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Posted
2 hours ago, dcar00 said:

Edmonton is basically a one man team.  they are probably a first round bounce without McDavid.

Read first, then checked username, expected to see "Helobious," was very surprised.

 

 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Read first, then checked username, expected to see "Helobious," was very surprised.

 

 

McDavid puts an enormous amount of pressure on the opposing team, like no one else in the league.  Yes Draisaitl is very good but they are who they are basically because of McDavid.

Posted
8 minutes ago, C-Man said:


PK’s great

 

6 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

PK the commentator is great.  

Oh, agreed. And I'm fine with him not being sold on the stars. I wouldn't really expect him to take us over a Canadian team anyway, unless he was more than certain we'd win. Hopefully we'll continue to prove our mettle 

Posted
4 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Did Benn even play tonight? emoji2369.png

yeah, I was going to ask the same thing.  I missed the first period but at the end of the game I didn't recall his name being mentioned in the last 2 periods.  which is good because usually if he gets mentioned what follows is going into the box.

Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

McDavid puts an enormous amount of pressure on the opposing team, like no one else in the league.  Yes Draisaitl is very good but they are who they are basically because of McDavid.

I'd agree with you most years, but they have definitely given him more to work with this season. I mean, they scored three goals and none of them were his. He did have two helpers, but while things clearly still run through him, it's not all him. That makes them even more dangerous

Edited by Longhorn_Fan68
Posted
10 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

PK the commentator is great.  

he's very good. the only issue I have with him is he drags it out a bit and we don't get to hear Mess as much.

Posted
Just now, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

I'd agree with you most years, but they have definitely given him more to work with this season. I mean, they scored three goals and none of them were his. He did have two helpers, but while things clearly still run through him, it's not all him. That makes them even more dangerous

fair enough. I didn't say they were a bad team without him I said they probably get bounced in the first.  Mainly because McDavid is that good.

They have him so we have to beat them with him.

Posted
McDavid puts an enormous amount of pressure on the opposing team, like no one else in the league.  Yes Draisaitl is very good but they are who they are basically because of McDavid.


Well, no shit. Take Jordan off the Bulls and they don’t win a single title. He’s that damn good. But Draisaitl is a top 3-5 player in the world. They’ve been getting contributions from everywhere you look this year in the playoffs. (Granted, I would’ve rather played the Kings/Vegas to get here over the Avs/Jets in retrospect.)

The point is they are far from a one-man team. They do, however, have one man (really two) who is an all-time great.

I hope they have a goalie problem, which they might. (I also can’t believe Darnell Nurse is an alternate captain for them. That’s bad juju.)


Oh, agreed. And I'm fine with him not being sold on the stars. I wouldn't really expect him to take us over a Canadian team anyway, unless he was more than certain we'd win. Hopefully we'll continue to prove our mettle 


I picked Edmonton to win the series earlier this week. All that’s happened is that the Stars have won a home game after getting played with for 40 mins. Long way to go.
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Posted
26 minutes ago, C-Man said:

 


Well, no shit. Take Jordan off the Bulls and they don’t win a single title. He’s that damn good. But Draisaitl is a top 3-5 player in the world. They’ve been getting contributions from everywhere you look this year in the playoffs. (Granted, I would’ve rather played the Kings/Vegas to get here over the Avs/Jets in retrospect.)

The point is they are far from a one-man team. They do, however, have one man (really two) who is an all-time great.


 

 

OK

Posted

Stars have to get the Jets dump truck force out of their head and remember the Avs-style finesse. We played MacKinnon and Makar already, so we know the energy that it take to compete with (notice I didn't say "beat" - McDavid and Draisaitl are top tier) that level of skill. All I ask is that we don't make them even better than they are. They're deserving of respect, but play them honestly. If you're backing off, they're going right around you. Stick tight and make them play in a phone booth (they'll still do damage, but you give yourself a chance).

It's just one period of one game, but Edmonton has to reconsider defending. It's clear that Skinner isn't going to erase mistakes, and the shutouts against Vegas were likely more of a function of the futility of the Knight attack rather than defensive brilliance. If the Oilers are going to play defense with their offense, Dallas has to burn them for it.

Posted
5 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

still in shock this morning


N2VpdnZhMS5qcGc

 

I keep losing faith when we are down but as long as we’ve got this guy we seem to not fall apart. 

Posted
Stars have to get the Jets dump truck force out of their head and remember the Avs-style finesse. We played MacKinnon and Makar already, so we know the energy that it take to compete with (notice I didn't say "beat" - McDavid and Draisaitl are top tier) that level of skill. All I ask is that we don't make them even better than they are. They're deserving of respect, but play them honestly. If you're backing off, they're going right around you. Stick tight and make them play in a phone booth (they'll still do damage, but you give yourself a chance).
It's just one period of one game, but Edmonton has to reconsider defending. It's clear that Skinner isn't going to erase mistakes, and the shutouts against Vegas were likely more of a function of the futility of the Knight attack rather than defensive brilliance. If the Oilers are going to play defense with their offense, Dallas has to burn them for it.

