Playoffs 2021 Opening Round: Winnipeg Jets vs Edmonton Oilers (WPG Wins 4-0)

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

Well, lookee here.
The Oilers are in playoff town AND they are favorites.....or are they?

I think they should be.
Have their best chance to go far in the playoffs that they have had in a while.

Connor Hellebuyck and company will try to have something to say about that however.

Jets-Oil, playoff discussion here.

Edited May 25, 2021 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[lynxrattle]

I saw the end of the game, Oilers chasing the game down 2-1. I was surprised by how little jump they had in their game. It reminded me of pre-season game. Very little sweat, blood and tears was to be seen. They won't go anywhere with so little effort. It's a shame really, they do have the best player on the world, Gretzky level, and he's not going to have much playoffs success playing for a team like that. I hope the Oilers find the will to win.

Edited May 20, 2021 by lynxrattle
Doubled sweat, omitted blood corrected

[Podein25]

Jets won Game 1, but I think that's it. There only chance is Helly outplays Smith, which is obviously easily possible. But there's no way the Jets D can spend another 3-4 games in their own end all the time like that and expect to win another game never mind the series. Pionk and Morrissey are gonna be soooo tired. 

[JR Ewing]

@lynxrattle@Podein25 This was a pretty lop-sided game in Edmonton's favour, but ultimately won by Connor Hellebuyck, with a nice assist to the ref on the first EN goal, and without 97 or Leon playing lights-out. If the goalie stays hot, Winnipeg could win it, but they absolutely have to turn things around.

 

Winnipeg only had 35% of the scoring chances last night, and it's not usually the ticket to success if you want your goalie to steal the series.

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by JR Ewing

[Podein25]

6 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

@lynxrattle@Podein25 This was a pretty lop-sided game in Edmonton's favour, but ultimately won by Connor Hellebuyck, with a nice assist to the ref on the first EN goal, and without 97 or Leon playing lights-out. If the goalie stays hot, Winnipeg could win it, but they absolutely have to turn things around.

 

Winnipeg only had 35% of the scoring chances last night, and it's not usually the ticket to success if you want your goalie to steal the series.

 

 

Yeah, I don't think the Jets have a chance. They look slow vs the Oil and guys like Scheifele aren't playing well. I think he's hurt, he just doesn't look right and hasn't for weeks. But the D are just in so much trouble. I guess if Ehlers and Dubois come back (no idea on their status), the Jets' chances increases. But only a bit.

[JR Ewing]

Just now, Podein25 said:

 

Yeah, I don't think the Jets have a chance. They look slow vs the Oil and guys like Scheifele aren't playing well. I think he's hurt, he just doesn't look right and hasn't for weeks.

 

When a player suddenly doesn't produce the way they usually do, or look off, my best guess is usually injury.

 

Just now, Podein25 said:

But the D are just in so much trouble. I guess if Ehlers and Dubois come back (no idea on their status), the Jets' chances increases. But only a bit.

 

The difference in the blue line, with and without Big Buff, is really something. What an intimidating presence he was, able to dish out injury with perfectly clean hits. It showed on the scoresheet: his defense partners gave up 17% fewer scoring chances when he was on the ice, with WPG's GF% being 12% higher than when those same players were sharing the ice with somebody else.

 

---

 

BTW, the reffing was, even by the NHL's low standards, hot garbage. They somehow assessed a 2-minute minor for a high stick which resulted in a cut, and there was so much hooking, holding and obstructing from both teams, that I half-expected Derian Hatcher to jump over the boards at some point.

 

[Podein25]

11 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

The difference in the blue line, with and without Big Buff, is really something.

 

Yeah, that was the very first thought I had when I tuned in last night. 

12 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

BTW, the reffing was, even by the NHL's low standards, hot garbage.

 

I dunno. I agree on the high stick since it drew blood and a half inch higher he might lose his eye. But as for the obstruction, at least the non-calls were even. I can't stand when refs insert themselves into the game and call the ticky tack stuff. I can see why as an Oiler fan you'd want more penalties 

[JR Ewing]

33 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

Yeah, that was the very first thought I had when I tuned in last night. 

 

I dunno. I agree on the high stick since it drew blood and a half inch higher he might lose his eye. But as for the obstruction, at least the non-calls were even. I can't stand when refs insert themselves into the game and call the ticky tack stuff. I can see why as an Oiler fan you'd want more penalties 

 

I don't like ticky-tacky calls, as you say, but I do appreciate it when clear penalties are whistled. A good example of good refereeing, I thought, was when Pionk put his stick in on Yamamoto's hands/arm, and Yamamoto grabbed the stick, spun himself around and fell, trying to draw a call. Ref yelled "No" at both of them, and ate the whistle. I'm cool with that.

 

What I don't like so much is obvious infractions, in clear view, not being called, and I didn't think the refs were unfair against Edmonton. Not at all. By memory, McDavid, RNH and Draisaitl all got away with clear tripping/hooking plays, just as the Jets had their own instances.

