Pre-Game Talk: Final Game 6. Do or Die. That is the Pole.

[CycloneSweep]

See a lot of crapping on Ekholm after he had a stinker. People talking as if he's been awful since he came back.

This is why this place can be such a drag after a loss.

He has been worse than normal since he has come back though? Clearly still not up to speed or injured still. Walman, Klingberg and Ekholm have been pretty bad and allowing far too many goals. That said Ekholm still been on for 2 more than against. Both Walman and Klingberg are -5 5v5 which is real bad.

Ekholm getting all the hate Walman should be.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

The Boys look defeated and done. Body language shows it all. The only way we will win is if McDavid goes nuclear. It's all on him.

Small positive is I do believe the Panthers have looked extremely dominating because of their ability to get the lead and play with the lead. If we get the first goal things will change.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Game 6 will be the hardest game. If it goes 7 I think we finally give a good effort. I truly believe this

 

[FlameChampion]

Can someone explain to me why the Oilers look more tired and exhausted than the Panthers?

We finished Vegas and Dallas off in 5 games.
I realize that Florida plays punishing and have been hitting us in this series. But playing that way has to piling up on them and they have made it to the finals in 3 years…

I don’t get it or understand it personally. I understand why they would be tired but I don’t understand why Florida looks fresher.

Does Florida just want it more? Are the Oilers also just playing frustrated/confused?

 

[Fishy McScales]

He has been worse than normal since he has come back though? Clearly still not up to speed or injured still. Walman, Klingberg and Ekholm have been pretty bad and allowing far too many goals. That said Ekholm still been on for 2 more than against. Both Walman and Klingberg are -5 5v5 which is real bad.

Ekholm getting all the hate Walman should be.

He's been far from our worst D-man. Bouch has been the best in the final, but Ekholm is roughly our third best guy behind him and Walman on a team that has struggled overall. Nurse, Kulak and Klingberg have been much, much worse.

Just because he was on the wrong side of the highlight reel last game people are suddenly saying he should come out of the lineup because he's useless.

It's ridiculous.

 

[foshizzle]

Can someone explain to me why the Oilers look more tired and exhausted than the Panthers?

We finished Vegas and Dallas off in 5 games.
I realize that Florida plays punishing and have been hitting us in this series. But playing that way has to piling up on them and they have made it to the finals in 3 years…

I don’t get it or understand it personally. I understand why they would be tired but I don’t understand why Florida looks fresher.

Does Florida just want it more? Are the Oilers also just playing frustrated/confused?

Oilers have been pushing their top players hard, and they have been playing way more minutes than anyone on Florida.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Can someone explain to me why the Oilers look more tired and exhausted than the Panthers?

We finished Vegas and Dallas off in 5 games.
I realize that Florida plays punishing and have been hitting us in this series. But playing that way has to piling up on them and they have made it to the finals in 3 years…

I don’t get it or understand it personally. I understand why they would be tired but I don’t understand why Florida looks fresher.

Does Florida just want it more? Are the Oilers also just playing frustrated/confused?

I think Florida are able to keep their shifts shorter, plus they get energised because what they're doing is working and they get rewarded. This in turn has the opposite effect on the Oilers.

Also, yes the physicality. We're missing Hyman not just because he can score and pushes guys like Brown and Kapanen into more comfortable roles, but because with his relentless hitting gone the Florida D is having a vacation compared to the LA, Vegas and Dallas D. Especially since Kane has been completely neutered from getting called every time he tries to be aggressive on the forecheck. No one is hitting on our team and it's probably too late to start at this point.

 

[Fishy McScales]

I also don't for the life of me understand why we're wasting so much of McDavid's energy on the PK. He's gassed because he's killing penalties for half a period at times.

I get it against the Kings five forwards where the Oilers also really needed a spark, but the fact that he's remained on the PK unit the entire playoffs is just awful load management.

He doesn't create any rushes. No team has had to worry about him except that one time he got a chance and hit the bar. All he does is risk injury blocking a shot or something.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

See a lot of crapping on Ekholm after he had a stinker. People talking as if he's been awful since he came back.

This is why this place can be such a drag after a loss.

On the shift he got burnt by Marchand, Coffey decided to play Ekholm on the wrong side and Nurse opened the gap up even wider vs taking the middle on a 1 on 2. He’s still not 100% either. Plus all the D looked slow and tired, playing 5 D in 4 periods with long travel had its impact.

I expect he will be better and Coffey needs to lay off playing D on their off side.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

We need at least one of both special teams to be were they were last year to win it all...maybe both...the last games didn't scream confidence... it's gonna be hard on them to squeeze out two more wins...I will believe until the end, but it's really hard to see right now...they seemed lost in two of the last three games... hopefully one of our goalies gets hot in the right time and we are getting some momentum.

First two games they were dictating 5 on 5 play since then it's been mostly Florida it doesn't even make sense how far they've dropped in that department.

 

[CycloneSweep]

First two games they were dictating 5 on 5 play since then it's been mostly Florida it doesn't even make sense how far they've dropped in that department.

We only dictated 5v5 play for a few periods even then. Overall we had the worse 5v5 play game 1bit a few great periods and was better in game 2. Outside of that it’s been all Florida

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Can someone explain to me why the Oilers look more tired and exhausted than the Panthers?

We finished Vegas and Dallas off in 5 games.
I realize that Florida plays punishing and have been hitting us in this series. But playing that way has to piling up on them and they have made it to the finals in 3 years…

I don’t get it or understand it personally. I understand why they would be tired but I don’t understand why Florida looks fresher.

