Edmonton Oilers defeat the Dallas Stars, 4-2, advance to SCF

[Czechboy]

Imagine what they’d be saying if they actually won…

If I wasnt a hockey fan and came on here... I'd assume the cup was already in Vancouver

 

[Cup or Bust]

Will Holland get any credit.. he been getting shit on for years.

If the Oilers win the Cup, all that matters is he was the GM that got them their 6th Cup and I will be thankful to him for that.

 

[JKG33]

Just get a mcdavid jersey and join us! There's room on the bandwagon for all. Ha

Well I mean every team I try to cheer for loses...

I know what I need to do, I just don't know if I have the strength to do it

 

[McFlyingV]

Will Holland get any credit.. he been getting shit on for years.

Holland has been a mixed bag. He's made some very good moves and some very bad ones. If the Oilers win the cup we will be grateful for it, but also ready to move on to a younger option who might not be as susceptible to the Campbell type signings. Don't get me wrong though he's done a lot of good things for this team including bringing in Hyman, Kane, Ekholm, Kulak, Perry and a few other good depth options with the cap space he's had. The only issue is he probably could have brought in more if he didn't make cap trouble for himself.

 

[stewy04]

If I wasnt a hockey fan and came on here... I'd assume the cup was already in Vancouver

Never has been!

 

[Brookbank]

Dallas will have one of the more interesting off-seasons in the league as their window is still wide open and more young talent looks primed to join them next season. Their priority should be addressing the defense; they most played 5 d-men throughout the playoffs, with one of them being Suter and another being an injured Tanev. Tanev looks like a great fit in Dallas and if I were Nill I'd try and return him, while buying out Suter who is clearly rinsed and isn't top-6 calibre on a Cup contender.

Going into this season I thought their defense was their most significant weakness and could end up preventing them from winning the Cup. Not sure if that turned out exactly as I had predicted, but I don't think I was too far off as key players like Heiskanen looked gassed towards the end of last night's game from playing too much.

Lots has been said about Johnston (positive) and Pavelski (negative), but I thought Benn had a really outstanding playoff run leading the charge physically, doing what he could to set the tone, and using his size and strength to win puck battles all over the ice and create opportunities for his linemates. I liked him with Johnston and Stankoven. Seguin was good too, I thought. Hintz didn't look 100% and Robertson wasn't as productive as a result. Duchene and Marchment were a good 3rd line (if cap space permits, Nill should return Duchene). DeBoer seemed hesitant to demote Pavelski early in the series, and I think that cost Dallas. He simply wasn't good. As a neutral observer I had to laugh when I saw him out on the PP in lieu of Johnston.

Overall, Dallas can more or less run it back with the core group, address some gaps on defense, and be a Cup contender again next year I think. Solid organization and a pretty fun team to watch.

There's a fairly big age gap between the young bucks and the old guard. And even older guard. (Suter , Pavelski) They need to acquire impact players to replace those guys.

Will Suter finally get buyout #2 ?

 

[bucks_oil]

Vancouver made it a lot closer than Dallas

I see some laugh emojis but no reply. Sorry to interrupt Oilers stars back slapping witb awkward truths

You just can’t stop yourself.

You are getting laughs, well, because you are your own parody.

Welcome to the playoffs Brookbank. Almost winning is meaningless, that’s the whole f’n point.

 

[Brookbank]

If I wasnt a hockey fan and came on here... I'd assume the cup was already in Vancouver

It is customary for Vancouver fans to watch closely the team that beat them in the playoffs. Every year but the Sharks , the team that beat Van won the cup

 

[Shanahanigans]

Analytics in this series Via natural stat trick:

Game 1: Oilers, 56% xGF, Stars 44% xGF (Oilers win 3-2 in OT)
Game 2: Oilers, 58% xGF, Stars 42% xGF (Stars win 3-1)
Game 3: Stars 64% xGF, Oilers 36% xGF (Stars win 5-3)
Game 4: Oilers 60% xGF, Stars 40% xGF (Oilers win 5-2)
Game 5: Oilers 60% xGF, Stars 40% xGF (Oilers win 3-1)
Game 6: Stars 83% xGF, Oilers 17% xGF (Oilers win 2-1)

Tale of the series, Oilers were generally better at even strength in games 1-5, got dominated in game 6 but their PP and Skinner won them the game. Oilers turned it up another notch to take games 4 and 5, and the Stars couldn't break through in game 6.

