What happened to the once high-powered Stars offense?

[Regal]

Oilers are underrated defensively and it seems a common pattern to blame their opponents rather than praise them. Their forecheck especially can really disrupt breakouts, and I think over a long series they can wear teams out with their speed.

 

[winnipegger]

Oilers get no credit because of their past failures. Since eckholm arrived it's been a different team. Bouchard is elite. RNH is the only player left from 10 years ago and look what he's doing. Odds makers got this series wrong which I am eternally thankful for.

 

[syz]

And or a series is a small sample size and teams go hot cold constantly lol. Parity is real, and so is luck/timing which few teams are capable of consistently bucking

The Habs went to the cup final a few years ago. They were still a bad team before during and after but they got hot at the right time.


I’m NOT saying the oilers are the Habs, but their depth playing good or bad is more or less what makes or breaks the Oilers. They’re capable of holding it down or playing like ass.

Very seldom has Edmonton's depth played "bad" this season, imo. At their worst they're just a bunch of guys who defend decently and never score.

 

[Chips]

Very seldom has Edmonton's depth played "bad" this season, imo. At their worst they're just a bunch of guys who defend decently and never score.

Idk, I watched a bunch of their rs games and always felt like the team alternated looking great and “what’s happening?”


Their system and speed is great but their defenders are known to have some serious brain farts, and the forwards sometimes fail a backcheck but that’s the regular season, they’ve had some sfinkers but mostly cut that out for sure

 

[Duder54]

Apparently the PP merchants can also play defence?

 

[Sentinel]

Benn and Duchene are complete no shows.

 

[oilexport]

Their offense is slipping and sliding on Oil. We're so great !

 

[Daishi]

Oilers did the same to LA and VAN as well.
They really aren't a run and gun team this year. Knobloch is the best coach in NHL this year no matter who was declared finalists or winner.

With McDrai just playing responsible defense and later scoring on the power play is a good idea. Skinner is the only weak link because Oil can lose any given day even if the opponent gets only 10 shots on goal that's an expected 3 goals.

 

[Kcb12345]

Benn and Duchene are complete no shows.

Benn has 7 points in 5 games in this series, but Duchene for sure.

 

[TheNumber4]

Knob Defence happened.

We tried to warn ya guys mid season, a defensive powerhouse Oilers was legit.

 

[McSpecial DraiBlend]

Knob Defence happened.

We tried to warn ya guys mid season, a defensive powerhouse Oilers was legit.

Knobber

 

[TheNumber4]

Who knows. Maybe Central wasn't as good as people say. They are making for a boring WCF. This entire site was dissing both Van/Edm who ever won about having to go get dominated by the Stars. They don't look like the team HF chopped them up to be. HF is wrong once again. Who would have thunk .

Oilers fans would have thought lol.

 

[Shanahanigans]

Playoff hockey is exhausting, every round it becomes that much harder to get score. One team has to go up 3-2, and this time its us. Series is far from over, and you can bet that depth will be much better in game 6. Regardless of what people on this site said, this was always going to be a long series.

 

[Panthers Propaganda]

I’m gonna say it, Dallas has too many over the hill old guys to keep up when the playoffs go deep. Couple that with career bad juju like Duchene and Deboer, recipe for disaster.

That and the Oilers are playing some great hockey right now!

 

[NotCommitted]

Oilers are a very good team and it should be pretty obvious to anyone by now.

That said to me they also feel like most like a gamble compared to any other team that's still left. With the Oilers it just feels like no lead is ever safe, for either team on the ice They just have the right combination of unreliable goal tending, capacity for incredible defensive lapses and insane top end offense, you just never know. That said their team D has been underrated, some games they have done a very good job making other teams look very lackluster offensively.

I'm trying to imagine a Oilers vs Panthers final and I just have no idea what would happen, nothing would surprise me. It could be Oilers just steamrolling the Panthers for a 4-1 series or something, but I can just as well imagine them crumble under the pressure of how Panthers play. I would almost be most surprised by a 7 game series with tightly defended 1 goal games all the way, but the Oilers have shown to also be capable of that, at least occasionally. But even many of their 1-goal games have had huge momentum swings inside the game.

 

[Satire]

Oilers are a very good team and it should be pretty obvious to anyone by now.

That said to me they also feel like most like a gamble compared to any other team that's still left. With the Oilers it just feels like no lead is ever safe, for either team on the ice They just have the right combination of unreliable goal tending, capacity for incredible defensive lapses and insane top end offense, you just never know. That said their team D has been underrated, some games they have done a very good job making other teams look very lackluster offensively.

I'm trying to imagine a Oilers vs Panthers final and I just have no idea what would happen, nothing would surprise me. It could be Oilers just steamrolling the Panthers for a 4-1 series or something, but I can just as well imagine them crumble under the pressure of how Panthers play. I would almost be most surprised by a 7 game series with tightly defended 1 goal games all the way, but the Oilers have shown to also be capable of that, at least occasionally. But even many of their 1-goal games have had huge momentum swings inside the game.

This is why you hear some Oilers fans say the only team that beats the Oilers is the Oilers. When we are playing our best we look amazing, but then suddenly a contagious brain fart hits the whole team and it's like we're watching a different team. Not to discredit any other teams because them playing good is a part of that too, but far too often feels like the Oilers dig their own holes.

On a side note - this series is not over by any stretch. Don't wanna see any fans doing victory laps just yet...

 

[Kcb12345]

This is why you hear some Oilers fans say the only team that beats the Oilers is the Oilers. When we are playing our best we look amazing, but then suddenly a contagious brain fart hits the whole team and it's like we're watching a different team. Not to discredit any other teams because them playing good is a part of that too, but far too often feels like the Oilers dig their own holes.

On a side note - this series is not over by any stretch. Don't wanna see any fans doing victory laps just yet...

What you just described is every team when they win vs lose

 

[hangman005]

Sounds like Vegas during the DeBoer years, losing any and all oomph by round 3

 

[Monsieur Miz]

Seeing Pavelski with one goal in 18 games is sad to see. How can a guy fall off this hard?

 

[FriarChill]

I guess the Oilers are better than many gave them credit for (me included).

 

[PlushMinus]

People do need to come to realization this Oilers team is absolutely top notch and a clear cup contender

Perhaps - but I wonder how many posters on HF Boards would have honestly said this when the Stars were up 2-1 in this series.

I'm guessing sweet f*** all. And they'd never admit it.

 

[bobholly39]

Seeing Pavelski with one goal in 18 games is sad to see. How can a guy fall off this hard?

I mean he's going to be 40 years old in a few weeks....

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Fatigue. The Stars didn’t even have the jump right at the puck drop and this was in front of their own crowd. They went to the final 4 last year and again this year. That’s a lot of hockey in 2 years. Plus going 7 against Vegas and 6 plus 2 OT games vs Colorado takes a toll.

lol at all these rationalizations.. and so it begins…

 

[DamonDRW]

Kings and Canucks vs Vegas and Avalanche.

All cup winners or almost all have an easy path to the finals.

 

[De Montreal]

How about we just give Darnell Nurse and Stu Skinner some credits instead? Dallas just hadn’t faced guys like those before.