Yep, the saying goes that the goalie has to be your #1 penalty killer. Skinner wasn’t that guy last night but I don’t know if he had a chance to stop Miro’s or Granlund’s goals. Skinner was a flailing mess in the scrum where Duchene scored. Steel made a great play but I feel like you’ve got to make that save at that moment. Maybe not.
Posted

I felt like we were still trying to play the Winnipeg series the first 2 periods of the game and just weren't ready for Edmonton's speed.  Of course, it's impossible to be ready for McDavid's speed, but they just play a completely different game.  3rd period was insane and it's crazy how one team can just grab momentum and run with it (Oil in the 2nd and Stars in the 3rd).  Great to get a win when we were thoroughly outplayed the first 2 periods and also great to flip the special teams after last years WCF.   What a crazy 3rd period.  At intermission we were talking and I just wanted to play better and didn't see us coming back but was hoping to look competitive and play better to ramp up to game 2.  Never saw that coming.   You all will be happy to know though my buddy and I switched seats before the 3rd after keeping the seats the entire jets series (last switching before Colorado game 7 third) so that is clearly what they needed.

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Posted
Spoiler

Stars Struck: Edmonton Oilers penalty killing kills the wrong team

It wasn’t so much penalty killing as penalty dying.

In a game the Edmonton Oilers were in total control of, up 3-1 heading into the third period and firing on all cylinders, their biggest weakness in these playoffs reared its ugly head once again.

It absolutely collapsed when they needed it most, bringing the team down with it.

In a stunning turn of events Wednesday in Dallas, the Stars scored three power-play goals on three separate penalties in the first six minutes of the final frame to turn what looked like a humbling Game 1 loss into a brutal 6-3 victory.

“We have to kill better, it’s as simple as that,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, still in shock from what just happened. “We have to be better in that department, all of us, to a man. Whether it’s a won battle, a clear, a block, whatever play has to be made on the PK we have to make it and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”

It was hard to watch. An Oilers team that prides itself on post-season composure melted into a blue and orange puddle, handing the Stars a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.

“We give up three goals in a row on the kill, that just kills the momentum,” sighed forward Leon Draisaitl. “Then you’re chasing the game, the game changes from there, so we have to be an awful lot more mature than that.”

At least it was fast. Miro Heiskanen scored on the power play 32 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, Mikael Granlund tied it 3-3 on another power play three minutes later and Matt Duchene made it 4-3 two minutes after that on the hat trick of man-advantage markers.

“Obviously we let down out guard for five or six minutes and got into some penalty trouble,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner. “They were coming out hot, momentum kind of shifted for them in that moment and obviously it bit us. We let it slip for a little bit.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow. You just can’t be doing that, especially at playoff time, especially against a team like this — they know how to score goals.”

Tyler Seguin made it 5-3 at even strength and an empty-netter sealed the heartbreak.

It shouldn’t have ended this way, not after the way it started.

Edmonton showed right from the opening puck drop that their six-day layoff hadn’t slowed their momentum one bit.

Connor McDavid was flying. Draisaitl was flying. The penalty kill had two great scoring chances in killing the first Stars power play. Skinner made a nice glove save. The power play scored 25 seconds into its first opportunity. Zach Hyman had 10 hits in the first two periods.

Edmonton’s star players were in big-game mode and Dallas struggled to keep up. In what was supposed to be a battle between two power teams in the West, the Stars spent most of the night on their heels.

Draisaitl scored.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins scored.

Evan Bouchard scored.

With Edmonton up 3-1 at the second intermission, the three of them had already combined for seven points.

And it could have been worse, with Hyman hitting the crossbar and Nurse ringing one off the post.

“Our five-on-five game is really good, we just have to use it more,” said Nurse. “In the last couple of series when we stayed out of the box and kept the game at five-on-five we played to the strength of our team.

“We took a couple more (penalties) than we have in the last few games, but that being said, when the PK gets out there we have to step up and make plays.”

The only offence Dallas managed in the first 40 minutes was when Draisaitl turned the puck over just inside the Dallas blue line to send Seguin in on a breakaway. Beyond that, the Oilers were in charge.

Playoff monster Mikko Rantanen, the guy with 19 points who, next to goaltender Jake Oettinger, was supposed to be Edmonton’s biggest problem in this series? You didn’t really notice him.

And Oettinger? It took less than two periods for the Oilers to make another star opposition goaltender look pretty average.

The evening seemed well in hand.

It wasn’t.

Special teams was a concern heading into the series. The Stars are third among all playoff teams on the power play at 30.8 per cent while the Oilers are a distant 14th at 66.7 (and 57.1 on the road) on the penalty kill.

“It’s been a little bit up and down,” said Skinner. “It was bad at the start of the first round and got better. It was great all series against Vegas and a struggle for one game here. But it’s one game, we can get back on the horse for sure.”

At even strength, the Oilers were the much better team, so they’ll be taking solace in that.

“After the first two periods we felt it was a good start,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And then it just turned in the third period. We’re going to have to put this one behind us and move on. We’ve had some heart-breaking losses in the playoffs and we’ve been able to rebound nicely.”

Spoiler

3 THINGS: Edmonton Oilers behind for the first time in a long time

If the Oilers hope to regain any of the momentum they have been on over the first two rounds, they need to get back to the format that got them here

So, this is what it’s like to be behind in a series.

You’ll have to forgive the Edmonton Oilers for the foreign feeling, considering they haven’t been in this position since all the way back to three games into their post-season run, when they trailed the Los Angeles Kings 2-1.

That was during the opening round, which was also the last time they dropped the first game of a series in these playoffs. In fact, prior to Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center to open the Western Conference finals, the Oilers had only lost once in their previous nine playoff games (going all the way back to that third game in the opening round).

It was quite a rise after losing the first two games of the playoffs, which also made for quite the fall when the Stars put them in their place Sunday by nothing short of a doubling on the scoreboard.

Here’s what we’ve learned as the puck dropped on Round 3:
WHO’S IN GOAL?

