Post-Game Talk: 7 Goals, 0 Drai Points = Me So Sad

[brentashton]

I'll bet that's another purposefully misquoted radio tidbit by the usual suspects.

Or not.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

I'm not convinced Frederic will be on the 2nd line with Draisaitl.

Obviously they were pushing hard for Drai to get his points.
But it was too many minutes. Knob typically plays McDavid and Drai excessive minutes all season. Really only MacKinnon and Kaprizov see that much ice time, and no time plays two guys that much.
Last night might have been the fewest minutes McDavid has played all year.
Helps when you get some secondary scoring.

Stetcher now appears ahead of Emberson in the pecking order. I think Stetcher is the better option. Will see if Klingberg draws in ahead of both once he is healthy again.

Not sure that Frederic will be a top six guy when he returns.

Would love to get the old Evander Kane back to add a legit top 6 winder to Draisaitl's wing. But not sure what to expect of a guy who spent the season on IR...

My joke about load management was only that this team finally didn't need Draisaitl's brilliance and finishing to win. Finally. He's been Hart Trophy worthy consistent and in a blowout game this team finally didn't need him to drive scoring results. That's huge, especially if they can sustain secondary scoring beyond Draisaitl and McDavid. When secondary scoring shows up they can and need to trim the Super Elites minutes.

The d-corp is five strong who carve out big minutes with some protection, managed minutes for their #6. I think it will be a prospective platoon situation with Emberson and Klingberg if the latter actually gets healthy and back into games down the stretch. They have PK coverage with Walman adding those responsibilities within his Swiss Army knife utility. Klingberg's a longer veteran d-man with 80+ playoff games. Oil coaching staff showed a lot of belief in the player with second pair ice-time and responsibilities right from game 1. If he can get healthy and games in, I think Klingberg will have strong consideration at minimum as a platoon #6. Stetcher's game, decent puck mover but chaos in net front defending. Too small. A tell was opening day the coaching staff putting training camp PTO Dermott as their #6 over Stetcher. Good #7 to have but I don't see him as a #6 ahead of Emberson/Klingberg.

Frederic will be interesting. I love centre/wing versatility and his size and hard game can move around the line-up. Some of this might depend if they role Nugent Hopkins at 3C then maybe the guy gets a look with McDavid. Connor's worked well with big, physical wingers in the past. And they could always manage Frederic's minutes, reducing in key situations. But Draisaitl could use some help. And the other unknown is Kane. But I would guess Evander starts bottom six, maybe even Line 4 to work into game shape and sharpness, moving up if and as the rust knocks off his long layoff.

Versatility is a critical strength of this team. Will be fun to see how their coaching staff utilizes it down the stretch drive especially against some of the big boy competition coming.

 

[OilersaretheMcBest]

It's 2025, can get a lot more than that for $200.

View attachment 995325

Take your wife to the spa, buy a tv.

Sir close some of your tabs

I just don’t know if we will see the physical presence.

We definitely will, Kane is a gamer and he knows what his physicality brings. No reason for him to sit this long either.

 

[K1984]

There were many things I liked last night, but the biggest one might be the group breaking out with a lot of punts to the neutral zone that are incredibly effective.

When this team breaks out with the puck in front of them, whether it's on their stick or a punt to chase down they are on. The whole team breaks when they try to break out passing up ice. We get spread out, leads to odd man rushes, usually stalls at their blue line, and just bogs the team down.

Punting reduces in zone turnovers, forces their D to stop their feet to wait for pucks as we have guys screaming up ice, and it forces us to win races and play up ice with speed. This won us Game 4-6 against the Panthers, and every time we break out this way we blitz teams.

 

[Stoneman89]

Somebody needs a larger TV. Connor deserves better.

 

[Stoneman89]

When you win 7-1, there are likely no passengers. Even Kapanen looked good. But Utah looked terrible, have to take that into consideration. The only thing to criticize really (and it's minor), is trying to forcefeed Drai for 50. It's not like it's game 82. If anything, he should be rested and load managed, lots of time for that magical number. Just let it come naturally, for God's sake, the guy has 49, I'm sure he can manage. If anything, number 50 will probably go in off his rear end at some point.

 

[Stoneman89]

There were many things I liked last night, but the biggest one might be the group breaking out with a lot of punts to the neutral zone that are incredibly effective.

When this team breaks out with the puck in front of them, whether it's on their stick or a punt to chase down they are on. The whole team breaks when they try to break out passing up ice. We get spread out, leads to odd man rushes, usually stalls at their blue line, and just bogs the team down.

Punting reduces in zone turnovers, forces their D to stop their feet to wait for pucks as we have guys screaming up ice, and it forces us to win races and play up ice with speed. This won us Game 4-6 against the Panthers, and every time we break out this way we blitz teams.

