Western Confedrence Semi Finals: #1 Anaheim Ducks vs. #2 Edmonton Oilers

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

47 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

@TropicalFruitGirl26

 

In reference to the hockey team "the Ducks" this is funny.....but in real life it breaks my heart.  My family and I love wildlife and love to visit zoos, aquariums, etcs.  I hate to see wildlife end up like this. 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125211042@N07/albums/72157669004790173

 

 

That's how it was meant, Doc.

Purely a poke at the Anaheim Ducks and how the Oilers have handled them.

 

I too don't like to see wildlife abused or the environment in general.

[pilldoc]

19 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

That's how it was meant, Doc.

Purely a poke at the Anaheim Ducks and how the Oilers have handled them.

 

I too don't like to see wildlife abused or the environment in general.

 

No worries ...I know you meant it all in fun.   I'm not the least bit upset. 

[JR Ewing]

The people in charge of the book at Vegas Insider updated their odds today:

 

Odds to win 2017 Stanley Cup (6/25/17)

Team	Odds
Edmonton Oilers	3/1
Pittsburgh Penguins	7/2
Washington Capitals	17/4
Nashville Predators	11/2
Ottawa Senators	8/1
St. Louis Blues	17/2
New York Rangers	10/1
Anaheim Ducks	14/1

 

I've always been a fan of the Oilers, and while I don't think it's a shock that they're up 2-0 on the Ducks (picking clean sweeps of teams with nearly identical records seems a reach to me) I don't know how these guys dream up the stuff they come up.

 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

27 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

The people in charge of the book at Vegas Insider updated their odds today:

 

Odds to win 2017 Stanley Cup (6/25/17)

Team	Odds
Edmonton Oilers	3/1
Pittsburgh Penguins	7/2
Washington Capitals	17/4
Nashville Predators	11/2
Ottawa Senators	8/1
St. Louis Blues	17/2
New York Rangers	10/1
Anaheim Ducks	14/1

 

I've always been a fan of the Oilers, and while I don't think it's a shock that they're up 2-0 on the Ducks (picking clean sweeps of teams with nearly identical records seems a reach to me) I don't know how these guys dream up the stuff they come up.

 

 

Yea, I don't know what kind of cockamamie formula was used for this stuff.

I mean, CLEARLY, the Blues should be better than 17-2.

 

I have it on good authority from a certain Western New Yorker that the Blues will unequivocally leave a trail of battered teams en route to the championship.

 

Vegas insiders indeed.....

[B21]

Take note, Flightless Birds.  Winning Games 1 and 2 on the road is wonderful.  Lose Game 3 at home and all the pressure shifts back to you to wind Game 4. Otherwise....

[Buffalo Rick]

This is one of the most difficult series to read.  

[FD19372]

I'm worried if I'm an Anaheim Duck, it's 2-1 Edmonton, and #97 hasn't really been as much of a factor as he can be. Only a goal and assist in 3 games.

[JR Ewing]

2 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

I'm worried if I'm an Anaheim Duck, it's 2-1 Edmonton, and #97 hasn't really been as much of a factor as he can be. Only a goal and assist in 3 games.

 

And he was ON last night, too. He's clearly feeling much better: his speed was evident, and the turn he made on his goal was elite. If he keeps picking it up, that's only bad for Anaheim.

 

[J0e Th0rnton]

 

Gotta hand it to Oilers fans. Much classier than some cities where the fans would be booing the whole time.

 

 

[fan4ever]

@J0e Th0rnton

 

That was some pretty awesome stuff right there.  

 

I was wondering if any of us down here would know all the words to your O Canada......

 

I knew most but had to look it up for some of it.  Very impressive of your fellow countrymen (and women)!

[JR Ewing]

If you listen to Oilers fans this morning, you're going to hear a whole lot about the officiating in last night's game. I don't like to complain about referees, because I mostly think it's undignified. They're going to screw up and be incompetent, and it's up to each team to handle that crap, as maddening as it can be sometimes.

 

I thought that two of the 4 goals should clearly have been disallowed, but the Oilers committed turnover on each and every one of the plays. As Dana White says over and over against with the UFC, "never leave it in the hands of the judges", but that's exactly what Edmonton did all night long.

 

The first goal should have been disallowed, and I hate the idea that the ref who made the initial call is the one who reviews it to see if it's right. Just a little bit biased, eh? But why did it happen? Jordan Eberle was butter soft, and lazy with the puck under no pressure and then refused to take a hit to get a puck out, and it resulted in a goal. Their fate was left in the ref's hands. The second goal was offside, but because they lost their challenge after the first goal, that was allowed to stand. But why did that happen? Mark Letestu mishandled the puck right onto Getzlaf's stick. The third goal was a mistake on Nugent-Hopkins, dusting off the puck in front of his net when he had no time. And the winner? It probably should have been called icing, but several players dogged it back up the ice, and left Silfverberg completely alone in front of the net.
 

