2025 Stanley Cup Final | Oilers vs Panthers Game 5 | Post Game Reaction & Analysis
warning incoming game over warning incoming game over welcome welcome to Game Over Edmonton mod sclocker and I are pinch hitting for our friends here at Game Over Edmonton who are working their butts off in the Stanley Cup final it must be a wild ride uh this is the first one that I’ve had to jump on for mod has done so much for everything for game over this whole year uh the Edmonton Oilers have lost convincingly unfortunately to the Florida Panthers on home ice now they face an uphill climb they have no choice but to win the next two at home and on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champions ma how are you feeling about it uh it’s a tough one really rooting for Edmonton over here i was last year too got some some family ties to Edmonton so they’ve always been kind of like my second team although when I was growing up it was the uh uh the terrible like Taylor Hall uh like four first round picks for four first overall picks uh in a row Edmonton Oilers so you know things change with McDavid it finally gets exciting and it feels like they’re right there but it still might not be enough because this Florida team is just so good uh they’ve scored now 23 goals in five games which is more than they scored in seven games against the Oilers last year i went back and counted and they only got 18 goals last year against the Oilers this year they’ve already put up 23 so uh the Oilers with their backs against the wall now we know that that’s when they’re at their best uh but the thing is how how many times can you keep doing comebacks either within games or within series if you have to keep relying on that so many times it feels like eventually uh that magic’s going to run out right yeah coming up off the mat is great but if you’re always coming up off the mat like there’s a problem right and I know this is probably something watching like the rebuilding senators that you’ve watched them have to do right like learning to start on time right i’ve watched the Canadians have to do that and like you the Oilers were kind of my second team for a while growing up but I was a little bit before i watched the not crappy but not great Ryan Smith Doug Weight uh Sean Oroff era that paid off with the Stanley Cup final run in ’06 uh obviously not all the way but uh they got close uh but yeah the Oilers are an interesting team they have these this ability to build either like a bluecollar lunchpale team or a high-flying team like this team or the 80s team but you noticed a problem in this one i don’t know if it’s the whole series in a nutshell but it kind of feels like the difference in this series the bottom nine for the Oilers got eaten alive tonight yes so I took a look at the numbers after the second period because I was just thinking like wow they’re really not generating anything other than those power plays the first power play in the first period was awful but they had two in the second period I think that were actually pretty good that’s where they actually got some scoring chances but five on five I’m like they’re really just generating nothing so I took a look after the second period and for the Oilers forwards McDavid Dryidle and Arvdson who got some shifts with them they were the only guys who were above 50% on uh on Corsy at five on five and uh Evander Kane a flat 50 actually but that’s only with uh three shot attempts four and three against so nothing happening in his minutes and then everyone else getting absolutely caved in at five on five uh Skinner Henrik and Pod Coulson specifically even though they actually had a pretty good impact in in game four on the road possen got that big goal as well and I think uh Skinner was pretty good in that game too just absolutely nothing happening for them tonight stuck in the defensive zone all night uh Ryan Nan Hopkins line was not much better i I felt like uh Matias Yanmark was out there doing nothing all night too i hardly ever noticed Connor Brown or Trent Frederick until like the third period like early in the third period they they said Trent Frederick’s name and I’m like I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that all night from the from the playbyplay so uh you see the lack of of depth it’s hard to say lack of depth because this team is in the Stanley Cup finals and these depth guys have chipped in along the way uh to help the Orers get here and like I said even just last game like Pug Coulson and Casper Kaan had some big moments getting on the score sheet with goals and assists but when you’re against the best team in the East and potentially the back-to-back Cup champions if they end up finishing this off it’s it’s a it’s not a lack of depth overall but it’s a it’s a lack of depth comparatively to the Panthers right because the Panthers can just roll their four lines on the road and I feel like they didn’t even have to worry about matchups whatsoever tonight you you don’t get to control the matchups on the road but it’s like almost like it didn’t even matter basically yeah and that’s a huge advantage you know they kept on talking about how the the Panthers are this great road team it’s it’s just that they’re a great team and you know I I feel like I’ve been stuck talking about the Panthers as this demonic team of rats that cheats constantly and dares the NHL to call them because that’s that’s part of the style of the game that they play but they are so wellb built for this era of NHL hockey because they are high-skilled undoubtedly they have so much skill but they are also a team of giant dirty rats and they are they play so dirty all the time they dare teams to retaliate and when they do they get punished like the Oilers did in game three but they are incredibly deep in a way that goes beyond what even other teams who make the Stanley Cup final like the Oilers are capable of being i mean part of that’s got to be