Post-Game Talk: Smiling Stu Shutouts x 2!

[Drivesaitl]

haha imagine Eichel joins the Oilers in a year lol. We have the cap space for him in 2026-27 too. I agree I would him over Rantanen. Probably the only guys I would take over him is Makar, Mackinnon and Barkov

No, no no......

Why would we want or need Eichel?

Almost our whole lineup have more playoff goals than Eichel. You can't pass the puck into the net. Hard as you try. 5 games later Vegas, and players like Eichel would still be trying to pass for goals.

The Oilers in contrast were putting all pucks at net, all traffic at net, storming net, banging goals.

Vegas spent whole series passing pucks, forcing pucks, Eichel passing off from perfect shooting positions.

No to that guy.

 

[MessierThanThou]

They still had the 3rd most points in the NHL. They aren’t going to rebuild. Retool a little bit? Sure but they will still probably win the division again next year.

They also just lost clutch, playoff-seasoned, top 6 players in Chandler Stephenson and Marchessault. Guys like Dorofyev just stepped in to fill those shoes and will only improve. Vegas will be scary for a while, unfortunately.

 

[Drivesaitl]

They still had the 3rd most points in the NHL. They aren’t going to rebuild. Retool a little bit? Sure but they will still probably win the division again next year.

The whole lineup needs a heart transplant. Minus Stone wears the leadership? Where?

Its an indictment on that roster that this series matches the quickest ever Oilers dispatching of the Kings last season, or the Flames a couple seasons ago. A 5 game out that was very very nearly a sweep. With the Entire Vegas core not scoring a single goal in the series aside from Stone in game one, and thats it. Remove Stone from this club and theres no pulse.

Cassidy himself knows this team didn't battle. he tried to make them.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Exactly.... Back when talking about Skinner's game would get people shouted down around here as "Skinner defenders" or "relatives", I argued exactly that.

When the Oilers play low-event hockey, Skinner is solid, composed and it suits his game perfectly by not exposing his weaknesses. He is a structured goalie who excels in a structured game. A 2-1 victory is a Skinner calling card (well except for that important one last year that went the other way).

Pickard on the other hand is the guy you want in net if the game is going to turn into fire wagon hockey. He's more agile, better anticipation/improvisation and a battler. He's the guy you want if it's gonna be a 6-5 game with our talent coming out on top.

It's great to have two such different profiles. (I still secretly wish Campbell hadn't washed out, very similar to Pickard, but a bit more big-save talented)

* any reference to you is meant in the general specific way and not directed towards you in anyway.

This the stupidest thing people did around here. I've got to a point where all those people are on my ignore list because f*** them., but its awfully quiet around here because of it.

The team plays well, they win, its that simple. Over. Done. When the team buys in, they are the best team in the league.

Im sitting here laughing at the overly dramatic posters posting "thats the series" after game 3. Have some f***ing faith. This team has been to the last 3 of 4 WCF, the SCF last year and lost to the Stanley cup champions the last 3 years and yet people here are so quick to write them off at every opportunity. Are they really fans? I mean you have to question that at some point. Im sure some are trolls, others have some humiliation kink or what not, but almost universally all them have no faith in the team.

SKinner was fighthing for his career these last 2 games. Kudo to him to stepping up, if being optimisitic and wanting to see to the team succeed makes me his uncle, than fine, but f*** you for suggesting it. I certainly didn't expect a shut out in game 4, let alone a second one last night. I was literally thinking his career was over after game 3 even though that goal wasn't soley his fault.

 

[MessierII]

The whole lineup needs a heart transplant. Minus Stone wears the leadership? Where?

Its an indictment on that roster that this series matches the quickest ever Oilers dispatching of the Kings last season, or the Flames a couple seasons ago. A 5 game out that was very very nearly a sweep. With the Entire Vegas core not scoring a single goal in the series aside from Stone in game one, and thats it. Remove Stone from this club and theres no pulse.

