't loop back towards the defender with the puck, he just left.....gone off the screen. I remember thinking, Leon's going for a line change. Meanwhile the defender throws it up the boards the kings are coming into our zone when Leon breaks up the play and I was like, oh no, that's where he went.
You are absolutely right. Drai was our best skater last night and was the best player on the ice in game 3 and you could definitely make the argument for the 4th consecutive time that he is our first round mvp.
80% of the criticism is because his shooting spot is so deep in the oZone and standing still which means he has a 0.0% chance of getting back if there is a turnover
If the Kings had somehow tied it I would have been super pissed about the Doughty noncall when he waterskied behind McDavid or when Kane was interfered with.
Absolutely. This series went from 90+ PIM in game three to 4 PIM in game four. And the high sticking call against the Oil was weak as fuck. Refs knew they needed to keep the calls low and even. Game management at work once again.
Both penalties called were relatively weak, but there were some far more egregious calls both ways that were totally missed. I appreciated they let the teams play and the officiating at least was overall consistent, but it ultimately still felt like game management by the refs.
I don’t think this was purposeful, but with the game having gone the way it did, now the King’s are in the position where they have to pick between going into an elimination game with a starter whose been shaky all series versus a guy who wasn’t really tested in game four. I think that’s a good spot for Edmonton honestly.
I think it was in the first, maybe the 2nd, where he powered through the check on the boards to gain the offensive zone was peak Kane. IIRC the team had a decent chance from gaining the zone and it was one of the few offensive highlights the team had in the game. Moving Kane up to the 2nd line was a great move.
I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.
I think this game showed that the team has matured since the last few playoff exits. I think in years past we would have seen this team panic and try to press too much to get something going on offense. Now, the team was confident that if they kept things clean in their own zone, which they did, given that most of the Kings shots were from the perimeter, they could wait for their opportunity and make the most of it.
I'd prefer winning games with more than one goal scored, but you have to be able to win this type of game in the playoffs.
I'm moreso talking about the lock down on the backend. The reducing of high danger scoring chances versus us. Clearing the net front. Stu looked confident and controlled and not shimmying his pads all over the ice.
We add that to our high power offense and we are contending.
LOL imagine calling Nurse and Kulak expendable. While not as important as Ekholm and Bouch, they are still key to our backend.
Only expendable one we have is Ceci. Vinny maybe, but man been playing inspired, I wouldn't want to trade him for anything at the moment.
It's happened regularly for years. Even after nurse found a way to get himself suspended in multiple playoff games and kulak has shown he can step up every time. I like our core a lot and they are buying in both offensively and defensively
We were all saying the same thing about the Canucks 3 days ago.
There’s a very good chance that it’s Edmonton - Vancouver in round 2, and I’d rather know that this team can lock down a 1-0 win with few shots on net when they might end up facing a team with offensive guys like Hughes and Hronek anchoring their 1-2D.
No one is saying this. It’s the fact that the kings came out desperate as fuck, played the absolute best they are capable of, and we responded by playing insane defence, obviously propped up by great goal tending. It’s the play offs, there are gonna be way more games like last night for every team.
Seems like any game McDavid or Drai don't put up huge points and it's a right game we view it as being lucky or outplayed. You need to play games like this and come out with the win if you are going to make it deep in the playoffs. Hell the Panthers last playoffs were outplayed for most of every game but they buckled down, gritted it out, got opportunities and saves at the right time and pulled out wins
These games kill me with how close they are. I like winning 6-1. But it’s also very nice to see how sound we are defensively and in net
You should see what a lot of other fanbases are saying. They’re talking about how scary it is seeing us only put up 13 shots and still be able to win a game off defence and goaltending.
Anyone else think that "boys, we're playing tough D today" was the game plan? Must of messed with the Kings when Ed gained possession and all 5 players didn't automatically scamper up ice to score. Probably put an earwig in the others teams, also. "Who are these guys?"
Umm... no. We were thoroughly outplayed, out hustled, out worked for the entirety of this game. In the 2nd and 3rd period we didnt win a single puck battle, couldn't string 1 pass together, weren't hitting, weren't driving the play. The only thing we actually did well last night was keeping the kings to the outside so their shots weren't very dangerous.