that the Oilers are forced to be topheavy right with McDavid and Dryside all those contracts are huge but they’ve also played a lot together and I feel like without Zach Heyman in the lineup as well it becomes a mistake that they just don’t have the people to carry the rest of the lines yeah I think uh I don’t think they started together in the first period but then that first period was so bad that early in the second period Knobblock loaded up McDavid and Dryidle together for the rest of the game and you’re right with without Zack Heyman that’s just so risky to do because earlier in the playoffs Hyman wasn’t even playing with either McDavid or Daddle i think I think he was playing for a while with Kane and Nan Hopkins as like the third line and and that was killer that was some killer depth when you can uh be able to spread those guys out but obviously without a guy like Heyman it becomes that much harder and when guys like Kane and New Hopkins aren’t pulling their weight new Hopkins playing through an injury too I think so hard to hard to criticize him too much but yeah like sometimes loading up Dell and McDavid together just results in that magic where they just take over a game uh but other times it leaves you exposed so if they don’t if they don’t take over the game like that then you’re pretty much probably going to be screwed with the rest of your Lions yeah and that’s I want to dig into that a little bit as well because McDavid’s been having a struggle bus moment with conversion right and it’s funny my dad who’s an Oilers fan you know he was texting me today he’s like I don’t understand this team you know like why aren’t they playing hard like I don’t understand how McDavid like isn’t finding a way right now and it’s like even a guy at that level I think it’s hard to understand for anyone who who has no exposure to people who are that level of talented in a specific thing that even someone like Conor McDavid will have a crisis of confidence and it’s not like he thinks he’s terrible out there but you can see a hesitation to him in when he’s going to shoot he He’s not super decisive he’s deferring to players that maybe he shouldn’t be because he is an excellent shooter but part of that’s because coming into this game his conversion rate on his like expected goals per natural statick was about 50% his expected which is for McDavid over the last three years coming into this playoffs he was converting on 117% of expected goals it was like 122 on3 and 103.6 six something like that like he is a finisher he always has been and now he’s had this little stretch where it’s not working for him and in the back of his head it’s not like he’s like “Oh suddenly I’m a terrible shooter.” But he’s like “It’s not working for me so I might have to pass on to somebody else that it’s going to work for.” And that little voice in the back of your head of doubt at this stage is just is death so when McDavid can’t convert at the level that you’re expecting him to they’re in the same situation as the Toronto Maple Leafs right like they’re gone first round mcdavid’s been incredible but that little tiny thing throws off everything for the Oilers it’s crazy that uh that kind of mentality can still like happen to the best player in the world and and you can’t blame him especially with uh what he has to fight through to like get any open space in this series like anytime he’s going down the ice trying to do an offensive zone entry it’s these absolute like beasts on defense just in terms of size like you having to go through guys like Nico Mikola Aaron Ecklad Seth Jones just every shift trying to fight through that and the way that these guys play too always uh grabbing and hooking and holding and all of that it’s it’s a lot so then I feel like when when there’s less chances and it’s harder to get chances maybe he’s overthinking it a little bit more like you said about with the uh the lower finishing rates when he actually does uh get a bit of open ice it’s like oh well I’m I’m not finishing my chances lately so let me pass it off to someone else especially when you’ve got dry settle on your wing right and especially on those power plays they’re always going for that one-time to him uh but yeah it’s just it’s so crazy to me that this can still happen with with the best player in the world because like uh just not to make it about the sense but we’ve been watching Tim Stutzler for the entire last two seasons basically doing exactly what you described where he he had a wrist injury at the start of uh last season and so he really couldn’t shoot the puck at all and then he’s like all I’m going to do is pass now and then this season fully healthy he still had that full pass mentality where he’s just not confident in his shot anymore and so it’s it’s kind of funny to to watch the Sen star player doing that for a whole two seasons and then you’re watching the Stanley Cup finals and the same thing’s happening to McDavid but I think it’s just again because Florida’s so good uh making uh making chances is hard whether it’s actually a chance for McDavid to shoot or to pass it off it’s just so much harder to get those chances that when you do get them it’s like it’s like “Oh what do I do?” kind of yeah it’s so funny you know like to see how it’s perceived when a player goes through something like this with McDavid and it it’s probably not the right place to get into like this in-depth conversation but you know I watched it just not this current season but the season before with Cole Cfield where you know like the shooting percentage goes down and everyone’s like “Oh well he’s just not getting the same scoring chances that he was before.” And then you look into it you’re like “Actually he’s getting more.” And like not only is he getting more chances but his chances are coming from in closer in better shooting areas is just not converting and it’s like the assumption of what’s actually happening during a