Does Florida just want it more? Are the Oilers also just playing frustrated/confused?

The answer:

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Also sending voodoo oogity-boogity vibes all the way down to the DNA structure of Bobrovsky so he turns into Andre Racicot for the next two games.

 

[WaitingForUser]

The answer:

Now that I found out they don’t test in the playoffs it honestly would not surprise me one bit. Once a cheater always a cheater and we know PEDbad was caught this year already.

 

[K1984]

There was a thread before the playoffs with the simple question of "Can the Oilers win the Stanley Cup this year?" and my answer was I have no idea because they could easily put it together and do it, or get swept in the first round and I have no idea which version is going to show up.

I'm right back there for these next one or two games. I equally expect to either get blitzed 5-0 tomorrow, or win both of these next games 5-0. This team could do either at any time, and I have no idea which one it's going to be, and I don't know if they even do either.

I still think scoring the first goal will change games. Even in Game 4, I thought the first 10 mins was fairly square before we decided to stop playing when they went up 1-0. We may very well win that game if that one thing changed. We just need something to go right early and change the flow of the game vs. the first 5.

 

[frag2]

Now that I found out they don’t test in the playoffs it honestly would not surprise me one bit. Once a cheater always a cheater and we know PEDbad was caught this year already.

The fact that it was done during their championship winning year should've raised flags and more scrutiny but of course Buttman turns a blind eye because its Florida

You know if any Oilers were caught with anything, there'd be an asterisk and multiple draft pick forfeitures

 

[MessierThanThou]

The answer:

Yup, we know they're juicing, it's obvious the refs are helping them along (not that they even need their help), and our coaches are stubbornly riding the same ineffective first unit PP. Also, as someone mentioned, McDavid is not a good penalty killer, but is being drained of his energy there. To say nothing of the forecheck that we can't seem to solve, and both of our goalies going cold at the worst possible time. Honestly, with how bad the team has looked I'm shocked we even have two wins.

 

[frag2]

See a lot of crapping on Ekholm after he had a stinker. People talking as if he's been awful since he came back.

This is why this place can be such a drag after a loss.

I'm not crapping on Ekholm based on last game [he's been brutal during the playoffs tbh] but he's been pretty mediocre since January if you're going to be objective about it. Something with him hasn't been right for most of the season

 

[WaitingForUser]

The fact that it was done during their championship winning year should've raised flags and more scrutiny but of course Buttman turns a blind eye because its Florida

You know if any Oilers were caught with anything, there'd be an asterisk and multiple draft pick forfeitures

I don’t understand how a player should even be allowed to compete in the post season that has been caught juicing that same season. And why exactly don’t they test for PEDS during the biggest games of the season to begin with. This means if you ever want to cheat just wait for the playoffs I guess

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Now that I found out they don’t test in the playoffs it honestly would not surprise me one bit. Once a cheater always a cheater and we know PEDbad was caught this year already.

That’s the NHL turning a blind eye. You’d think in the interest of fair competition for hockey’s Holy Grail, all 16 teams plus the few just outside of playoff spots would have to submit drug tests a month prior to the playoffs starting, then again at the start of each round of the playoffs and the cup winning team immediately after.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I don’t understand how a player should even be allowed to compete in the post season that has been caught juicing that same season. And why exactly don’t they test for PEDS during the biggest games of the season to begin with. This means if you ever want to cheat just wait for the playoffs I guess

Oh, don't worry, he missed the last twenty games of the regular season and two playoff games...

Would be hilarious if the Panthers were retroactively stripped of the Cup for juicing and we were declared Champions in the worst, most bittersweet way possible.

 

[K1984]

I'm not crapping on Ekholm based on last game [he's been brutal during the playoffs tbh] but he's been pretty mediocre since January if you're going to be objective about it. Something with him hasn't been right for most of the season

Bouchard got a lot of the heat, but Ekholm was right there with him and was even worse at times to be honest.

I think (hope) he's been hurt the whole year. He's been getting caught in bad spots up ice constantly, his skating isn't right.

 

[Fishy McScales]

I'm not crapping on Ekholm based on last game [he's been brutal during the playoffs tbh] but he's been pretty mediocre since January if you're going to be objective about it. Something with him hasn't been right for most of the season

But as I said he hasn't been brutal; he's been our third best guy on D.

He hasn't been as good as pre-injury, but he's for sure been way better than the guy he replaced.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Oh, don't worry, he missed the last twenty games of the regular season and two playoff games...

Would be hilarious if the Panthers were retroactively stripped of the Cup for juicing and we were declared Champions in the worst, most bittersweet way possible.

Seriously would be sweet justice if this was to happen but even if they were caught the league would never in a million years admit a failure like that. They would simply turn a blind eye and maybe suspend a few guys.

 

[McJadeddog]

Now would be a nice time for Smilin' Stu to go on one of his heaters. We only need 2 games of it. Is that too much to ask???

It sure would. He does indeed have random heaters (as we saw in the Dallas series this year), its just that they are exactly that: random. It's not like its 50% of the time either, its more like roughly 20-25% of the time. If it was 50%, I'd be willing to let myself think that it comes up "heads" or whatever, but with it being less common, I'm not expecting much tomorrow night (again, assuming its Skinner that starts).

Whatever happens tomorrow, I've made my peace with this season. Although it has been wildly successful by most metrics, I think we need some changes for next year to get us over the top. But we have 3 months for off-season talk, so I'll save that for another day.