Cassidy himself knows this team didn't battle. he tried to make them.

They definitely miss Marchessault. I don’t understand how you trade a Conn Smythe winner almost within a calendar year of winning the Conn Smythe. He kind of stirred that drink. Stone is good but he’s too unreliable with his health issues and Marchy is just a massive hole they didn’t really fill.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Congrats from a Leaf fan. Bring the Cup home.

Your series ain’t over. One win and it’s back at home for game 7 redemption.

 

[EastCoastOil]

Couple things.
1. Where is the video of the bench reaction to the OT winner, always love watching the bench and coaches reaction.
2. Love the fact that the team will get some rest but hopefully not too much, we don't do well on restarts (poor start to season, after 4 nations, and start of playoffs to a lesser extent) Maybe just me over worrying which is typical during playoff time.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I really don't think so. The Wild as a team are just a free pass to round 2 and that's not going to change anytime soon. The instant that Hartman goal late in game 5 was waived off was the instant they lost the series. Kaprizov is a whale of a talent but after that.... what do they have?

If we faced them either in round 1 or 2 the series is done in 5. The Wild remind me of about half the teams in the NBA that exist and never accomplish anything. Something akin to the Pelicans or the Wizards or thereabouts. A team that can maybe make the playoffs and never make an impact on them.

We'd be thinking exactly the same about Vegas had they not fluked out the one SC an everything that could possibly go right went right for them. They didn't even know which goalie they should be starting.

Without Marsh going on an out of body heater Vegas don't have any Cups. Should've been ours.

 

[soothsayer]

I literally never experienced anything like this. And for years when people asked where I am from I said Edmonton. I still say this more often than one would expect given the time I have spent in Ontario. But on my first sabbatical which I spent in Edmonton my wife was pulled over just because our car had Ontario plates. The point is there are idiots everywhere. But generally they are the exception.

I'm going to use this opportunity to tell a funny story. About 5 or 6 years ago, I rented a car in Edmonton because I was driving down to Idaho for work. The rental car had BC plates. I was stopped at a red light in the city, and in front of me was a truck with a big "eff Trudeau" sticker, or something to that effect. I don't even really notice it, don't care at all.

All of a sudden, some lunatic beside me starts holding down his car horn. We're still at the red light btw. I look over and he's waiving at me, cackling like a perverted gremlin (I could tell his dental hygiene was horrific), pointing at the sticker on the truck. He was yelling some nonsense at me, laughing, blasting his horn, pointing at the truck, cheering, when I finally was able to make out him saying something about going back to BC.

Turned out the guy thought I was from BC because of my rental plates and assumed I liked Justin Trudeau for that reason, and proceeded to taunt me, an Albertan, about loving Trudeau in the most brain damaged, attention seeking fashion. It was at the point that I realized some people just have mental issues and you can't use them to represent an entire set of people. I'll never forget that interaction.

 

[MessierThanThou]

The whole lineup needs a heart transplant. Minus Stone wears the leadership? Where?

Its an indictment on that roster that this series matches the quickest ever Oilers dispatching of the Kings last season, or the Flames a couple seasons ago. A 5 game out that was very very nearly a sweep. With the Entire Vegas core not scoring a single goal in the series aside from Stone in game one, and thats it. Remove Stone from this club and theres no pulse.

Cassidy himself knows this team didn't battle. he tried to make them.

The last game was a dogfight even without Stone, but then I realize that this series is likely a sweep without that buzzer beater fluke goal... And we definitely score more than one on better ice. It was painful seeing the ice muck up so many passes all night. Closing them in five with Skinner shutting them out in two straight is almost as gratifying a revenge tale as Rantanen beating Colorado on his own in a single period

I hope you're right about Vegas being on their last legs as a powerhouse. We did a great job of neutralizing their offense, while they succeeded in slowing McDrai, but only to a slightly over point-per-game pace...