slump is so different than what’s actually like the story for the player right like what’s going on mentally in their head is so different so I understand some of the frustration I think with with hockey players in the way that things get portrayed in media because the facts don’t get reported on really like it’s just I see this not happening so therefore player must be doing something bad and like McDavid’s doing nothing bad but now it’s at the point where you’ve got that nag in the back of your head that just tiny moment of hesitation And at this level at this point in the season there is no tiny moment there’s no tiny moment that you can take even for Conor McDavid i think at least the encouraging thing for Oilers fans is that we’ve seen time and time again uh specifically McDavid and Drive Settle be able to uh pull up with big performances when their team’s backs are against the wall so at least there’s that like it’s I’d say it’s not looking good right now but would anyone really be surprised if McDavid puts up like four points next game no no not at all i I think that’s the the biggest thing that Mc Edmonton always has that in their back pocket right winning two games in a row for this team it could happen easily mhm and and and we’ll get to that in the third period here we’re going to transition to the second period in a moment uh before we do I want to tell you all please to subscribe to Game Over Edmonton because we’re doing something cool here and make sure that you like this stream share it with your friends and uh check it out make sure you also subscribe or I guess follow all the contributors to this channel including Ash Jubilee you can find her at on whatever social media below including Avery Lewis McDougall uh Austin Harrison and of course Graham Mosman who has done so many daring things this year in this first year with Game Over Headmon it’s been really incredible and of course follow our good friend here Mods Sko Blocker who did you put your in the in the description mod I don’t think I did i think I forgot that’s okay it’s It’s Mod Sko on most things right there you go so you’ll find her she’s there all right and we’ll transition to the second period all right mod I wanted to hit you up with a continuing story from our good friend Conrad Krower who Right right brought up the idea i think it was after game two did he host it yeah that this is kind of the year of the rat and I guess I just hadn’t been paying attention to like the counting stats in these playoffs i didn’t realize how many goals Sam Bennett had i know he’d been having like a good playoffs but holy crap Brad Marshon has been the guy in the Stanley Cup final and then you’ve got like Cory Perry having another great year uh you know Matt Kachchuck is still there with Florida and he’s had a great Stanley Cup final here so he was more bang on than I realized at the time and he continues to be proven right every game of this series yeah like at the time it was a very accurate description specifically of game two where you had all those guys scoring marian with two Perry and Bennett both getting on the board as well and I think actually might have been Evander Kane scoring in that game too who’s got a little bit of that feistiness in him as well though he hasn’t been nearly as much of a factor as these other guys that we’re going to talk about but yeah Brad Marshand now has four goals in his last two games in Rogers Place just absolute ridiculousness from him and he is the king of all the rats like for the last 15 years in the NHL it was it was 14 years ago that he was in the final winning the cup with the Boston Bruins and he he was already uh becoming notorious around then for being a player that really gets under your skin like I’m pretty sure uh after that he was like easily the most hated man in Vancouver for the next few years after those finals and somehow he’s still doing it and he’s scoring at a way better clip than I would have expected too um cuz I remember before the Stanley Cup finals I was uh listening to a podcast and they were talking about who do you think for the K smite some someone said Brad Marshand and I was like okay he’s he’s about point per game but he only has four goals in the first three rounds and he has six goals in the Stanley Cup finals now for for a total of 10 and he might be him and Bennett are the front runners now with the Panthers up 3 to2 in the series like I would probably lean Bennett but just Marian putting his name in the conversation in such a big way can’t believe what this guy’s still doing at uh at this age even though he’s not even the oldest player in the series which is funny yeah i mean hockey writers who vote on this are very much the what have you done for me lately crowd and having a Stanley Cup final like Marshon is having now is going to put his name on there and the fact that he’s also a veteran that all these guys adore because he’s a fantastic quote he’s a character he gets on everybody’s nerves on the ice he’s like the ultimate competitor ultimate teammate but also the easiest guy in the world to hate for so many reasons whether it’s intent to injure you know the trash talk that likely goes over the line a lot more than we hear and you know just the the the diving and everything and the fact that he’s good he’s so genuinely good and it’s probably not gonna make me popular with anybody watching this or frankly myself but I have to give Brad Marshon some flowers because I I Yeah did you think you would be saying this like within the last few years you like I hate that guy like you wouldn’t want to say anything nice about him honestly I thought that he would fall apart a lot more than he has after the major injuries that he dealt with i think it was like the last year of Berser Berseron’s career and then after Berseron retired I thought it was going to be a big drop for Marshon and there was a drop undoubtedly which might have just