Draisaitl replacement? It's one thing to shoot up his ankle for game 7, it's another to play a grinding best of 7 series. How did he look on Saturday against LA?
Mavi played over 27 minutes in that game -- but he won't be able to sustain that in Round 2.
The problem with the high ankle sprain is that they can take a while to heal. It took Jarry just over a month to between starts after suffering the same injury and that was a pretty quick return as he was probably fast tracked for game 7.
Hit McDavid
Hit McDavid
Hit McDavid
Hit McDavid
Hit McDavid.
That is never a good strategy...just like trying to hit Gretzky. He is too fast and you will get out of position. If the chance presents itself, yes, but trying to take a run at players like this rarely works out.
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Are we pretty sure that it's a high ankle for Draisaitl? Those are super tough to get through, you think it's better and then one bad step and you're back to square one.
Draisaitl replacement? It's one thing to shoot up his ankle for game 7, it's another to play a grinding best of 7 series. How did he look on Saturday against LA?
Mavi played over 27 minutes in that game -- but he won't be able to sustain that in Round 2.
This is the Oilers. Player's health be damned, they'll pressure him to play no matter what.
Draisaitl replacement? It's one thing to shoot up his ankle for game 7, it's another to play a grinding best of 7 series. How did he look on Saturday against LA?
Mavi played over 27 minutes in that game -- but he won't be able to sustain that in Round 2.
He looked like he could barely skate
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GFG
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Now that I look back at it, I have to say, I definitely overlooked the Stars. They may have barely made the playoffs, but they were a legitimately tough challenge who really took it to the Flames at times.
When you really dissect this Dallas team, you’ll see that they were built for the playoffs similar to Darryl’s Kings from a decade ago who just managed to squeeze into the playoffs but seemed to hit another gear and transform into playoff monsters.
Remember, with basically the same core, they went to the Stanley Cup finals just 2 seasons ago and that was without the aide of Jake GOATtinger. They also took the eventual Stanley Cup winning Blues to OT game 7 in round 2 of the 2019 playoffs. Is it crazy to think the Stars could’ve been finalists in 2019 as well? Very possible as they were basically the St Louis Blues disguised in green sweaters. Same style, very heavy, grinded out wins.
So that’s 4 series wins in their last 2 post seasons (almost 5), losing only to maybe the best team of this decade in Tampa and St Louis, where they came within one goal of eliminating the Blues. So they definitely weren’t an easy out when you dive a little deeper.
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So with all that said in my above post, for me, I know I mistakenly overlooked the Stars, a lot of people did. But when it comes to the Oilers, I know they have a lot of star power, but I really liked the way the Flames played them 5 on 5. The Oilers’ level does appear to drop off during the playoffs given their recent history. They had their way against the Kings in the regular season going 3-0, but then it was LA that was taking it to the Oilers at times in the end forcing them to go the distance.
So I suspect the BoA will be a completely series than the Stars as they’re vastly different in terms of roster construction and style. I don’t think they’ll be able to out hit or out muscle the Flames like the Stars did. If anything, it’ll be the opposite. I also suspect the Flames’ checking should become more prominent in this series with the heaviness and pace the Flames can play with, so the top 6 should have themselves quite the series.
The powerplay could be a major factor. But hopefully the refs call games more like they did in the latter part of the series rather than the former. That would be an advantage for the Flames. From the looks of it, Mike Smith was excellent for the Oilers vs the Kings, but will he be Oettinger good? Only time will tell, but I don’t think the Oilers’ smaller D box out as well as the Stars D, so that’ll be an advantage for the Flames in terms of being able to crowd the net and get into his kitchen more.
I won’t guess how many games this series will go. But I could see the Flames playing more like they did in game 7 vs their game 6 performance. If they can match or out work the Oilers every night, the Flames could came at them in waves. So hopefully the Flames can take this series more easily than they did against the Stars.
The Flames will be up 4-1 after Period 1, and McLean will preemptively bring up McDavid's Round One stats before the panel speaks, despite him being a -4 in the period.
And then he will say " Good Luck Flames" before 2nd period starts.
Did a fly-by on HFBoards to get a feel on Grease fans outlook heading into the series. Good grief, what a mistake. The lack of self-awareness a portion of that fanbase has is mind boggling.
There's like 1 and a half tough guys on that team.
Kassian would actually be a factor in this series because he is one of their only enforcers. Kane and Nurse now are the only ones who would consider standing up to Lucic, Gudbransen, Ritchie, Zadorov
I wonder if we see Mangiapane and Yamamoto throw down this series? Those 2 are always chippy with each other