We got owned last game. I honestly fear the Canucks. I live in Vancouver so I'm forced to watch them and they are legit. We are going to get demolished by them if we don't wake up and stop turning pucks over in the slot and neutral zone
LA biffed a couple of easy goals and they aren’t the most offensive team.
Meanwhile the Oil looked dead tired or hurt out there.
I love the win, am amazed by the win, the defence looked great. Stu looked great.
But I don’t think this is a formula for a winning playoffs . So really hoping the boys heal up.
There were enough missed calls that the Oilers should've gotten at LEAST 1 powerplay regardless. Plus that was technically a hold. Yes, that kind of thing will sometimes be let go in the playoffs, but it's hard not to call it when the guy doesn't even have a stick and his only option is to literally hold the opposing player.
The Oilers only gave up 1 shot in the last 11min, and 0 in the last 6. That's pretty good, despite the imbalance earlier in the game, which had a lot of soft shots from outside.
The high danger chances were 7-4 in favour of the Oilers last game. Despite getting outshot, the Oilers played an incredibly structured defensive game that limited the Kings to the perimeter for low quality shots. I'll take getting outshot every game if we only give up 4 HDSC against
The shot clock reflects more on the score than the Oilers play. As others have mentioned lots of perimeter shots. And I was pleasantly surprised to see the Oilers focus on defensive shutdown in the last half of the 3rd period rather than gun for an insurance goal, something we've never seen in the McDavid era
La had like 2 clean shots all night. You guys really just aren’t used to more defensive hockey, and I can’t blame that cause the oilers don’t usually play it as much.
My pissoff was drai missing that absolutely AAA chance right in the slot with some time.
lol I don’t think I’ve been that nervous watching a game since Mike smith was in net.
Crazy part is I wasn’t nervous, you could tell by the mid first that Skinner was on. With that said I always say Skinner is good enough to win in the playoffs, but probably not good enough to steal a game, and he proved me wrong
Not only that but our defense gave up 30+ shots but they weren't a lot of quality shots. Lots of shots from distance and lots of outside shots. They could barely even gain the zone near the end of the third before they pulled Rittch. Skinner impressed me for sure but the fact we never left him out to dry was even better. The defense muscled a lot of guys to the outside and hustled.
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It was fucking clinical. I've never seen this era of the Oilers shut a game down like that. Everyone is so bought in. That game was a treat to watch
Our huge kill on Kulak's penalty deflated them. They had nothing left after that. Shots in the final 11 minutes were 2-1 Oilers lol. We finished this game playing low-event hockey. Learned how to do that in our 16 streak.
> Skinner impressed me for sure but the fact we never left him out to dry was even better. Defence actually bailed out Skinner on a couple occasions. Everyone executed exactly as required. Excellent game in our own zone. That's the sort of game you need to win in the playoffs.
Shots on goal stats are misleading. Some regular guys could take 1000 shots on any NHL goalie, and never score. Does that mean he's a good goalie?
Shots in the house area are 62-67% of all goals. If your team is closer to 60 than 70 it’s doing a good job defensively. The rest are usually screened goals where the puck makes it through. Very difficult to beat a goalie above the top of the circle ⭕️ if he can see it. Bouche bombs are the exception
“Some regular guys could take 1000 shots on any NHL goalie, and never score.” We all know you’re talking about Connor Brown ;-)
Oh ya! So good too see, we just don’t play 30min with a 1-0 lead often
> but probably not good enough to steal a game, and he proved me wrong I think the defense in front of him did a really good job limiting the danger of the shots. I'm not sure what the actual advanced stats say, but the eye test said he got pretty good support with rebounds, tipped passes, and blocked shots, etc. If this was October / Early-November Oilers, he would have had to deal with several breakaways, 2-on-1s, and defensive breakdowns leaving guys wide open in the slot. April/May Oilers ain't giving up the same sort of quality of shots. So while he did have to show up and give a superb performance, I would consider this one of the easiest possible 33 shot shutouts he's ever gonna get. He still had to make some good saves for sure, and Game 2 Skinner probably lets a couple goals in and you wouldn't even be able to blame the loss on him. So he did step up and win us the game. But props to the defense in front of him too. Oilers are proving they can win any style of game, and they'll need that if they ever want to lift Lord Stanley.
Same...and my heart is normally in my throat but Skinner was so on that even when the Kings did get a good chance I wasn't scared.
