Post-Game Talk: Monarchy Abolished (x3)

[FlameChampion]

Judging from Drais body language, theres a good chance hes not leaving.

 

[Kinibo]

Maybe LA is better than I gave them credit for, but they really had us chasing them around last night, especially in the third. Makes me just a little nervous looking ahead to a possible match up with Colorado. But I still think this is the best Oilers squad we’ve seen in the McDrai era. And this whole season has been the most fun I’ve had watching this team in decades.

 

[DrDrai]

Maybe LA is better than I gave them credit for, but they really had us chasing them around last night, especially in the third. Makes me just a little nervous looking ahead to a possible match up with Colorado. But I still think this is the best Oilers squad we’ve seen in the McDrai era. And this whole season has been the most fun I’ve had watching this team in decades.

I'm trying to convince myself that the Kings are just that type of team that plays really gritty.

My worry would be the stars if we ever meet, they are very aggressive on the PK and that really disrupts our PP, they would force us to win 5v5 and I'm not convinced we have that.

 

[joestevens29]

I was just looking, because I was curious watching his usage. Fiala had 29 goals and 73 pts this year, that's wild, he looked like a 3rd line agitator the entire series lol.

Fiala hurt last year was twice the player he was this year, IMO.

 

[joestevens29]

Judging from Drais body language, theres a good chance hes not leaving.

I mentioned on another thread where is he going to go that is going to give him a better chance to win, with a better teammate than McDavid?

Barring him wanting to take a massive pay cut Edmonton is the best place for him to play with an generational teammate, get paid and be on a time that every year will be considered a contender going into the season.

Sure maybe he can go to Chicago get paid and play with Bedard. But that's no contender going into every season at this point.

He could also go to Florida and play with a high end team deemed a contender every year, but no big contract.

 

[Slats432]

NHL didn’t want the 1-3-1 in the second round.

Never have I seen the Oilers get this type of favourable officiating.

Literally never.

Can you direct me to the Oilers board? I feel lost seeing this...

 

[joestevens29]

Maybe LA is better than I gave them credit for, but they really had us chasing them around last night, especially in the third. Makes me just a little nervous looking ahead to a possible match up with Colorado. But I still think this is the best Oilers squad we’ve seen in the McDrai era. And this whole season has been the most fun I’ve had watching this team in decades.

LA had like one shot in the first 8 minutes of the 3rd, 6 in total. Edmonton was essentially showing the Kings how to play the 1-3-1. Maybe LA had puck possession more (I don't know those numbers), but they really weren't much of a threat.

We had a 2 goal lead and were just sitting back waiting for LA to make a mistake.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Fiala hurt last year was twice the player he was this year, IMO.

Also shows me how much better the Oilers are defensively. Even Kempe was largely quiet.

 

[joestevens29]

Also shows me how much better the Oilers are defensively. Even Kempe was largely quiet.

He's about the only forward I'd give credit to on that club.

 

[Giggleplex]

I was just looking, because I was curious watching his usage. Fiala had 29 goals and 73 pts this year, that's wild, he looked like a 3rd line agitator the entire series lol.

Him and Kempe have a similar amount of regular season points, but it’s shockingly clear who the better player is.

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

I didn't get a chance to watch much, I will later, was the reffing really one-sided?

 

[K1984]

Bunch of thoughts on this series:

Defensive play - The way we played Game 4 and finished Game 5 is a template for championship lock down hockey. It will be much more of a challenge against the Avalanche or Stars if we get there, but we have a playbook that we can lean on that we can call up when necessary. I just can't conceive a scenario where we didn't find a way to f*** up at least one of Game 4 or 5 under Woodcroft. Team is much better prepared, and have much better tactical tools in their arsenal that they can actually execute on now.

Officiating - I'll echo what a few people are saying about the officiating. First time in years that the stripes weren't a factor against us in a series. Let's hope it continues.

5v5 scoring - couldn't possibly be less concerned. When you're establishing multi goal leads on the back of an automatic power play there is no need to open yourself up to risk, especially when the pop gun offence the Kings have is almost guaranteed to not produce anything if you sit back and manage the game the right way. I think our approach will change depending on opponent.

Special Teams - I had concerns going into the playoffs, but I was wrong. Knoblauch had back pocket adjustments ready to deploy and I think our power play has reach even a new high bar that we haven't seen before. The penalty kill is obviously elite as well.

Goaltending - That's all we need from Skinner (other than Game 2). Just steady, timely goaltending.

Rob Blake - Thank you for attempting to beat us by trading two players that actually gave us problems (Vilardi and Iafallo) for Pierre Luc Dubois, who absolutely f***ing sucks. Also thank you for thinning out your defense (trading Durzi) and not addressing goaltending to open up the cap room to make that signing a reality. Almost every Cup winner has a short series along the way, thank you Rob Blake for facilitating this reality.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Maybe LA is better than I gave them credit for, but they really had us chasing them around last night, especially in the third. Makes me just a little nervous looking ahead to a possible match up with Colorado. But I still think this is the best Oilers squad we’ve seen in the McDrai era. And this whole season has been the most fun I’ve had watching this team in decades.

The 3rd period was 17.5 minutes of a defensive hockey clinic by the Oilers. They gave the Kings almost nothing and Edmonton even generated a few odd man rushes when the Kings defenseman were aggressive trying to create offense. The last few minutes were the typical bend, but don't break that occurs when the other team pulls their goalie with possession.

 

[McDeepika]

I know Draisaitl can be very lazy for long stretches during the regular season but is anybody surprised he turned it on again? Funny how we didn't see any of those blind passes into the slot.

