DownUndaCanuck

Soucy was influential all over the ice, made some great plays, great goal, absolutely dumb move on the pinch. Hronek played the 2 on 1 so badly, took the pass away for ages then left it at the last moment which lead to the pass across. He was probably thinking they shot on the last 2 on 1 (RNH) but he had to know who was out there - their plugs who don't have good shots, so really should have focussed on the pass. That being said he has played well sometimes during the series man on man against McDavid which isn't easy but yeah they looked bad there. Meanwhile Myers a +3 and veru deservedly so, he was a beast everywhere and especially on the PK broke up so many passes. These playoffs our best defencemen have been Zadorov, Myers, Hughes, Soucy, Hronek and Cole in that order.

To see Bouchard and McDavid directly scored on sums things up. Our top defenceman Hughes isn't getting stripped like that, and the Miller vs McDavid battle has been so epic but that goal sums it up - JT just out-hustled McDavid on the GWG. Good to know we can play with this intensity, we just have to bring it. Don't have to play every playoff game like this but certainly in the important games and this was a big one. If this series goes to 7 games you know we'll play our best.

What a game and response after the coach ripped them. Everyone with their best game of the season. 2 games without a point for McDavid, 0/5 on the PP, we destroyed them all over the ice, scoreboard doesn't tell the true tale. Time to end it now, you know their stars are going to come ready to play but if we play like this no one can beat us. Not going to be easy and obviously don't want this going to 7.

Great lines, happy with that. I do worry Petey and Lindholm really sucked when together in the regular season defensively though so if they get scored on a bunch then surely Rick moves things around but Lindholm is a much better player now and Petey has been dynamite on the wing. The matchups will be important again. Miller can play against McDavid, Blueger can try and play against Draisaitl but Lindholm will probably take that role, but any time their 3rd or 4th lines are out there I think Lindholm and Petey go up. The coach has done his bit, now it's really down to the players to out-work Edmonton and execute and we know we can.

I think moving Petey to the wing is the answer, Blueger for 3rd line center and Suter or Aman can play 4C. Petey has not been a good center all season and all his success came playing wing. He's just not strong enough right now to take that responsibility.

Pettersson - Miller - Boeser Mikheyev - Lindholm - Suter Garland - Blueger - Joshua Hoglander - Aman - Karlsson Take a page out of their book. If they're splitting their stars, load up ours and out-skill them. We'll tilt the ice when our top line is out there (get the matchups against their bottom 2 lines), then have Lindholm play against McDavid and Blueger against Draisaitl.

Each team is adjusting and beating the other team in the next game. Pickard played well and splitting their stars kept us on our heels most of the game consistently. We have to be able to adjust now. I say re-unite the Lotto line and go head to head against them - try and outscore their top line with extra skill. Lindholm checking line and Blueger back with Joshua and Garland. Hopefully we see Demko soon to swing the tide, but simply put we have to want it more and the Oilers are beating us in that department which is embarassing.

What a way to lose a game

I must have said it about 6 times in the pregame thread - Juulsen will try to throw a big hit and get caught out defensively. Idiot.

Interesting, going to want our physical shutdown guys out there against Draisaitl and defensively aware but good skaters out there against McDavid then. Surely Miller vs McDavid and Lindholm vs Draisaitl but on defence then, I don't mind Hughes and Hronek against McDavid any chance we get. Hronek has played McDavid perfectly so far but I'd rather have Hughes shadow him and get Hronek in the crease to box out Hyman who's going to be a real problem. Meanwhile, their 2nd line is going to be a physical handful so would love a pairing of Zadorov-Myers to deal with them.

Surely he gets fined for these comments but they're brilliant.

