WCF: Edmonton Oilers vs. Colorado Avalanche ( Avs lead 3-0 )

[Freudian]

Had Binner not been run by Kadri, Blues likely take that series. Thats what a hot goaltender can do in the NHL playoffs.

Avs have faced NHL goaltending for 2 games this entire postseason. Whoever comes out of the East will have a massive advantage in that department.

How could Avs possibly beat a goalie they won 12/17 games against the last two years? I guess with some beer induced extrapolating you can expect a hot period to stretch to twenty or more and the Blues are unbeatable.

 

[MessierII]

He’s about 6 million underpaid now, I doubt he takes more than 10 if the team shows success.

He’s getting over 10 just a matter of how much

Calgary has minor cap issues but nothing they can’t fix.

hahahaha

 

[NYSPORTS]

Rangers just went on a heater. They barely beat the Pens, then vs Carolina they're up against a goalie who shat the bed, and now with Tampa the series isn't even over.

the Rangers are playing with house money and i believe are the youngest team in the NHL. They did have 110 points during the regular season so it’s not like they coasted all year

 

[Three On Zero]

You mean the hit on Kadri by Kane? If so then it's common courtesy and a sign of respect to be quiet if there is an injury. Not that we would expect it in Vancouver.

Fans in Edmonton did their part last night ...

I mean the game in its entirety, pretty somber arena for what people were clambering about it

 

[VivaLasVegas]

So you're equating series length w/ quality of opponent. That's obviously a flawed way of looking at things. A good team could sweep their way to the finals and lots of bad teams could go the distance. It wouldn't necessarily follow that the bad teams were better by virtue of harder series.

The Rangers may be better than the Avs, but it doesn't follow from your comment at all. I'm sure there's more nuance to it you just didn't type, which is fine. You also just don't mention that the Rangers were a Crosby injury away from losing (they were down 3-1) and it's more than fair to speculate they go down if Crosby is healthy. They also went the distance against a Carolina team without their starting (very quality) goaltender. Weird you don't point these out either. I'm not sure awarding them brownie points for their long matches is appropriate completely.

Avs have handled the postseason the way a good team should. If they had Kadri I'd be way more confident they'd beat either the Rangers or the Lightning. Without him though I'll totally get people thinking those teams should win. That's a big hit for this team and last year proved they fall off w/o him or that depth he provides.

Not basing it on length of series at all, but rather that the East was in general much more competitive that the West to begin with. Six of the eight teams that began the playoffs in the East had a legitimate chance of reaching the SCF. By contrast, only two of the West teams were serious contenders for the SCF. Probably six of the West teams would not have even made the playoffs had they been in the East. Thus whatever team comes out of the East is a demonstrated Beast. Whatever team comes out of the West was always going to be a question mark, and that was true even if they were 100% healthy (which the Avs are not).

The good news, of course, is that we need not speculate because the Best in the East will actually play the Best in the West. Or, as they say in Missouri: "Show Me." If a dinged-up Avs team can beat the Rangers or the Lightning, that would really be something. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Divine]

Not basing it on length of series at all, but rather that the East was in general much more competitive that the West to begin with. Six of the eight teams that began the playoffs in the East had a legitimate chance of reaching the SCF. By contrast, only two of the West teams were serious contenders for the SCF. Probably six of the West teams would not have even made the playoffs had they been in the East. Thus whatever team comes out of the East is a demonstrated Beast. Whatever team comes out of the West was always going to be a question mark, and that was true even if they were 100% healthy (which the Avs are not).

The good news, of course, is that we need not speculate because the Best in the East will actually play the Best in the West. Or, as they say in Missouri: "Show Me." If a dinged-up Avs team can beat the Rangers or the Lightning, that would really be something. But I'm not holding my breath.

You don’t even have to explain.

5 of the last 6 Stanley Cup winners came from the East. Last year, there was 2 ECF teams in the Finals.

If the West is better, start winning Cups. You can’t lose every year and say you’re better.

 

[Nihiliste]

Last year the Avs never had a healthy Erik Johnson and it hurt them because they had to play Ryan Graves on the second pairing. This year they do have a healthy Erik Johnson and they also have Jack Johnson. So they're much deeper on the blueline this year but they will need Girard back for the cup finals.

Girard has a broken sternum and recovery is 3 months before he can even breathe without pain

 

[missionAvs]

Huge W last night for the Avs but damn that Kadri injury really blows. I almost would have rather gotten out of game 3 with the L but Kadri healthy honestly. I still think we beat the Oilers but they're not out of it yet and now it's much more achievable with our 2C out.

 

[Avsfan1921]

Check the PP time..... or that doesn't count???

That’s what happens when you spend the game chasing, nothing new here. Point to your charts all you want, I’ll point to the actual games that were played. The Avs were the better team in all three games and it wasn’t really close. Calls were missed on both sides all game and will also be missed throughout the entirety of NHL existence. Deal with it. The calls they made on the oil were forced calls and if they could have kept their heads on straight there wouldn’t have been so many, just like last game even though those were all frustration penalties at the end of the game.

It doesn’t matter who the Avs would have had in net. They gave very few high danger chances. The rushes were defended well and most of Edmontons chances were one and done.

The Avs cycled the puck all night and created panic in the Edmonton zone all night and crated turnover after turnover. They created high danger chances all night long and Smith was the only reason the score was close, even if he did let in a couple questionable goals.

When it doesn’t matter who played net at one end while the other is the reason it wasn’t more lopsided, one team was heavily outplayed, and it’s not the one you’re claiming.

