Edmonton Oilers take Game 1 of the Western Conference Final in 2OT

oh well, we've got jamie mclenon here, we've got marty bron, we've got darren dreer, our insider mcdavid's overtime felt like a longing three-part series where he

take

s the penalty and is stressed for four long minutes and then The network is open and there is more. stress and then play as Hero at the end, how did he

final

ly manage to win well? It was a great defensive play where in their own zone they can have a good defensive posture and then go through the neutral zone Ryan Newen Hopkins with speed and then wins a physical battle behind the net with Chris TANF dodges him and Evan Buard sees McDavid , that's a rocket ship pass to get to McDavid.

He does the rest with redirection, but it all starts with Ryan Nent's control. Hopkins McDavid is available on top of the puck, he reflects the puck, but then also a beautiful pass from Buard finds him and McDavid with the dagger and what the Edmonton guys did was they went to school with the Dallas Stars and how were they going to They broke the puck that we saw early in the first period a couple of times, just hard edges around the backboard, which sent a couple players scrambling and they knew the Dallas Stars weren't going to counter the other way, they were just going to keep it. . going and even everyone in the four checks McDavid himself, they are blushing left and right and Evan Bushard, who is the right defenseman, knows that I can pinch, I know that the Puck is coming towards me, so he thought beforehand where he could go to the bankruptcy.

The breakout was able to find McDavid, but it's about recognizing what the other team is doing on the breakout and stopping them as they try to

take

advantage of you in your positioning. McDavid has to watch, he would be delighted with any overtime goal, but I was triple excited about this overtime goal, yeah, I mean, let's show the double Miner for hitting high on Matt Duain and you know, Conor MCD was trying to argue in case you're probably thinking, okay, it's 17 seconds in. I have a chance here to end this overtime early instead, he's going to the Penalty Box, he might have ended this early, you can see here since we've isolated the mat so that Shane has Conor McDavid's stick pinned, he's holding that stick and that's why McDavid is arguing here, there's no doubt that the P or the stick gets up and hits Matu Shane and then later in overtime we're all sitting here wondering how this was lost.

I mean, this guy is possibly the best player on the planet. he waits maybe a fraction of a second too long Chris Tanov's stick comes into play and that will allow Jake Ginger to put the paddle down, so it was an incredible first overtime. I have a theory that it's so good and so smart that your initial thought is if you just shoot this right now, you're looking at the AER stick, it's going to go into the paddle, so I'm going to make sure there's no chance of it going into the paddle. and that hesitation actually makes OT Ander there, but man, what a moment and here it is. 97 uh, yeah, you know, it's always good to score a goal in overtime, um, great goal, great play by B as usual and um, yeah, it was like sitting in the box while Ked took that penalty, obviously, it What do the boys think afterwards?

I saw a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. long um miserable um I hated every second of it but you know the guys did an amazing job you know honestly um you know they were the penalty has been amazing um and stepping in there um 4 minutes um against a good power play You know I can't give them enough credit to those guys for the opportunity in the first one, the possibility of a and t having something like what you see in that sequence, yeah, I mean, I just have to put it in the net, it's that simple, you know.

I shouldn't have been in the net and I'm glad I was able to get the win. Otherwise we would have had a hard time sleeping, we're definitely going back to that PK Conor, what are you seeing from them that, in your opinion, has been so? successful, uh, they're so connected right now, so in sync, and skating and skating, you know they've got the extra guy, but you know sometimes you can't even tell you know they're skating really well and they're They're really well connected, like that which is fun to watch, you know you've been great during, you know, the whole playoffs here, this is another one goal

game

, you guys played another one goal

game

, you guys won, how much has that helped you? in your evolution of trying to get to where you want to be, ultimately you have to win close games, you know we're in the bottom four teams and, you don't get to the

final

four without being a great team, you know.

So all four teams are solid, you know Dallas is a great team and it's going to be very close hockey and we felt comfortable in these games, we felt comfortable in this environment and I thought we did a great job, honestly throughout the game. . I thought we played very well throughout the game and created chances, we defended well, I thought we did a lot of good things, let's say about the stew tonight, I mean, especially, that first thing, yeah, it was solid, solid, you know, we did some big saves. I think about the escape. Um, early in the game, obviously, the penalty kill there in overtime made some great saves during overtime, so you know he's super solid. um, you know, it was all we needed.

Shard puts that pu right in your faucet. Do you scream for that pass? Do you need to do it? He sees me all the way. You know he makes a great play. May I ask what the dispute was about the penalty? Did you think he hit his own? Mine, mine was, um, I don't know. what I'm supposed to do there, you know, I'm going forward trying to play the puck, it feels like I'm holding my stick and then it feels like his face, I didn't even feel the high stick at all, you know. I think maybe his face even falls on my cane, so I'm not sure what he was supposed to do.