 

[Paralyzer]

So I just realized something crazy....

Let's say the East Final is Florida and Carolina, and West Final is Edmonton and Dallas....if we beat Dallas, we will actually have Home Ice Advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals! (Florida is at 98 Pts and Carolina is at 99 Pts). That would be HUGE for us!

 

[PitkanensGitch]

lol Vegas isn’t going to rebuild. They just won the division. They’ll make some tweaks and keep going. Eichel isn’t going anywhere.

They got way softer. Hertl over a guy like Marchessault is horrific.

Stone is done. With the amount of injuries he’s had and his age … the heart and soul of that team is not going to be an impact player any longer. They lost multiple pieces from their cup run that were integral. Guys who played playoff hockey the right way while also having immense skill.

Our guys are bought in and playing the right way but we don’t have players like Marchessault, Stone, Eichel.

They made the mistake of bringing in Hertl and other soft players who don’t have that extra gear come playoff time. Thankfully our management identified players who do bring it up a notch.

 

[nally]

Don’t want to get ahead of myself, but man if we can take care of win/dal we are looking to be in a good spot to have home ice advantage in the finals.

Holy shit! That's right...would be huge!

 

[Canovin]

No, no no......

Why would we want or need Eichel?

Almost our whole lineup have more playoff goals than Eichel. You can't pass the puck into the net. Hard as you try. 5 games later Vegas, and players like Eichel would still be trying to pass for goals.

The Oilers in contrast were putting all pucks at net, all traffic at net, storming net, banging goals.

Vegas spent whole series passing pucks, forcing pucks, Eichel passing off from perfect shooting positions.

No to that guy.

If a team can fit or make room for Eichel, they would do that in a heartbeat. No team in the league would have an answer to McDrai on the 1st line and Eichel on the 2nd line shutting down teams' top lines.

 

[Drivesaitl]

They definitely miss Marchessault. I don’t understand how you trade a Conn Smythe winner almost within a calendar year of winning the Conn Smythe. He kind of stirred that drink. Stone is good but he’s too unreliable with his health issues and Marchy is just a massive hole they didn’t really fill.

Like I said though it wasn't just having Marsh. It was having him at the exact time that he had his best heater ever. He's that example in a playoffs where individual players can have out of body hot stretches and his perfectly coincided the moment Vegas played Oilers. In the last 4 games of that series Marsh scored 5 goals and added 3 assists. he was everything in those 4 games for Vegas but on a level that he never was before or after. Some lightning in a bottle stuff. No knock on Marsh, just everything he touched was suddenly gold. Happens sometimes.

 

[Canovin]

They definitely miss Marchessault. I don’t understand how you trade a Conn Smythe winner almost within a calendar year of winning the Conn Smythe. He kind of stirred that drink. Stone is good but he’s too unreliable with his health issues and Marchy is just a massive hole they didn’t really fill.

Marchessault was a free agent

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

 

[MessierThanThou]

They definitely miss Marchessault. I don’t understand how you trade a Conn Smythe winner almost within a calendar year of winning the Conn Smythe. He kind of stirred that drink. Stone is good but he’s too unreliable with his health issues and Marchy is just a massive hole they didn’t really fill.

He wasn't traded.

 

[Drivesaitl]

If a team can fit or make room for Eichel, they would do that in a heartbeat. No team in the league would have an answer to McDrai on the 1st line and Eichel on the 2nd line shutting down teams' top lines.

Not a fan of this guy. He's lucky to ever have had his name on a cup. The Eichel we saw this series was back to being like the Eichel in Buffalo. Beat game after game.

 

[PitkanensGitch]

pfft, Eichel was compltely one dimensional all playoffs. When you become zero threat scoring, and he only had one goal all playoffs and was passing off constantly it limits how dangerous you are.