Wednesday’s loss stands as the worst defeat the Oilers felt since dropping Game 2 against L.A. by a score of 6-2, in a game where Stuart Skinner ended up getting pulled in favour of Calvin Pickard, who promptly went on a 6-0 run before getting injured.

Skinner returned in a 4-3 loss to hand the Golden Knights their only win of the second round, before following up with back-to-back shutouts to close out the series in five games.

But the high only lasted until the third period Wednesday, when Dallas scored five unanswered goals, including four against Skinner, who now has a save percentage of .872 and a 3.39 goals-against average.

Sure, his two wins in these playoffs were both shutouts, but he’s also charged with all four of Edmonton’s losses, so far.

So, how long is Skinner’s leash this time? And how far is Pickard from returning from a full recovery? Does it even have to necessarily be full?
BAD CHOICES

Blaming Skinner for Wednesday’s loss is like blaming the tied-up guy in the blindfold for getting in the way of the firing squad’s bullets.

While he wasn’t part of the problem that led to three third-period power-play goals in the first six minutes by the Stars to take a 4-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish, neither was he part of the solution.

Perhaps the Oilers can blame their lack of discipline on an overly luxurious six-day break between rounds, which is two days longer than they had between the first and second rounds. And we all know how bad this team is at hanging onto momentum through any sort of break over the past two years.

But for a roster with 13 players over the age of 30, they should be old enough to know better. Especially when they know their penalty kill is struggling mightily, ranked 14 out of the 16 playoff teams at a meager 66.7 per cent after having allowed 11 goals on 33 opportunities.

In Game 1, the Oilers PK continued to struggle giving up three more power play goals on four opportunities against Dallas to make it 14 goals given up on the man advantage in this playoff run.

It’s become clear special teams isn’t steering this ship like it did in last year’s playoffs, when they went an incredible 93.4 per cent on the penalty kill, allowing just four goals on 70 opportunities on their way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Their power play was a second-ranked 29.3 per cent at the same time, up from the 25.0 per cent they are this year to sit sixth overall among playoff teams.

Bottom line, this team needs to stay out of the penalty box.
WHERE’S THE DEPTH?

Leon Draisaitl (one goal, two assists) factored into all three of Edmonton’s goals, while Connor McDavid (two assists) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (one goal, one assist) were each involved in two of them.

So, of the nine points earned by Oilers players Wednesday, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for much impact to be made by the depth scoring we’ve been hearing so much about throughout these playoffs.

Of course, it’s difficult to score from the penalty box, which is where those secondary scorers made the biggest impact, unfortunately (we’re looking at you, Brett Kulak, Corey Perry and Evander Kane).

If the Oilers hope to regain any of the momentum they have been on over the first two rounds, they need to get back to the format that got them here. Don’t rely on only their top dogs to pull the sled. Find ways to contribute that don’t involve putting the Stars on the man advantage. Give their goaltender more of the same kind of support that led to the previous two shutout performances.

In other words, get back to basics. Because there’s not much time to figure out a new plan. You can’t rely on flipping the proverbial switch every time you should happen to find yourselves down 2-0 in a series.

Spoiler

'Each round gets harder': Edmonton Oilers no strangers to adversity

'Our depth is probably our greatest strength right now, and just having the ability to get everybody involved and everybody contributing'

Don’t mess up. Everyone’s watching.

By now, if any remaining team in the Final Four of the NHL Playoffs still has any bugs that need ironing, it’s going to become really apparent, really fast.

The Edmonton Oilers might have been clipping along at about as close to a perfect pace as possible, entering a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars having won eight of their previous nine games since their big turnaround in the post-season partway through Round 1.

But there is no guarantee their winning ways hold up, or their success thus far has been any more measurable than that of the Stars in getting to this point, as Wednesday at American Airlines Center marked the opening of their best-of-seven series.

And as the playoffs advance, the margin of error and the line between winning and losing only gets thinner and thinner.

“They’re thin and small in the first round and second round,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said. “So, as you continue to go, you play against teams that have faced adversity and overcome adversity and that have won, each round gets harder.”

Harder than bouncing back from being behind 2-0 in a series to a Los Angeles Kings hellbent on redemption after three consecutive first-round oustings? While still feeling the sting of almost coming back from falling behind 3-0 to the Florida Panthers in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, when they marched back to force Game 7 only to lose by a single goal?

If that type of adversity didn’t help the Oilers steamroll through a Pacific Division-winning Vegas Golden Knights in five games last round and have them sitting pretty for Wednesday’s opening puck drop, then nothing would.

Of course, a seven-game series can hardly be decided after one result, and there is still plenty more adversity to be overcome before one of the remaining four teams gets to hoist hockey’s holiest of grails.

It can make for a playoff path pitted with ups and downs, while the moral of Edmonton’s post-season story so far is as plain as it is simple: You’ve got to stick together.

Not even on the team with the top superstar — if not two — can rely on having them do it all on their own.

“Early on in the L.A. series, obviously, we had a ton of adversity being down 2-0 there and being able to come back,” Hyman said. “Our depth is probably our greatest strength right now, and just having the ability to get everybody involved and everybody contributing.”

There were no shortage of contributions from up and down the Oilers lineup over the first two rounds, even from the guy who sat out the first nine games before getting into the lineup and scoring the overtime goal to seal the deal against Vegas.

And good luck deciphering which line is which beyond the two centered by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Corey Perry was tied for the team lead with five goals in the first two rounds while moving from McDavid’s wing all the way down to the fourth line, as head coach Kris Knoblauch continues to mix and match bullets in different chambers before pulling the trigger.

