Pre-Game Talk: Pole - who wins Edm v Vegas

[CROTT]

Lets just hope they don't take two games to remember this is playoff hockey not preseason hockey.

And also play as disciplined as they did, the Oilers took 10 penalty's in the first two games vs the Kings then took only 10 in the remaining four games of the series thats a big difference.

 

[Cloned]

Lets just hope they don't take two games to remember this is playoff hockey not preseason hockey.

And also play as disciplined as they did, the Oilers took 10 penalty's in the first two games vs the Kings then took only 10 in the remaining four games of the series thats a big difference.

We all know what the biggest difference in the last 4 games was.

(I’m just razzing, we are all Oilers fans in the end)

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Lets just hope they don't take two games to remember this is playoff hockey not preseason hockey.

And also play as disciplined as they did, the Oilers took 10 penalty's in the first two games vs the Kings then took only 10 in the remaining four games of the series thats a big difference.

You are missing another big change the Oilers did after game 2.

 

[Mr Positive]

Vegas has Hertl and Hanifin this time around.

Yes but Stone and Pietrangelo are even further out of their primes. Plus Hill seems shaky. He's definitely no Kuemper

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Oilers in 4.

They’re playing close to their best hockey right now and definitely have room to improve since the mix of the team has changed with returning players.

But mostly I think the Oilers have been pissed about that loss from 2 years ago. Knoblauch is gonna do his thing, we’re gonna be ready, focused, and I suspect more disciplined than last time. This team is more mature, more experienced, and they have been waiting for this chance.

Vegas was a little shaky against the Wild, refs helped them a lot. I’m sure we’ll see some absolute bullshit but I think the Oilers are ready to play a more disciplined game.

 

[brentashton]

Like Mc-D said last night, the Oilers are going to get off to a faster start this time.

I think they will split in Vegas and win the series in 6.

Will they though? I love the optimism but they have proven that they are slow to start. I don’t think that can be argued.

I’m not trying to be negative on the Oil, I want them to win, but it’s BS for Conner to say they’re gonna start faster and harder.

Like WTF where ya been the last 6 years man. It’s not the DNA of the people in that room. But they do rise up when pushed into a corner, last year game 7 notwithstanding. Time to change the narrative maybe.

 

[brentashton]

I think this one's going the distance and it will be all out war

This.

 

[rboomercat90]

I picked the Oilers in 5 over the Kings. Gonna treat that as a good luck charm and do the same thing here.

 

[TB12]

View attachment 1028301

Chefs kiss!

If anyone wants to see the pure embodiment of a "Karen" it's this Vegas specimen.



yuck.

 

[KCC]

I worry about the defense. Vegas is big, fast and they roll all 4 lines. They will have their hands full. It all hinges on if pickard can keep making the key saves.

 

[tiger_80]

It's time to bring this back

Kolesar's ribs. Is he still with the Golden Cheetahs?

 

[MessierThanThou]

I didn't vote last time and they won, so I'll avoid doing so again for superstitious reasons.

Lets just hope they don't take two games to remember this is playoff hockey not preseason hockey.

Yup, they f***ed up by playing a goalie who shouldn't see another minute of action until the preseason...for his new team.

 

[MoontoScott]

Will they though? I love the optimism but they have proven that they are slow to start. I don’t think that can be argued.

I’m not trying to be negative on the Oil, I want them to win, but it’s BS for Conner to say they’re gonna start faster and harder.

Like WTF where ya been the last 6 years man. It’s not the DNA of the people in that room. But they do rise up when pushed into a corner, last year game 7 notwithstanding. Time to change the narrative maybe.

I think the difference this time might be goaltending that can at least be described as average.

Yes, the Oilers won the L.A. series but it doesn't excuse the fact that Oiler management was very stubborn to have started Skinner in the first two games. The team is always fragile to start a series but it is made worse by the fact that the team can't get an average performance between the pipes.

You could see the team sagging after that knuckle ball that lost game 1 for them. They played well enough to win that one. Then you go into game #2 and you see the bench with their heads down after the first few aberrations.

I'll never forget that wink and kiss that Mc-D blew Pickard at the end of game #2--like he knew that a change was finally coming. This time they go into game #1 with at least some degree of confidence. They know that (barring injury or management insanity) they don't have to wait for a change. The team was very fortunate to have escaped a disastrous start. If Byfield clears the puck with 30 seconds to go in game #4 then the season is over.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not sure what to think about this team still. Did Connor McDavid really say something about "we haven't forgot the last time"?

The team as a whole spent half the Kings series struggling to get some footing. Sure much of that was due to Skinner but some was being outplayed in ownzone.