Maybe it was just bad luck, I guess you know, but I'm certainly glad. The guys killed him in a game where you, the other team, are five. power plays with your uh you win the Special Teams battle you defend them well uh you know you guys win games a lot of different ways but this was a new way and a good way to win a playoff game in a way new. new way, yeah, yeah, well we can score goals from 5 on 5, you know, our power play has been good for a long time and it's been there for us when we need it and you know, but we can create opportunities. we can score goals five on five um when the power play you know, either we're not getting them or we're not, you know, necessarily as clean as we'd like, but I thought it was a complete game thanks to the fact that there's a There's a lot there, first, I love how we're building this.

You know, this big story is like a miniseries through his penalty and everything, and he scores the goal that we gave him and says, yeah, that's a pretty good goal. just another night for him, I talked about how long, really long, super long he was on The Penalty Box and my favorite part was how I think he basically accused Matt Duain of throwing his stick head across his face straight into the stick . part of the rule that says you have to be in a normal standing position if you're on your knees and you collide with someone's stick, it's not a penalty, but I think you know Connor is trying to argue that maybe you know they held him back and it was a little low but clearly it was high pain it was blood there was an injury so it was four minutes it was reviewed um I don't think you can defend that but maybe you can have the argument right but it's interesting because that's not a right of review mandatory and the penalty wasn't initially called on the ice, so the linesman, Eric Furat and Kelly Southernland meet and they meet and they discuss it and then they decide, well, let's take a look, it's in. our rules it's our discretion to take a look they take a look and identify that in fact there is a four minute high suit which is a smart way to do it because if you look at the video and it's not a high suit or it's a friendly fire, if it's a Puck, you can resend the penalty, but you can't send it back later.

It's like in international hockey, like in the junior world and in the worlds, where they started calling these f-minute Majors so you can see them. again and bring it down to two or whatever, the PK you talked about has really become the team story of these playoffs recently for the Oilers 19 in a row and those four minutes had to be the biggest, well they were the biggest . obviously, Edmonton ERS' penalty kills in the playoffs have been fantastic, they have killed 7 out of 40, that is 92.5% in the regular season, they were in 15th place with 79.5%, so sees a massive jump in penalties in the playoffs, but more so.

It's important to know that a couple of really important penalties in the first period there were two high danger chances against Stuart Skinner. The Edmonton Oilers did a fantastic job on the penalty kill to defend right around the box right in front of Stewart Skinner. The Dallas Stars had a lot of chances and shots on the perimeter, but they even had to kill 10 minutes of penalties, they basically gave up eight shots, so that's less than a shot a minute, which is a very solid effort and they trusted Skinner, he made two and saves early in the game, one on the breakaway, there was another Bend chance on the power play, so you trust your goalie, you can play a lot better in front of him that way, well, your best killer Penalties have to be your goal.

I just talked about Skinner making a couple of good saves, but he got a little lucky too. You know, he hits a pole. Robertson hits a post, one hits the inside of his left pad and comes out, but he was in good position and that's why he played. Very good tonight, I thought he looked very calm, but your best penalty killer has to be your goalkeeper, that's how it was tonight. Let's hear more reaction to the Oilers' Game 1 win. Here is Matías EOL. Yeah, I mean, during the playoffs we've had a good rhythm. Um, I feel like it's one of those things where, uh, you build momentum, uh, you build trust in the unit, uh, it's almost like we have some unmatching and some advanced matchmaking now that they've done it and they've done it successfully. and they have done it.

I'm confident in that, I said they had one in the post, so I mean it's not always going to work out the way you want, but I thought the kill did a great job tonight and obviously eliminated five, five penalties. I think that was what you can say about Conor. He took advantage of the opportunity again, especially if he takes that four-minute penalty. Yeah, I mean, we're not surprised that he's the best in the world here, so to see him get that one that he worked so hard for. and and uh, he took a good look in the first two overtimes to get it done, but um and from my experience of being here, he's not denied twice and so, again, the case was tonight, so it didn't really matter. who got it tonight, but obviously an important one was, someone got it and it was Connor and I'm not surprised that it was him when you started the series against a new team, there is a bit of fatigue and you like no one is there at all.

I'm sure how the teams will match up. What did you think in general? Your games against your game against Dallas' game. What do you think about the match? Well, they're obviously a very good team. They have shown it throughout the regular season, the playoffs. I've knocked out high quality opponents, um, but so have we and I thought we matched up well, I thought we played very well, I thought sometimes they had the advantage, sometimes we had the advantage and then that's how it's supposed to be be in the playoffs, so we know they're a good team, we know it's going to be a tough slog against them, they're very good defensively obviously and, again, I like the way we played.

