Pre-Game Talk: Edmonton vs Vegas

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I had so much trepidation coming into the playoffs, mainly Skinner, I just knew he would shit the bed. Thank goodness Picks has taken the ball. Now let’s f***ing go!

Without Picard we would be the ones cleaning out the lockers today and making golf plans for spring.

 

[BlackDogg]

Ladies and gentleman, if you thought LA reffing was bad…ohhhh boy are we in for a show

The worst show on earth!!

 

[BlackDogg]

Without Picard we would be the ones cleaning out the lockers today and making golf plans for spring.

Are you saying Skinner is a closet bad goalie.? Lol

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

I hope Kane f***s them up and scores some big goals. I want Vegas fans to complain about LTIR.

This is all about revenge for me as a fan. I want a sweep as unlikely as that might be.

Vegas, Avs, Panthers. Manifest it!!

 

[tiger_80]

One thing that's actually crazy to think about is that McDavid and Draisitl didn't really contribute to much offensive results the last two games. Not saying they played poorly. They tilted the Ice but quite honestly butchered their scoring chances.

This series was won by the team more so than in the past I guess is what I'm saying. That's a good sign. Everyone talking about Vegas's depth when perhaps ours is being under rated now.

I'm still worried it will take too many games to adapt to the Vegas forecheck. But I'm encouraged by the depth scoring against L.A.

Can I please have some more Connor McBrown

The team has a lot of scoring depth. McDavid and Draisaitl contributed like superstars. Hyman and RNH did what is expected of top 6 forwards. Then they have a whole bunch of players who scored around 30 points. Henrique, Skinner, Brown, Podkolzin, Arvidsson, Perry. And they added Kane and Frederic (top 6 and another top 9 forwards). Janmark is better than an average 4th liner too. If Ekholm was in the line-up, they'd be in a really good shape.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Players like Kane and Wilson are so valuable. It’s why Kane trade talks are just insane. These guys can change a playoff series by themselves. A healthy Kane will be huge against Vegas.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

we deserved to win that series in 2023 IMO, but Woodys inability to adjust and lack of brains let us down
let's change the narrative this year

Fixed

 

[oobga]

what's Pietrangelo's level at these days? have no clue how good he is now

Overall 5v5 in the Minny series he had 44.44% GF, and 43.92% xGF (lowest of Vegas D) with 65.15% offensive zone starts. Still got decent results out against Kaprizov 5v5, 55.99% xGF, his most common forward matchup. Got beat more in terms of chances by depth guys. That time vs depth he probably has weaker forwards out helping him. Our depth guys will need to play a big part again for us in this series. The top guys on both teams are gonna be in a hard battle.

All that said, I'm sure he is still elite at 2-hand overhead lumberjack chops. That's talent that you are just born with and keep most of your life.

 

[McFlash97]

This time Draisaitl wacks Pietroangelo.

Oilers win in 6.

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

This time Draisaitl wacks Pietroangelo.

Oilers win in 6.

Hey it’s only a 1 game suspension. Two hand chop that f***er, he seems to think it’s acceptable so he probably won’t even complain

f*** Vegas

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Get ready for every other fan in the league to gaslight us hard when the refs pull blatant bs in favor of Vegas.

It was so annoying 2 years ago.. I saw people complaining about Vegas during the season, how atrociously biased the refs were for them. But when we played them? Nah, suddenly we’re just bitter Oilers fans coming up with excuses.

 

[alphahelix]

Los Lobos California tour pauses May 9th and the next gig is May 15 at river cree before returning to California on the 16th.

So are game 3 or 4 likely to land May 10 - May 14? I think they are. Hopefully the Oilers win so they can play La Bamba for us.

 

[McDrai]

Get ready for every other fan in the league to gaslight us hard when the refs pull blatant bs in favor of Vegas.

It was so annoying 2 years ago.. I saw people complaining about Vegas during the season, how atrociously biased the refs were for them. But when we played them? Nah, suddenly we’re just bitter Oilers fans coming up with excuses.

