DisgruntledGoat*
Registered User
- Dec 26, 2010
- 4,301
- 27
I just rewatched this game and a few thoughts popped up that I thought I'd post here.
* 'Prime' Bob Cole was a joy to listen to. I had forgotten how good he was back in the day.
* Trottier was assigned to check Gretzky, and I was suprised with how he went about doing it. Everyone remembers Trottier as a gritty, physical guy and you'd have expected him to try and use that physical advantage against 99. Revisiting this series, what I realized is that he really didn't attempt that at all. To use a modern comparison, Trottier played very much like Datsyuk; stealing pucks, breaking up passes, and then being very quick to move it up ice and away from the Islanders zone. He was very effective and impressive in this.
* The Oilers used Gretzky and Messier as their main forward PK'ers. Very interesting choice, but as Messier was strong defensively and Gretzky, even shorthanded, was always a threat, it makes sense. Just interesting because you rarely see teams do this anymore, and the Oilers certainly had options as that team had a lot of role-players filling out the bottom six.
* Denis Potvin is still a joy to watch. On the Islanders first powerplay, he skated the puck from his goal-line to center ice then snapped a perfect, hard pass to the other side of the boards to enable Bossy to gain the zone. For all the talk about the diluted and high-scoring 80s. . . that is a break-out play that works in any era.
* On the subject of Potvin; he didn't play overly physically in this game, but such a self-assured defender, always in the right position. He reminded, actually, of Lidstrom but a bigger, more powerful skater. Did a puck ever get by Potvin at the point on the powerplay?
* Sather essentially just used his top lines on the powerplay. Kurri-Gretzky-Semenko for the majority, and then Anderson-Messier-Lindstrom. Good to note as too often Messier's production gets attributed to 99, and that's simply false.
* I forgot how fast Linseman was. He's remembered as, 'the rat' (deservedly) but the guy could flat out fly.
* Did it ever come out if Bossy was injured in this series? I was struck by how often he passed when in good scoring position. Weird.
* Messier was such a force. Didn't get a point, but Sather started both the first and second periods with Messier's line, and they really set the tone; crashing the net, hitting, aggressively chasing down loose pucks.
* Except one sequence in the second period where Trottier and Tonelli completely owned the Messier line. Trottier beat Messier clean on two Oiler-zone faceoffs, and then Tonelli walked him in the corner to get the puck out to Trottier for probably the Islanders' best scoring chance of the game. Two wily old vets doing what they did best.
* The Oilers were the more physical of the two teams. Dave Hunter, in particular, was just a nasty piece of work all game. Got into several stick-jousting matches, and threw some big hits. Of course, the Islanders didn't back down, and bodies and sticks were all over the ice all night. HFBoards would implode if hockey were played like this now.
* The Hunter-Hughes-McLelland line, in general, was a force all game long, and the Islanders really didn't seem to have an answer.
* No icing until about the middle of the second period. Very little crease-crashing or cycle-play. Just a lot of skating, chances off the rush, and hard physical play. A better brand of hockey all around, honestly.
* Tomas Jonsson was probably the second-best D on the ice, after Potvin.
* Great Coffey play in the third: Brent Sutter had a bit of room in the Oilers zone and looked to go wide to get a shot on net. Coffey took the puck from him and skated it all the way into the Islanders zone for a scoring chance. Coffey has never gotten enough credit for this; being able to skate a puck end-to-end at light speed IS a solid defensive play.
* At the end of the third, down 1-0, Arbour replaced Smith with Melanson to get a 30-second time-out while Melanson 'warmed up'. Totally forgot about this ridiculous rule.
* Edmonton used Messier, Kurri and Gretz almost exclusively in the last minute of the game to defend the lead. Again, interesting how often Sather would throw his top players out in all situations.
* 'Prime' Bob Cole was a joy to listen to. I had forgotten how good he was back in the day.
* Trottier was assigned to check Gretzky, and I was suprised with how he went about doing it. Everyone remembers Trottier as a gritty, physical guy and you'd have expected him to try and use that physical advantage against 99. Revisiting this series, what I realized is that he really didn't attempt that at all. To use a modern comparison, Trottier played very much like Datsyuk; stealing pucks, breaking up passes, and then being very quick to move it up ice and away from the Islanders zone. He was very effective and impressive in this.
* The Oilers used Gretzky and Messier as their main forward PK'ers. Very interesting choice, but as Messier was strong defensively and Gretzky, even shorthanded, was always a threat, it makes sense. Just interesting because you rarely see teams do this anymore, and the Oilers certainly had options as that team had a lot of role-players filling out the bottom six.
* Denis Potvin is still a joy to watch. On the Islanders first powerplay, he skated the puck from his goal-line to center ice then snapped a perfect, hard pass to the other side of the boards to enable Bossy to gain the zone. For all the talk about the diluted and high-scoring 80s. . . that is a break-out play that works in any era.
* On the subject of Potvin; he didn't play overly physically in this game, but such a self-assured defender, always in the right position. He reminded, actually, of Lidstrom but a bigger, more powerful skater. Did a puck ever get by Potvin at the point on the powerplay?
* Sather essentially just used his top lines on the powerplay. Kurri-Gretzky-Semenko for the majority, and then Anderson-Messier-Lindstrom. Good to note as too often Messier's production gets attributed to 99, and that's simply false.
* I forgot how fast Linseman was. He's remembered as, 'the rat' (deservedly) but the guy could flat out fly.
* Did it ever come out if Bossy was injured in this series? I was struck by how often he passed when in good scoring position. Weird.
* Messier was such a force. Didn't get a point, but Sather started both the first and second periods with Messier's line, and they really set the tone; crashing the net, hitting, aggressively chasing down loose pucks.
* Except one sequence in the second period where Trottier and Tonelli completely owned the Messier line. Trottier beat Messier clean on two Oiler-zone faceoffs, and then Tonelli walked him in the corner to get the puck out to Trottier for probably the Islanders' best scoring chance of the game. Two wily old vets doing what they did best.
* The Oilers were the more physical of the two teams. Dave Hunter, in particular, was just a nasty piece of work all game. Got into several stick-jousting matches, and threw some big hits. Of course, the Islanders didn't back down, and bodies and sticks were all over the ice all night. HFBoards would implode if hockey were played like this now.
* The Hunter-Hughes-McLelland line, in general, was a force all game long, and the Islanders really didn't seem to have an answer.
* No icing until about the middle of the second period. Very little crease-crashing or cycle-play. Just a lot of skating, chances off the rush, and hard physical play. A better brand of hockey all around, honestly.
* Tomas Jonsson was probably the second-best D on the ice, after Potvin.
* Great Coffey play in the third: Brent Sutter had a bit of room in the Oilers zone and looked to go wide to get a shot on net. Coffey took the puck from him and skated it all the way into the Islanders zone for a scoring chance. Coffey has never gotten enough credit for this; being able to skate a puck end-to-end at light speed IS a solid defensive play.
* At the end of the third, down 1-0, Arbour replaced Smith with Melanson to get a 30-second time-out while Melanson 'warmed up'. Totally forgot about this ridiculous rule.
* Edmonton used Messier, Kurri and Gretz almost exclusively in the last minute of the game to defend the lead. Again, interesting how often Sather would throw his top players out in all situations.