I've noticed punting is becoming more and more commonplace this year, and is very effective. A whole whack of teams were doing that to us during the losing streak, and if your dmen aren't skilled or inexperienced and not strong on the puck, it causes all kinds of grief.

 

[brentashton]

4C is a pretty irrelevant position on a team like this that is top heavy or in this case with RNH centering the 3rd line, top 9 heavy, so the 4th line isn't getting much burn. They could deploy the 3rd line from last years' playoffs as the 4th line in this playoffs and the Oilers will be fine. The major, glaring, hole is on one of Drai's wings or maybe both but need at least one. Even Frederic, as much as I like the player, is not a true 6 winger. They do have a guy in Arvidsson who is usually a true top 6 winger but he seems better suited for the softer minutes 3rd line role at this point so Drai is going to do A LOT of heavy lifting on that 2nd line but he's been doing that his whole career as a center so nothing new for him.

Except for 7-8 minutes per game when you want it to be better than the line it’s facing off against. On championship teams, every player, every line has weighted value. All can have a huge impact on outcomes.

 

[Stoneman89]

ANOTHER solid outing by the goaltending. Team looking better game by game amazing what steady goaltending does to ones menral game. Keep it up guys

It also helps to have your team shoot out to a big lead, and force the other team out of their game plan and comfort zone.

 

[Drivesaitl]

He’s been very bad for awhile now.

The major thing last night is that the opponent for once were made to climb the hill and then were getting buried. The frontrunning shaped the game. The early pk score shaped he game, the Nurse fight shaped the game.

The Oilers as a team were snarly in this game from puck drop and they had the viking back.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

Just watched the highlights. I'm not sure what Utah was doing. That 7th goal was kinda hilarious. We seem to match up incredibly well against them.

 

[Drivesaitl]

There were many things I liked last night, but the biggest one might be the group breaking out with a lot of punts to the neutral zone that are incredibly effective.

When this team breaks out with the puck in front of them, whether it's on their stick or a punt to chase down they are on. The whole team breaks when they try to break out passing up ice. We get spread out, leads to odd man rushes, usually stalls at their blue line, and just bogs the team down.

Punting reduces in zone turnovers, forces their D to stop their feet to wait for pucks as we have guys screaming up ice, and it forces us to win races and play up ice with speed. This won us Game 4-6 against the Panthers, and every time we break out this way we blitz teams.

Don't let it be too deceptive. The punting worked as well as it did because Utah coverage was non existent and Utah weren't picking any passes either like a couple of the clubs on the road trip. I think the boys played with a lot of gusto but the same plays wouldn't necessarily work and haven't against better opponents. For Utah once they gave up the pk goal to start seemed like a knockout punch. Shouldn't be but they were staggered. We hadn't seen an opponent give up on a game plan as much as this in sometime.

Pickard with his puck play and setups also makes the breakout happen easier. Team had a lot of jump though last night and the Nurse fight got the boys going. Team seemed more intense last night.

 

[K1984]

I've noticed punting is becoming more and more commonplace this year, and is very effective. A whole whack of teams were doing that to us during the losing streak, and if your dmen aren't skilled or inexperienced and not strong on the puck, it causes all kinds of grief.

On the whole, I think the quality of the d men in the league has never been higher. For the most part they skate well, have range, and defend their own blue line well even on the bottom rung teams. Makes breaking out with stretch passes and east/west plays through the middle incredibly difficult.

Punting creates scramble plays in the middle of the ice which D men hate. Also puts us in a position where we'll have 4/5 guys on the right side of the puck even if we don't come up with it. De-risks possessions.

 

[K1984]

Don't let it be too deceptive. The punting worked as well as it did because Utah coverage was non existent and Utah weren't picking any passes either like a couple of the clubs on the road trip. I think the boys played with a lot of gusto but the same plays wouldn't necessarily work and haven't against better opponents. For Utah once they gave up the pk goal to start seemed like a knockout punch. Shouldn't be but they were staggered. We hadn't seen an opponent give up on a game plan as much as this in sometime.

Pickard with his puck play and setups also makes the breakout happen easier. Team had a lot of jump though last night and the Nurse fight got the boys going. Team seemed more intense last night.

Punting is good for this team no matter who they play, including last year's Stanley cup champs.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Punting is good for this team no matter who they play, including last year's Stanley cup champs.

It did work against Florida. Good point there.

Last night though was predicated on Utah playing the whole game from behind, trying to force forward and getting spanked all night. As a coach I'd not want to be behind the bench in this one. Surprised there was no timeouts to go over it. The other thing is what was going on in the Utah room. They started each period being horrible. Allowing 5 bell chances in first minute of 2nd and third periods. Was like a comedy act.

Credit to Oilers for smelling and circling the blood. It was plain predatory.

 

[Mr Positive]

I'm feeling that the team is well positioned to make a run in final weeks of games. During our big slump it seemed like there was a bug going around, and if it was like what I got last week, the lingering effects would not have been fun.