Will be interesting to see if Edmonton split their stars to give them more depth, now would be the game to do it after we lose a defenceman. If I'm Edmonton I put Kane with McDavid and Hyman, and Draisaitl with RNH and whichever other plug they have so they have consistent sustained pressure. That being said, we have enough defensive depth that we can shut down two lines. Miller against McDavid, Lindholm against Draisaitl and defensively any one of our pairs can deal with either line but of course you don't want Juulsen out there defending for too long. Petey and his linemates have to win their 3rd line matchup then and should do easily against Henrique. Going to be interesting to see how Edmonton adjusts and hopefully they don't win a game out of it, but we make some in-game adjustments if things aren't going our way. So far a great series like a chess game, teams trading adjustments and winning off the back of them. Hopefully splitting their stars and changing goalies doesn't amount to a win for them and our solid structure is too much for these changes.

They did in game 2 and we got demolished in the 3rd period so have to be better at stopping McDavid. This has been a brilliant series of counters and adjustments. We owned them in the first game, their stars countered in the 2nd game, then we played their stars a lot tighter in the 3rd game. Let's see if McDavid and Draisaitl can adjust and beat our defence and Silovs or if we can continue to check them tightly. Pickard is a new wild card we have to factor in and I'm a little worried that their bottom-9 offence might wake up at any point so we've got to keep them in mind.

Wow they're benching Skinner, probably a wise move, 3 bad games in a row. Shame, he was our best chance to blow it open. We've always fared badly against backups historically. Pickard had pretty average stats all season long and is coming in fairly cold so let's hope we can get the jump on him early. He'll probably stop 80% of the shots he faces so lets hope we can get more rubber on him than just 15 shots. Don't have to look to make the perfect play on the PP, just get shots on net from the side-boards or point and we should be able to break him. I'm always nervous about a backup goalie though just given our history.

We have to play our best game of the season in this game. If Edmonton tie the series I think it'll ignite them and give them a good chance to win it in 6 or 7. We win and they'll be frustrated and finished. Time to really get under their skin. We play a very good road game and have to do the same tonight without Soucy. Endurance is key in this series - can Silovs keep playing well and endure all these shots, and can their stars endure 25 minutes of hard hockey a night? If we can play similarly to last game we should have a good chance to win. Play their stars tight and confidently, don't back down, don't keep icing pucks and don't play stupid and take dump penalties. I think Skinner will have a better game too so it won't be easy, we would expect another 3-5 goals per team but I think this one might be a lot tighter. 3-1 Canucks.

I for one was certainly against this trade at the start and knew it would be decided in the playoffs and of course Lindholm has done a massive job for us, arguably our 2nd or 3rd best forward in the playoffs. The reason it's done us so well is because of how bad Petey has been, but I think PA knew that when he went out to get Lindholm. I don't think it was ever an uncertainty that Petey would not sign with us, but more that he's not ready for playoff hockey so we needed some playoff insurance, and that's what Lindholm has brought us. We have Miller at 1C, Lindholm at 2C and Petey at 3C right now. Obviously the cap structure for that is wild right now but is more of a long-term investment with Petey. I sadly don't know if Pettersson will ever be the Miller/Lindholm-solid defensive/physical player we need though just because of his frame and stature but hopefully we can try and build him up to that. That's the sort of center you need going forward. Right now you've got to look at trying to keep him but he's going to ask for big bucks after playing so well, surely in the 7M range at least, some team may give him 8M. I'd love for us to sign him to a 1-year show-me 6.5M deal but he'll get big offers after this post-season. Go figure all the guys having big playoffs are in contract years...there's something to be said for that. Meanwhile guys who are signed longer term are having worse playoffs. If there's a world in which we can give Zadorov 5.5M, Hronek 7M, Lindholm 7M and Joshua 3.5M I think we go for it but we'll have to sell off some crap. Myers and Cole (9M) walk. Flip a pick or prospect to move Mikheyev's dead 5M. Replace Blueger internally. Sign Tanev for 2M?

