Team O’Meyer begins tonight

(96 Meier - 86 Hughes - 63 Bratt)

Pain

Unfair

Hey Montreal fans, guess who’s got 5 points tonight

Hey Montreal fans, guess who’s got 5 points tonight

It's not every day that a team can hold the Lightning to 4 shots on goal through the first period..... then follow it up by allowing ZERO shots on goal (1 goalpost) in the entire second

Cooper might have mis-stepped with his benchings the other night. You'd expect Tampa to be motivated if it had the desired effect, but the opposite seems to have happened.

They've had over .900 in the playoffs and it hasn't made a difference. I think the difference is their defense.
Edmonton is averaging about 35 shots against per game in the playoffs. Tampa was around 30 when they won their cups. Colorado was around 25 last year.
Overpowering offense may work more often than not in the regular season, with a variety of opponents, strength of competition, and levels of play.
When it comes to the playoffs where you are facing the same quality team repeatedly, and a consistently higher effort level, you can't rely solely on offense.

They gave up an average of 43 shots per game to Colorado last series. A .900 save percentage still means 4 goals against every game. Even with a .915 save percentage you're still more likely to give up 4 goals than not. Goaltending can only be expected to do so much. Over 40 saves/game is not a reasonable expectation, nor a recipe for success. It doesn't matter how good your offense is.

Campbell may well be a mistake that will need to be corrected, but even with a Vasilevskiy behind them they'd still be hard pressed to win games with those numbers.

What's the point in quoting stats from last postseason in regards to this season? The back end is completely different (minus Keith and Russell, plus Ekholm and Desharnais) and there's a modicum of improved defensive depth among the forwards. It's an apples to oranges comparison.

The Oilers run a hot enough xGF% at 5v5 to suggest that the front end of this team is capable of winning rounds by itself. All they need is a netminder to not actively lose them the game. They just hung 11 goals on the Jets in two nights, a team with one of those x-factor netminders. Campbell gave up 3 bona-fide stinkers to Winnipeg last night. 3 beat him clean. Most netminders are perhaps on the hook for a bad goal against every few games. Jack is prone to multiple per start.

If a quality blueline and upstart goaltending was all that was required to win cups, the Hurricanes would operate a dynasty.

Tier List for the 2024 NHL Season, How I see teams doing as of now.

Still a bust imo

not now bot lady

4 2As baby!

With a primary assist last night, byfield now has 15 points in 35 games with pretty good underlying numbers. He doesn’t turn 21 till august. I think he’ll break out as a PPG player if he gets the opportunity next season

Pain

Hey Montreal fans, guess who’s got 5 points tonight