GDT: 2023-24 season Western Conference Quarter Finals LA Kings vs Edmonton Oilers Game 1

Who wins the series

  • Oilers in 4

    Votes: 25 23.8%
  • Oilers in 5

    Votes: 47 44.8%
  • Oilers in 6

    Votes: 15 14.3%
  • Oilers in 7

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Kings in 4

    Votes: 1 1.0%
  • Kings in 5

    Votes: 2 1.9%
  • Kings in 6

    Votes: 8 7.6%
  • Kings in 7

    Votes: 6 5.7%

  • Total voters
    105
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fsanford

Registered User
Jul 4, 2009
7,805
3,194
Rebuild back better.

Then sit him. He’s an anchor.
I said Dubois needs to play top line with Byfield and Juice. You can actually generate some speed on the rush. But Kings will not have balls enough to try it
 

ru4reals

Registered User
Jul 4, 2007
11,885
7,535
At least we didn't lead 3-0 and lose 5-3. Okay never mind we still have time to do that.
 

Live in the Now

Registered User
Dec 17, 2005
53,562
7,997
LA
This game swung on Arvidsson’s miss followed by Talbot giving up an easy one to Henrique. You can’t win with overpaid vets and a bunch of try hard, feel good story players.
The thing that gets me the worst is the lack of energy. It's one of the biggest signs that a team's rebuild has faltered. They wind up bringing in older players in lower line roles because they can't develop them themselves. That is what we have done here. It kills me to see the team play like this.

We are not going to outskill the Oilers. We do not have the cap to turn this roster over without making drastic changes. Lose to the Oilers every year for two or three more years until the Ducks and Vegas lock us out of the third spot and second WC spot is not a viable alternative for me.
 

crassbonanza

Fire Luc
Sep 28, 2017
3,290
3,193
I said Dubois needs to play top line with Byfield and Juice. You can actually generate some speed on the rush. But Kings will not have balls enough to try it

Byfield and Dubois had some of the worst xGF% on the team that game. I know that doesn't mean much in a 1 game sample size, but that was while being matched up against the Perry line for most of the game. I'm not sure we want them handling line 1 minutes if we want to win.
 

DoktorJeep

Fair winds and following seas Nikolai.
Aug 2, 2005
6,771
6,138
OC
The thing that gets me the worst is the lack of energy. It's one of the biggest signs that a team's rebuild has faltered. They wind up bringing in older players in lower line roles because they can't develop them themselves. That is what we have done here. It kills me to see the team play like this.

We are not going to outskill the Oilers. We do not have the cap to turn this roster over without making drastic changes. Lose to the Oilers every year for two or three more years until the Ducks and Vegas lock us out of the third spot and second WC spot is not a viable alternative for me.

The lack of energy is from the lack of winners. Williams, Quick, Brown, Richards, Mitchell, Scuderi, Gaborik, Regehr. All winners. All men who wouldn’t repeatedly lay down and get tooled.

Who are Blake’s big chess pieces? Danault, guy was a 24 year old rookie. Arvidsson was a guy lucky to make the NHL. Moore was undrafted and waiver wire fodder. Lizotte, again undrafted and a guy who wouldn’t play on any other playoff team.

The one guy who is a stud is Kempe and Blake did his best to screw that up before the bottom fell out and he was busy trying to spin the situation into a fake ass rebuild.
 

fsanford

Registered User
Jul 4, 2009
7,805
3,194
Byfield and Dubois had some of the worst xGF% on the team that game. I know that doesn't mean much in a 1 game sample size, but that was while being matched up against the Perry line for most of the game. I'm not sure we want them handling line 1 minutes if we want to win.
Not sure if status quo is going to win you games
When your first line center cannot generate any speed on the rush it's a huge disadvantage. There is almost no pressure on your opponent.

You cannot keep trotting Kopi out there on your top line
 

crassbonanza

Fire Luc
Sep 28, 2017
3,290
3,193
Not sure if status quo is going to win you games
When your first line center cannot generate any speed on the rush it's a huge disadvantage. There is almost no pressure on your opponent.

You cannot keep trotting Kopi out there on your top line

Well, Byfield had by far the most even strength minutes tonight and got caved in. Dubois got caved in as well, meanwhile Kopitar/Kempe had positive xGF% Rel while going up against Draisaitl for most of the game. I don't think Kopi generating speed was what was dragging us down.
 

