GDT: WCSF #4 | "I Love High Glove" | Oilers vs Flames | May 24 2022, 7:30 PM MT | SN, CBC, ESPN/ 630CHED, FAN960

[TameYew]

This will be Calgary's dirtiest game yet. They will try to injure McD and Drai. Sutter's comments about their young guys getting intimidated by the fans weren't about cheering and noise, it was about what the Lame's were asked to do, and that was to play within the rules but injure anyone and everyone. This is Sutter hockey. We win by letting them take penalities and withstanding their storm. If Smith let's in a softy it will be a hard hill to climb.

 

[TheNumber4]

Sutter already identified the issue after Game 2. Said that individual skill sets are winning us games. No solution presented in 3 games already. McDavid continues to be literally UNSTOPPABLE. I feel good about this one, especially considering how fragile that Flames confidence and psyche really is. Our crowd got that whole team shook last game. We NEED to be even louder today. They are going to convince themselves that they got used to the crowd noise in Game 3, we need to take it to another level and blow their brains out with NOISE.

BE LOUD, BE PROUD EDMONTON FANS. Connor and the team need US to do our part.

 

[DrDrai]

If the Oilers can counter the Flames push then we will see those odd man rushes, they simply don’t have the speed to catch us going the other way. We need to finish those chances early and keep the foot on the gas.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yep they pretty much have to. If we can weather the storm early and not allow many goals (more than 2) I like our chances.

Once the game settles down, our top line and pp should take over. Scoring isn’t a huge problem, we just need smitty to hold down the Fort early

Not a fan of "weathering the storm". Thats what popped up in LA series and had us losing some games, and losing jump, and getting jumped.

If Flames come out with all kinds of initial jam then just rain on their fire. I don't know why teams don't do this more but in such moments tactically delay. Next time you're hit maybe start a fracas that delays the game, that ends up in matching penalties and minutes of sorting it out. Flames pull this all the time. They used it often in Dallas series. Its an unofficial time out and they do it tactically. No reason either for players not to just break a stick between whistles, then have to get new lumber or have a "skate issue" or get thrown out of a faceoff dot and slow the pace. If struggling find ways to slow the game. Lots of ways to have a timeout without calling a time out. Its something I feel the Oilers just don't do, and that they should. Veteran clubs know how to milk time and get some stops in a game to be able to compose and rally.

Flames at a faceoff will even intentionally start pushing opponent, they do it constantly. Its to get something going that delays the faceoff. Officials skate over, sort it out. Its tacttical delay. Flames do it when they feel they need a moment. Why don't the Oilers adopt some of that to stop moments in games that are going sideways?

 

[Kerberos]

Massive game. Need to take a stranglehold on this series.

Don't let the Flames throw us off our game. Take it to them and score first.

Hoping for a repeat of Sunday night.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

I just hope that we learned from Game 4 vs. the Kings. This series is far from over until the last whistle goes. Calgary will be out for blood and if they injure a key player even if we happen to go up 3-1 we could be in trouble. Keep your heads up and take it to them until the handshake line and even then squeeze the crap out of their hands.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Sutter already identified the issue after Game 2. Said that individual skill sets are winning us games. No solution presented in 3 games already. McDavid continues to be literally UNSTOPPABLE. I feel good about this one, especially considering how fragile that Flames confidence and psyche really is. Our crowd got that whole team shook last game. We NEED to be even louder today. They are going to convince themselves that they got used to the crowd noise in Game 3, we need to take it to another level and blow their brains out with NOISE.

BE LOUD, BE PROUD EDMONTON FANS. Connor and the team need US to do our part.

Sutter is tricky. Need I remind people of that? Flames could come out tonight with different looking structure, game play, numbers back, etc. By no means am I expecting a same game or a repeat. Unless Sutter himself is done and wants to go to the farm there will be changes, a lot of changes. The Oilers will have to solve a DIFFERENT puzzle tonight.