You just know the players and coaches must think this is unfair - losing Soucy and Hyman getting off completely free while Zadorov needs stitches. They'll all be on display in the next game. Time to not get too angry - the Oilers are the ones who are frustrated. Got to stay even-keel and go into the next game as if it's a tie series and win it. They came back after a loss really hard so we've got to expect the worst for next game. We have lost a fair few home games lately so really don't want to go back to Vancouver tied 2-2, but conversely we've played brilliant road hockey in the playoffs so far. Got to try and play exactly the same way as last game but better. We rushed their stars nicely, didn't give them much time and space, and our PK was brilliant when it mattered. Hard to replicate because we did get a bit lucky.

Feel for him obviously but that is crazy to think he's been doing drugs over the last few days/weeks and still has 9 goals in 8 games in the playoffs. He's been an absolute monster for Colorado, they're already down 3-1 in the series, surely that's it for them. Hopefully this time sorts everything out and he comes back for the next season/playoffs.

I have no problem with the Soucy suspension but Hyman doing the same, if not worse to cause injury, gets nothing? Not sure how to league completely ignores that. Crazy that the Oilers forwards have caused two facial bleeding injuries to the Canucks and not even a fine. I know the high-stick was "missed" and they can't review or discipline it but sticks to the face causing bleeding and stitches goes completely missed - mainly because it's their top offensive stars. Got to use this fuel for the fire and win the next game to really shove it to them.

I agree with this, I think Cole has been brilliant usually, especially in the corners and in front of the net. He's been very unlucky but that's what happens when you're a big body in the crease. If he gets more out-of-the-way then the Oilers forward can get nestled in there so he has to be there. The OT goal was bad, but he was trying to block the back-door. The goal off his chest was just unlucky. The high tip he probably shouldn't have stuck his stick out so far ahead of the play but has tipped so many pucks out of play that way. I think he has to keep playing his game. We need him more than we don't need him. It was a shame to see his ice-time go down the last few games, probably because of his mistakes, but to be fair Zadorov has been a beast everywhere and not a liability defensively like he was in the regular season so he's taking more minutes. Now with Soucy out for a game I think we have to really lean on Cole to defend hard and play 20+ minutes.

So... Hughes - Hronek Zadorov - Myers Cole - Juulsen Got to try and protect that bottom pairing with the Lindholm line. Miller's line try and stick with one of the top-2 pairings. You know we're going to ice the puck a lot and McDavid is going to get out there when Juulsen is on the ice. He better not go hunting for big hits or he'll get caught out of position. The Oilers will surely try and expose this so I for one hope Juulsen just sits back, doesn't try to throw any hits and stay in position all night. Give him 15 minutes and let Myers and Hronek take the bulk of the RD minutes.

Just hope Juulsen doesn't get targeted by their top line and caught out of position throwing a hit. I wonder who we'll play him with. Cole and Juulsen could be real trouble defensively at the rate Cole is playing. Zadorov is one of our best defencemen but can't really put two guys out there who are hunting for hits all the time. I think Cole and Juulsen as our bottom pairing and ride Zadorov and Myers a bit harder. Soucy might only be our 5th defenceman but he's a big part of the PK and depth defence so will be missed.

Hyman cross-checked Zadorov in the face and he had to get stitches after so worse than what McDavid got but nothing there? Not even being looked into?

Do we take a 1 game suspension for Hyman and Soucy and cancel each other out? I'm not sure, I know obviously Hyman is a big goal scorer but Soucy has done well as part of our 6 man defence unit and I worry about Juulsen defending McDavid...

The Oilers are getting frustrated in a series they thought they'd sweep and it's only going to get harder for them, we've got a chance to go up 3-1 and make them panic big time. Beating this team would be so much sweeter now and last night we had the recipe down to a tee - opportune scoring, our PP better than theirs, our goalie better than theirs and our D protecting the middle of the ice whereas theirs gave away pucks to us. If we can frustrate McDavid and wear him down I think he'll just get angry and crack. Draisaitl looks like the angrier he gets the better he gets but I think we're in McDavid's head already.