 

[La Bamba]

Will Holland get any credit.. he been getting shit on for years.

Overall, he did a good job during his 5 year tenure. He took over a club that missed the playoffs 2 years in a row and had zero depth to 5 straight playoff berths with the last 3 years being legit contenders. Signing Hyman and stealing Ekholm were masterclass moves that brought the franchise to another level.

Even though Chiarelli was bad overall, I'm thankful he was able to sign McDrai to good 8 year deals and drafted Bouchard, Skinner, and some other decent picks. Holland got to benefit from those.

 

[Ol' Jase]

It is customary for Vancouver fans to watch closely the team that beat them in the playoffs. Every year but the Sharks , the team that beat Van won the cup

Is it customary to hijack threads discussing a series the Canucks didn’t even play in though?

 

[Jason316]

Can honestly say I didn’t expect the oilers to win this series.

Really happy for them and their fans. Best of luck moving forward

The Stars are a really great team. Their best players are firmly in their prime or haven’t even entered it yet. Gonna be a good team for a while

Team as too.many old guys that ran out of gas(benn, Seguin, Pavelski, ect...).

Is it customary to hijack threads discussing a series the Canucks didn’t even play in though?

Screw the Vancouver Canucks and there ZERO cups

Edmonton 5 cups(hopefully 6)
Los Angeles 2 cups(hopefully another one in the next decade)

 

[Cup or Bust]

The Stars were considered herculean and lots of people's Cup favorite before the series. Most had them taking the Oilers to the woodshed. Now that the Oilers beat them they are only a good team that is old. Not like the devastating, impenetrable, grit like the 70's Flyers, Florida Panthers the Oilers will now have to play. The Oilers will have to finally play a good team, not these weak, injured, old bum teams the Oilers had to beat to get to the finals.

 

[TheNumber4]

View attachment 879053

As a Stars fan I'd be deeply embarrassed losing to a team that gives regular ice time to Skinner, Ceci and Nurse.

As an Oil fan, criticism like this (only partially warranted) may be why all 3 had the playoffs series of their lives.

WHOS DEEPER NOW HF, WHOS DEEPER NOW?!?

 

[5Hollywood5]

Got me playin la bambuh

 

[Fishy McScales]

This is the main board bud. Where fans from around the league are welcome to comment.

I'm aware, "bud", but this is a thread about the conference final between two teams, neither of which is the Vancouver Canucks since they got knocked out two rounds ago.

It's derailing the topic and it's a bit wearying trying to sift through all this Canucks talk in a thread about the WCF.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

View attachment 879053

As a Stars fan I'd be deeply embarrassed losing to a team that gives regular ice time to Skinner, Ceci and Nurse.

I'm sorry that the Notta Reel Teem got eliminated again, sir.

 

[PaulD]

I mean nobody is stopping that McDavid goal and I'm not sure the Stars had a single uncontested slot shot of the same quality that Hyman scored on. Things look bad because of his save percentage but Otter had a pretty good series overall and played very well the first 3 games of the series. Eventually elite offences break through on elite goalies and I've been saying that all playoffs.

Heiskanen is a hell of a defenceman, but McDavid absolutely embarrassed him on his goal tonight and showed everyone why he's the best in the world. Truth of the matter is the Oilers have more elite offensive players and overall they played better team defence than Dallas in this series.

Watched every minute of Oilers vs Stars series and can't disagree with any of this. Good post..