 

[soothsayer]

If the Oilers can counter the Flames push then we will see those odd man rushes, they simply don’t have the speed to catch us going the other way. We need to finish those chances early and keep the foot on the gas.

Agreed. The Flames have no answer to the Oilers' counter-punch transition, and that's why I don't agree with the strategy of a defense-first focus that some have proposed for tonight's game. We saw a little bit in the 3rd period last game of what can happen when the Oilers take their foot of the gas and try to play a defensive shell. It's not their game and it's not how they beat the Flames.

Of course, that doesn't mean they can play lose defensively; but their strategy has to continue to be a consistent "hunt" mentality, as Woodcroft puts it--always on the lookout for an opportunity to transition and attack against the Flames' shockingly immobile defensemen.

The Oilers gameplan should boil down to three parts: 1.) Attack; 2.) Attack; and 3.) Attack.

 

[bone]

Based on the scoring trend for the first 3 games the score will be 3-0 Edmonton.

Wrong the trend is the Oilers dropping by 1 goal each game, and Flames dropping to a third of their last game output, so Edmonton wins 3-0.333 (i.e. Calgary scores 3 but only 1 counts). Though if we round numbers out 3-0 works.

 

[McShogun99]

Wrong the trend is the Oilers dropping by 1 goal each game, and Flames dropping to a third of their last game output, so Edmonton wins 3-0.333 (i.e. Calgary scores 3 but only 1 counts). Though if we round numbers out 3-0 works.

I'll settle for a 3-1 win as well just as long as game 5 is 2-0 Oilers.

 

[FanOfSadTeam]

Hopefully the players aren't as overconfident as some people on here

 

[Drivesaitl]

Agreed. The Flames have no answer to the Oilers' counter-punch transition, and that's why I don't agree with the strategy of a defense-first focus that some have proposed for tonight's game. We saw a little bit in the 3rd period last game of what can happen when the Oilers take their foot of the gas and try to play a defensive shell. It's not their game and it's not how they beat the Flames.

Of course, that doesn't mean they can play lose defensively; but their strategy has to continue to be a consistent "hunt" mentality, as Woodcroft puts it--always on the lookout for an opportunity to transition and attack against the Flames' shockingly immobile defensemen.

The Oilers gameplan should boil down to three parts: 1.) Attack; 2.) Attack; and 3.) Attack.

Would agree. The Oilers success is built on impetus in games and playing front games instead of back games. Make Flames defend, spend as little time in own end etc. But we all know hockey can take weird bounces and that the initiative that this Oilers team needs to play with is also a dangerous double edged sword. One minute you're countering, 10 secs later you're countered.

As Barrie said the other day "there is no magic sauce" just playing your game and hoping the chips fall your way (paraphrasing) All a team can ever do is play its game. Something I call happenchance sometimes determines the rest.

Of course if the Oil are TOO focused on attack they an leave themselves exposed.

Game 3 fell amazingly well for the Oilers. Primarily 4 intricate plays where the Oilers magically unlocked, and made high tempo plays perfectly for those goals with letter perfect execution. The concerning thing is those nature of goals usually don't happen that much in playoffs and we got at least 3 magic goals last night from great players. But usually those don't go. We had fortune. I hope the Oilers realized it.

 

[bone]

Woody and the boys need to pro troll these assholes after their comments the other day , the entire team Should take the warm-ups wearing McDavid jerseys ...

I'm still laughing about Turtle's "they have one guy who plays half the game" comment like damn bro, you guys are getting beat by one guy?

Do we even know for sure that one player they keep referring to is McDavid. I mean there's another Oilers who has more points than McDavid despite playing on one leg. There's also a guy with 4 goals in the series and on Sunday one guy scored 3 goals in 7 minutes. Then there's also the 40 year old goalie who's only allowed 2 goals in the last 100+ minutes played.

 

[Stoneman89]

Some good bulletin board material from the usual idiots in the Flames dressing room. Both Tkachuk and Andersson said they are only being beat by one guy,and they just need to stop him. Of course we all know who that is, but that should give some extra inspiration to Kane, Hyman, Yamo,Smitty, Nurse and the boys. However, a cautionary tale - it also likely means they will try to do anything they can to stop McDavid and hope only a small amount get called.

