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Edmonton Oilers

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Really solid-ish win by the Oilers last night. Hyman is a beast!

Not a clean game, but really happy to see the firepower. We must tidy up our own zone though if we want to go deep.

Recalled
It was pretty solid except for a few blips. The blips don't scare against LA, but against a higher calibre team they can be fatal, tho.
The last 10 min of the 2nd and the middle 10 of the second, especially, were not too great.

All LA goals were lucky shots save maybe for 1, and none of them was Skinner's fault, so I'm happy with that.

First time winning game 1 of the 1st series at home since 1990. This is Cup Year and the signs are there!
 
Great game by the whole team, LA didn't deserve to be even close. 3 lucky goals either on deflections off Oilers skates or inopportune broken sticks. I'll give them the first 2 though, should have been 6-2 (since they wouldn't have pulled the goalie if they didn't luck into getting within 2). McDavid was flying (obviously), Hyman looked great, Drai looked great as well, Kane had an excellent game (especially given his injury), but was snakebitten. Everyone was firing on all cylinders, and if they play like that in the next few games, this will be a quick series. However, I think LA has more to give.

I wonder if they'll make some adjustments, because honestly, they didn't look like they were in that game at all. Talbot wasn't terrible, but also was not good either, I wonder if they'll go to Occasional Save Dave next game, who had a big game against the Oilers earlier this season. The other adjustment might be a systems one... the Kings 1-3-1 does not work against the Oilers high powered offense, who knows how to break it down. It can slow down the bottom 2 lines, but the speed and skill of the 1st and 2nd line are too much for it to handle. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, yet the Kings continually try to run it back with this system year after year.

If I were Jim Hiller, I would deploy a more aggressive system, I know the 1-3-1 is their identity, but it clearly isn't working against the Oilers top dogs, so adjustments must be made. In the past, the Oilers have had trouble managing heavy forechecking systems like the Stars. Maybe a 2-2-1 formation would be more effective. The Kings don't have the firepower of a team like Dallas, but they do have some skilled forwards like Kempe, Fiala and Moore, who might get some more looks if they're allowed to push the pace a bit more.

Overall, a McDavid masterclass and the Oilers finally won a game 1!!!

Let's go Oilers!!!
 
Skinner needs to be better, the team as a whole was (clearly) not near as good as on Monday, but the main factor here was the goaltending (Talbot made 3-4 saves he shouldn't have, Skinner let in a couple he should have stopped). Also, the refereeing was terrible, the Kings are constantly diving (Arvidsson, Fiala and Dubois are the main culprits), give them an embellishment call here or there and that'll clean up real quick. The missed clasping the puck (should be a penatly shot), missed the Kings having 6 players on the ice for about a 10 count right in front of the ref, and missed the near constant interference from the Kings throughout the entire game.

I missed the 1st period, but it sounded like the Kings had the Oilers in check, and were playing at their (agonizingly slow) pace. By the time I got home from work and watched the 2nd and 3rd period, the Oilers looked like the better team.

I'm not too worried, I think Skinner will rebound, the team will play better in the next few games. However, if Skinner isn't able to find his game, we might be in trouble.
 

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