Pre-Game Talk: Oil vs Rat - The Sequel

[MessierII]

That sucks brown is sick. Hopefully they quarantine him until it’s passed

 

[McHelpus]

Knob sounds sick in the press conference

 

[K1984]

Otter is a weird case. I started looking at his stat breakdowns by team and naturally we had the best numbers against him. But then I notice how Vegas was in weird spot in the middle and digging deeper it appears he just hits a wall in the third round similar to the rest of his teammates. Vegas also lit him up in the Conference Finals as he was .881 and 3.64, but facing them in the first tround he was .925 and 1.95. That said, Seattle also lit him up in the 2nd round a couple years ago.

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I've never for a minute bought into the "elite" hype with Oettinger, and I think he still to this day has a reputation built on that series against the Flames a few years ago that he stood on his head in. He's definitely a starter and in the upper half of the league, but I don't perceive him as materially better than a Blackwood, Keumper, Binnington or even a Hill (this one might be a bit of a stretch).

To me he's a rich man's Skinner. Wildly inconsistent, but with higher highs and higher lows. The random, severe swings that Skinner has are there though.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Otter is a weird case. I started looking at his stat breakdowns by team and naturally we had the best numbers against him. But then I notice how Vegas was in weird spot in the middle and digging deeper it appears he just hits a wall in the third round similar to the rest of his teammates. Vegas also lit him up in the Conference Finals as he was .881 and 3.64, but facing them in the first tround he was .925 and 1.95. That said, Seattle also lit him up in the 2nd round a couple years ago.

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We've had the discussion for awhile on Dallas. Like I said pre series such a weird club. They invariably get beat through failure at some point to score much at all. They then have a forward group that will chase the dumps too much or a team that will hang back too much. Very little middle ground. As we saw in series either segments of Dallas hanging back and hoping or pushing too much forward and hoping. They really get off their game against us. But then again as I said its a team that even managed to lose a series against Calgary. When Dallas decide in thier minds they can't compete its over. lol. That would drive me nuts as a coach. Its mental with that club. Ott himself and others like Benn referenced it. Ott is considering getting extra help to get over the mental hurdles aspect.

Ott was bad in the series but Dallas often abandoned their game plan for instance in game 2 which was a pretty critical game. I feel they lost the series not even giving themselves a chance in game 2.

Going back to the Vegas series they lost that series, in the hope and dreams department in game one. lol.

At least it took 3 games for us to solve LA. That team could feel good about that. haha

 

[aggressive forecheck]

 

[MessierII]

Knob sounds sick in the press conference

Great

 

[Drivesaitl]

I've never for a minute bought into the "elite" hype with Oettinger, and I think he still to this day has a reputation built on that series against the Flames a few years ago that he stood on his head in. He's definitely a starter and in the upper half of the league, but I don't perceive him as materially better than a Blackwood, Keumper, Binnington or even a Hill (this one might be a bit of a stretch).

To me he's a rich man's Skinner. Wildly inconsistent, but with higher highs and higher lows. The random, severe swings that Skinner has are there though.

You were right on Ott. I've not been sold on him either. How does a guy so tall manage to make himself so small in net? Weird goalie. Its as if he emulates Quick and renders his size advantage null.

Ott is saying he has to get better at the mental aspects, that he expects to be better than this, that he'll get better. lol he oughta been doing that already. But he's looking into help on mental aspects to improve his game after this postseason. Again he should already have been doing that. Skinner does that.

Fundamentally Ott could be in with Binnington but in case of Ott he seems to lack the fire. For Bins the anger is one of his motivators. Ott conversely gives off not being impacted as much.

 

[KlefDown]

sickness in the lockerroom during the finals is insane work

probably why McDavid didn't skate much the other day too?

 

[Soli]

In lighthearted news, it looks like Klingberg got his teeth fixed before the final. Must be expecting lots of pictures

I thought they were removable veneers but they must be permanent because he had them in during the WCF.

I saw him on the bench during Game 5 with his flipper in and I thought that was strange, but also that he must think he's posing for pictures lol. I would find it hard to believe he's gotten anything done, the risk of an errant stick or puck is too great.

 

[brentashton]

Alberta is proudly rat free.