“It helps the team a lot,” Hyman said. “Usually, the guys who aren’t playing, they’re pretty good players. So, I think it speaks volumes to the depth we have on our roster and guys being able to come in and contribute.

“Like, a guy like Kapi (Kasperi Kapanen), who didn’t play the first series and comes into the Vegas series and scores the clinching goal.”

The only question now is whether the result from last year’s conference final, a 4-2 series win by Edmonton, is more of a benefit to the Oilers or the Stars.

“I thought goaltending was big, I think Stu (Skinner) probably had his best series,” Hyman recalled. “And I just thought that special teams were important. No different (now). There wasn’t one specific thing, those are all things that usually help you win series.

“So, it was a tight series. We won in six, obviously. Different team. They have a different team, so it will be a good one.”

But good for whom? The Stars, who hold home-ice advantage, or the well-travelled Oilers, who seem to revel in snatching it away?

“I think it comes with experience, just being able to play in those environments,” Hyman said. “Obviously, the playoffs bring out the best in everyone. The fans, as well.

“And it’s louder the further you get, so having the experience to know that you’ve been there and know how to play in those environments helps.”

 

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Posted

Seeing all the social media posts from Canadia melting down over the Stars the last three weeks is rather amusing.

So much pissing and moaning about the power plays last night is amazing. There’s a still shot the high stick to Duechene and it’s literally full blade flat on face, but they claim it shouldn’t 6e82fc466a3e985bb8a09598f8d15469.png
have been a penalty.

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Posted

the mass-attack at the final horn was pathetic

happy to see the discipline we showed to go to ice and not fall for the banana in the tailpipe

i'm sure canuckians called it cowardly but it was the best way to ensure the whistles remain activated tomorrow night

would love to see a chart of how many power play minutes we've had per playoff series going back 5 years

ai produces zilch on that search

Posted
1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:
  Reveal hidden contents

Stars Struck: Edmonton Oilers penalty killing kills the wrong team

It wasn’t so much penalty killing as penalty dying.

In a game the Edmonton Oilers were in total control of, up 3-1 heading into the third period and firing on all cylinders, their biggest weakness in these playoffs reared its ugly head once again.

It absolutely collapsed when they needed it most, bringing the team down with it.

In a stunning turn of events Wednesday in Dallas, the Stars scored three power-play goals on three separate penalties in the first six minutes of the final frame to turn what looked like a humbling Game 1 loss into a brutal 6-3 victory.

“We have to kill better, it’s as simple as that,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, still in shock from what just happened. “We have to be better in that department, all of us, to a man. Whether it’s a won battle, a clear, a block, whatever play has to be made on the PK we have to make it and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”

It was hard to watch. An Oilers team that prides itself on post-season composure melted into a blue and orange puddle, handing the Stars a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.

“We give up three goals in a row on the kill, that just kills the momentum,” sighed forward Leon Draisaitl. “Then you’re chasing the game, the game changes from there, so we have to be an awful lot more mature than that.”

At least it was fast. Miro Heiskanen scored on the power play 32 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, Mikael Granlund tied it 3-3 on another power play three minutes later and Matt Duchene made it 4-3 two minutes after that on the hat trick of man-advantage markers.

“Obviously we let down out guard for five or six minutes and got into some penalty trouble,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner. “They were coming out hot, momentum kind of shifted for them in that moment and obviously it bit us. We let it slip for a little bit.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow. You just can’t be doing that, especially at playoff time, especially against a team like this — they know how to score goals.”

Tyler Seguin made it 5-3 at even strength and an empty-netter sealed the heartbreak.

It shouldn’t have ended this way, not after the way it started.

Edmonton showed right from the opening puck drop that their six-day layoff hadn’t slowed their momentum one bit.

Connor McDavid was flying. Draisaitl was flying. The penalty kill had two great scoring chances in killing the first Stars power play. Skinner made a nice glove save. The power play scored 25 seconds into its first opportunity. Zach Hyman had 10 hits in the first two periods.

Edmonton’s star players were in big-game mode and Dallas struggled to keep up. In what was supposed to be a battle between two power teams in the West, the Stars spent most of the night on their heels.

Draisaitl scored.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins scored.

Evan Bouchard scored.

With Edmonton up 3-1 at the second intermission, the three of them had already combined for seven points.

And it could have been worse, with Hyman hitting the crossbar and Nurse ringing one off the post.

“Our five-on-five game is really good, we just have to use it more,” said Nurse. “In the last couple of series when we stayed out of the box and kept the game at five-on-five we played to the strength of our team.

“We took a couple more (penalties) than we have in the last few games, but that being said, when the PK gets out there we have to step up and make plays.”

The only offence Dallas managed in the first 40 minutes was when Draisaitl turned the puck over just inside the Dallas blue line to send Seguin in on a breakaway. Beyond that, the Oilers were in charge.

Playoff monster Mikko Rantanen, the guy with 19 points who, next to goaltender Jake Oettinger, was supposed to be Edmonton’s biggest problem in this series? You didn’t really notice him.

And Oettinger? It took less than two periods for the Oilers to make another star opposition goaltender look pretty average.

The evening seemed well in hand.

It wasn’t.

Special teams was a concern heading into the series. The Stars are third among all playoff teams on the power play at 30.8 per cent while the Oilers are a distant 14th at 66.7 (and 57.1 on the road) on the penalty kill.

“It’s been a little bit up and down,” said Skinner. “It was bad at the start of the first round and got better. It was great all series against Vegas and a struggle for one game here. But it’s one game, we can get back on the horse for sure.”

At even strength, the Oilers were the much better team, so they’ll be taking solace in that.

