Pre-Game Talk: Party like it’s 1997 - Edmonton vs Dallas

[ThePhoenixx]

I just explained my angle. We should consider the gutters stategy cause we might be able to beat them in the gutters.

Anything that would have constituted appropriate revenge for that McD cross check would have cost us a penalty or more. I’m fine with it cause we beat them where it counts. Stayed mature, stayed disciplined, kept our emotions in check for a pivotal game 6 and 7.

Guess we’ll find out on the character front. For both sides. But I believe we want it more and will show it.

Whomever is in charge needs to sign/trade for a heavy like Kostin this off-season and do a good pounding on those two.

You know Vancouver will do it again next year. Need a deterrent for that.

 

[TheNumber4]

Whomever is in charge needs to sign/trade for a heavy like Kostin this off-season and do a good pounding on those two.

You know Vancouver will do it again next year. Need a deterrent for that.

I miss Kostin. Bet he would have scored big goal for us these playoffs. And always nice to have extra truculence.

Who knows where Z ends up though, I wouldn’t extend him in Van after that game 7 performance especially with how much he’s asking.

I wouldn’t worry too much about Van next year. They gonna dive down the standings like the Kraken.

You don't.

This site does not encourage group-think or echo-chambers. Have to go to reddit for that.

Lol truth. Reddit is sickening.

“Your teams the best”

“oh you, no YOUR teams the best”

“I love your favorite player”

“No I love YOUR favorite player”

Cheap upvotes for all. And nothing of consequence is ever said.

 

[Fishy McScales]

How do you downvote someone here

Canuck fans use the laugh emoji, but other than that you can't.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

Will we see Hintz for game 1? The depth on that forward is crazy

Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Benn-Johnston-Stankhoven
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Faksa/Steel-Smith

Foegele-McLeod-Ryan/Perry/Brown is... not as good.

One thing I do find interesting is after the excellent top pairing, their bottom 4 D aren't super fleet of skate. Special shout out to HIM!? worthy Alex Petrovic, excited for your first playoff goal eventually if you play against your hometown former team.

That being said
Lindell-Tanev
Suter-Petrovic
Might have -some- issues with our speed, especially in light of the minutes they've played.

Really wouldn't be bad if some of those 10-20 goal scorers living in our bottom 6 (Foegele, McLeod, Henrique (maybe), Perry (maybe)) could play with an offensive pulse, score a goal even.

 

[Oilers in NS]

It got us during the Conference Finals in 2006 as well.

spring flu.

I seem to remember that. They were flying certain players on separate flights to keep them away from sick players

 

[unicornBLOOD]

Oilers are
# 1 in PP
# 1 in PK
# 1 in shot suppression
# 2 in goals per game(Avs#1)

The Achilles of the Oilers is Skinner. If he can't even be average, it'll be extremely difficult for the Oilers to win.

Dallas has a brutal PK but thier PP is pretty good. Dallas is also the least penalizing team by far. So Oil might struggle to get calls in thier favor. That means we need to play very disciplined hockey.

All in all, the Oilers do have a good chance of winning so as long as Skinner is up to the task. If he isn't, then we need Knobber to recognize it before it's too late and get Pickard in.

Don't get me wrong, I think Skinner should be the starter, and they need him to be at least average (.910-ish), limit the stinkers. You have to believe that his leash is gonna be pretty short, his first loss where he struggles at all, my guess is Pickard would go in. I hope it never comes to this, but, based on his play in the 2 Vancouver games, at least Pickard has shown that the Oil do have this option.

 

[Pucklington]

Dallas is good and rightful favorites, but surprising amount sleeping on the Oilers.

Have a gut feeling it'll be Oilers in 6.

Stars banged up on D, and missing Hintz, and poorly preforming PK. They are still good Team with these flaws, but it's closer to a toss-up than route.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Dallas is good and rightful favorites, but surprising amount sleeping on the Oilers.

Have a gut feeling it'll be Oilers in 6.

Stars banged up on D, and missing Hintz, and poorly preforming PK. They are still good Team with these flaws, but it's closer to a toss-up than route.

The Oilers need more depth players to step up, we're beyond the point of just sawing off being acceptable.

 

[Hollywood55]

Mcleod 0 pts, Foegle 2 pts these 2 need to step it up

 

[Mez]

Looked up Mcleod and Foegle's offensive output during the Oil's 16 game regular season winning streak.

Mcleod 16GP 7 goals 5 assists = 12 pts ( 5 goals and 3 assists in the first 5gp of that streak)

What did he do differently to get that output ? Stood his a** in front of the net and started scoring. He did that for a very short stretch but was very effective.

TIme to stop being a timid perimeter player and back to the front of the net. His season total was
12 goals and 18 assists. So that period was his most productive.

Foegle 16gp 6 goals 9 assists = 15 points during the same streak. Season total 20g 20 A

I believe they played on the same line at the time. The point is we can get a lot more from these players if they're willing to sacrifice.

They were Drais wingers during that streak.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

i agree and if the oilers get through the stars without significant loss of injury they win the cup

Not sure about that the panthers are a great team

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

Pathetic.

This is pathetic , they are clueless.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

Why are oilers fans and sports media acting like we are playing the 80s oilers? Dallas is good and deep but very beatable. Oilers were sick and still dominated nucks 75 percent of the time. Lots of parity now winnable series just need consistency

 

[94 Oil Drops]

Why are oilers fans and sports media acting like we are playing the 80s oilers? Dallas is good and deep but very beatable. Oilers were sick and still dominated nucks 75 percent of the time. Lots of parity now winnable series just need consistency

The idea of 4 scoring lines against Skinner doesn't make me think this ends well. We have a chance but not a good one imo. Holloway will need to be our Bryan Rust the rest of these playoffs because you and I both know that Ryan, McLeod, Foegele, Perry, ect won't do anything.