been the Bruins being the worst team at that point for sure goes to goes to Florida and then it’s like right back up to scoring like crazy exactly right and like the scoring was never the issue I think Bersan in or Berseron sorry conflating Habs and Bruins here Canadian’s brain yeah Canadian’s brain too late at night for the Eastern with kids but I I I found that Berseron insulated him a lot defensively that allowed him to open up for some of those offensive opportunities and when Berson was gone he was like “Well I’m just going to still go.” And he scored like crazy but the underlyings kind of collapsed but he’s such a good player especially in a good situation with good talented players and I was thinking back throughout his career whether it’s in the NHL or internationally even as a junior has there ever been a time a big moment where Bur uh where Marshon was called forward and needed to do something where he didn’t show up like he shows up the only thing I can think of is I if I remember correctly game seven against the Blues 2019 I think he had a bad turnover on one of the goals but still they I think they lost that game like two nothing or two to one so low lowscoring game it’s not like uh like anyone else was really able to produce any offense either but but you’re totally right that this guy has just been clutched throughout his whole career he absolutely has and like he’s back here for a reason he’s such a competitor and you know like he had there was a profile on him midway through the playoffs i think it came out where he was talking about like he had to be this player to be noticed and I think that kind of sucks that he felt like he had to be like the dirty rat guy in order to be noticed for his hockey talent at a young age small guy but you got to give it to him he found a way and he has been unbelievably successful in his career is probably going to be a Hall of Famer i would not especially if he gets the Cons here then that’s like clinched it for sure 100% that clinches it mhm and you know it’s interesting that you brought up uh the dynamic with Berseron and Bourjon sort of being able to take the defensive duties while Marshand can uh take more risks whereas today his second goal started in the defensive zone off of that Dzone draw and he forces the turnover and pressures Jake Walman like crazy manages to squeak through so you you see that he has that ability now to to be able to be great at both ends of the ice and turns defense into offense into a goal 100% and his second goal was you know further forward on the ice but very similar he’s the one who’s forcing the play right and creating something almost out of nothing and he just he finds a way he’s so crafty with the puck and that that goal yeah like Walman played it terribly but that goal happens because Marshon just doesn’t ever give up on it like at no point in his mind yeah like I thought he was done multiple times in that break where he just he lost body position he lost like his stick on puck and he just keeps going he’s so annoying but you got to love him at the same time and on the other side in Edmonton Cory Perry is now is this the fifth out of six years that he’s in the Stanley Cup final yeah oh my god if he doesn’t win one like if the Oilers can’t pull this off for him that’s like I I know he’s uh not the most well-liked player around the league like similar to Marshan he’s he’s the one that all his opponents fan bases hate uh but that’s just for any player that’s heartbreaking to make the final that many times at the end of your career and not win one i know that he did win a cup in his second season in the league but that’s a long time ago now and I think uh I think there was a quote I could be wrong but he said something about like he wants to win this for his kid so that his kid can see him with the cup and have that day with him so I I hope I hope the Oilers can pull it off because that’s that’s what what is that luck it’s the reverse Pat Maroon right of just going to so many finals and losing them all instead of winning them all oh man he must hate Pat Maroon so much so much can you imagine cuz on top of like just being there like Cory Perry has been a valuable contributor on every single one of those teams even in Dallas I think he was playing like with a broken foot like a severely broken foot yeah and I think he had an OT winner in those finals with Dallas i’m pretty sure he did and like with Montreal he scored big goals he sacrificed his body for big goals i specifically remember one against I think Winnipeg where he took a like ridiculous cross check to the mouth and like split his lip open and that allowed somebody else to sneak in and score i think it was Eric Stall like he puts everything on the line just like Marshon so he earns your respect those guys do earn your respect uh when you watch them closely as annoying as they are to play against or to uh to watch it’s funny hearing It’s funny hearing Eric Stall’s name brought up because you you’ve got him working in the Sabres management now while Perry’s still going somehow like somehow Perry is still super effective like four years later after that which is just ridiculous and uh like the the the most up part for me is that he joined Tampa right after the last two cups that they won and then and so it’s like oh I’m going to go to the best team and then no couldn’t get it done has has there ever been anything like this for any player in the history of any team sport to make at the end of a career to make the final that many times in such a short amount of time and not win like if LeBron James didn’t win that one with Cleveland maybe you could put him in that same category but he’s so much better than Perry at this stage that it’s kind of like an apples to oranges comparison and the NBA is also so different mhm and like Perry’s jumping across multiple teams and continues that’s the thing there’s so much parody and he keeps