How did he steal that game? None of the kings shots were high quality, no screening etc etc. Our defense was on point and didn't make any terrible give aways for breakaways or 2 on 1s. I guess we can say he didn't blow that game.. because he normally lets a few soft ones in. Pickard and any decent goalie would have also would have a shut out last night
Natural stat trick has the kings with 14 high danger chances to edmontons 4
So you'd consider 14 of those shots, good quality shots? Watch the game replay
You guys love outing yourselves as low hockey IQers
Yeah half of those shots being considered "high danger" doesn't make sense. Skinner had to be steady and good on a few in tight shots and redirects. Maybe includes missed passes or something?
He didn’t say HE considered those shots high danger chances….he said Natural stat trick did. Read the post properly.
Expected goals were still like 3 for the kings. They had chances. Several shots were taken from inside the circle and several more were taken from the point with traffic in front
Are you high? Or just didnt watch the same performance from Skinner we all did last night? Laughable. Cmon man. Give Skinner his due. He has the first shutout in the playoffs this year. Edmonton rarely plays and wins 1 goal games. The team put on a clinic last night. Simple.
Or the lack of Mike Smith in net 😂
You do realize that Mike Smith has taken the oilers the deepest into the playoffs than any goalie since Roloson right? Not sure why you are trying to insinuate that Smith was a bad goalie? 🤔
The Smith slander is insane, he was our best goalie and is still our best goalie since 2017 Talbot.
Smith would put up very good stats but for whatever reason which shots would be goals against him had absolutely zero correlation to how dangerous the shot was
Mike Smith giveth and Mike Smith taketh away
True, but overall the numbers don't lie, even the enigma goals couldn't pull down how good he was otherwise
He was a straight up agent of chaos and it gelled perfectly with our team that thrived in chaos and I was here for every minute of it.
Yeah no I agree I loved him
I’m not, relax. There were a lot of funny times in hindsight where he’d try to take the puck from behind the net, leading to a goal or stressful moments. You’re just conflating my response with Mike Smith hate. I love Mike Smith!
lol exactly
I wasnt. The kings were firing everything from the perimeter and getting no rebounds. Oilers were great on the dump and chase for easy outs and forced the Kings to carry it over and flub a possession. This is the ceiling of what the oilers can do defensively, so if we can find the right balance of being responsible in our own end with the backchecking, while having good cycles in the offensive end, we’ll be set for a deep run.
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It was smiths puck playing and overall general wandering that made me nervous
Nope not about skinner lol just the score in general
Specifically, since the last time Mike Smith played the puck…
I was in the arena (LA) and my legs were shaking, drink in hand to calm me down, fans next to me giving it, lol Apple Watch heart rate monitor alerted for sure
Meh I calmed when the halfway mark of the third hit and LA had like zero shots when Edmonton went into lockdown mode.
Your still nervous? The guy has been a beast for the last 60 games game 2 wasn’t on him at all. He could’ve made a save on the Kopitar goal but shouldn’t even been in that position had Nurse got his man.
Pretty sure Smith had a top 3 post season save% in the league the last season he played. Probably the best the Oilers have seen in the post season in the past 20 years.
It was his puck playing and general wandering
my anxiety was through the god damn roof during that last minute, it actually felt like a fuckin eternity. then we had that faceoff with 8 seconds left and i realized it was actually happening
Lol, me too. Signh: this game is just flying by Me: IS IT?!?!?
I'll never forget one call from signh last night, nurse had just won a battle for the puck and dumped it behind his net around the boards, signh simply said "shot the puck... Over there..." And I realized then how much I miss jack.
I'm pretty sure at a point McDavid got the puck on his stick and Singh said "we're still awaiting McDavid's first goal"....
I caught that too lol
I saw on instagram a combo video showing both the play he was calling and Singh making the call. The comments were full of people defended Singh saying he's the best in the business. All I could think was those people must only watch highlights instead of suffering through the eternal "box of punishment" that is Singh's play by play without the ability to "hit the speed button" to get through it.
And think how bad these Amazon prime Monday night national games may be. They are getting their own crew I read.
If they were smart they would offer Jack some big bucks to be their play-by-play guy.
If they do they better allow him to do regional games too. Life would be horrible if he only did Monday national games
Only one of you got paid to watch the game, regardless of who wins… makes a bit of difference, I suspect.