 

[Mr Positive]

Game 2 was the really impressive one imo. Was that our first come from behind win this playoffs?

It shows how important the first goal can be. Getting the first goal would be huge in order to make the Flames sweat

 

[soothsayer]

Some good bulletin board material from the usual idiots in the Flames dressing room. Both Tkachuk and Andersson said they are only being beat by one guy,and they just need to stop him. Of course we all know who that is, but that should give some extra inspiration to Kane, Hyman, Yamo,Smitty, Nurse and the boys. However, a cautionary tale - it also likely means they will try to do anything they can to stop McDavid and hope only a small amount get called.

I loved those comments as an Oilers fan. It just screamed of low confidence--those guys aren't winners; they were already beating themselves with those comments.

 

[BlackDogg]

Has Calgary decided who is officiating yet?

 

[5 14 6 1]

Massive game, time to take stranglehold of this series men!

 

[Oilslick941611]

Hopefully the players aren't as overconfident as some people on here

its so bipolar here. 1 loss = worst team ever and everyone sucks, 1 win = best team ever and everyone is great.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

Some good bulletin board material from the usual idiots in the Flames dressing room. Both Tkachuk and Andersson said they are only being beat by one guy,and they just need to stop him. Of course we all know who that is, but that should give some extra inspiration to Kane, Hyman, Yamo,Smitty, Nurse and the boys. However, a cautionary tale - it also likely means they will try to do anything they can to stop McDavid and hope only a small amount get called.

McDavid is great and obviously our best player, but this isn't tennis of golf, this is a team sport and you need everyone working hard to win no matter what these 2 shitclowns have to say.

 

[Draino]

Canucks fan here in peace.

As a fan of the game and the sport I want the oilers to succeed because we are watching an all time great talent, up there with the likes of Gretzky and Lemieux, come into his own here in these playoffs. As a fan I must appreciate that.

Calgary's D has been exposed. Sutter/Treliving built that D for a battle of attrition. They tried to replicate LA's D when Daryl was winning cups there - big, punishing, great at boxing out players....but It cant handle Edmonton's speed - especially with Tanev out. Gudbranson, Stone, Zadorov have no answer, and are not capable of defending Mc David et al. Even their better D men look average at best right now.

Also, I have watched Markstrom for years. I know once he is tired, and is provided no relief, he is very average. To make matters worse I think the oilers are in his head. I dont see him improving much if at all. Believe it or not this is the calibre of Markstrom I watched as a Canucks fan in all his years here with the exception of his last 2 years where improved. Maybe we are seeing the real Markstrom here. Glove side high and blocker side high have always been weaknesses.

Best of luck tonight!

 

[DrDrai]

I think we already know McDavid is in their heads, as much as I think Sutter will try do scheme something, I do believe he might just be having a hands in the air type attitude. Seriously, how do you contain him right now?

Regardless of the level of sport any of us have played there is one guy that you just hope doesn’t score at least 3 goals on you because they are that good, even when you “shut him down” he gets 2 goals and a bunch of assists or other players kill you.

 

[bone]

Game 2 was the really impressive one imo. Was that our first come from behind win this playoffs?

It shows how important the first goal can be. Getting the first goal would be huge in order to make the Flames sweat

Not only was it their first come from behind win. It was the only in-game lead change all playoffs.

I was also the second ever Oiler playoff victory to feature goals by both McDavid and Draisaitl, and first where both scored goals with a goalie in the opponents net (previous win had a McDavid empty netter). The team is still just 2-6 in playoff games that they both score!

 

[redgrant]

Need to show them early on there will be a price to pay on the powerplay. Oddly enough the PP has been poor this series with little conversion. Hit them early and let them know if they even think gooning it up will be an option they will pay much much worse on the scoresheet.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

Huge game. If we lose the series advantage swings right back Calgary’s way.
We must take both at home.