“After the first two periods we felt it was a good start,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And then it just turned in the third period. We’re going to have to put this one behind us and move on. We’ve had some heart-breaking losses in the playoffs and we’ve been able to rebound nicely.”

  Reveal hidden contents

3 THINGS: Edmonton Oilers behind for the first time in a long time

If the Oilers hope to regain any of the momentum they have been on over the first two rounds, they need to get back to the format that got them here

So, this is what it’s like to be behind in a series.

You’ll have to forgive the Edmonton Oilers for the foreign feeling, considering they haven’t been in this position since all the way back to three games into their post-season run, when they trailed the Los Angeles Kings 2-1.

That was during the opening round, which was also the last time they dropped the first game of a series in these playoffs. In fact, prior to Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center to open the Western Conference finals, the Oilers had only lost once in their previous nine playoff games (going all the way back to that third game in the opening round).

It was quite a rise after losing the first two games of the playoffs, which also made for quite the fall when the Stars put them in their place Sunday by nothing short of a doubling on the scoreboard.

Here’s what we’ve learned as the puck dropped on Round 3:
WHO’S IN GOAL?

Wednesday’s loss stands as the worst defeat the Oilers felt since dropping Game 2 against L.A. by a score of 6-2, in a game where Stuart Skinner ended up getting pulled in favour of Calvin Pickard, who promptly went on a 6-0 run before getting injured.

Skinner returned in a 4-3 loss to hand the Golden Knights their only win of the second round, before following up with back-to-back shutouts to close out the series in five games.

But the high only lasted until the third period Wednesday, when Dallas scored five unanswered goals, including four against Skinner, who now has a save percentage of .872 and a 3.39 goals-against average.

Sure, his two wins in these playoffs were both shutouts, but he’s also charged with all four of Edmonton’s losses, so far.

So, how long is Skinner’s leash this time? And how far is Pickard from returning from a full recovery? Does it even have to necessarily be full?
BAD CHOICES

Blaming Skinner for Wednesday’s loss is like blaming the tied-up guy in the blindfold for getting in the way of the firing squad’s bullets.

While he wasn’t part of the problem that led to three third-period power-play goals in the first six minutes by the Stars to take a 4-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish, neither was he part of the solution.

Perhaps the Oilers can blame their lack of discipline on an overly luxurious six-day break between rounds, which is two days longer than they had between the first and second rounds. And we all know how bad this team is at hanging onto momentum through any sort of break over the past two years.

But for a roster with 13 players over the age of 30, they should be old enough to know better. Especially when they know their penalty kill is struggling mightily, ranked 14 out of the 16 playoff teams at a meager 66.7 per cent after having allowed 11 goals on 33 opportunities.

In Game 1, the Oilers PK continued to struggle giving up three more power play goals on four opportunities against Dallas to make it 14 goals given up on the man advantage in this playoff run.

It’s become clear special teams isn’t steering this ship like it did in last year’s playoffs, when they went an incredible 93.4 per cent on the penalty kill, allowing just four goals on 70 opportunities on their way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Their power play was a second-ranked 29.3 per cent at the same time, up from the 25.0 per cent they are this year to sit sixth overall among playoff teams.

Bottom line, this team needs to stay out of the penalty box.
WHERE’S THE DEPTH?

Leon Draisaitl (one goal, two assists) factored into all three of Edmonton’s goals, while Connor McDavid (two assists) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (one goal, one assist) were each involved in two of them.

So, of the nine points earned by Oilers players Wednesday, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for much impact to be made by the depth scoring we’ve been hearing so much about throughout these playoffs.

Of course, it’s difficult to score from the penalty box, which is where those secondary scorers made the biggest impact, unfortunately (we’re looking at you, Brett Kulak, Corey Perry and Evander Kane).

If the Oilers hope to regain any of the momentum they have been on over the first two rounds, they need to get back to the format that got them here. Don’t rely on only their top dogs to pull the sled. Find ways to contribute that don’t involve putting the Stars on the man advantage. Give their goaltender more of the same kind of support that led to the previous two shutout performances.

In other words, get back to basics. Because there’s not much time to figure out a new plan. You can’t rely on flipping the proverbial switch every time you should happen to find yourselves down 2-0 in a series.

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'Each round gets harder': Edmonton Oilers no strangers to adversity

'Our depth is probably our greatest strength right now, and just having the ability to get everybody involved and everybody contributing'

Don’t mess up. Everyone’s watching.

By now, if any remaining team in the Final Four of the NHL Playoffs still has any bugs that need ironing, it’s going to become really apparent, really fast.

The Edmonton Oilers might have been clipping along at about as close to a perfect pace as possible, entering a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars having won eight of their previous nine games since their big turnaround in the post-season partway through Round 1.

But there is no guarantee their winning ways hold up, or their success thus far has been any more measurable than that of the Stars in getting to this point, as Wednesday at American Airlines Center marked the opening of their best-of-seven series.

And as the playoffs advance, the margin of error and the line between winning and losing only gets thinner and thinner.

“They’re thin and small in the first round and second round,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said. “So, as you continue to go, you play against teams that have faced adversity and overcome adversity and that have won, each round gets harder.”

Harder than bouncing back from being behind 2-0 in a series to a Los Angeles Kings hellbent on redemption after three consecutive first-round oustings? While still feeling the sting of almost coming back from falling behind 3-0 to the Florida Panthers in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, when they marched back to force Game 7 only to lose by a single goal?

If that type of adversity didn’t help the Oilers steamroll through a Pacific Division-winning Vegas Golden Knights in five games last round and have them sitting pretty for Wednesday’s opening puck drop, then nothing would.