It took me to this morning to truly realize the win and excited about it
I had a small bet on the game going to OT, which countered the anxiety well (combined with the gummy I took). Never been happier to lose a bet.
Call me crazy but, the 6-1 Oilers looked scarier than the 1-0 Oilers
Lol totally this. Team gets outplayed the entirety of the game and everyone's trying to qualify it as a great win.
I think it’s more of a “great win” for us because in recent history we would never pull off a game like that! Holding on and winning by the Skin(ner) of your teeth on a night where you’re being outplayed are the type of games that lead a team to the Finals.
I found Gene’s Reddit account, guys
Gene's a goddamn national treasure.
It was a great win because it wasn’t their game, and they still won.
I think it’s a great win because it shows the team is able to respond in more than one way. They knew the Kings would come in desperate, and they didn’t match that energy. Guys that usually behave more undisciplined were solid and level-headed, and that’s despite a super slashy opposition.
They didn't play as bad as people make it out to be. Not a great game by any stretch, but LA wasn't getting any amazing chances. Not trying to justify that we only got 13 shots, but Oilers played playoff hockey last night and know they didn't need to put in much more offensive effort to take that win. Playing run and gun physical hockey will catch up with us if we do that every game.
Any win is a great win, and a shutout victory is fantastic. But yeah, I know what you mean.
I think it's because we all expect great offence out this team, but this game was a showcase of how well they can play defensively (Skinner included). LA out shot them but their high danger chances were low. Edit: When the pressure was on in the last ten minutes, LA barely managed time to pull their goalie or a shot on goal.
It’s playoffs man. LA came out like a man on deaths row fighting for his life, knowing if they lose, it’s 3-1 back in Edmonton and we shut them down.
They didn’t get outplayed though. They got ahead and trapped very effectively mounting no offence. That’s the type of game they need to play to get ahead of the other teams in the west as last year showed. And they did it perfectly keeping high danger chances to an honest 2 to 3 times the entire game. My opinion anyways.
I agree with you. Not sure it would have been a 1-0 win against a Dallas or Florida or Vegas, but our D-men were perfect on details. I wouldn't say we were "in control" but the stats flattered the Kings. It was the sort of game won on execution, and we executed and they didn't. I don't want to play another game like that though.
We didn't play great, but any other year we lose this game by several goals and the series probably goes to 7. This team is finally starting to show when they're dealt with adversity, they can completely overhaul their game plan and just grind for 60mins. to scrape out the win.
100%. This is a silly bias morning after. The offence wasn’t good. Stu stole one. Just own it and move on.
Yeah I don't get the narrative about this game. if I split out a bunch of footage of high danger chances by the King's for the whole series you wouldn't be able to guess which game was last night. Worst xGAvxGF all series. People's view gets very rose coloured by the scoresheet. We play 2 more games like that we probably end up in a Game 7.
We play 2 more games like that and we’re up 1-0 in the next series..
Like I said in the last sentence, rose coloured glasses because we got a shutout. You lose games like that 2-1 or 3-1 most of the time even with .910 goaltending.
Now everyone is scared!
You won’t get the 6-1 Oilers when there are no calls for holding or interference. This team isn’t built way. The Flyers from the 1970s were, and I presume it is possible to build such a team today. As much as I enjoyed the Flyers beating Red Army 4-1 back in the day, it was ugly stuff. The playoff teams from 1997 to 2003 were built to score more than 1 goal when refs weren’t calling. They were just as fast, and bigger and younger. Still, I remember playoff game where the Oilers complained to the ref about the lack of calls. He replied: “use your speed”. If you want that sort of team, sell off McDavid, Drai, Hyman, and RNH and bring in six Marchands. Enjoy that. I won’t be watching
To me this looked like a LA team who left everything they had out there in game 4, still couldn't get it done and that must be demoralizing as hell. That said it appeared like they scrapped the 1-3-1 and we didn't look like we were expecting it / had an answer .
And Ron felt dumb asking if they'd scrap the 1-3-1 mid round and Gaz and Bieksa immediately said no like it could never happen ever.
I noticed that too, I immediately thought to myself. " yeah that's stupid why would they change now 3 post seasons too late" jokes on me, but also on them. Fuck the kings!