Border rat patrol staff might want to lock Marchand, Tkachuk, and Bennett up for the duration of their time here in the province.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

I saw him on the bench during Game 5 with his flipper in and I thought that was strange, but also that he must think he's posing for pictures lol. I would find it hard to believe he's gotten anything done, the risk of an errant stick or puck is too great.

His wife probably said to him "you're not going to the finals lookin like this"

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Vegas are dirty only. They don't answer the bell. Once the Oilers started to remind them of that they went down like a swatted puppy. I felt the Oilers have intimidated the teams we've faced, particularly Vegas. Marchment is the only player that brought pretty consistent malevolence and provocation. Nobody in LA or Vegas did that. Our opponents probably needed more people in lineups that would stand up.

LA didn’t go down like a swatted puppy. That series was about as violent as they get.

I’m not saying Florida wont be a handful but we haven’t had an easy route to the finals at all.

 

[Drivesaitl]

LA didn’t go down like a swatted puppy. That series was about as violent as they get.

I’m not saying Florida wont be a handful but we haven’t had an easy route to the finals at all.

Our opponents are a collective 2-12 the last 14 GP. Sure the Oilers have been good, sure the opponents haven't believed they could beat us. Haven't played with Verve, aggression etc. Again Marchment was the most physical opponent player we've seen, but him and Benn really were the only ones.

Who in the LA lineup was trying to impose will. Who in the Vegas lineup? They wanted nothing of Kane, Nurse, Perry etc. lol Danault was complaining about the Oilers being dirty and please don't hurt us..

Perry was even saying in game one conference final to an opponent "you're turtling" Against a guy thats supposed to be tough. Teams haven't even had somebody to match Perry. forget about Kane or Nurse. They won't even try.
Florida probably won't lay down as easily.

 

[kevy9999]

Yes, I'm aware. I should have phrased my question better. My question is who do you think the players will be that is tasked with facing that challenge? Do you think it'll be Brown - Henrique - Frederic? Is that third line good enough to take on the Marchand

Seriously, how do they go from brown will play yesterday to game time decision today

Seriously relax. So if he misses a game he misses a game. It isn't the end of the world. We will be ready

 

[kevy9999]

And Connor left early yesterday. Scary thought if a bug has gone around our room.

Are you okay? Maybe take a nice long walk lol

 

[McJadeddog]

Seriously, we see Connor leave yesterday. Imagine there is a bug going around ffs.

That would be so Oilers

It really would be the most Oilers thing ever to be relatively healthy going into the final, and then have the entire team get the flu.

 

[tiger_80]

imagine deifying Barkov lmao

Drunkoff. I don't like that they don't have glaring weaknesses like other teams Oilers faced. Star goaltender, Eklbad and Jones on D, Barkov, Reinhart, Lundell etc. Good wingers in Tkachuk, Marchand, Bennett. Difficult to play against.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Our opponents are a collective 2-12 the last 14 GP. Sure the Oilers have been good, sure the opponents haven't believed they could beat us. Haven't played with Verve, aggression etc. Again Marchment was the most physical opponent player we've seen, but him and Benn really were the only ones.

Who in the LA lineup was trying to impose will. Who in the Vegas lineup? They wanted nothing of Kane, Nurse, Perry etc. lol Danault was complaining about the Oilers being dirty and please don't hurt us..

Perry was even saying in game one conference final to an opponent "you're turtling" Against a guy thats supposed to be tough. Teams haven't even had somebody to match Perry. forget about Kane or Nurse. They won't even try.
Florida probably won't lay down as easily.

So the Oilers were the better team.. I don’t see your point with that.

LA tried to push Kanes face into a goal post… You think Tkachuk or Marchand want a piece of Kane? Kane completely neutered Tkachuk last time the played.

Of course Florida won’t just lay down… they are the reigning champs and either the best or 2nd best team in the league. Oilers were tough no doubt but it was their dominating play that made teams “lay down.”

 

[KlefDown]

watched every single presser thats been released the past few days

god im so anxious

 

[Austerlitz]

Our opponents are a collective 2-12 the last 14 GP. Sure the Oilers have been good, sure the opponents haven't believed they could beat us. Haven't played with Verve, aggression etc. Again Marchment was the most physical opponent player we've seen, but him and Benn really were the only ones.

Who in the LA lineup was trying to impose will. Who in the Vegas lineup? They wanted nothing of Kane, Nurse, Perry etc. lol Danault was complaining about the Oilers being dirty and please don't hurt us..