25 goals and 60 points in his last 33 playoff games. Legendary player.

 

[The Nuge]

Hopefully that's the death of the 1-3-1.

The thing is, it does usually work, so they’ll probably keep doing it. It just breaks down with elite speed, so when McDavid, Foegele, McLeod, Holloway, etc would fly up the ice at full speed, they get caught flat footed. Any other team and it would have been more effective.

Judging from Drais body language, theres a good chance hes not leaving.

It just makes no sense to leave from a hockey standpoint. Even if you thought another team was slightly better, are they still better if you remove 12 million worth of players from the lineup? Like, that’s say Makar and Lehkonen, or Nichushkin, Manson, Girard from Colorado gone, with league minimum players coming in, in order to make room for Leon. And now you have to try and beat McJesus

Also shows me how much better the Oilers are defensively. Even Kempe was largely quiet.

Ya not only has our defense improved, but it’s no longer just Nuge trying to defend up front. The whole team is playing a very sound 200 ft game

He's about the only forward I'd give credit to on that club.

Moore didn’t really convert, but he was their most consistently dangerous forward imo, and Byfield was right up there. Laferriere was also really solid as far as guys further down the lineup go

 

[Frank the Tank]

I didn't get a chance to watch much, I will later, was the reffing really one-sided?

LA fans are claiming it was, but Ferraro, who has no dog in the hunt, said on ESPN that the it's not a shock that the more skilled team drew more penalties.

The only reason the unfair reffing narrative exists is because Edmonton dominated special teams play, making every single penalty call against LA a pivotal moment in the game. If the Kings' PK lived up to their regular season reputation, the standard at which the refs call the game isn't a significant issue.

 

[TheNumber4]

Judging from Drais body language, theres a good chance hes not leaving.

“I love you”

“ I know”

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I didn't get a chance to watch much, I will later, was the reffing really one-sided?

Nope, they called the game as they should have. The Perry trip was coincidental and a bad call so they gave the Oil a makeup call. The rest were all deserved penalties and the Kings got called out on their diving bullshit finally.

With Rittich, I really believe the save that was determined a goal turned the game on its head. That gave the Oilers the momentum back and really deflated the Kings. They were practically lifeless until they put the pressure on in the last 5 minutes and got within one.

 

[The Nuge]

I know Draisaitl can be very lazy for long stretches during the regular season but is anybody surprised he turned it on again? Funny how we didn't see any of those blind passes into the slot.

25 goals and 60 points in his last 33 playoff games. Legendary player.

I don’t think it’s being lazy per se. More just giving it 90% because it’s a long grind. Then come playoffs he’s playing flat out. Kind of like when the Kings coasted into the playoffs, sneaking in as the 8 seed, then turned it on and won the cup. We’ve seen the team run out of gas in the post season before and I think they all realized the regular season just doesn’t really matter

 

[The Nuge]

LA fans are claiming it was, but Ferraro, who has no dog in the hunt, said on ESPN that the it's not a shock that the more skilled team drew more penalties.

The only reason the unfair reffing narrative exists is because Edmonton dominated special teams play, making every single penalty call against LA a pivotal moment in the game. If the Kings' PK lived up to their regular season reputation, the standard at which the refs call the game isn't a significant issue.

More skilled and more disciplined. LA took a lot of stupid penalties

 

[guymez]

Havent read the whole thread but there were 3 players that I thought desereved some props.

Kulak, Ryan and Janmark.
Kulak had an assist but he impacted the game well beyond that assist.
His overall game in the playoffs is solid.

Janmark and Ryan IMO are very underappreciated players. They are just consistently reliable.

 

[joestevens29]

More skilled and more disciplined. LA took a lot of stupid penalties

Smartest penalty they took was their last penalty of the series. But they sure seemed to know how to take a penalty to take away momentum from themselves

 

[joestevens29]

Havent read the whole thread but there were 3 players that I thought desereved some props.

Kulak, Ryan and Janmark.
Kulak had an assist but he impacted the game well beyond that assist.
His overall game in the playoffs is solid.

Janmark and Ryan IMO are very undersppreciated players. They are just consistently reliable.

Just those vets that know when to try make a play and when to make the safe play. Janmark had a couple yesterday where he could've forced a play, but one in particular he decided to turn away and kill some more PK time instead of forcing a shot that would've gave LA possession with numbers going the other way.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

The thing is, it does usually work, so they’ll probably keep doing it. It just breaks down with elite speed, so when McDavid, Foegele, McLeod, Holloway, etc would fly up the ice at full speed, they get caught flat footed. Any other team and it would have been more effective.

I don't think it would have worked against any of the elite teams. MacKinnon, Makar, Rantanen on the Avs for example would have shredded that thing like wet toilet paper.

Maybe the 1-3-1 works well in January when teams aren't necessarily hyper focused with their game plans on how to dismantle it but in the playoffs where all that's left are the best players and rest and travel are equal then it's ineffective.

The Oilers beat the Kings 3 times with 2 different coaches. Kings haven't gotten out of the 1st round since 2014. In fact they only won 7 playoff games in 5 first round series.

If you can't win with the 1-3-1 in the playoffs, what's the point?

 

[Giggleplex]

Havent read the whole thread but there were 3 players that I thought desereved some props.

Kulak, Ryan and Janmark.
Kulak had an assist but he impacted the game well beyond that assist.
His overall game in the playoffs is solid.

Janmark and Ryan IMO are very underappreciated players. They are just consistently reliable.

Janmark is consistently one of our best defensive forwards. He also always seems to get some great looks offensively but can never finish lol. If guess if he was better at that we wouldn't have been able to afford him