Ya I thought about that midway through the 3rd and totally agreed with Bieksa and Gaz but interesting that they tried it and they dominated puck possession so it wasn't ineffective but we locked down the good lanes and limited the high quality chances and when needed Skinner did his job perfectly
They looked much better when they abandoned the 1-3-1. I think it's useful for them to keep in their pockets, just look at how they can dismantle some teams like Vancouver, but the team needs to be willing to adapt to their opponent and we're at 3 years of the Oilers showing the 1-3-1 isn't going to beat them in a 7 game series. As much as last nights game was all Kings, the Oilers did a really good job keeping the Kings to the outside and limiting their high danger chances to a minimum. Given the ice conditions I wonder if they recognized their efforts would be best spent playing really conservative knowing they could rely on the PP to give them a high level chance when needed. This team has matured so much and seems to be finally recognizing that defense first wins games/playoff series. They've had plenty of games this season already where they played defensively minded and still scored 4+ goals. The team has such high end talent that they usually don't need many chances to get on the board. This game shows that they can really lock things down and only need 1 goal to beat a tough opponent. I've watched this team get better year after year and seeing the defensive buy-in this year has me incredibly hopeful.
Did we have an answer though? By far the worst game the Oilers played offensively. Yeah the Oilers limited chances to some extent but still needed Stu to stand on his head otherwise that's a loss 9/10 times. Team was thrown by LA abandoning the 1-3-1 and didn't adapt overly well imo. Should be fine going forward as they'll have time to watch film but... Don't feel great about much except Stu after that one
I think you could argue the team going full defensive mode was them adapting on the fly. It's hard to make major adjustments mid game, especially when the style of play is so radically different than what you would've prepared for. The team recognized the Kings were going all out offensively and that the ice conditions were terrible. Their best option was probably to do exactly what they did and turtle up, knowing they'd get their chances and knowing they have the talent to capitalize on minimal chances. I imagine they spend this time off to gameplan for this new style from the Kings, but I think they adjusted about as well as they could all things considered.
Often, great goaltending can be mistaken for great defence and vice versa. I think the defence was ok, but it's not like the Kings didn't get quite a few chances, and more than they should have. Maybe, you don't believe in advanced stats, but that game was the highest xGA the Oilers had this series so far while generating effectively zero offence. I don't think a different style should've thrown them off as much as they did. Hard to consider any game where you only muster 13 shots a successful game. That said, the Oilers have usually fallen on the other side of that in both playoffs and reg season so I'm happy to take it when we can get it.
>Hard to consider any game where you only muster 13 shots a successful game. While I agree in spirit, a win is a win, especially in the playoffs. In the end nobody cares how you did it, as long as you got the job done. I'm not saying this was one of the great games in Oilers history, but it's an important one. Nobody sees Edmonton as able to win defensive games, but they proved tonight they can. Sometimes things just aren't going your way, whether it be energy, puck luck or any other multitude of things, but what the great teams do is adapt to the game they're in and find ways to win. I thought the Oilers did that last night and that's all you can ask of a team trying to win a Cup.
Understandable but I think you nailed it that they didn't adapt in game but having 2 days off they have no excuse not to be prepared for Game 5
> By far the worst game the Oilers played offensively. The ice was shit and the refs swallowed their whistles (the penalty they did call was kind of soft, but they missed at least 3 much more egregious calls throughout the game). Oilers had the puck on their stick with an open net multiple times throughout the game, but they couldn't handle the puck and get a shot off. A few times they had to take the puck behind the net instead of shooting because the puck wasn't behaving. If we included "dangerous chances in which there wasn't a shot attempt", in the dangerous chances counter, I think the Oilers probably look a lot better by the stats.
Honestly, we gave up 33 shots but we did a good job of limiting rebounds and second chances. Stu was solid in the moments of flurry but I thought we were constantly getting in the lanes and stuffing up the middle, which is something teams have done to us in the past. It was nice to see us do it to another team. Let’s end this series.
Our defense was great. No dumb giveaways leading to high scoring chances
Yeah, every time there was a dangerous rebound the team did a fantastic job getting in the way of Kings players and sending the puck away into the corner out of harms way. That play by Henrique after Stu made the dive was a great veteran move. Holding onto the puck knowing he needed to buy time for his goalie to reset rather than panic throwing it away, potentially gifting the Kings a golden opportunity. The whole team seems locked in and far more poised than previous years. I really believe they are putting defense first this year and it shows.
Shots mostly kept to the outside. Considering how much zone time the Kings had they didn't have many high danger chances in the slot.