picking the right team every year or at least the second choice of they always lose in the finals but he picks one of the teams that gets to the finals every year which is just crazy it is absolutely wild he’s like the Henri Rashard of losing the Stanley Cup yeah oh my god what a what a title to hold it’s a very bad title but you got to find a way to get there right so you got to give him that how is it possible for him to I’ve never seen anything like this i don’t think anybody has especially like adapting your game as you get older cuz he was always a pest but like he’s noticeably a very slow skater now but he still manages to find a way to be effective and he’s become uh like with Heyman out of the lineup he’s like the number one option that you want in front of the net and the fact that he’s been able to uh play a lot of first line shifts with McDavid throughout the these playoffs and not like slow McDavid down that’s that’s really impressive to be able to adapt his game despite uh probably not definitely not having the legs that he used to yeah that that adaptability I think a lot of it comes from intelligence you know I I remember seeing that when he was in Montreal just clearly he was not the same guy but he always found a way to contribute and be a valuable member of the team and that’s that’s a skill you know u similar to Marshon I feel like part of it is just like physical freak thing i can’t believe that he’s still such a good skater after like didn’t he have hip replacement surgery or something like that like it was something crazy he was supposed to miss a whole season and he ended up coming back after like two months that’s always crazy to me when these guys come back so soon it’s like oh yeah he’s going to be done for the season and then he comes back in March how like how do they do these things i mean a lot of medical care that us people would never ever get access to because it would probably cost millions of dollars the best doctors in the world I guess absolutely all right coming up next we’re going to talk about can the Oilers actually win this because that is the question on every Oilers fan mind right you got to be wondering is it possible to beat this ridiculous Goliath of a Florida Panthers team two straight times once on the road and then back home in Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup in Edmonton it’d be pretty damn cool oh yeah oh I mean watch watching the Stanley Cup being won at home is always the coolest mhm it kind of to be honest I get kind of annoyed when it’s on the road like unless it’s really the team that I’m rooting for I’m like “Okay you guys could just lose and then get it at home next game you know?” Like I think uh Ash from Game Over Edmonton she was saying “I don’t even want to like we could win tonight but I want game seven regardless just because she wants to see that celebration on home ice cuz it would be so much better it’s getting the loud home crowd with a cup celebration as opposed to the depressed fans of the losing team it’s it’s just so much better so I mean Florida will have a chance to do it in game six but hopefully we’ll be back Edmonton for game seven yeah I’m really hoping so i think most people want to see another game in this series as well uh yeah the general consensus seems to be like watching the two teams that deserve to be here battle it out like this has been good um Anthony P in the chat says “Does McDavid ask for a trade before or after July 1st?” I think you are vastly underestimating how loyal Conor McDavid is and how angry he would be to lose two years in a row i think he’s going to be somehow even better no matter what yeah that’s the thing is he’s he’s very clearly not a quitter i don’t think he would quit on the Oilers and uh and uh the city of Edmonton after coming so close two years in a row especially here like here’s the thing as well i just I had to double check but only one more year left on his deal uh so he’ll be in the position of either extending or potentially going to free agency i I wouldn’t probably foresee a trade request just because it’s like you’ll you’ll tell the team either I’m gonna sign or I’m not and then you go from there right yeah absolutely and I like if there was any possibility of that I think there would be rumors swirling already i think he’s as committed as a player can possibly be who’s not under contract for a billion years jeez yeah especially uh like if and if they don’t get it done too like he’s probably I feel like he’s the type of guy that would just blame himself and not like blame the whole city or or the whole organization and his teammates and be like like oh they’re not good enough i need to go somewhere else where it’ll be better like I think you would have the opinion of we are so close we have to keep trying you know yeah although we’re getting ahead of ourselves because the series isn’t over the Panthers do have a 3-2 series lead the Oilers do have a path to victory here I think but I I’m not sure if they can get over the biggest elephant in the room and it’s not the officiating or the style of play of the Florida Panthers there’s a goalending mismatch here and I’m the first person to admit that like I’m a goalie guy and when I watch Sergey Babski I don’t see it but I know that on balance he’s an absolutely incredible goalender who also sometimes is like the worst goalender in the league for like one season out of every three but man he gets it done and at the other end the Oilers not only don’t have a goalie that they fully trust but switch goalies coming into this game how do you feel about that one i think starting Pickard was the right decision just cuz he he saved the day last game even though it wasn’t exactly Skinner playing poorly before he got pulled it was just he was getting absolutely shelled and really had no chance on a lot of those goals in in game four but I I think it made sense to go with the guy who came