Oilers in three (apparently).
This is one of the dumbest takes I've seen. First of all, teams all over the league are playing super tight hockey. We're not the only ones to be posting high teens shots for the entire game. The only exceptions are Winnipeg losing their minds against Colorado and just letting the Avs do whatever they want without resistance, and Oilers vs Kings. Unfortunately I didn't really watch any of that series, so I don't know how the kings f***ed up the 1-3-1. However the few bits I did see they seemed to be ok, I saw McDavid have to circle back 2-3 times in the neutral zone just to dump it in. So I'm assuming they shat the bed on PK, but I'm not sure. Our PK is hot.
The number of blocked shots the Preds had against us was insane, we had a ton of shot attempts and actually with better angles and positioning as the series went on. Those shots will find their way to goal against the Oilers.
I also don't think the Oilers will be nearly as good at in-zone defence, and I don't think they'll give us as many problems on their forecheck or in the neutral zone.
Skinner at his best is IMO above average. He sometimes moves well for someone his size, and then he doesn't. Sometimes he is good at tracking and then suddenly he's not. It always makes me suspicious when they show a "highlight" pack and I think they're all saves that the goalie should be making. And that's what I see from Skinner right now in the postseason on Sportscenter and down the stretch in the regular season. He also had two stretches where he struggled this year, once at the start where the team was a shitshow, and then again at the end when they were playing better not on that torrid streak. That's telling to me.
Weird thig is the Preds were actually a pretty mediocre defensive team during the season, not sure why the Canucks had so much trouble, but they obviously game planned us really well.
Believe the Oilers were actually a marginally better defensive team than Nashville for the regular season.
Fortunately, I doubt the Oilers have the intention, or the personnel, to use the Preds game plan.
They also don’t have Saros, thankfully, who was really starting to heat up later in that series.
That's the thing, Brunette was not coaching this style of game during the regular season, they were up tempo and chance generation style. They tried that in the early games and we just owned them in the neutral zone so he reined it in and they became a heavy forecheck/shot blocking team. That was super impressive, and makes me think that Brunette could actually win a cup with the right team. So many coaches go far with one philosophy but are unable to adjust and adapt in the playoffs (ironically, including Brunette himself in his one Panthers stint where they ran into TBL).
But yeah, the Oilers are much more likely to go AV/Bowness and refuse to adapt. Maybe Knoblauch will be their first guy who can actually coach in the playoffs but I'll believe it when I see it. Their team is stronger this year up front but the same on defence, so it's not like they have a flawless roster composition. There are weaknesses that we can prey on.