 

[Podein25]

3 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

A good example of good refereeing, I thought, was when Pionk put his stick in on Yamamoto's hands/arm, and Yamamoto grabbed the stick, spun himself around and fell, trying to draw a call. Ref yelled "No" at both of them, and ate the whistle. I'm cool with that.

 

Yeah, you like to see that from the stripes: exercising actual judgment. Speaking of holding sticks, there was a bunch of them if I recall that should have been called. Mosrissey got away with one for sure, but there were others. They usually do call that stuff, as they should, but they weren't calling anything last night.

[OccamsRazor]

36 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

Speaking of holding sticks

 

 

Yes you have to call the obvious holding the sticks...clear foul.

 

 

 

[JR Ewing]

As ever, I'll preface this with the most obvious point: every NHL coach, including Dave Tippett (who I think is a very good coach) has forgotten more than I'll ever know about how to do the job. Nevertheless, a pattern with Tippett has emerged after two disappointing playoffs in a row. In each of these postseasons, he's broken up successful lines, defensive pairings, made puzzling deployment decisions, changed things around, and been badly burned.

 

All year long, he paired Darnell Nurse and Tyson Barrie together, and fed them lots of minutes with McDavid. Come playoff time, he broke up that pairing, and put Ethan Bear on the right side, and in his first playoff game with those sorts of high leverage minutes, he was clearly behind the pace all night long. In a game where the Oilers had most of the chances, Bear somehow found a way to be on the wrong side of the possession game 35/65.

 

Meanwhile, Tippett paired Barrie with Slater Koekkoek, put Barrie on the ice with McDavid for a whopping 1 minute and 5 seconds of game time, and just didn't put him in a position to succeed with the way he plays hockey. He and Nurse complement each other very well, and putting Barrie with a guy who hasn't played for months, and with whom he had never played a minute, is really odd to me.

 

They were in such good shape: up 4-1, and Archibald took a needless, selfish and dirty penalty on Logan Stanley. Bang: quick PP goal. And then bang: another goal.

 

And no timeout used in there. The team started floundering, weakly rimming the puck around the boards, running around, and after the 2nd goal in the comeback, didn't go for the timeout. I don't get it.

 

That's Coaching 101 kind of stuff.

 

[Podein25]

On 5/20/2021 at 9:09 AM, Podein25 said:

I don't think the Jets have a chance.

 

LMAO

[JR Ewing]

2 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

LMAO

 

As we all learned a long time ago: there's a reason they make them actually play the games.

 

[Podein25]

12 hours ago, JR Ewing said:

And no timeout used in there.

 

Yeah, I was wondering same at the time. Tippett was asked about this in the post game presser. He said that they had a TV time out coming up so that's why he waited. I'm sure he regrets it. You have to stop the bleeding, that's task number one, and the Oil were clearly reeling at that point. 

[JR Ewing]

5 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

Yeah, I was wondering same at the time. Tippett was asked about this in the post game presser. He said that they had a TV time out coming up so that's why he waited. I'm sure he regrets it. You have to stop the bleeding, that's task number one, and the Oil were clearly reeling at that point. 

 

I heard that as well, and I get the logic; it's just that he was clearly wrong about it. The best player in the world was rattled enough that he had clean possession of the puck and weakly threw it around the wall on the game-tying goal. Tippett made the EXACT same mistake in an almost identical situation against Chicago in the play-in series last year, complete with an upcoming TV timeout, and it also resulted in a goal against.

 

You're 100% right about stopping the bleeding.

Edited May 24, 2021 by JR Ewing

[mojo1917]

Saving the time out "for when you might need it" has always  seemed odd to me.

If you're losing the game big in the 15th minute, having the TO for the 58th doesn't help...does it?

Laviolette uses his time outs the best of any coach i can recall.

If the TO doesn't change the momentum of the game, chances are there will be no need for the time out later. Amirite?

[SaucyJack]

Started watching game 4 near end of regulation.  Seemed very even, got the feeling it would not have been a miracle for Edmonton to win and make a serious comeback in the series. 
 

Always great to listen to Caps radio guy John Walton when he announces a gig for NBCSN.  Too bad he only does the “Good Morning!  Good Afternoon!  And Good Night!” spiel for the Caps (been ages, though ) and not for that triple OT winner from the Jets’ Kyle Connor.

[Podein25]

Game 4 was the best of the series, very intense, quite the pace (until the 3rd OT). Oilers looked tentative in OT in my opinion, Jets looked looser. 

[mkscrewy]

i couldn't stay awake for 3rd OT. that was a lot of hockey for those 2 teams to play in 2 days...

[JR Ewing]

Well, it was what it was: four close games, three in OT, where it can go either way, and the Oilers lost. Happens.