A team we were supposed to easily handle gave us all we could handle. Without Pickard the club has the golf clubs out today.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I think the difference this time might be goaltending that can at least be described as average.

Yes, the Oilers won the L.A. series but it doesn't excuse the fact that Oiler management was very stubborn to have started Skinner in the first two games. The team is always fragile to start a series but it is made worse by the fact that the team can't get an average performance between the pipes.

You could see the team sagging after that knuckle ball that lost game 1 for them. They played well enough to win that one. Then you go into game #2 and you see the bench with their heads down after the first few aberrations.

I'll never forget that wink and kiss that Mc-D blew Pickard at the end of game #2--like he knew that a change was finally coming. This time they go into game #1 with at least some degree of confidence. They know that (barring injury or management insanity) they don't have to wait for a change. The team was very fortunate to have escaped a disastrous start. If Byfield clears the puck with 30 seconds to go in game #4 then the season is over.

The trouble is what happens when Pickard plays his first bad game. Gets lit up. That sort of thing. I could see this org going right back to Skinner, and I can see the Knights owning Skinner.

Great fortune that we got 4 solid Pickard games in a row when we'd never even played him that many games in a row. Oilers needed a lot going right just to get through Kings.

My own take was this club was good enough to get through first round but would have trouble finding success after that. Was kind of unsettling how far Kings were able to push us this time round.

 

[Cloned]

Not sure what to think about this team still. Did Connor McDavid really say something about "we haven't forgot the last time"?

The team as a whole spent half the Kings series struggling to get some footing. Sure much of that was due to Skinner but some was being outplayed in ownzone.

A team we were supposed to easily handle gave us all we could handle. Without Pickard the club has the golf clubs out today.

I’m not sure that was the narrative this time.

The Kings may well be the best team the Oilers face this run. They were a really good team. Probably better than any team not named Florida and Colorado.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I’m not sure that was the narrative this time.

The Kings may well be the best team the Oilers face this run.

The Kings aren't much. Kopitar and Doughty old and playing on fumes. Any team reliant on a player as unpredictable as Fiala is going to have problems in the crunch. Everytime.

Kings lack any superstar type player that teams tend to require to bag playoff series wins. In the end they can be shutdown, and invariably it happens.

The Kings lack any shutdown D and as per usual were so exposed at that position they started using Kempe as a D.

The Kings are not in anyway better than even Vegas and if you have rationale for that I'd like to hear it. Objectively its not the case.

The Kings roster was so limited the coach was shorting it the whole series. Vegas don't have that sort of problem.

 

[MoontoScott]

The trouble is what happens when Pickard plays his first bad game. Gets lit up. That sort of thing. I could see this org going right back to Skinner, and I can see the Knights owning Skinner.

Great fortune that we got 4 solid Pickard games in a row when we'd never even played him that many games in a row. Oilers needed a lot going right just to get through Kings.

My own take was this club was good enough to get through first round but would have trouble finding success after that. Was kind of unsettling how far Kings were able to push us this time round.

Goaltending will still be a concern.

Yes, it was very fortunate that the team got "B" grade performances from Pickard for 4 straight games.

I agree that at some point Pickard will have a meltdown but hopefully Oiler management can get out of their own way with this Skinner obsession. They came close to blowing the season with what I saw as a childish refusal to see the obvious.

I expect to see Skinner at some point in the Vegas series. On any given night he can play very well in stretches so hopefully the patch job can hold for these tires that always seem ready to blow.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I’m not sure that was the narrative this time.

The Kings may well be the best team the Oilers face this run. They were a really good team. Probably better than any team not named Florida and Colorado.

I genuinely believe that if Pickard started game one we would've swept them. Now if LA had a competent coach and we played Pickard in each game...I could still see us winning in five or six.

The challenge was stupid, but the way Hiller exhausted his key players and all but benched the younger guns was even more damaging. Obviously I hope Hiller doesn't get fired because he makes it easier for us to win, but he's definitely earned his walking papers. It's really telling that two of the guys who scored for LA in the last game saw their minutes drastically reduced in this series.

I'll give him credit for his all-forward power play though. That was a creative choice.

 

[MoontoScott]

I genuinely believe that if Pickard started game one we would've swept them. Now if LA had a competent coach and we played Pickard in each game...I could still see us winning in five or six.

The challenge was stupid, but the way Hiller exhausted his key players and all but benched the younger guns was even more damaging. Obviously I hope Hiller doesn't get fired because he makes it easier for us to win, but he's definitely earned his walking papers. It's really telling that two of the guys who scored for LA in the last game saw their minutes drastically reduced in this series.

I'll give him credit for his all-forward power play though. That was a creative choice.