SherVaughn30

Registered User
Jan 12, 2010
5,593
3,620
Los Angeles
Just wondering about something when the score was 6-2 and I think there was just under 14 mins still left in the game. Cam Talbot is 36 and I think you could somewhat argue he played too many regular season games. Would it have been better to put in Rittich to get him some playing time then have Talbot labor through 44 shots? I just feel they need to keep Talbot fresh and not overworked if an opportunity presents itself(which I felt was the case at that point in the game).
 
Jun 30, 2006
5,632
2,520
The lack of energy is from the lack of winners. Williams, Quick, Brown, Richards, Mitchell, Scuderi, Gaborik, Regehr. All winners. All men who wouldn’t repeatedly lay down and get tooled.

Who are Blake’s big chess pieces? Danault, guy was a 24 year old rookie. Arvidsson was a guy lucky to make the NHL. Moore was undrafted and waiver wire fodder. Lizotte, again undrafted and a guy who wouldn’t play on any other playoff team.

The one guy who is a stud is Kempe and Blake did his best to screw that up before the bottom fell out and he was busy trying to spin the situation into a fake ass rebuild.

Unless the Oilers sweep and in an embarrassing fashion take out the Kings, I think Bluc is retained one more season. AEG is probably happy with Bluc as they are more malleable and not demanding, unlike their predecessor.

The other thing is Kopitar and Doughty would either retire or request a trade, I don’t think they would want to be a part of a rebuild.

What’s funny is AEG was all about winning cups and cited that as the reason for canning DL, and here we are about 8 seasons in…not a single playoff series won.
 

tny760

Registered User
Mar 12, 2017
20,333
22,136
Just wondering about something when the score was 6-2 and I think there was just under 14 mins still left in the game. Cam Talbot is 36 and I think you could somewhat argue he played too many regular season games. Would it have been better to put in Rittich to get him some playing time then have Talbot labor through 44 shots? I just feel they need to keep Talbot fresh and not overworked if an opportunity presents itself(which I felt was the case at that point in the game).
was it the prudent thing to do? probably

generally speaking, do the kings do the prudent thing? no
 

Ziggy Stardust

Master Debater
Jul 25, 2002
63,573
35,568
Parts Unknown
There is not a single King any opponent is intimidated by. What is the point of Englund in the lineup if he isn’t going to punish opponents?

Not only did the Oilers outshoot the Kings, they also blocked a lot more shots than them, which goes to show you how badly one team wants to win and how the weaker team is probably scheduling their tee time for next weekend when this series is over.
 

SherVaughn30

Registered User
Jan 12, 2010
5,593
3,620
Los Angeles
Regarding the PK, for a team that had the 2nd best PK in the regular season, how could they continue to take a dump like this being 1 for 4 and playing the Oilers PP so soft. It seemed like the PK was standing around waiting to react instead of putting pressure points on the Oilers PP. Why not put more emphasis on the Oilers two most dangerous players(McDavid, Draisaitl) by collapsing on them to reduce their space and maybe put sticks in the passing/shooting lanes on them? There is that saying, "pick your poison". Well try to neutralize McDavid/Draisaitl and force Bouchard/Hyman/RNH/whomever else they have out there, to beat you? Also, McDavid is the catalyst for generating so much speed starting from his own end to create the zone entry on their PP, so why not put a fast PK guy to slow down McDavid so he doesn't get such a long generated start to gain his speed?
 

BigBrown

Fly at eleven.
Feb 2, 2010
6,001
1,631
Sweden
Well this certainly feels familiar. The Oilers scoring on every other power play, McDavid supercharged and fresh doing whatever the hell he wants, Kings flatfooted and scrambling... they picked up right where the last series left off.
 

bouncesonly

Registered User
May 1, 2014
1,967
1,382
San Diego
Well this certainly feels familiar. The Oilers scoring on every other power play, McDavid supercharged and fresh doing whatever the hell he wants, Kings flatfooted and scrambling... they picked up right where the last series left off.
Absolutely idiotic PK strategy against the Oilers, giving up that goal line. f***in' idiotic.

Power play is equally dumb. Why are the Kings waiting to pass on the power play when the Oilers are playing absolutely aggressive towards the puck carrier? Spending all that time, letting the defender skate up to you, thinking about what you're going to do and then passing. Since the Kings love passing and not shooting, they should at least one touch pass everything before the defender is even halfway there. At least the Oilers will be equally confused as the Kings on where the pucks going.
 
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