 

[wayninja]

Check the PP time..... or that doesn't count???

It absolutely counts. The headhunting goons spent a lot of time in the box. Imagine how much more PP time the avs would have gotten if not for having to swallow whistles because of all the goon time?

 

[avsnu]

In my opinion, the rangers are on a Cinderella run where they're rallying around an all world goalie. Their roster doesn't have the experience to over come any adversity.

 

[Muffin]

Makar and MacKinnon has clearly outplayed McDavid this series. Edmonton doesn't have a chance in any series McDavid is not even the best player in.

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

In my opinion, the rangers are on a Cinderella run where they're rallying around an all world goalie. Their roster doesn't have the experience to over come any adversity.

They've handled plenty of adversity just this year. Avs should absolutely not underestimate the Rangers.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

We shouldn't be surprised that the Oilers are likely going to be swept. The Kings took them to the limit in the first round without their best defenseman and now that the Oilers are facing a real defense, all their flaws are being exposed left and right. McDrai's 3PPG pace wasn't sustainable through 4 rounds, they've come back down to earth.

 

[TaLoN]

In my opinion, the rangers are on a Cinderella run where they're rallying around an all world goalie. Their roster doesn't have the experience to over come any adversity.

Cups have been won doing such a thing though, this is also gaining them experience after each game...

That said, let's get this thread back on topic... the Oilers and Avs series... not the Rangers.

 

[AvalancheRy]

Not basing it on length of series at all, but rather that the East was in general much more competitive that the West to begin with. Six of the eight teams that began the playoffs in the East had a legitimate chance of reaching the SCF. By contrast, only two of the West teams were serious contenders for the SCF. Probably six of the West teams would not have even made the playoffs had they been in the East. Thus whatever team comes out of the East is a demonstrated Beast. Whatever team comes out of the West was always going to be a question mark, and that was true even if they were 100% healthy (which the Avs are not).

The good news, of course, is that we need not speculate because the Best in the East will actually play the Best in the West. Or, as they say in Missouri: "Show Me." If a dinged-up Avs team can beat the Rangers or the Lightning, that would really be something. But I'm not holding my breath.

You state opinions in such a remarkable, matter of fact way. But even assuming that's true (it's not) feel free to take whatever consolation prize you want to award yourself.

And it's not really news to say the SCF features the best from the west vs. the best from the east. That's pretty much how it's been done and it's the point of this entire thing.

I guess you weren't really saying anything at all in your original comment. Sorry I replied!

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

Cups have been won doing such a thing though, this is also gaining them experience after each game...

That said, let's get this thread back on topic... the Oilers and Avs series... not the Rangers.

Doesn't even have to be an all world goalie. Mediocre teams have rallied around goalies who get hot to win a Cup as recently as 2019.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Avs fans you guys have a special team and in the cap era they usually don't last too long. Enjoy it while its there.

 

[not a troll]

In my opinion, the rangers are on a Cinderella run where they're rallying around an all world goalie. Their roster doesn't have the experience to over come any adversity.

How do you think the Blues won their Cup? Binnington caught fire and that was that.

 

[OilersFanatics505]

Shouldn't you be busy worrying about Gaudreau's new contract with Philadelphia or New Jersey and Tkachuk's incoming 12 million dollar per season deal? Maybe we can have Tkachuk double up and play goalie for Jacob "Vezina" Markstrom.

What does someone sitting at home need to worry about? Salty much?

 

[KPower]

The oilers are who we thought they were.

A very flawed team that went on a nice run.

Will getting swept take anything away from this run for the fans?

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Makar and MacKinnon has clearly outplayed McDavid this series. Edmonton doesn't have a chance in any series McDavid is not even the best player in.

I don’t think it’s that simple. The Avalanche as a whole have shut down McDavid and that’s as a result of a concerted effort from the forwards and the pairing of Toews and Makar. It’s always easier to shut down just one player.
The Oilers simply don’t have the personnel to shut down McKinnon and even if they did there’s lots of other weapons on the team that can burn you.
It’s just showing how shallow the Oilers depth is and how it’s simply not reasonable to expect McDavid to be able to win a series on his own.

 

[Eltuna]

Had Binner not been run by Kadri, Blues likely take that series. Thats what a hot goaltender can do in the NHL playoffs.

Avs have faced NHL goaltending for 2 games this entire postseason. Whoever comes out of the East will have a massive advantage in that department.

Agreed that whoever the Avs play out of the East will be the best they have played by a pretty big margin but disagree on the Blues winning no matter who is in net. I’m not sure if even a prime Hasek could have won that series.

I can go through and post the stats if you would like but believe it or not Colorado actually dominated play and possession more against St Louis this year than they did during the sweep last year. St Louis struggled to even get the puck past their own blue line let alone put together any kind of sustained offensive zone pressure.

I actually think if Binnington plays it might have been over in 5. Not because he’s worse than Husso (he is definitely better) but just because the Blues were really lucky to get to game 6 in the first place and changing any variables would more than likely have them bleeding goals against. Losing any of games 1, 3, 4, or 5 was not a likely occurrence no matter who was in net. The chance differential was off the carts. It looked like an NHL team playing an AHL team.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

The Avs along with $9.5M dollar man Nurse have neutralized the Oilers...

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Avs fans you guys have a special team and in the cap era they usually don't last too long. Enjoy it while its there.

Ya, it's all about enjoying it while it's here. Most team's never get here. Rebuilds aren't always successful. Teams that think they will get to this level with time, sorry but it doesn't always happen.