The guy sounded like a head case in the post game interviews.

Where did he coach before?

 

[Cloned]

The Kings aren't much. Kopitar and Doughty old and playing on fumes. Any team reliant on a player as unpredictable as Fiala is going to have problems in the crunch. Everytime.

Kings lack any superstar type player that teams tend to require to bag playoff series wins. In the end they can be shutdown, and invariably it happens.

The Kings lack any shutdown D and as per usual were so exposed at that position they started using Kempe as a D.

The Kings are not in anyway better than even Vegas and if you have rationale for that I'd like to hear it. Objectively its not the case.

The Kings roster was so limited the coach was shorting it the whole series. Vegas don't have that sort of problem.

Just looking at fancies they were one of the most dominant teams all season.

The fact that the Oilers were able to break them at critical moments is more a testament to the talent on the Oilers than to how bad the Kings are.

If you put the Kings against any of the other Western teams in round one they’d have stood a pretty good chance of advancing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I genuinely believe that if Pickard started game one we would've swept them. Now if LA had a competent coach and we played Pickard in each game...I could still see us winning in five or six.

The challenge was stupid, but the way Hiller exhausted his key players and all but benched the younger guns was even more damaging. Obviously I hope Hiller doesn't get fired because he makes it easier for us to win, but he's definitely earned his walking papers. It's really telling that two of the guys who scored for LA in the last game saw their minutes drastically reduced in this series.

I'll give him credit for his all-forward power play though. That was a creative choice.

Its almost as if Hiller was coaching for the Oilers. It was that bad. At least he'd improved the pk schemes a little since last year. That was the worst pk I'd ever seen a team play in playoffs. The challenge was dumb as rocks. Goes against a golden rule that a coach himself should never make a decision that puts the club in front of him in jeopardy.

I watch the Kings more than most people here. Guys like Spenser, Movarare, Turcotte can play. They can play well. For size Helenius and Malott looked interesting and the Kings needed some of that since the Jeannot injury. Going essentially 3 lines and trying to do through a whole playoff series was a fireable offense alone. But it won't happen.

The Kings aren't much, but their coaches have been even worse and I'm including McLellan in that.

 

[Cloned]

I genuinely believe that if Pickard started game one we would've swept them. Now if LA had a competent coach and we played Pickard in each game...I could still see us winning in five or six.

The challenge was stupid, but the way Hiller exhausted his key players and all but benched the younger guns was even more damaging. Obviously I hope Hiller doesn't get fired because he makes it easier for us to win, but he's definitely earned his walking papers. It's really telling that two of the guys who scored for LA in the last game saw their minutes drastically reduced in this series.

I'll give him credit for his all-forward power play though. That was a creative choice.

As Oilers fans we usually say “we made it to Game 7 of the SCF with Skinner in net.”

The Kings equivalent of that is “we almost beat the Oilers with Hiller as coach.”

They’re a good team.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

The trouble is what happens when Pickard plays his first bad game. Gets lit up. That sort of thing. I could see this org going right back to Skinner, and I can see the Knights owning Skinner.

Great fortune that we got 4 solid Pickard games in a row when we'd never even played him that many games in a row. Oilers needed a lot going right just to get through Kings.

My own take was this club was good enough to get through first round but would have trouble finding success after that. Was kind of unsettling how far Kings were able to push us this time round.

You have good reason to worry. Skinner was absolutely terrible before he went down and Pickard took the reins. Pickard gave us steady goaltending for the first time in months but first poor game and it was back to Skinner.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Just looking at fancies they were one of the most dominant teams all season.

The fact that the Oilers were able to break them at critical moments is more a testament to the talent on the Oilers than to how bad the Kings are.

If you put the Kings against any of the other Western teams in round one they’d have stood a pretty good chance of advancing.

That would be the mistake. its not that indicative, and its selective. The Kings are a pretty ordinary roster that could even miss playoffs and nobody would take a second glance at that. If anything its an org that manages some work mantra in the room and gets some guys following the Kopitar, Kempe, Doughty kind of example. They have some solid defensive forwards like Danault who I'm very high on, but overall that is not a great roster.

Indeed even having to be reliant on the offense of Fiala or the clusterf*** plays of Byfield is its own risk/reward. The guys make so many bozo plays in critical moments in games.

The Kings were somewhat better this time around but a part of that is how the Oilers were a little weaker this time around and needed every bit of Pickard and Kane to even take this series.

The Kings face us every season because basically every other team besides Vegas are usually terrible. With the exception of outlier instances its been Vegas, Edmonton, LA in playoffs for several years. If Kings were in a harder division they would've missed one or two of those playoffs alltogether.