Pre-Game Talk: Final Game 3. Best of 5. 1 new Pole.

[Rafters]

They need to do something about Bennett as early as possible into the game.

If his plan is to keep falling on the goalie every time a dman touches him then you have to figure out how to make him not want to go to the crease…Maybe a few jock checks/ separators by Skinner so if he comes back to the crease he knows it’s gonna cost him his balls….Skinner is like 3-4 inches taller than him … push out to the top of the crease and fall down .. get the Oilers a call. Or Perry has to remind the Panthers that they do not have a backup goalie

 

[Kinibo]

I was going to choose officiating the rulebook but decided not to waste my vote because it’ll never happen anyway. Except if we try to retaliate using Florida’s same tactics, and then you just know we’ll get the call. Hard to take that chance when the difference could be one goal.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

We must, must, must win this series.

This is our chance we might not be this healthy next year

We won't be this healthy or this young.

This very well could be last chance....

 

[TB12]

what?

So Colin's son got to whine to his dad about the refs? The NHL is a f***ing absolute JOKE.

Also, nice slew foot by that bitch Marchand there. That's Bouchard's ice all day. League is f***ing braindead. f*** the Panthers those cheating, doping .

 

[BlackDogg]

To take the power trip away from Maurice and his band of bennetts, they needed to give him interference and embellishment for four minutes on that last debacle. Or better yet, matty the extra two for unsportsmanlike. It's called taking control. That would likely end most of the theatrics. But they won't, for their little reasons.

 

[Bumblebee Man]

Just imagine this place if Skinner didn't even react to a goal and just stood there dumbfounded that a puck went past him.


Yet somehow you have some ppl on here jerking Bobrovsky off.

Never change HFOil. Always goid for a laugh

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

The second half of the season Skinner had a lower xGA than… Draisaitl, Arvidsson, Perry, Henrique and McDavid.

We need more offense from our bottom 6 and we have 6 guys there right now who can all play fine defensively but have next to zero offensive ability. And if you wanna argue the rest have offensive ability fine, but he brings something the rest don’t. The ability to finish. He can finish better than anyone in the bottom 6 and the amount of time a bottom 6 guy was in a scoring spot that anyone with a modicum of finishing ability would score on is crazy. He brings something that the team doesn’t have. We have 6 defensive forwards in the bottom 6, we can handle one guy who is slightly less defensive but miles better offensively.

But coach hates him. It’s simple as that.

Coach hates him for a reason. He wasnt trusted in his eyes. I do not disagree with putting Skinner in, especially if RNH is out as losing Hyman we lost some goalscoring.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Florida whining to the officials is rich.

Or should I say Gregory whining to Daddy?

 

[Oilhawks]

So Colin's son got to whine to his dad about the refs? The NHL is a f***ing absolute JOKE.

Also, nice slew foot by that bitch Marchand there. That's Bouchard's ice all day. League is f***ing braindead. f*** the Panthers those cheating, doping .

Florida whining to the officials is rich.

Or should I say Gregory whining to Daddy?

Could be these two stirring the pot as usual. Engagement farming

 

[Dieseloil]

I know Stecher is the Nurse whisperer, but I don't know that Kulak on the right side is the primary problem (he has struggled).

The problem is simply that the harder the opposition gets, the more Nurse falters. He is the problem whether he plays with Kulak or Stecher.

He doesn't process the game well enough to find small, smart solutions in tight situations under this ferocious forecheck. He ices it, rims it into the D-man on the blueline or throws a bad pass back into danger. Routinely he does this under zero pressure.

He's not getting scratched obviously, but he's the root cause. This level is just a touch too high for him to handle.

Nurse has great physical abilities, but his hockey sense blows, he is so predictable the opposition must just howl with laughter in between periods. Ringing the boards to the other team and blind backhand passes in the corner are his specialties. Oh and his ripping passes where he lifts a leg for icings.

 

[sepHF]

Wonder if he took a slash or blocked a shot?

On GYB Brown was saying he took a slash

 

[BertMcDrai]

It was a hard pill to swallow...I didn't touch the Internet the last few days but now I am confident again...let's go and show them that we will bend but not break.
In Germany the game was over half past 6 in the morning...this team is killing me mentally and physically, still feels like jet lag...but when you choose a team you are doing everything to support.
So please finish them in regular time, thanks.
And split up McDrai on the road, insert Stecher and Skinner.

 

[Navx94]

Media and the feeling around the league reminds me of how Dallas was good after game 1. We all know how that turned out.