 

[Juxta Position]

Vancouver made it a lot closer than Dallas

I see some laugh emojis but no reply. Sorry to interrupt Oilers stars back slapping witb awkward truths

Who cares? they still lost. losing in game in 7 is no different than getting swept...it's still a loss. This constant whining from Canucks fans all over this board about woulda, shoulda, coulda is pretty embarrassing. The handful of you Canucks fans that just can't let this go and are somehow trying to equate losing in 7 to Edmonton when the Oilers beat Dallas is 6 is wrong. It is a false equivalency.

You say if the Canucks had Demko and Boeser this would've been a different series, ok. but if the Oilers weren't decimated by the flu going through the team the Oilers woulda won in 4., see how that works.

Woulda, shoulda, coulda, means jack shit, it's outcomes that matter, and the outcome was the Canucks LOST, deal with it and move on.

 

[Brookbank]

I'd take an Oilers cup win. Maybe we just need to break this Canada drought ice. And maybe Canadian teams will win a few in a row.

 

[Coffey]

I'd take an Oilers cup win. Maybe we just need to break this Canada drought ice. And maybe Canadian teams will win a few in a row.

Coming from you, Brooksie... That means a lot.

 

[MessierII]

Who cares? they still lost. losing in game in 7 is no different than getting swept...it's still a loss. This constant whining from Canucks fans all over this board about woulda, shoulda, coulda is pretty embarrassing. The handful of you Canucks fans that just can't let this go and are somehow trying to equate losing in 7 to Edmonton when the Oilers beat Dallas is 6 is wrong. It is a false equivalency.

When you have no history you have nothing else to cling to. I had a Canucks fan try and convince me the 1994 Canucks were one of the greatest teams of all time. They didn’t even win the cup but he was dead serious.

 

[Coffey]

Goddamn I feel for Pete here

 

[bombers15]

Crazy that when fully healthy the Canucks are the best team in the West by a country mile, didn’t know they were that good. Oilers and Stars were extremely lucky to not have played a healthy Canucks Team.

 

[flying squirrel]

Congrats Oilers, might of forgotten to give Oilers kudos during crazy rl week.

• Very impressive "Team" playoff series win Oilers!!!
• Way Oilers goalie, Skinner, stepped up game was insane too.
• They've got the goods of a "Cup" worthy team, now 4 wins away.
• In my opinion, biggest hurtle besides having to beat a very good Panthers team, might be.....
• Are Oilers satisfied with reaching SCF's or will they keep chip-on-shoulder is the ????
• That chip-on-shoulder has helped Oilers achieved this level of play with so many doubters.
• Plus others saying McD is all that team is and has been feeds this also. (Hockey is a team game, stars help but they won't win titles by themselves)
• Sports X's & O's are huge, but find the mental/human element of sports just as intriguing.
• Mental part of game weighs in on results more than most think, and think it's no different in this series. Battle of wills will take place, and can tell you Florida's team is coming to take care of business. Panthers could care less about another SCF appearance.
• Seen it to many times over-the-years: team finally reaches finals, and even though they want to win, some teams lose that edge that helped them get there.
• Oilers with chip and ready to take of business -vs- Oilers happy they've reach SCF's will help decide this series.

We're happy McD has reached finals, his legacy is now more complete without question after helping Oilers reach ECF's last yr and SCF this season. McD is playoff proven my friends, and now ppg playoff averages for McDavid's legacy are legit. He's not in same realm as others NHL players who are 1st & 2nd round merchants. Now McD and Oilers have chance to put an exclamation point on McD's legacy's. We'll see if they can do that soon enough (Well... Saturday is kinda late in my opinion). Was pulling for Panthers in East my fellow Florida brothers, but our household is pulling for McDavid and Oilers to raise "Lord Stanley Cup" in finals.. Go Oilers!!!!

Enjoy-the-ride Oilers fans.....