I thought we had our looks, I thought, I mean, 3 minutes left, we were up, so I really enjoyed the way we played this game, but again, a win doesn't really matter in the long run. We have to be ready for the second game and now Oilers head coach Chris noblock, um, if you could, maybe you can give us some insight into Steuart Skinner's night from the first few minutes to the end. I thought St. solid I thought he made some key saves throughout the night he looked confident um you know, I thought his puck game was really good um and then a couple of saves let you know the one in overtime in the game kill with the blocker um something like that remind me the one he did in um pen kill 5 on three against Vancouver out of nowhere throw that blocker yeah me and then you know the game U tying the goal at the end of the third period you know off our skate towards the back door, he's I didn't have a chance at that, but yeah, I think he gets very high marks for his play tonight.

Center Ryan Chris has four shots with the performance like tonight, how do you evaluate the comfort and maturity of this team where you go up and tie? you go to double overtime you pass on Connor's penalty you win you see Connor score the game winning goal how do you describe what it's like to watch them do this knowing that this is another one goal game that you guys have played in another? Goal game You won, we have talked about this throughout the season about how mature and responsible they are, how they manageadversity, no matter what happens, whether it's a bad referee call, a bad break, a bad play, whatever it is, just keep going and get ready for the next turn and you know it can be pretty tough, just um, I thought we played a great third period.

I didn't think we gave up much and, um, you know, a little break. You know they earned it, they worked for it a little break from our skate to get us to the finish line, you know they can be tough on a team, they can be tough to regroup, but you know I didn't see any deflation from our guys they just stayed with that and then another time take a 4 minute power play or a ping kill or p for us to, um, start overtime and, um, you know, our guys knew what had to be done, it was almost like if our penalties were excited to get there and Alright, I have a job to do and we're going to do it staying in the same line Bob, I just want to get back to you, given the defined roles, you have this power play, maybe the best one that we have seen in 30 years.

You know, five consecutive years, more than 25 percent, but focusing and giving defined roles to the forwards. Three penalties. I think it's 19-19 in the last five games. It's the idea of ​​why they are so successful. A bit of luck obviously if pckl, but why? They were very successful, Chris, well, there is a lot of trust, that's the important thing, trust and guys working together. You look at that first penalty and there's some loose pucks and the competition and the energy to get those loose pucks, um, they were pretty good, but then Plays where they made those short passes, those short actions that they made to get the puck up the ice and there were three in that first penalty.

I thought they were excellent and, um, when things are going well and you have the confidence, that's how it is. Things are going well and, you know, thinking back to the regular season, right after the All-Star break, we had that break and the pickup wasn't good, we were just a step behind and I don't know, there's a lot going on right now. trustworthy and everyone knows how important it is and they are doing a great job, third row on the left Daniel Chris. I will continue in the same line. I mean, your first three kills were tremendous.

No? I think they did. three shots on net on those shots maybe four um, the last double minor in overtime with the game on the line was a little bit more complicated. Were you holding your breath? How confident are you in that? You know, four minutes being killed there. yeah I was holding my breath even though the k penalty no certainly not yeah they adjusted their power play they had some different looks and you know we're going to have to be prepared to see the next game and possibly some other. things um yeah, they have good players, they have good skilled guys that will have their opportunities um and when we had a little collapse um you know Stu made some saves um you know the goal post helped us obviously, but uh um, yeah, the best It's just that you know you shouldn't take those penties, stay in the same line Josh, what do you think when you see Connor with the game on his stick and the first overtime on his Mercy?

Well, if you know yes. we didn't take out that game, I'm sure Connor would have uh, I'm not sure if he would have slept tonight between uh, you know, I know he lost, he was obviously nervous about sitting in the Penalty Box for four minutes and um, you know how there was that glorious chance in overtime, you know it's only fitting that he was the hero to get that goal and you know I thought he had a really strong night tonight and you know I take my hat off to his goal scorer for making that second save. . left row Mark Chris, historically this is a team that scores, you have the best you know, power play.

Generally, uh, but you're winning games consistently. Now by a goal you are consistently winning 3-2, you are winning on a PK. Winning in the defensive game is kind of the big picture that this organization needs to get to in order to finally get to where they're trying to get to. We've talked about success in the playoffs. You know, the teams that are successful in the playoffs are good defense good defending teams teams that can control and play responsibly and you know there will be nights in the playoffs where we can score goals, but to win consistently we have to be able to defend, that's our biggest goal and I think we've done a good job on that and like any game, I've said it many times before, there are bugs, there are things that happen, just because that's the game, you can't play a perfect game, but we have to make sure .

We limited those mistakes and I think we've done a good job and when we made mistakes, we have to count on our goalie to make some saves and Stefa did that tonight.