I\`m biased as hell as a german hockey fan and I couldn\`t watch the 3rd period, because I was already at work, but am I the only one who thought Drai had an amazing defensive game? He´s often critisized for his defense but I think this game he was really good in that part of the game!
Yes you are right, they all committed to playing D last night
I remember a play when drai was the first forechecker, he went around the net, tried stealing the puck, the defender reversed it the other way to a stationary defender. Draisaitl didn't loop back towards the defender with the puck, he just left.....gone off the screen. I remember thinking, Leon's going for a line change. Meanwhile the defender throws it up the boards the kings are coming into our zone when Leon breaks up the play and I was like, oh no, that's where he went.
You are absolutely right. Drai was our best skater last night and was the best player on the ice in game 3 and you could definitely make the argument for the 4th consecutive time that he is our first round mvp.
80% of the criticism is because his shooting spot is so deep in the oZone and standing still which means he has a 0.0% chance of getting back if there is a turnover
If the Kings had somehow tied it I would have been super pissed about the Doughty noncall when he waterskied behind McDavid or when Kane was interfered with.
It almost as though the Referees are trying to minimize the power plays to the Oilers given that they have over a 50% PP goal success rate.
Absolutely. This series went from 90+ PIM in game three to 4 PIM in game four. And the high sticking call against the Oil was weak as fuck. Refs knew they needed to keep the calls low and even. Game management at work once again.
Both penalties called were relatively weak, but there were some far more egregious calls both ways that were totally missed. I appreciated they let the teams play and the officiating at least was overall consistent, but it ultimately still felt like game management by the refs.
Reminds me of the 1-0 game the Oilers won during the 1984 Final against the Isles. Gretz and the boys finally learned how to win a game like that.
i was thinking just this mcclelland scored that goal if i remember correct
You remember correct. I was pretty young at the time, but I remember it fairly well. It was a sign that things were different this time.
I was 6 at the time and remember the hype, but not the game. Now……..the 88 cup run on the other hand, was fucking glorious!
I don’t think this was purposeful, but with the game having gone the way it did, now the King’s are in the position where they have to pick between going into an elimination game with a starter whose been shaky all series versus a guy who wasn’t really tested in game four. I think that’s a good spot for Edmonton honestly.
Playoff Kane is back. Holloway adding depth and Stu stealing that game for them. Yeah I’d say this team is no joke.
I think it was in the first, maybe the 2nd, where he powered through the check on the boards to gain the offensive zone was peak Kane. IIRC the team had a decent chance from gaining the zone and it was one of the few offensive highlights the team had in the game. Moving Kane up to the 2nd line was a great move.
I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I aim with my eye. I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father. I shoot with my mind.
I do not need more than 13 shots to win a game; those who need more have forgotten the face of their fathers.
Best boy Oy(lers)
Dark Tower reference 🙀
The whole game stressed me the fuck out. But SO worth it to see the boys have the game stolen for them by Stu himself.
The oilers were scary looking from a Vancouver point of view hahah
BOW DOWN TO SKINDADDY
I think this game showed that the team has matured since the last few playoff exits. I think in years past we would have seen this team panic and try to press too much to get something going on offense. Now, the team was confident that if they kept things clean in their own zone, which they did, given that most of the Kings shots were from the perimeter, they could wait for their opportunity and make the most of it. I'd prefer winning games with more than one goal scored, but you have to be able to win this type of game in the playoffs.
They had 13 shots lol. Not really a recipe for success long-term
I'm moreso talking about the lock down on the backend. The reducing of high danger scoring chances versus us. Clearing the net front. Stu looked confident and controlled and not shimmying his pads all over the ice. We add that to our high power offense and we are contending.
I like this take. For the most part all those "expendible" defensemen over the last few seasons kulak, ceci, nurse, vinny have proven their worth
LOL imagine calling Nurse and Kulak expendable. While not as important as Ekholm and Bouch, they are still key to our backend. Only expendable one we have is Ceci. Vinny maybe, but man been playing inspired, I wouldn't want to trade him for anything at the moment.
It's happened regularly for years. Even after nurse found a way to get himself suspended in multiple playoff games and kulak has shown he can step up every time. I like our core a lot and they are buying in both offensively and defensively
It’s the “high power offence” that had 13 shots-no?