Of course, a seven-game series can hardly be decided after one result, and there is still plenty more adversity to be overcome before one of the remaining four teams gets to hoist hockey’s holiest of grails.

It can make for a playoff path pitted with ups and downs, while the moral of Edmonton’s post-season story so far is as plain as it is simple: You’ve got to stick together.

Not even on the team with the top superstar — if not two — can rely on having them do it all on their own.

“Early on in the L.A. series, obviously, we had a ton of adversity being down 2-0 there and being able to come back,” Hyman said. “Our depth is probably our greatest strength right now, and just having the ability to get everybody involved and everybody contributing.”

There were no shortage of contributions from up and down the Oilers lineup over the first two rounds, even from the guy who sat out the first nine games before getting into the lineup and scoring the overtime goal to seal the deal against Vegas.

And good luck deciphering which line is which beyond the two centered by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Corey Perry was tied for the team lead with five goals in the first two rounds while moving from McDavid’s wing all the way down to the fourth line, as head coach Kris Knoblauch continues to mix and match bullets in different chambers before pulling the trigger.

“It helps the team a lot,” Hyman said. “Usually, the guys who aren’t playing, they’re pretty good players. So, I think it speaks volumes to the depth we have on our roster and guys being able to come in and contribute.

“Like, a guy like Kapi (Kasperi Kapanen), who didn’t play the first series and comes into the Vegas series and scores the clinching goal.”

The only question now is whether the result from last year’s conference final, a 4-2 series win by Edmonton, is more of a benefit to the Oilers or the Stars.

“I thought goaltending was big, I think Stu (Skinner) probably had his best series,” Hyman recalled. “And I just thought that special teams were important. No different (now). There wasn’t one specific thing, those are all things that usually help you win series.

“So, it was a tight series. We won in six, obviously. Different team. They have a different team, so it will be a good one.”

But good for whom? The Stars, who hold home-ice advantage, or the well-travelled Oilers, who seem to revel in snatching it away?

“I think it comes with experience, just being able to play in those environments,” Hyman said. “Obviously, the playoffs bring out the best in everyone. The fans, as well.

“And it’s louder the further you get, so having the experience to know that you’ve been there and know how to play in those environments helps.”

 

That first one was written by a super fan.  Wow. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

It is pretty wild the conference finals is all southern teams plus one rogue canadian squad. purists have to be hating every minute of this. lol.

Noticed that last week -- it's EDM from the Pacific and then the three southern-most teams in each of the other divisions.

Posted
5 hours ago, Fudbelty said:

Seeing all the social media posts from Canadia melting down over the Stars the last three weeks is rather amusing.

So much pissing and moaning about the power plays last night is amazing. There’s a still shot the high stick to Duechene and it’s literally full blade flat on face, but they claim it shouldn’t 6e82fc466a3e985bb8a09598f8d15469.png
have been a penalty.

I've determined the Edmonton fan base is bitch-made. They've been crying about the start time for Game 3, they showed a video of the Duchene high-stick after he'd been hit and Kane's stick is coming back down to claim that Duchene did an all-world acting job. They are 100% excuses all the time about why their sainted hockey team doesn't win.

Posted
27 minutes ago, C-Man said:

I've determined the Edmonton fan base is bitch-made. They've been crying about the start time for Game 3, they showed a video of the Duchene high-stick after he'd been hit and Kane's stick is coming back down to claim that Duchene did an all-world acting job. They are 100% excuses all the time about why their sainted hockey team doesn't win.

They're still coming to terms with the Gretzky trade.

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Posted
4 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

It is pretty wild the conference finals is all southern teams plus one rogue canadian squad. purists have to be hating every minute of this. lol.

they can pound sand

half the stars are canuckian

 

Posted

To be fair, none of those goals were really howlers. The keeper was screened or beaten on good plays (OK, on Duchene's goal, I don't really know why it took Skinner so long to migrate from his left post to the right). It's just that, at this stage of the playoffs, I need big saves. Last year, Skinner was a huge part of getting the Oilers by the Stars. Yes, there were other factors, but he took a lot of goals off the board. It's a small sample size, but right now, he appears to be the opposite.

In the end, both teams finished with two 5 on 5 goals. Dallas just got 3 PP goals to Edmonton's 1.

I've got what I hope is the last of graduation season tonight (my son is a high school senior). However, I'm asking that the Stars, having seen the true speed of McDavid and Draisaitl, are ready to mitigate (not eliminate) the Oilers ability to play defense with their offense. DeBoer has the pieces and the voodoo to reconfigure the team to facee hyper-skilled speedsters or physical defenders. We've got home ice thus far, but Edmonton is almost in a do or die mode already.

Posted
54 minutes ago, GoldAppleCorps said:

To be fair, none of those goals were really howlers. The keeper was screened or beaten on good plays (OK, on Duchene's goal, I don't really know why it took Skinner so long to migrate from his left post to the right). It's just that, at this stage of the playoffs, I need big saves. Last year, Skinner was a huge part of getting the Oilers by the Stars. Yes, there were other factors, but he took a lot of goals off the board. It's a small sample size, but right now, he appears to be the opposite.

In the end, both teams finished with two 5 on 5 goals. Dallas just got 3 PP goals to Edmonton's 1.

Skinner is a Jekyll and Hyde goalie. He's capable of playing incredibly in net and he can also look like the EBUG at other times. I think that's why the Oilers have not moved on completely yet.