in and got you the win and only allowed one goal on on whatever the remaining shot total was that Pickard faced uh so I think it made sense to go with him especially because up until today he was undefeated in the playoffs with seven wins uh and seven wins with each of the goalies which is which is pretty interesting i think it’s pretty rare to see that for a team in the Stanley Cup finals to not have like one elite goalie with the bulk of the wins but that’s part of the problem though like you mentioned the m mismatch against Babski uh Babski has the ability to just steal games that I feel like Skinner and Peard don’t um which is weird to say because Skinner does have three shutouts earlier in the playoffs but I feel like a lot of that was just really good team play from Edmonton back then and uh especially against a team of Florida’s caliber with the depth they have on offense i just I just don’t think him or Pickard have the ability to uh to just steal one for Edmonton and it’s just it’s just such a mismatch like you said but do you think that they should go back to Skinner for game six cuz that’s what I’m leaning towards at this point it’s like you tried Pickard and it didn’t work uh so even though Skinner got absolutely destroyed nine goals in four periods down there in Florida it feels like that feels like a bad idea to go back to him but I feel like you have to right yeah i feel like every time they’ve gone back to Skinner from Pickard he’s rewarded them right like that’s the thing is when he came back in in the second round that’s when he was at his best i think the backto-back shutouts right when he came right back in so you they got to do it right yeah i mean Skinner has been the guy that they’ve tried to trust the whole way through he’s the guy who was here with them last year he also wasn’t very good last year in the playoffs but he had his moments especially once things got serious after the second round last year but it’s it’s such a tough situation because I think at the end of the day they know deep down that neither of these guys are the guy like they’re they’re not good enough and they’re not you can’t trust them to be on the same level as Babski both of the next two games yeah you need to you need either Skinner or Picard to outduel Babroski two games in a row and I don’t know if that’s going to happen because that’s the thing even the the games that the Oilers won in this series they probably still lost the goalending duel like they I think they I I don’t know if they outshot the Panthers in game four but in game one they definitely did and so it’s like when the Oilers win they’re going to scrape out a win in overtime in double overtime against uh against these Panthers i don’t think we’re going to see the Oilers like you know winning 3 to one in regulation with an empty net or anything like that it just doesn’t feel like they have the goalending ability to be able to uh win a close one like that whereas to today Babski got a big lead but still comes down to a twogoal situation uh with the empty net and he did enough to get them the win get them uh and gets the empty net insurance i I just don’t think that we’re going to see a goalending performance like that from the Oilers goalies if they are to get back to game seven I think it’s going to be like another close high-scoring win for the Oilers it just feels like that’s the only way that it can happen for them in this series the two wins that they got and then all the losses uh allowing a lot of goals too yeah I I think it’s hard to imagine them winning any other way you’re right just with the cards that are on the table there’s very little chance that they’re going to pull out like a pair of two to one wins you know like that’s just not who the Oilers are and I think that if they were to try to be that team and do like the lock it down approach they’re abandoning everything that they are and they’re gonna get blown out of the water like that that’s how you end up having like listless games at the end of a series where you look like you have no energy when you’re too nervous to be your your own identity right and the Oilers have got to lock in and find what makes them special and find a way through because this Panthers defense is so suffocating like this was a slog of a game and I doubt it’ll be that bad the next one but if the Panthers score first it probably will be and yeah and the the Panthers have scored first in four out of five games so they they need to finally have a good start to have a chance right they need to be shot out of a cannon you know and maybe it’s not a wise thing to do for like the longevity of a game but if I were Chris Knobblock I would consider starting the game with like you stack dryidal McDavid together on a line and you run first line second line first line third line first line fourth line yeah keep the bottom six guys fresh for later yeah and you just run the hell out of them that whole first period try to build a lead second period split dry cidleid and McDavid then you try a more balanced approach to let them not be burnt in case things don’t go right but like they’ve got to try something to get through this offense other than that I would consider like last five minutes of every period go four forwards one uh one defense like really try not even strength oh my god like the the Florida Panthers are so good defensively i would mess around a little bit if you’re the Edmonton Oilers because they what have they got to lose it’s the Stanley Cup final you’re facing elimination you’re afraid you’re going to get embarrassed like game three that would be wild i don’t know we Yeah it’s at a point though where it’s like yeah what what else can you try like and like you said split them up later in the game to avoid McDavid and Dry Settle getting burnt out but I it just feels like how are you going to possibly win this thing without them getting burnt out like without putting