Perry was even saying in game one conference final to an opponent "you're turtling" Against a guy thats supposed to be tough. Teams haven't even had somebody to match Perry. forget about Kane or Nurse. They won't even try.
Florida probably won't lay down as easily.

I think perhaps you answered your own question. Its not that we didn't play tough teams, its just the Oiler were that much tougher and we saw some players just decide, 'nah, I don't want that'.

Florida is a bit of a different animal. But not entirely. Tkachuk is well established as never wanting anything to do with anyone that isn't at least 2 inches and 30 pounds lighter than he is. Such a joke how he played to the U.S media about somehow being a tough guy for starting fights at the four nations... when his fight was with 180 pounder Brandon Hagel (and he still lost). You think Tkachuk's going to chase McDavid or Draisaitl around the ice like he did to Aho? Seriously doubt it. The Oilers are not the Hurricanes.

Bennett's going to be a problem. Marchand. But there's a lot of the rest of them that I fully expect to calm down when they're not playing a declining Tampa team, a soft Leafs team or an even softer Carolina team.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I think perhaps you answered your own question. Its not that we didn't play tough teams, its just the Oiler were that much tougher and we saw some players just decide, 'nah, I don't want that'.

Florida is a bit of a different animal. But not entirely. Tkachuk is well established as never wanting anything to do with anyone that isn't at least 2 inches and 30 pounds lighter than he is. Such a joke how he played to the U.S media about somehow being a tough guy for starting fights at the four nations... when his fight was with 180 pounder Brandon Hagel (and he still lost). You think Tkachuk's going to chase McDavid or Draisaitl around the ice like he did to Aho? Seriously doubt it. The Oilers are not the Hurricanes.

Bennett's going to be a problem. Marchand. But there's a lot of the rest of them that I fully expect to calm down when they're not playing a declining Tampa team, a soft Leafs team or an even softer Carolina team.

This is exactly what I detected. As an old school fan where mayhem and violence were part of hockey I'm a bit seeing it as a sign of the times that so few players willing to dance or stand up still exist. They'll pretend to, but have no interest in it. Soon as I saw Perry do what he was doing to an opponent the series was over. We've seen repeat instances of Kaner, Perry, Nurse skating right by benches asking if they want any. Nobody does. haha

But you definitely got what I was saying, thanks. tbh I'm a bit shocked at how little "dig down" opponent teams are offering. Not just as it relates to our opponents but playoffs used to be a war, and it isn't that now. I suspect a lot of that comes from hockey players not being working class background anymore. not being from hard scrabble roots anymore.

 

[Drivesaitl]

So the Oilers were the better team.. I don’t see your point with that.

LA tried to push Kanes face into a goal post… You think Tkachuk or Marchand want a piece of Kane? Kane completely neutered Tkachuk last time the played.

Of course Florida won’t just lay down… they are the reigning champs and either the best or 2nd best team in the league. Oilers were tough no doubt but it was their dominating play that made teams “lay down.”

Sure. But the degree to the teams laying down, its kind of shocking. Both Dallas and Vegas fluked out a game one win and then got swept. Just swept. Destroyed. In a capped league you don't expect that imbalance. Credit to the Oilers, for sure, but its been some token opposition since the first two games of playoffs. Not even the glory years Oilers were carving through playoffs this easily. The only time even comparable to this was 1988 when an Oilers team just plowed through teams in the playoffs.

The NHL has a competition problem on its hands. Theres Oilers and Panthers and then everybody else.

 

[MikeS24]

Are you okay? Maybe take a nice long walk lol

Are you? I'm just talking about a potential bug. That's not "nothing" in a finals. This isn't round one

 

[WaitingForUser]

Man the Oilers get sick like kids in day care.

Wouldn’t be a playoff run if the Oilers didn’t get sick. It’s happened every run I can remember.

 

[tiger_80]

So the Oilers were the better team.. I don’t see your point with that.

LA tried to push Kanes face into a goal post… You think Tkachuk or Marchand want a piece of Kane? Kane completely neutered Tkachuk last time the played.

Of course Florida won’t just lay down… they are the reigning champs and either the best or 2nd best team in the league. Oilers were tough no doubt but it was their dominating play that made teams “lay down.”

Did he bully him?