There are three goals that went in and probably two of the three shouldn't. He never saw Miro's goal. But it was a lazy wrister from just inside the blue line with traffic in front. Three different Oilers failed to block it with their body. Skinner said he was looking to the left of the screener to which I say, "Why?" The puck was on the outside. The shot is going to come from the outside. Again, that was just as much on the Oilers defenders not blocking the shot with their body. Granlund's goal was a laser. Nothing to see here. Blame the careless Edmonton penalty. Duchene's goal was just awful. Skinner got completely turned upside down in the scrum and it left a wide-open net for Duchene, who flubbed the first shot into Roope's back. That should've been it. Skinner should've recovered at that point and not given Duchene a second chance. That was a bad goal. Finally, the Steel-to-Seguin goal was started with a great play by Steel but I would hope the goalie for a Stanley Cup contender will make a stop like that at a crucial moment. Not saying it was a bad goal but I don't think it was an impossible stop like trying to stop Granlund's tally.

The bottom line is Edmonton has a real problem on their hands if Skinner can't play better. We don't know Pickard's status. And, honestly, who the fuck is Calvin Pickard? He's a 33-year-old career journeyman/backup goalie.

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Posted

Pretty good read on Jim Nill and the Rantanen trade in The Athletic today.

Stars’ Mikko Rantanen trade might become the highlight of Jim Nill’s stellar GM stint

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6376403/2025/05/23/stars-mikko-rantanent-trade-nill/

Quote

DALLAS — Leaning back in a comfortable heather-gray armchair in his modest office in Frisco, Texas, with his legs crossed, Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill pounded on his chest with his right fist, hammering away at an imaginary crest across an imaginary jersey.

“Your first trade is devastating,” he said. “That logo’s implanted in you. You’ve been drafted by them and developed by them. Then all of a sudden, you’re traded. It’s devastating. I’ve been there myself.”

Nill was 23 years old when the St. Louis Blues traded him to Vancouver, just one year removed from his NHL debut and two years removed from playing for Team Canada in the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid. Nill was traded three more times in his career — to Boston, then to Winnipeg, then to Detroit. But that first one lingered with him. Even though he had only been in St. Louis for a year. Even though he was a sixth-round draft pick, not some hot-shot prospect. Even though he wasn’t a star, wasn’t a stalwart, never was a part of the Blues’ fabric.

It still hurt.

So Nill could only imagine what this season was like for Mikko Rantanen — a top-10 pick, a 10-year veteran, a jersey just waiting to be hung in the Ball Arena rafters and a plaque just waiting to be hung in the Hockey Hall of Fame — to be ripped away from his hockey home in Denver and sent across the country to Carolina without warning.

Then to be traded again six weeks later.

“That’s hard,” Nill said. “That’s tough on a player. But he’s handled it like a pro. His professionalism is off the charts. I just love his demeanor, his leadership. Only being here two months, you can already see it — his competitiveness to win, his focus, his preparation. He’s a pro player.”

He’s not just a pro, he’s a superstar, a truly elite, top-10 player in the world. And for all the talk about Dallas’ incredible depth and the perennial contender Nill has built over the years, that was the one thing the Stars were missing. They were loaded with very good forwards. They didn’t have a great one.

Now they do. And it might go down as Nill’s biggest and best move in a standout career as a GM.

“You don’t find players like Mikko Rantanen,” Nill said. “That just doesn’t happen. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I can be in the game another 20 years and may never have this opportunity again. You just don’t have the opportunity to get those guys very often. Worked out well for us.”

Nill had known of Rantanen for more than a decade, dating to the run-up to the 2015 NHL Draft. The Stars had the 12th pick that year, and Rantanen went 10th to Colorado, so he was very much on Nill’s radar. He then watched with an interested eye as Rantanen “tore up the American League,” in Nill’s words, for the Texas Stars’ in-state rival, the San Antonio Rampage.

Then he spent a decade watching Rantanen run roughshod over the NHL for the Stars’ biggest rival, the Colorado Avalanche.

“I knew him too well,” Nill said with a chuckle.

But he never entertained the possibility of Rantanen wearing Victory Green. Yes, Rantanen was entering the final year of his contract this season, but Nill knew the chances of Colorado trading him within the division were, well, nil. And pursuing him in free agency this summer never was considered an option. So when Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky shocked the hockey world by acquiring Rantanen in late January, Nill was just happy to have him out of the division. Heck, out of the conference.

Nill, meanwhile, felt pretty good about the trade he made a week later, acquiring forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks.

“I was comfortable if that was all the trades we did,” Nill said. “We did that early because of the injuries to Miro (Heiskanen) and (Tyler) Seguin. We had two holes there, and we thought we filled in our holes with that trade. But you’re always making calls at the trade deadline.”

One of the things Nill was hearing on some of those calls was that Carolina was concerned that Rantanen wouldn’t re-sign. He wasn’t producing at his typical rate, and he didn’t seem overjoyed to be in Raleigh, either. The Hurricanes had just watched Jake Guentzel — their big deadline acquisition a year earlier — walk in free agency, and were wary of it happening again.

Suddenly, Rantanen was on the market. Again. Maybe.

“They could’ve kept him, hoping to sign him — maybe have a good run and sign him after that,” Nill said. “But they went through the Guentzel thing. They were probably a little bit worried: Is this going to be story No. 2? So we started making calls.”

This was about a week to 10 days out from the March 7 trade deadline. There were plenty of suitors, but the more the two sides talked, the more Dallas emerged as a frontrunner in the sweepstakes, with young rising star Logan Stankoven — a relentless, speedy, Hurricanes-type player if ever there were one — as the centerpiece of the potential deal.