Yep. Will avoid the mains for this upcoming series.

 

[syz]

This time Draisaitl wacks Pietroangelo.

Oilers win in 6.

I do kinda worry about the tilt factor for Edmonton. It almost cost them in their first rematch against LA, too. They were out for blood the refs called them for everything, and we know how the refs treat Vegas so it'd be even worse this time.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Am I reading this right? Are we the favourites?

 

[Cloned]

Yep. Will avoid the mains for this upcoming series.

Nah, the salt is tastier when it’s coming from bitter opposing fans.

 

[McFlash97]

Vegas loves to deflect and score on cross ice passes. In other words, just keep Pickard in the whole series. Skinner cannot track pucks and move side to side. Thats a recipe for disaster. If Picks has a bad game, do not go back to Skinner. We will wear these guys out.

 

[Spawn]

Vegas, then Colorado and finally Florida.

Let’s get the revenge tour started.

 

[bellagiobob]

we deserved to win that series in 2023 IMO, but Skinner and lack of clutch scoring let us down
let's change the narrative this year

I still have nightmares of his crazy D zone scheme, and vividly remember Nurse chasing Vegas players all over the zone, only to then have them pass the puck to an open player in the slot.

 

[oobga]

I still have nightmares of his crazy D zone scheme, and vividly remember Nurse chasing Vegas players all over the zone, only to then have them pass the puck to an open player in the slot.

And a Vegas player actually saying in an interview that they know we will chase so they were intentionally doing flybys around our net to create wide open ice.

So sad

 

[Mr Kot]

Nah, the salt is tastier when it’s coming from bitter opposing fans.

The weirdest thing is that the salt comes from people not even fans of the teams oilers beat. It's so strange being a hockey fan that only hates and has no interest in their own team.

 

[oobga]

The weirdest thing is that the salt comes from people not even fans of the teams oilers beat. It's so strange being a hockey fan that only hates and has no interest in their own team.

Reminds me, I haven't visited CalgaryPuck in a while

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

The weirdest thing is that the salt comes from people not even fans of the teams oilers beat. It's so strange being a hockey fan that only hates and has no interest in their own team.

I am always kind of sad for the legions of people who spend far more time thinking about the Oil than they do their “own teams”. Like f*** , fish sounds like a bunch of fun.

 

[MessierThanThou]

we deserved to win that series in 2023 IMO, but Skinner and lack of clutch scoring let us down
let's change the narrative this year

we deserved to win that series in 2023 IMO, but Woodys inability to adjust and lack of brains let us down
let's change the narrative this year

Fixed

So weird to see a fellow OG Skinner basher correct Tkachev's Skinner bashing. I'm in some kind of bizarro timeline...

Here...fixed your fix:

we deserved to win that series in 2023 IMO, but Woodys inability to adjust and lack of brains by keeping Skinner in net let us down
let's change the narrative this year

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Scary to think that loading up McDrai might actually be the better move for depth scoring. RNH and Hyman are nice complementary pieces, but imo Kane and Arvidsson are this team's next best offensive drivers/chance generators. However neither of them clicks well with Drai.

So what do you do? Keep McDrai together and build the remaining lines around the chaos that Kane and Arvidsson cause, with players that support said chaos.

Kane and Hyman work as a heavy cycle combo, while RNH is the smart, safe, centre that insulates them from getting caught down low. Podz and Janmark are more that happy to run around at full speed with RV, as he looks for the unexpected/akward-to-defend moment to get the puck on net.


And it's not just scoring. If you're a defenceman, shift after shift you have Kane, Frederic, and Podz looking to put you through the boards, and in your one shift reperive from them, you're up against McDrai, but Perry's suddenly somehow lying on top of your goalie and you need to go deal with that...

In the course of 5 games, the Oil went from being one of, if not the easiest team to play against, to one that's more of a menace than last year.

And to think, I didn't mention the Frederic-Henrique-Brown line, who more or less singlehandedly won them game 6.