On a positive note, it's pretty cool that we are 1 win away from going further than we have ever gone before with McDrai in the playoffs. It's a very good bet we do it. Knob > Wood.

 

[tardigrade81]

Bandwagoner .

OK. Took a lot of words to say so.


View attachment 874548

She looks nice!

 

[CupofOil]

Dallas is a lot better than the 2022 version of the Flames.

Its actually hard to identify a weakness on this Dallas team.

They don't have any real discernable weaknesses except one which is kind of a big one. I know that Wyatt Johnson is sort of assuming that role (thanks Tyler Wright) but they have no elite game breakers, nobody with true takeover ability up front which the Oilers do have on two different lines so that could be the equalizer.

Dallas is sort of like Carolina with better goaltending. Really good well rounded team, but they don't have the true gamebreaker up front.
If the Oilers get the normal McDavid, not the one we saw in the Vancouver series, this series is more of a toss up than a lot of people might be comfortable admitting. If they get pedestrian McDavid then they are very well cooked. The Oilers need their advantage to be a real advantage in this series which is McDavid and Draisaitl.

 

[Broberg Speed]

If the third line isn't scoring they better be playing mistake free hockey and perfect defence.

 

[nally]

Modano, Hull, Zubov, Hatcher.

These were names I couldn't f***ing stand growing up.

Time for some payback.

also "The L's" Ludwig, Langenbruner, Luckawich, Lehtonen. Sorry about my spelling. But man, I hated that team. I remember my brother telling me he hoped the whole team went down in a plane crash...kids say the darndest things.

 

[guymez]

They don't have any real discernable weaknesses except one which is kind of a big one. I know that Wyatt Johnson is sort of assuming that role (thanks Tyler Wright) but they have no elite game breakers, nobody with true takeover ability up front which the Oilers do have on two different lines so that could be the equalizer.

Dallas is sort of like Carolina with better goaltending. Really good well rounded team, but they don't have the true gamebreaker up front.
If the Oilers get the normal McDavid, not the one we saw in the Vancouver series, this series is more of a toss up than a lot of people might be comfortable admitting. If they get pedestrian McDavid then they are very well cooked. The Oilers need their advantage to be a real advantage in this series which is McDavid and Draisaitl.

Interesting point.
Hopefully one or both of McDavid and Draisaitl can take over some games in this series.
My concern is how Dallas likes to clog up the middle of the ice. They did that agianst Colorado and it was very effective.
McKinnon (another game breaker) couldnt get much of anything going in that series.
I am curious to see what Knoblauch puts together to counteract Dallas' strengths one of which is their defensive system.

 

[K1984]

Many STH sell tickets to afford them.

Which is fine in the regular season. Basically no margin in the playoff tickets at this price point anyways.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Which is fine in the regular season. Basically no margin in the playoff tickets at this price point anyways.

Still can’t remove the ability of ticket holders to sell and transfer their tickets. Many also want to recoup costs and sell Game 1 to go to Game 2 or later more exciting meaningful games.

It also defeats your argument that STH are driving up prices selling on the secondary market.

 

[K1984]

Still can’t remove the ability of ticket holders to sell and transfer their tickets. Many also want to recoup costs and sell Game 1 to go to Game 2 or later more exciting meaningful games.

It also defeats your argument that STH are driving up prices selling on the secondary market.

Then the people that want the luxury can pay more for it during the playoffs.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Then the people that want the luxury can pay more for it during the playoffs.

Again if there’s no profit in it as you say it’s not STH driving up prices.

Fact is the Ticketmaster algorithm is very powerful and knows what the market will bear. The fact that we’re at 98% capacity means they are very high but not at the point people will balk at going.

 

[K1984]

Again if there’s no profit in it as you say it’s not STH driving up prices.

Fact is the Ticketmaster algorithm is very powerful and knows what the market will bear. The fact that we’re at 98% capacity means they are very high but not at the point people will balk at going.

Correct, but they would if the margins were higher like they were in 2022 when ticket holders were on a re-sale bonanza as a result of being able to buy additional packages for the entire playoffs at a depressed price. A massive resale market is what caused the massive price bump for ticket holders comparing 2022 to now.

I'm asking for lighter pricing for STH's that have no intention of re-selling so they can pay less because they're not going to profit off of it. In the end this pricing model is going to burn the Oilers because by making STH's basically pay market rate for playoff tickets they are taking away one of the few incentives remaining for owning season tickets - guaranteed availability at pricing far below resale.

 

[MoontoScott]

That was a pretty decent team in 1990 too.
1st row of the Blues was the sweet spot for viewing a game in Northlands IMO.

Interesting to look back at how amazingly accessable NHL hockey was to virtually everyone 25+ years ago,
It certainly isnt anymore.


You are really going to rile up the Katz apologizers now...buckle up!!

Pro sports in general has become inaccessible to a lot of people since those days you speak of.

When I was on a tour of Soldier Field a few years ago I was told that a number of tickets for the Bears routinely sell for $900 (USA dollars, not the Northern Peso). And of course they are such an exciting team to watch.

Its a corporate game and that's why the Jets have suffered a bit at the gate. Corporate sponsorship of the seats is more limited than what you get in Edmonton and Calgary.