The Day After 78.0: Edmonton Oilers shut the door on LA Kings in massive 3-1 win
Make no mistake: the Edmonton Oilers could be considered the best team in the NHL. Today marks day 85 in a row that the team has had the best record in the league.
Since then, nobody has posted a better points percentage than the Oilers’ .778. The Boston Bruins have been close with a .770, but next up is the Colorado Avalanche with a .724.
And last night, another win helped the Oilers continue to separate from the rest of the pack. It was another tremendous performance as they — for the second time in the last week — shut the door on the LA Kings. This time it was in the form of a 3-1 victory.
The Oilers took advantage of the Kings’ penalty woes with big markers from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored with the man advantage 11:30 into the second period, and later Leon Draisaitl, who would scored at the 12:40 mark of the third. Draisaitl’s was a big one as it came a little over two minutes after a long Viktor Arvidsson shot from the point found its way past a screen Stuart Skinner.
9 Comments
Let’s Go Oilers!
Let's all hope they haven't peaked too early!
this is the year. i feel it
Oilers are good but not that good and if they face the (Healthy) Kings they will loose because the last two games the Kings had 4 of their best players injured two top Dman and two top Forwards and Oilers barely beat them! Same with last years playoffs Kings with injuries took the Oilers to 7 games and twice Kings had the chance to eliminate them and these are all facts! also don't forget McDavid's dirty hit on Mikey that went unpunished both by the league and the Refs who favor the Oilers most of the time!
Just like i predicted before the season-i think its gonna be my Avs-& Oil in WCF rematch. I hope im wrong,as my preseason predictions had Edmonton beating us in 7 this time-before losing in the Finals to Carolina.
I always do another prediction before the playoffs,& I wont be picking Carolina to win the East-let alone the Cup,cuz losing Swetznikov,& Pacioretty…thats tough in the east. Im leaning toward the Rangers or Toronto now,but still have to see the actual bracket 1st. Ive picked Tampa to win the Cup 4 straight yrs,(last yr I had TB over Colorado in my preseason,& preplayoff picks-glad I was wrong,& we beat em)-but I think this is the yr that 3 yr grind finally catches up to Tampa. And youd think the Leafs will finally figure it out-at least for a round or 2.
As for the west,seeding is still totally up for grabs. Like Edmonton,we have a great chance to win our division,but also a great chance to end up 3rd. It doesnt guarantee anything by getting the better seed,& doesnt prevent you from making a run if you finish 3rd. But it does make the path a bit easier. Pacific winner will probably be 1 seed in the west,& get to play WPG,Calgary or Nashville. Any team can beat anybody in the nhl playoffs,unlike the nba. But thats an easier path than having to probably beat LA AND Vegas-if you are Edmonton.
Same for us-finishing 1st guarantees nothing,but a likely path of Seattle,then Minny-Dallas winner(with home ice)-is preferable to probably having to beat Minny AND Dallas.(without home ice for 1 series for sure-maybe both)
So I gotta see what the bracket is,& where these teams finish. But chances are,Ill be sticking with my Edmonton-Colorado WCF rematch. Im not sure if Ill stick with Edmonton winning-a lot depends on the Avs injuries. Since theyve been keeping the stat of "lost man games"-like 30 yrs ago,or something-the Avs this yr had BY FAR the most lost man games of any defending champ. And we arent talking a bunch of 4th liners or 3rd pair guys. Other than Rantanen,& Toewes-who missed a few early-every very good or great Av has missed double digit games-most have missed far more than 10. Considering the offseason losses,& especially the beyond ridiculous injuries-its actually a miracle we are even going back to the playoffs-let alone 1st place in the central-with 6 games left. Edmonton had their injury moments,but nothing us. In fact,no contender this yr has had to overcome injuries like the Avs have.
Manson,& Lehkonen are supposed to be back by the playoffs,& thats a must for us to win the west again. Landeskog we have no clue,& while I think its possible we could win the west without him-I think we gotta get him back eventually to have a good shot to actually repeat-even if its just Landy at 75% or something. Hes traveling on this Cali trip,but nobody seems to think he will play before the 1st or 2nd round-best case. So I need a bit more clarity on these injuries 1st. But I think theres a great chance we could see a WCF rematch,& I think itd be great for hockey in general.
But we shall see,Id love a Mckinnon/Makar rematch with Mcdavod/Drasaitil,& this year it wont be a sweep. I actually correctly predicted the matchup last yr also.(I had Avs in 5) But Avs arent quite as good as last yr,& have injury issues…Edmonton is probably a bit better than last yr-& learned a lot from that deep run last yr. Both teams have goalie questions-Oilers goalies just arent very good,& Giorgiev has been awesome,but has to prove he can do it in the playoffs.Avs still have a big edge on the blueline-when healthy we still have the best blueline in the nhl. But they havent been healthy all yr. We gotta get Manson back for the playoffs-his physicality is essential,especially vs a team as skilled as Edmonton. Oilers have improved on the blueline-especially trading Barie out for Eckholm,but Avs still have a big edge there. I picked us in 5 last yr,largely cuz of the bluelines,& playoff experience. The playoff experience edge is all but gone now that the Oil made a deep run last yr.1 reason I really would prefer to play Seattle 1st round-as you guys know ya gotta learn how to win in the playoffs,usually by losing a few times first.
But itd be great to see a rematch-I think that series goes 7 this time,though things are still to be determined on who Ill pick to win the rematch. And obviously LA,Vegas,Minny,Dallas,& the WCs wont be easy-theyll have plenty to say bout preventing that rematch. But the nhl would be the winner if we get a Colorado-Edmonton WCF rematch. Obviously ill take anybody if we make it back-but Id love to see Edmonton get back also.
I wouldn’t want to be up against the Oilers in the playoffs…I don’t care what team you are.,
0:33 it was actually only 5 total shots, LA 3 EDM 2. The first period was very boring honestly, but I am glad the Oilers beat the Kings at their own game 2 in a row. Go Oilers!
There was 5 shots total that first period
Skinner and Campbell can't let any weak ones by after game 82🥅