 

The Oilers don't have enough depth to contend with the reality of the playoffs: the only sure penalty is a delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass. The referees call the game so differently from the regular season as to create a different version of the sport, and would be akin to the strike zone completely changing come October in baseball, or the distance to the bases or fences moving. In the interest of not looking like they're affecting the results, the refs completely affect the results.

 

That's not me so much bitching about the officiating nearly as much as it is me complaining about the team not having given McDavid the support that he deserves. There's nothing new about this. After six years in the NHL, facing elimination last night, Connor McDavid's 2nd line centre was Ryan McLeod, a rookie with 10 games, zero goals and 1 assist under his belt. Why wouldn't the opposition constantly obstruct McDavid and Draisaitl if they're not going to be penalized either by the refs or the remaining opposition players? I would do the same thing.

 

I was glad that Ken Holland wasn't a buyer at the deadline: it wasn't Edmonton's year, because he's still dealing with the consequences of Peter Chiarelli's disastrous term as General Manager. They could have painted a face on a rock, stuck it in the GM seat, and done better. A lot of cap is coming off this summer, and this is the chance to build something better around the best player in the world and another guy who's not damned far off from that mark.

 

 

edit - Darnell Nurse played 62 minutes of hockey last night, including a stretch where he played a shift of 5 minutes, missed the next shift, and played the one after. Couldn't even tell he'd done it; looked as fresh as a daisy. He was an animal last night.

---

 

The Jets played wonderful defense all series long: I thought their compete level was off the charts, winning a clear number of puck battles, sometimes when out-manned. Tenacity. Hard work. Battle. I've long felt that Charlie Huddy is quietly one of the best defense coaches in the world, and my opinion has not changed: his men CONSTANTLY had their bodies and sticks in the right spot to block chances, and I thought they gapped beautifully.

 

That gap control was good because the Winnipeg forwards had constant back pressure on Oilers forwards, who often found themselves locked away from support, forcing them to chip and chase rather than stay with what they do best: rush the puck.

 

Hellebuyck? Forget about it.

 

My hat's off to the Jets. They just did the playoff thing better than did the Oilers.

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by JR Ewing

[Podein25]

1 hour ago, mkscrewy said:

i couldn't stay awake for 3rd OT. that was a lot of hockey for those 2 teams to play in 2 days...

 

It was and it showed. I've seen longer games of course (e.g., 5 OTs), but I don't think I've seen a situation quite like last night where you could see the players could not think or even move anymore. This was compounded by the fact that both teams had shortened their bench early in the 3rd period. So both teams in effect played the equivalent of a whole other game with only 13 skaters.  

[Podein25]

1 hour ago, JR Ewing said:

The Jets played wonderful defense all series long: I thought their compete level was off the charts, winning a clear number of puck battles, sometimes when out-manned. Tenacity. Hard work. Battle. I've long felt that Charlie Huddy is quietly one of the best defense coaches in the world, and my opinion has not changed: his men CONSTANTLY had their bodies and sticks in the right spot to block chances, and I thought they gapped beautifully.

 

That gap control was good because the Winnipeg forwards had constant back pressure on Oilers forwards, who often found themselves locked away from support, forcing them to chip and chase rather than stay with what they do best: rush the puck.

 

Forbort was amazing last night (I can hear everyone: who?).

 

So was Stanley, a rookie.

 

And it goes without saying that Morrissey and Pionk were animals, they are most nights. Morrissey especially - that might be his best game of hockey as a pro.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

25 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

Forbort was amazing last night (I can hear everyone: who?).

 

 

 

That's ok....I've been ridiculed as in, "She doesn't know what the hell she is talking about" when I've posted before about Derek Forbort being the type of big, shutdown D-man any team would want (this was when he was still with the Kings).

The guy can skate the line that separates goon from tough hockey player.....and when he decides he is going to play actual hockey, he is so much better in his coverage, game toughness, and even in contribution to the offense in the sense he can get pucks out quickly and efficiently so his forwards can do their thing.

Even though I didn't watch much of this series, yea, I believe ya.
The man DOES have it in him to be amazing.

As for the Oilers....I have no words.
I see the team slowly but surely being more than just the McDavid/Draisaitl/Nurse Trinity (snicker.....inside joke for those who know  ), but when a team plays out of their minds like Winnipeg did....I mean, what can you do???

[JR Ewing]

5 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

As for the Oilers....I have no words.

I see the team slowly but surely being more than just the McDavid/Draisaitl/Nurse Trinity (snicker.....inside joke for those who know  ), but when a team plays out of their minds like Winnipeg did....I mean, what can you do???

 

Connor Hellebuyck had a 950% SV% in that round. When you get that kind of goaltending, you win.

 

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

LOL.  I just cast my vote for the Jets to win in 4.   I accidentally clicked on the poll then couldn't remove it so I just clicked on submit vote.  I figured I better own up to that now so no one thinks I'm some kind of hockey savant or something!