What did Eichel actually do in the series other than trying to pass it into the net. I was hard on Rantanen after the trade an seeing him in Carolina but that guy got it. he figured out that as a star player when your whole top group isn't scoring you HAVE to get some goals. you have to. You could pass 50 pucks and if most of the team are snakebit thats not making one iota difference.

Dallas only advanced because Rants figured it out. That it had to be him. Eichel is still passing pucks somewhere in the desert. This is a non generational player that fooled people one year, one run, and basically because Marsh had an out of this world scoring heater.

Combination of being snakebitten and feeling like you’re the only guy left on the club. Take a look at their roster. Without Stone out there he realizes he’s the only guy up front who can make an impact. Must be demoralizing. They lost all of their grit and tenacity.

Remember when they beat us? Eichel was still playing that way slowing up into the offensive zone where they dominated us with east-west slow up plays that tricked our defenders. Him and Marchessault and Stone lit us up this way.

Eichel has the puck on a string out there. He plays playoff hockey the right way. He didn’t get the payoff this series but really, who does he have to play with? You put him on a line with McDavid or Draisaitl and he’s competing for tops in the points race again.

Let’s not forget two years ago he led the entire league in playoff scoring and carried that group to a Cup. Only so much he can do.

 

[MessierII]

They got way softer. Hertl over a guy like Marchessault is horrific.

Stone is done. With the amount of injuries he’s had and his age … the heart and soul of that team is not going to be an impact player any longer. They lost multiple pieces from their cup run that were integral. Guys who played playoff hockey the right way while also having immense skill.

Our guys are bought in and playing the right way but we don’t have players like Marchessault, Stone, Eichel.

They made the mistake of bringing in Hertl and other soft players who don’t have that extra gear come playoff time. Thankfully our management identified players who do bring it up a notch.

I don’t disagree with literally anything you said but they still had 110 points lead the division, 3rd most overall in the NHL and won a playoff round. Losing to this wagon of a team isn’t going to send them into a rebuild. They aren’t the flames or Canucks who were clearly one season wonders. Is their window to win a cup closing? Yes and they’ll need to make some big changes to get back there. They are still a good team with good pro scouting and a popular free agent destination. They aren’t in danger of missing the playoffs for the foreseeable future. Our division doesn’t have a lot of other teams coming up to challenge them. It’s Knights, Oilers, Kings 1-2-3 in some order next year again.

 

[MikeS24]

but but but matthews and leafs are better than mcdavid/draisaitl and the oilers

What Leaf fans spew is we had easier teams, but when you compare the opposing teams, they are almost identical defensively lol.

 

[MessierII]

He wasn't traded.

Yeah sorry let him walk. Still doesn’t change anything about what I said. You keep that guy.

 

[MessierII]

Marchessault was a free agent

Yeah my bad. Spirit of my post doesn’t change though. Should have done everything they could to keep him.

 

[Drivesaitl]

The last game was a dogfight even without Stone, but then I realize that this series is likely a sweep without that buzzer beater fluke goal... And we definitely score more than one on better ice. It was painful seeing the ice muck up so many passes all night. Closing them in five with Skinner shutting them out in two straight is almost as gratifying a revenge tale as Rantanen beating Colorado on his own in a single period

I hope you're right about Vegas being on their last legs as a powerhouse. We did a great job of neutralizing their offense, while they succeeded in slowing McDrai, but only to a slightly over point-per-game pace...

It wasn't really a dogfight. There wasn't a moment last night where I thought the oilers weren't winning. The Oilers taking it, and the Vegas inability to finish anything was inevitable. Shots aside we were getting almost all the quality chances. Vegas basically spent most of the game trying to shut hockey down. Their game was so cynical, so one sided hangback and collapse that they had 5 real shots at net halfway through the game. pathetic.

Vegas are regular season paper tigers. Need more grit, heart on that club. They weren't believing. Although to credit the Oilers took any belief away starting in game one.

I really feel as if the Oilers stomped Vegas heart in game one. The way Vegas lost that game one at home, they never recovered