...f***ing hell. They had everything locked down defensively, were looking like they were putting it on cruise control and then McLeod completely f***s it up. After swearing a blue streak at the TV I nearly had a heart attack watching the last few minutes. That guy can f*** all the way off man. Thankfully Knoblauch had enough sense to sit him for the rest of it.
Nuge with the clutch goal, and I still think Bouchard got that one they changed to Hyman but whatever. I still have little faith in Skinner, because even though the monumental f*** up was on McLeod, Skinner still had a clean look at the shot and he wasn't terribly out of position or too deep. He could have had that. Just... no faith in that guy, and I maintain that Pickard has been the better of the two even in a much smaller sample size.
Nevertheless they won. Took me a while to revive from the near heart attack and calm down. They looked pretty damn superb defensively all night (minus the last bit). When I see the likes of Draisaitl and Nuge and McDavid dropping to block shots, I know they're all in finally. Holloway finally shows some spark and was noticeably impactful throughout. Ceci, for all the shit he takes (from me just as much as anybody) had a HUGE goal, with a nice shot. And a special mention to the pluggers on the 4th line, who had some very timely shifts in the O zone building up a good cycle and maintaining pressure there. They were chiefly responsible for the Bouchard / Hyman goal I thought.
On to Dallas.. our old nemesis. Frankly have less hope for this series, as the Avs couldn't beat them and they are better than Vancouver. Way to gut out the win, Oilers!