Plus of course to have Ekholm at 100%, plus Walman fully adjusted to the team helps a ton. We are getting Frederic soon too, so that could be a boost.

Maybe we still take the division

 

[Drivesaitl]

As someone on here said (please if you know who you are lmk I’ll give you credit) Ekholm is the straw that stirs the drink on this team.

Our defence has basically been lost at sea since the 4 Nations which coincided with Ekholm getting sick/injured. Now that he’s back this defence is crazy good at moving the puck. Ekholm, Bouchard, Walman are all elite puck movers and make plays that get the puck out quickly without icing or Kris Russelling it. With Kulak playing so well this season too it sometimes feels like we have 5 top 4 dmen.

If Picks and Stu can maintain any sort of consistency, we’ll once again be a very tough out in the playoffs. Contrary to the chicken littles predicting a first round exit after we experienced some adversity.

fwiw even at worst I said 2nd round exit or conference exit. But you never know and its why they play the games. Theres a lot of talent on the club. For many its on how much they can dial back the clock. With Nuge he always seems to heat up at some segment in a season. He waited awhile this time.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Guessing Brown is a placeholder for Frederic when hes back on the second line.

Kapanen is probably a placeholder for Brown.

I thought Kapanen had a lot of jump last night and making some plays. That sweep around the D for the breakaway was also speed, anticipation, protecting puck well and he just burned them. On pk and making other plays up ice too. Nothing going and his finishing has been bad. Seems like a player that could bag some goals if he got one.

 

[aggressive forecheck]

 

[BlackDogg]

 

[K1984]

I'm feeling that the team is well positioned to make a run in final weeks of games. During our big slump it seemed like there was a bug going around, and if it was like what I got last week, the lingering effects would not have been fun.

Plus of course to have Ekholm at 100%, plus Walman fully adjusted to the team helps a ton. We are getting Frederic soon too, so that could be a boost.

Maybe we still take the division

It would be on brand for this team to be anywhere from poor to mediocre for a long stretch of time only to randomly and suddenly snap out of it and go on a tear. It's either the Penthouse or the Dog House with this team all the time, so fingers crossed we're stepping back into the penthouse.

This last stretch of play was among the most frustrating I can ever remember for this team because I know that almost everyone had more to give on an individual level. Finally all of McDavid, Hyman, Ekholm, RNH and even Bouchard to a lesser extent snapped awake at the same time.

I know its a faux pas to criticize the top of the lineup as the depth does little to nothing, but the likes of Kapenen, Podkilzin, Brown, Janmark, etc aren't going to be difference makers even if they were at their best if the names listed above are all severely under performing. The moment they woke up so did the whole team.

 

[Drivesaitl]

On the whole, I think the quality of the d men in the league has never been higher. For the most part they skate well, have range, and defend their own blue line well even on the bottom rung teams. Makes breaking out with stretch passes and east/west plays through the middle incredibly difficult.

Punting creates scramble plays in the middle of the ice which D men hate. Also puts us in a position where we'll have 4/5 guys on the right side of the puck even if we don't come up with it. De-risks possessions.

Theres no Colin Campbells in the bunch of D we see today. The guy couldn't even skate backwards and he's a D....

D are generally much better now. A Stecher would never have trouble finding employment decades ago. he'd be on a top 4.

 

[Mr Positive]

I thought Kapanen had a lot of jump last night and making some plays. That sweep around the D for the breakaway was also speed, anticipation, protecting puck well and he just burned them. On pk and making other plays up ice too. Nothing going and his finishing has been bad. Seems like a player that could bag some goals if he got one.

Still, his defensive numbers are bad. Seems like a placeholder player to me. Stecher also looked good but I bet the team would prefer to use Emberson or Klingberg if one of them could step up and take the gig.

At forward, Jones might be another one on the way out if everyone were healthy

 

[foshizzle]

I think Kapanen will probably get scratched when Frederic is back assuming no injuries. Or maybe JS lol

JS looked good on the first line. It may have gone unnoticed- but he creates space for McDavid- not by physical play- but by going to the nest and around the crease- a D-man has to stay with him. All the other wingers he has been with (outside of Hyman and Drai) they all stay on the outside and dmen just clog up the middle of the ice. Winnipeg will be a good test for that

 

[Duke74]

When you win 7-1, there are likely no passengers. Even Kapanen looked good. But Utah looked terrible, have to take that into consideration. The only thing to criticize really (and it's minor), is trying to forcefeed Drai for 50. It's not like it's game 82. If anything, he should be rested and load managed, lots of time for that magical number. Just let it come naturally, for God's sake, the guy has 49, I'm sure he can manage. If anything, number 50 will probably go in off his rear end at some point.

I agree, but I wonder if Draisaitl sustained something last night that will keep him out for several games, and the team knew that. As a result, maybe they were trying to get him to his milestone before he sits out a number of games? Hopefully that's just the pessimist in me.