them just to the max and playing 30 30 minutes a night for both like game six and game seven if you get there it just it just feels like you’re going to need those two guys to to will you to victory yeah I see Avery’s in the chat here uh he says McDavid is definitely staying in Edmonton dry Cidle wasn’t resigning if he didn’t know McDavid would stay yeah I I feel like that’s right that’s a good point 100,000% there’s no way Didle is like I’m going to sign my life away to a team that’s going to give up my best bud and linemate i don’t think so adam Firebear says they needed to address this so much sooner edmonton fans were saying that last summer i’m You’re talking about the goalending I’m assuming probably the goalending yeah I I had one more note on the goending too which this probably would have been a little more interesting if the Others had won tonight i was going to spin it as like a potentially like positive or interesting thing but just now I feel like that they lost and it feels like they might lose the series it it kind of just it show more so shows the importance of elite goalending to actually win a cup of just going back through like the past like almost 10 years I wrote down here of uh the teams that won the cup so like if you go back to the Penguins 2016 Matt Murray played every game they didn’t even play Mark Andre Flurry in that in that playoff run the next year they split between the two of them uh but still that’s that was two elite goalies at that time that’s like a way better tandem than Skinner and Picard well and I believe part of that was cuz Murray was injured too injuries too that’s the thing is there’s a couple other times in the list that I’m going to go through where the backup does play for a while and get some wins but it’s almost always because of injury and it’s never because of poor performance from the other guy i think I think when they switched back to Matt Murray in 2017 it was the the sends uh blew out flurry just in one game and then they’re like “All right we’re going to switch it up.” Uh but even then that was like they would have been fine no matter which goalie they went with I think but from there 2018 Braden Holby he didn’t play the first two games which they lost but then he played all 23 games after that wins the cup 2019 Biddington played all 26 games of their playoff run no Jake Allen played like less than a period um and then you have Vaselki with back-to-back cups and he played all 25 games and then all 23 games uh Darcy Kemper on Colorado 16 starts so I think I think due to injury Pavle Frano actually got six wins this is the interesting one he got six wins with only four starts so that means twice that Keer was pulled and France actually came in and got the win so that’s probably the most comparable one where it’s not fully elite goalending but I think you could say that Darcy Kemper is still like leagues above Steuart Skinner you know yes 100% um and then you have Aiden Hill played 16 games for uh for Vegas to win the cup and he was injured at the start of the playoffs so Lauren Braw played eight games and got five wins so again that’s another one that’s only because of injury and then as soon as Aiden Hill got back in the net he’s just in there and he he takes off and then 2024 Barovski played all 24 games so it’s very rare at least in the recent memory of the NHL to have two goalies going back and forth like I said earlier Skinner I think think I mentioned earlier Skinner seven wins and Peicard seven wins split evenly and you’re really not sure like who should be starting in game six of the Stanley Cup finals that’s a problem right like just it’s only the cup winners that I went over so maybe you could say other finalists maybe they didn’t quite have the elite goalending but hey maybe that’s why they lost right yeah 100% you know when we were talking earlier about uh the the goalending stuff and the splits before you even brought it up here I was thinking back of like Stanley Cup final runs that I could remember where there was a split between the the two starters or whatever and one that kept on coming up to me was I’m pretty sure Grant Fur and Andy Moog split a couple of runs for the Oilers in the early 80s before Moog was traded I believe to Boston he went to Boston yeah yeah and I I am a Andy Moog truther and people will probably get mad at me if I say this on an Edmonton show but I thought he was the better goalender between Moo and Fury and if you go back through their careers and you actually adjust their like save percentages for ERA and all that Moog comes out as like really good like really really really good and and Fur while very good comes out like closer to average but like similar to uh to Brod that he can just play a lot and he doesn’t suffer his performance by playing a lot so uh you know and that’s another thing too is we’re we’re in an era of the NHL now where you don’t want to overwork your starter in the regular season like the Devils used to just play Broder 70 games in the regular season and they’d only allow like 20 shots a game so it was like perfectly fine but uh but nowadays most teams are wanting to have either a really good backup or even a solid like 1A 1B tandem so that but then when you get to the playoffs these teams that win the cup then even if they have a really good backup you just want your starter fresh playing all those games cuz you know you didn’t overwork him in the regular season but uh the yeah the Oilers just don’t have the guy who can be the workhorse in the playoffs and in goal it’s just up and down roller coaster with with both guys yeah it’s funny about like this trend towards going with tandemss because I it’s weird enough I got to talk to Grant Fur I think it was like last year uh during the cup final run for for Bway and I did an interview with him and I asked him about you like going back in time would you have rather have like a good backup goalender that