 

I'm not listening to the excuses and I can't stand the whining I've been hearing. One of my little rules in life which I've long tried to live by, and have repeatedly taught to my kids, is that when the same things keep happening to you, you need to ask yourself a question: "Is it always the other guy's fault, or is there a chance that my actions have something to do with this?" If the Oilers are being similarly introspective and honest with themselves this morning, they have to acknowledge that they continually placed themselves in the position of needing help from the officials. They are the common denominator in their own problems.

 

We can look at the bright side of things, though: the club is learning a lot about the individual players they have. Jordan Eberle is far from finished as a player, but ducking a hit which results in a goal is inexcusable, and I wouldn't be shocked if the die is now cast with his future in Edmonton. Peter Chiarelli, two weeks on the job with the Oilers, saw Martin Marincin do that in an AHL playoff game, and dealt him at the draft. Given that Slepyshev is outplaying him from the 4th line, I wouldn't be shocked if Eberle is available, and also fetches much less than people around Edmonton think he can get. That sequence is going to replay in Peter Chiarelli's head all summer long. It's not as if Eberle's been otherwise solid, and this play stood out as a singular example. He's soft, and it's killing the team right now. A blurb I came across last night: since Nov 8, he's scored only 3 goals against playoff teams. Klefbom mentioned that he thought Hall wasn't there against good teams (this was untrue, btw, I checked) but what would he think of Eberle upon hearing this?

[JR Ewing]

 

The tying goal shouldn't have counted, and the game should be in the books for the Oilers, full-stop. But, that's just NHL referees doing their keystone cops routine. For any hockey club to expect more from them is naivete of the highest order, but complaining endlessly doesn't particularly interest me. I'm far more interested with the questions which are demanded and the lessons being imparted.

 

Question

Why didn't Todd McLellan call a timeout after the second Anaheim goal? This isn't revisionism on my part; at the time, I was asking aloud why the coach didn't slow things down, settle his players, and do something to break the Duck's sudden momentum. But! I'm here and he's there, and to the extent that we can see passing lanes from our TV angle, I guess that it's also much easier to make this call away from the panic zone. I always had a hope that the players are the only people being rattled, and that older and more experienced men aren't prone to the same thing. That hope is probably misplaced, because they're only human.

 

There's nothing like playing a series against one opponent to drive home your team's weaknesses. These shortcomings offer continual learning opportunities for players and management, and are instructive as to which players can be relied on for a playoff push:

 

Lessons

-The Oilers have $12M dedicated to Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and have zero goals between them. I imagine that Eberle's fate in Edmonton was sealed after shift from hell in game 4, but even without that happening, one of them has to go, and my pick would always be the player with the least dimension and nuance to his game.

-Darnell Nurse ices the puck a shocking amount of time under little pressure. He's young, and so inconsistency and odd decisions will enter into the equation, but still, this is an item going forward which needs to be addressed, because

-The Oilers are continually showing that they're entirely too weak at faceoffs.

-They clearly need to improve their depth. When you play for 87 minutes, but don't feel confident enough to play your 4th line for more than 7 of them, you lean very heavily on your top units and could potentially break them down, and are also just getting nothing from that 4th line at all.

 

[Samifan]

Didn't see after the second period because it was too damn late and had to work early this morning. Sounds like I missed a helluva final 5 minutes of regulation. 

[yave1964]

@JR Ewing

 

Enjoying this wonderful series, most of us are already out of it as far as our teams go, Flyer/Wings/Lightning/Shark/Wild/Sabre fans ect all are reduced to simply enjoying good or bad hockey as the case may be.

 

  Let me say this about the Rackell goal, when your team is up 3-0 with 3 minutes to go it should not matter. The game should be over. The collapse was epic of Leaf/Bruin proportion and to blame a call standing on a bang bang play is to miss the point, the Ducks gave it all and the Oilers handed them the game.

 

  IMHO the Ducks are the deepest most talented team in the West and the series the Oilers have handed them serves notice that the West has a new Sheriff in town. The series is far from over but if they lose the Oilers will learn from this and be better prepared next season for what it takes in the postseason.

[hf101]

 

I'm hoping Goalie Interference will be addressed in the off-season.  When the coaches don't know what it is how are the players, fans etc supposed to know.  This is currently the most inconsistent rule called on the ice.