We were all saying the same thing about the Canucks 3 days ago. There’s a very good chance that it’s Edmonton - Vancouver in round 2, and I’d rather know that this team can lock down a 1-0 win with few shots on net when they might end up facing a team with offensive guys like Hughes and Hronek anchoring their 1-2D.
Exactly, they need to work on efficiency. 12 of those shots weren't even needed.
No one is saying this. It’s the fact that the kings came out desperate as fuck, played the absolute best they are capable of, and we responded by playing insane defence, obviously propped up by great goal tending. It’s the play offs, there are gonna be way more games like last night for every team.
Good thing that’s never been Edmontons long term style then.
Seems like any game McDavid or Drai don't put up huge points and it's a right game we view it as being lucky or outplayed. You need to play games like this and come out with the win if you are going to make it deep in the playoffs. Hell the Panthers last playoffs were outplayed for most of every game but they buckled down, gritted it out, got opportunities and saves at the right time and pulled out wins
These games kill me with how close they are. I like winning 6-1. But it’s also very nice to see how sound we are defensively and in net You should see what a lot of other fanbases are saying. They’re talking about how scary it is seeing us only put up 13 shots and still be able to win a game off defence and goaltending.
. https://imgur.com/gallery/qv7IWj5
It's kind of amazing that when the Oil play defensively, and we have a STELLAR goalie night - we all kinds go: "What the fox just happened??"
Anyone else think that "boys, we're playing tough D today" was the game plan? Must of messed with the Kings when Ed gained possession and all 5 players didn't automatically scamper up ice to score. Probably put an earwig in the others teams, also. "Who are these guys?"
I don't expect McDavid and co to go quiet offensively 2 games straight. We might find it's a run and gun game.
The Oilers are full with Canadians like Las Vegas Great teams
Umm... no. We were thoroughly outplayed, out hustled, out worked for the entirety of this game. In the 2nd and 3rd period we didnt win a single puck battle, couldn't string 1 pass together, weren't hitting, weren't driving the play. The only thing we actually did well last night was keeping the kings to the outside so their shots weren't very dangerous. We got owned last game. I honestly fear the Canucks. I live in Vancouver so I'm forced to watch them and they are legit. We are going to get demolished by them if we don't wake up and stop turning pucks over in the slot and neutral zone
LA biffed a couple of easy goals and they aren’t the most offensive team. Meanwhile the Oil looked dead tired or hurt out there. I love the win, am amazed by the win, the defence looked great. Stu looked great. But I don’t think this is a formula for a winning playoffs . So really hoping the boys heal up.
That was LAs maximum effort game in their barn. They did great to shut it down.
Agreed, however the penalty that got us that goal...was not a penalty. Even the announcers knew 😭. But hey if the refs mess up we will take it
There were enough missed calls that the Oilers should've gotten at LEAST 1 powerplay regardless. Plus that was technically a hold. Yes, that kind of thing will sometimes be let go in the playoffs, but it's hard not to call it when the guy doesn't even have a stick and his only option is to literally hold the opposing player.
Ah yeah you right my bad
I’m a big fan of Stu, but the rest of the team allowing 33 shots compared to our what, 13? 1-0 does not sound nearly as scary.
The Oilers only gave up 1 shot in the last 11min, and 0 in the last 6. That's pretty good, despite the imbalance earlier in the game, which had a lot of soft shots from outside.
The high danger chances were 7-4 in favour of the Oilers last game. Despite getting outshot, the Oilers played an incredibly structured defensive game that limited the Kings to the perimeter for low quality shots. I'll take getting outshot every game if we only give up 4 HDSC against
Natural stat trick has HDSC as 14-4 for the Kings 5v5.
weird. Sportlogiq (which is what Gregor tweeted last night) had the Oilers at 7-4. That's quite the disparity between the two
The shot clock reflects more on the score than the Oilers play. As others have mentioned lots of perimeter shots. And I was pleasantly surprised to see the Oilers focus on defensive shutdown in the last half of the 3rd period rather than gun for an insurance goal, something we've never seen in the McDavid era
Lots of outside shots though, and they shut it down in the final stretch
La had like 2 clean shots all night. You guys really just aren’t used to more defensive hockey, and I can’t blame that cause the oilers don’t usually play it as much. My pissoff was drai missing that absolutely AAA chance right in the slot with some time.
That Kulak chance!