Nill and his head coach, Pete DeBoer, are usually in constant contact, hashing out the team’s needs and desires on a near daily basis. But Nill was wary of getting DeBoer’s hopes up, worried that the possibility of acquiring Rantanen was “fool’s gold.”

Not that he really needed advice on this one.

“Does he need Pete DeBoer to tell him Rantanen is a good player? No,” DeBoer said with a laugh.

But DeBoer got looped in as things got serious. At approximately 1 a.m. on the night before/morning of the trade deadline, Nill and Tulsky had hammered out the framework of the deal. Now came the hard part: Signing Rantanen to a contract extension. Because Dallas wasn’t making the deal without one, certainly not for Stankoven.

This is where Colorado and Carolina failed. Dallas had no such trouble. By 10 a.m., Nill and Rantanen’s camp had come to terms on an eight-year, $96-million contract.

So why was Dallas able to do what Colorado and Carolina couldn’t? Well, sure, there’s Texas’ status as a tax-free state, an undeniable advantage in negotiations. The Stars’ reputation as a haven for Finns certainly helped, too, as Roope Hintz is a longtime friend of Rantanen’s, and he’s played internationally with the others. The symbolism of the final goal of Game 1 of the Western Conference final on Wednesday being scored with five Finns on the ice — Rantanen, Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Hintz and Granlund — wasn’t lost on anyone in Dallas.

“It’s nice to be able to feel comfortable among the guys,” Rantanen said.

But the way Nill sees it, the chance to play for the Dallas Stars superseded everything else.

“I hear about the no-tax stuff, and yeah, there are some advantages,” Nill said. “It helps, it doesn’t hurt. But we’ve lost some players because of other reasons. It evens out. But in the end, if you’re a good team, you’re going to draw players. You hear about Florida and Tampa; no one wanted to go there when they were bad. And nobody wanted to come to Dallas when we were bad. But players want to win. These guys are thoroughbreds, they’re wired, they’re competitive. These are the best in the business, in the world. They want to win, and we have an opportunity to win here.

“You start winning, you become a destination.”

Indeed, winning is like a perpetual-motion machine — it feeds itself. The more you win, the more good players want to be a part of your team. And look at the Stars now. They’ve got their cagey veterans in Tyler Seguin (signed through 2026-27), Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene (both pending UFAs, but both of whom Nill is certain will be back next season). They’ve got a core of guys in their prime in Heiskanen (signed through 2029), Hintz (2031), Jason Robertson (2026 but under team control), Esa Lindell (2031) and goalie Jake Oettinger (2033). And they’ve got a wave of young stars in Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, Mavrik Bourque and Lian Bichsel.

Now, as the centerpiece, they have Rantanen, one of a handful of true superstars in the game. Perhaps no team in the league is built so well, or built to last so long.

And yet Nill is still looking for his first Stanley Cup championship as a general manager, and Dallas’ first in more than a quarter-century. The Stars won Game 1 of the Western Conference final against Edmonton on Wednesday, with Game 2 to be played Friday night in Dallas.

That first trade that ripped Nill’s heart out of his chest sent him to the Canucks and all the way to the 1982 Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the dynastic New York Islanders. He’s been chasing that trophy for more than four decades since, winning it four times as a part of the Red Wings’ front office. When he talks to his younger players who might take all this success — three straight trips to the conference final, nine series victories in the last six years — for granted, his philosophy is the same as his philosophy when it came to Rantanen:

When you have a chance to do something special, don’t waste it.

“We’ve been knocking on the door for a while,” he said. “And you only get so many opportunities. Well, we’ve got an opportunity now. Let’s take advantage of it.”

 

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Posted
3 hours ago, GoldAppleCorps said:

I've got what I hope is the last of graduation season tonight (my son is a high school senior). However, I'm asking that the Stars, having seen the true speed of McDavid and Draisaitl, are ready to mitigate (not eliminate) the Oilers ability to play defense with their offense. DeBoer has the pieces and the voodoo to reconfigure the team to facee hyper-skilled speedsters or physical defenders. We've got home ice thus far, but Edmonton is almost in a do or die mode already.

congrats to you son -  it's a hell of a time to enter the scrum

deboer dialing up the right deployment to stifle oil's big 2 is key for us; the lede on the espn nhl home page right now is the flip side of this.....

How Kris Knoblauch became master of the midseries adjustment

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/45270808/nhl-2025-playoffs-stanley-cup-edmonton-oilers-kris-knoblauch-coach-lines-goalies-philosophy

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Posted
2 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

congrats to you son -  it's a hell of a time to enter the scrum

deboer dialing up the right deployment to stifle oil's big 2 is key for us; the lede on the espn nhl home page right now is the flip side of this.....

How Kris Knoblauch became master of the midseries adjustment

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/45270808/nhl-2025-playoffs-stanley-cup-edmonton-oilers-kris-knoblauch-coach-lines-goalies-philosophy

Well, his next port is local community college. 😃

Knoblauch doesn't really have much to adjust. His previous game plan worked like a champ until his team took penalties and couldn't kill them.

You can't tell a team not to take penalties. They know that already, and when a team attempts to minimize penalties, they end up playing timid. Sticks don't get lifted, bodies don't get tied up, poke-checks don't get made. Having a solid PK really gives a team the freedom to play to the echo of the whistle. You still don't want to be stupid, but if a penalty happens, you're confident it won't be immediately costly.

I guess they could work on Stars PP formations, but since there's not much film of Seguin, Rantanaan, and Heiskanen on the ice at once, I'm not sure how useful that would be.

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