How did the Oilers Penalty Kill become so elite?

[TheNumber4]

Here’s the real answer. We scout for good PKers. We know the offence will be taken care of by our elite top 6. We know we are capped out. We fill our bottom 6 with role players that are good on the PK and take pride in their jobs.

These guys aren’t expected to produce like you’d want from regular bottom 6s. But production is of course nice. They are expected to defend at 5s and defend on the PK.

That has got us a good to great PK. But what makes it elite and possibly best in the League, is the hiring of Marc Stuart. We hired him on recommendation by Jay Woodcroft before the year started and before Jay was fired. Marc Stuart was given the reigns to do the PL however he wanted by Knoblauch and has knocked it out of the park.

 

[ijuka]

More goals scored shorthanded than panthers have scored on power play this series, pretty funny.

 

[zenator]

Darnell Nurse is an elite penalty killer.

Yes, he gets exposed off the rush, and badly needs a good skating defensive partner to compensate for his weaknesses, but he is great on the PK.

 

[syz]

Darnell Nurse is an elite penalty killer.

Yes, he gets exposed off the rush, and badly needs a good skating defensive partner to compensate for his weaknesses, but he is great on the PK.

Oilers have a few D like that imo. Not great defending the rush, can struggle against forecheckers because they don't move the puck well enough. But you don't often need to deal with either of those things on the PK.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

On the penalty kill, connor brown and mattias janmark become connor mcdavid and leon draisaitl

 

[LTIR]

It's the same people that PKed before Knobloch so it's not Hollands doing.
It's the new coaches and the system.

Knoblauch is the best coach in NHL this no matter who got the trophy. His record is better than anyone.

Knoblauch even got McDavid. Draisaitl and Hyman off of it and using their minutes for better times

 

[HenrikW]

Nurse is overpaid, Ceci is shit, Skinner is unreliable, Bouchard can't defend, Oilers has no depth. Holland is a dinosaur. Oilers PK is garbage. Just happens Panthers are temporarily bad on the PP. And Dallas. And Vancouver. And LA.....

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

Connor Brown has always been a beast mode cowboy on the PK.

 

[syz]

It's the same people that PKed before Knobloch so it's not Hollands doing.
It's the new coaches and the system.

Knoblauch is the best coach in NHL this no matter who got the trophy. His record is better than anyone.

Knoblauch even got McDavid. Draisaitl and Hyman off of it and using their minutes for better times

Woodcroft even used to put Evander Kane on the PK once in a while.

Besides the systems stuff a big part of it is the new coaching staff preaches familiarity. They have set forward and D pairings on the PK that they stick to as much as they can (unless one of their penalty killers is the one who took the penalty, basically), which has lead to them all being pretty in sync most of the time.

All that and, as mentioned, the return of Connor Brown's ACL.

 

[kingsholygrail]

They're getting it done and Florida's helping them.

 

[TheSecondSeason]

The resurgence of Connor Brown, The defensive acumen of Mattias Janmark, and the faceoff ability of Henrique

also plenty of speed

 

[Gordy Elbows]

If you watch power plays, you quickly see that they are orchestrated and nearly choreographed in some cases.
This allows them to be analyzed to determine what steps the PP will take and even, at times, the sequences involved.
So that predictability/ anticipation works in favour of the PK.
Combine that with using players with a knack for the job and the result is very effective.

 

[MarotteMarauder]

If you watch power plays, you quickly see that they are orchestrated and nearly choreographed in some cases.
This allows them to be analyzed to determine what steps the PP will take and even, at times, the sequences involved.
So that predictability/ anticipation works in favour of the PK.
Combine that with using players with a knack for the job and the result is very effective.

Give me a PP that has a shooter up top who can quickly get it on net and send 3 others to crash for rebounds. This beautiful backdoor tap in type PP frosts my peaches.

 

[CN8]

mark stuart

This

 

[Lannes]

More goals scored shorthanded than panthers have scored on power play this series, pretty funny.

I think that was true for the Dallas series too. One shorthanded goal, zero powerplay goals against.

 

[McShogun99]

They get to practice daily against one of the best PP's in NHL history. If you can defend against that in practice then you should be able to defend against anyone.

 

[Lshap]

They get to practice daily against one of the best PP's in NHL history. If you can defend against that in practice then you should be able to defend against anyone.

I feel like an idiot for not thinking of this immediately, but it's true – honing your PK skills against top Oilers forwards is a master-class.

 

[flying squirrel]

PK % for OIlers = One of main reasons OIlers are here. Their PK as been outstanding, but it Oilers are to pull-off crazy 0-3 comeback, PK will need to stay crazy good!!!

 

[Zerotonine]

Connor brown finally 100 percent healthy. Guy has looked like a hole new player these playoffs from the regular season. Like night and day difference

 

[Olliemets]

It's the same people that PKed before Knobloch so it's not Hollands doing.
It's the new coaches and the system.

Knoblauch is the best coach in NHL this no matter who got the trophy. His record is better than anyone.

Knoblauch even got McDavid. Draisaitl and Hyman off of it and using their minutes for better times

This!! Knobloch cut down the amount of forwards killing Pens. Pretty much 3 consistent pairs and those guys take tremendous pride and ownership of their roles.

 

[Czechboy]

Hard to see but that is our PK for the playoffs after 23gp. That is ridiculously good! I thought our PK was just fine but I didn't think it'd be this good. And we seem to consistently score shorthanded too!

 

[Czechboy]

And here are the minutes... top 4 are Ekholm (Holland's best piece of work), RNH (criminally underrated by everyone who is not an Oiler fan), Ceci (he gets shit on too, including by me.lol) and Janmark (who's been a beast).

My initial answer would've said Connor Brown which is why I looked it up.

VD has been excellent but not a regular.

 

[M88K]

I mean, Vancouver, Dallas, Florida.. these are Top 8 teams in the NHL objectively. To completely suppress all of those Powerplays, hard to say it's just "they're playing bad powerplays"

Steve Spott is our PowerPlay coach, so it's pretty easy to call it bad

 

[stewy04]

Nah

Troll poster that joined a few days ago! Not all oiler fans are idiots haha Dallas and Vancouver were really good teams.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

From practicing against the Oilers power play lol.

They’re fast and aggressive on the PK, you have to move the puck quickly and accurately. Vancouver was the only team that had some success on the power play against the Oilers; LA, Dallas & Florida were completely nullified, it’s actually a momentum killer for the Panthers. Oilers have the best special teams in the league.