True, but one Dallas player came to within an inch of stealing an entire series, and McDingus single-handedly took his team to round 2. So it does happen occasionally. However, I take a lot of comfort in the fact that those instances are extremely rare in hockey.
In McDavid's case, he was playing against a young, inexperienced, rebuilding team missing two of their best players. The Flames are deeper, faster, and more skilled than the Kings. And they currently have the best goalie still in the playoffs. I like their chances. As mentioned earlier in the thread, the only wildcard is injures. If Tanev is out long term, that could be costly. Good news is that the Flames did pretty good without him last night, so we know they can probably push through it.
Goalies are the only position that can win a series almost on their own like that imo, and even guys like Giguere, Kipper, Hasek, and Vanbiesbrouk ultimately couldn't win it all based on their play alone.
There's little doubt the Flames are a much tougher opponent than LA was. Can the Oilers superstars further elevate their games enough to compensate for that? Can they suddenly start to play a complete team game? We'll see.
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Goalies are the only position that can win a series almost on their own like that imo, and even guys like Giguere, Kipper, Hasek, and Vanbiesbrouk ultimately couldn't win it all based on their play alone.
There's little doubt the Flames are a much tougher opponent than LA was. Can the Oilers superstars further elevate their games enough to compensate for that? Can they suddenly start to play a complete team game? We'll see.
The Oilers didn't elevate at all in round 1. It was only McDavid and Smith (somewhat) that did.
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Draisaitl came back to play game 7 no? I don't think he is going to miss any time this series if that was true, though appreciate he might be banged up not the same as losing him.
I do not fear the Oilers. The Flames outmatch them in all aspects except for top end talent, but the gap is not huge there either. The Flames top line can go toe-to-toe with anyone. Flames have better defence, goaltending, depth, coaching, leadership and structure.
I fear the constant media whining about McDavid deserving and warranting more calls, and the refs succumbing to the national pressure and we end up with a PP fest.
I'm hoping for a fairly called 5v5 series, and if that happens, I feel very comfortable about the Flames chances.
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I'm perhaps too confident, but I think this is a way better match up than Dallas. The Oilers will score more but so will the Flames. I think the Flames win in 5 with some 5-2 or 7-4 wins in the mix.
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I still can't believe both teams held up their end of the bargain this weekend and gave hockey fans everywhere what they want. It felt like this day might never come!
Good job Flames AND Oilers! Let's make it a doozie.