could take 20 games off of you and maybe extend your career and he was like no no like almost every goalie he was like he they want to play every night they want to be in sync with the team they want to feel rubber on their pads cuz if they’re not feeling rubber in their pads they feel like they’re losing their focus so like this I think that’s why a lot of teams that do tandemss go like one game on one game off just constant rotation to have it be as much of a regular rhythm as possible but but it’s interesting that it’s interesting that even with so many teams using those tandemss they don’t do it in the playoffs they don’t switch it up unless things go wrong like like Carolina for example is switching between Coachov and Frederick Anderson every game in the regular season unless one of them was injured which with Frederick Anderson that does happen uh but then in the playoffs you don’t want to see Coachov in there at all it’s just Frederick Anderson the whole way they rode him till the end until things went bad they tried to put coachov in but uh yeah we know how that went but it it’s just and same with the Leafs like Joseph Wool and Anthony Stolars tandem all year and then stole our starting every game of the playoffs against the sends and until he got injured against Florida it’s it’s like tandem is the way to go in the regular season and the Oilers had a good enough tandem to get them to where they are now but just you need that guy who’s elite in the playoffs yeah it’s kind of once again exposing that the NHL is a league of two vastly different sports the regular season and the playoffs are just a completely different animal and it seems like that difference is getting bigger and bigger every year and I feel like that’s a bit of an issue all right uh let’s let’s close it out here because I think we’re both you know it’s we’re Easterners it’s getting late it’s it’s getting a little late but before we do Mod can the Edmonton Oilers do this and overunder Conor McDavid in the next two games if there’s two games six points or 6.5 points we’ll say okay so the question of can the Oilers do it should I make it my actual prediction of what I could Will they do that will they do it okay my prediction is that they will win game six probably a really close one probably overtime again i don’t know if they win game seven i I think my prediction right now is Panthers in seven it which pains me to say i really want them to pull it off and yeah McDavid over under six points i’d say under I think I think he’ll have a huge game game six but we we saw the Panthers ability to just shut him Dry Cidle and the whole rest of the team down uh although they don’t even need to try that hard to shut down the rest of the team uh other than those guys on home ice too without having the top matchups uh so I I think they can pull it off because they they’ve been surprising us all playoffs they’re going to make it interesting i think they win game six but I I can’t confidently say that they take game seven that’s my prediction i think Panthers in seven i I think you’re you’re right on the money there my heart wants to say that there’s nothing that’s going to stop Conor McDavid from figuring this out but this has been such a different playoffs uh in terms of what is and isn’t I guess a penalty we’ll say it’s not the Four Nations faceoff where McDavid is going to get open ice there are going to be guys just on him like a backpack with everything on the line it’s going to be tough however I do think game six is going to be the game where the Oilers finally have their their good game against Florida and they’ll have a decent performance in goal just decent enough and just smash tomorrow uh not tomorrow next game in Florida and score like six seven goals i I feel like they’ll chase Bob and then everyone will get really overconfident going into game seven like “Ah Bob’s shattered he doesn’t have the confidence.” and Babroski will play fantastic because yeah it it was a little like that last year when they went back to Florida for game five where it’s like okay Panthers 3-1 lead they can just win it on home ice and finish it and I think the Orthers smacked them in that game and McDavid had that ridiculous assist to to Cory Perry um but then in the end Babski with the two to one win in game seven uh and the Panthers were able to shut down the Oilers offense so I think yeah I think they still have a big game left in them but I don’t know if they can do it twice in a row against this Panthers team yeah and if anybody could lead them through this it is like that McDavid dryidal duo like they can do amazing things but the uphill climb is extremely steep and unfortunately the hill has like I don’t know lava flowing down it in the form of the Florida Panthers they are an incredible team so we’ll see but I I’m not sure I I believe at this point make me believe edmonton yeah I I’ll be cheering for them all the way though i don’t want to sound I’m I’m being a pessimist but uh but I’m still all in on cheering for the Oilers 100% same here all right adam Firebar before we close out says “I’d be happy to listen to you too for a few more hours.” Thank you so much my friend i think it’s been a good show too i’ve really enjoyed this yeah yeah it’s awesome thank you for tuning in Adam absolutely and uh thanks to everybody who’s here with us live and if you’re watching on the replay make sure you like the stream before you check out and uh if you’re listening as a podcast you know throw us a rating on Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon or Audible wherever you’re finding this and I am Andrew Burkshshire here pitching in with Mod Skull Blocker from Gameover Montreal and Gameover Ottawa respectively but here for game over Edmonton as the Edmonton Oilers lost game five of the Stanley Cup final and face elimination in Florida in game six peace out
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