 

[AlanHUK]

It was a hard pill to swallow...I didn't touch the Internet the last few days but now I am confident again...let's go and show them that we will bend but not break.
In Germany the game was over half past 6 in the morning...this team is killing me mentally and physically, still feels like jet lag...but when you choose a team you are doing everything to support.
So please finish them in regular time, thanks.
And split up McDrai on the road, insert Stecher and Skinner.

I feel your pain on this

 

[BertMcDrai]

I feel your pain on this

Yes, that game was quite hard...we met at 10pm in our football place...8,5 hours later we were are all tired as hell after we watched it together there...I swear this time I will join only the third period and sleep until 4pm.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Nuge game time decision

 

[Jumptheshark]

It was a hard pill to swallow...I didn't touch the Internet the last few days but now I am confident again...let's go and show them that we will bend but not break.
In Germany the game was over half past 6 in the morning...this team is killing me mentally and physically, still feels like jet lag...but when you choose a team you are doing everything to support.
So please finish them in regular time, thanks.
And split up McDrai on the road, insert Stecher and Skinner.

Yep 5am finish here in the UK. Killing my work cycle

 

[McDrai]

We need to have an answer to their aggressive forecheck if we want a chance in this one (and the series overall). We need more low support in the defensive zone. The centre should be lower to give our D a passing option in the middle instead of the typical rim around the boards play. Wingers can also be higher up and closer to the boards so that if the defense does try to rim it around, they can chip it out, redirect to the centre, or carry it out themselves. I’m hoping Knob makes the necessary adjustments for tonight (he’s usually good in that regard)

 

[CupofOil]

I know this seems drastic but if I was Knoblauch I'd sit Nurse for a game and see where it goes. Nurse struggles against any team with a strong forecheck and against a team like Florida with a ferocious forecheck he's a nightmare so I'd slot in Kulak on his strong side and insert Stecher into the lineup. The Nurse-Kulak pairing has been getting caved on the regular so I'd roll with this and see if it works...

Ekholm-Bouchard
Walman-Klingberg
Kulak-Stecher

Or maybe sit Klingberg for a game, he's also struggling under the Florida pressure. I know it won't happen but these are my thoughts.

 

[McBigYak]

I know this seems drastic but if I was Knoblauch I'd sit Nurse for a game and see where it goes. Nurse struggles against any team with a strong forecheck and against a team like Florida with a ferocious forecheck he's a nightmare so I'd slot in Kulak on his strong side and insert Stecher into the lineup. The Nurse-Kulak pairing has been getting caved on the regular so I'd roll with this and see if it works...

Ekholm-Bouchard
Walman-Klingberg
Kulak-Stecher

Or maybe sit Klingberg for a game, he's also struggling under the Florida pressure. I know it won't happen but these are my thoughts.

From a pure numbers standpoint and even to a certain degree just a straight up eye test, it would be the right move yeah. But there is just no way they're doing it unfortunately.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Imo that's one reason why Nurse-Kulak are struggling is they love to use their skating to escape the forecheck before resetting and finding the easy play, but FLA is doing their best to maintain the chase and not allowing that reset.

I also don't mind reducing Ekholm's minutes as I think he's been sucking air by the time OT has started.

Basically, they're ending up with Ekholm limiting the # of minutes the top pairing can play, and Nurse-Kulak aren't a pairing you want playing 22+min vs. FLAs forecheck as they don't have the ability to break it down.

Though I almost feel like they're looking past the easy solution of...

Kulak-Bouchard
Nurse-Walman
Ekholm-Klingberg

We've seen Kulak and Bouchard look outstanding vs. Dallas and Vegas, and style-wise with the puck on their stick Walman's not that far off Stecher (Quick, a quality first pass, and most importantly great vision).
And although Ekholm-Klingberg hasn't played together much here, they're longtime vets of the Swedish national team, and I believe they've been a pairing at multiple WCs.

Biggest thing for me though is everyone in the top 4 won't get gassed playing increased minutes, while Ekholm-Klingberg should be able to dominate their limited minutes.

 

[McBigYak]

what?

Comical. Bouchard has a right to that ice and does not initiate contact whatsoever.

Does Bouchard know exactly what he's doing? Absolutely. But he's allowed to do it.

 

[brentashton]

Comical. Bouchard has a right to that ice and does not initiate contact whatsoever.

Does Bouchard know exactly what he's doing? Absolutely. But he's allowed to do it.

You’re not wrong, but it’s Colin Campbell that we’re talking about. I’m sure Bennett has also been talked to about his net front shenanigans.

/s

 

[onetweasy]

what?

Of course the Panthers are complaining that their players wipes out Bouchard on zone entry…..

 

[Stoneman89]

Double ot takes a ton out of you.

Yup, but both teams played it. And the Oilers won the first one mere seconds from going into a second OT. With 3 days off, I think both teams will be fine and raring to go.