[JR Ewing]

12 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

@JR Ewing

 

  Let me say this about the Rackell goal, when your team is up 3-0 with 3 minutes to go it should not matter. The game should be over. The collapse was epic of Leaf/Bruin proportion and to blame a call standing on a bang bang play is to miss the point, the Ducks gave it all and the Oilers handed them the game.

 

Oh, I agree 100%, and said as much in the shoutbox last night: "Well, that's a collapse" and "Still, the Oilers folded there". The point wasn't missed.

 

I believe that I've demonstrated at every step that I make an attempt to view my team and the game honestly and in a manner which could be called "the cold light of the day". I gave up blaming losses on refs many years ago, because there's always a finger which points back to mistakes made by the team which made the officials enter the equation. After all, it's not as they just call a goal out of thin air and screw a team over. This is no exception. They were plainly rattled and collapsed.

 

Quote

  IMHO the Ducks are the deepest most talented team in the West and the series the Oilers have handed them serves notice that the West has a new Sheriff in town.

 

This Ducks team is one of the most opportunistic hockey clubs I've seen in my life. They have pounced on and punished seemingly every mistake their two opponents make.

 

Quote

 

The series is far from over but if they lose the Oilers will learn from this and be better prepared next season for what it takes in the postseason.

 

Yes. Lessons, as I've mentioned in my previous two posts. There's nothing like playing in a seven game series against a team to point out your team's areas of weakness.

 

 

[hf101]

1 minute ago, JR Ewing said:

 

This Ducks team is one of the most opportunistic hockey clubs I've seen in my life. They have pounced on and punished seemingly every mistake their two opponents make.

 

 

Yes. Lessons, as I've mentioned in my previous two posts. There's nothing like playing in a seven game series against a team to point out your team's areas of weakness.

 

 

1

 

That is kudos to Carlyle's coaching.  The Oilers strength is their speed and skill. The Ducks are doing everything possible to slow them down. No matter when this ends the Oilers season is a success and they will become a much tougher team to play against next season.

 

[JR Ewing]

Just now, hf101 said:

 

That is kudos to Carlyle's coaching.  The Oilers strength is their speed and skill. The Ducks are doing everything possible to slow them down. No matter when this ends the Oilers season is a success and they will become a much tougher team to play against next season.

 

 

As an example, Ryan Getzlaf is teaching Leon Draisaitl cold-blooded and painful lessons. Getzlaf uses his size and positioning so well to impede progress in such subtle ways that it effectively interferes yet could not really be called a penalty. Going the other way, Draisaitl simply hasn't added it to his repertoire yet, but could. He has excellent size, and doesn't have to grab or hold or do anything other than angle his big ass in between the puck and the player in pursuit.

 

You learn more from your toughest losses than you ever do in your easiest wins.

 

[J0e Th0rnton]

Did they really allow a goal in which Kesler was physically grabbing Talbot's pads and pulling them?

 

I know Kesler got pushed into the crease by Nurse, but I am pretty sure you still cannot grab the goalies pads and pull

[JR Ewing]

Lost in all of the noise surrounding game 5, it should be noted that the Oilers defense stepped up and played a terrific and brave game, despite being bombarded by injuries. Adam Larsson played 45 minutes, Darnell Nurse played pretty well despite being stretched to his limits, and Kris Russell turned in his best performance as an Oiler even though he was absolutely pasted into the boards on a penalized hit.

 

When we talk about defensive breakdowns, it's probably fair to remember the difficulty they faced with the injury situation, and how much that likely contributed.

 

[Samifan]

Holy **** what a first period tonight for the Oilers 5-0!

[JR Ewing]

25 minutes ago, Samifan said:

Holy **** what a first period tonight for the Oilers 5-0!

 

[pilldoc]

Holy crap!  I just took a look at the box score before  heading to bed......

 

Hell hath no flurry like a hockey team scorned ......  Guess it is safe to say there will be a Game #7.

 

What the hell do you tell a team after you just got your collective asses handed to you......  the Ducks have to be shellshocked at the moment......

[FD19372]

8 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

Holy crap!  I just took a look at the box score before  heading to bed......

 

Hell hath no flurry like a hockey team scorned ......  Guess it is safe to say there will be a Game #7.

 

What the hell do you tell a team after you just got your collective asses handed to you......  the Ducks have to be shellshocked at the moment......

Nothing...burn the tape, video, CD or whatever the hell it is.

[JR Ewing]

That was a hell of a performance by the Oilers, and Leon Draisaitl in particular, with a 5 point night. Just like a loss, though, put this one in the books and move on, because I'm sure of one thing: the Ducks are not going to simply roll over, at home, in game 7.