Category: Hockey History 1917-2023

A dry well for the Oilers

SC 5 – EDM 1 Edmonton scored on their first shot of the game from a player scoring his first goal, they killed four penalties, won most of the faceoffs, had one Knights goal called back, and poured on the SOG for the second and third periods but ultimately the Oilers could not score.

Three more SOG after giving up the initial score of the game the Knights lose their starting goaltender to injury with eight minutes left in the first period and in comes backup Mr. Hill who covers the net like syrup and stops all Oilers SOG to finish the game.

Tonight New Jersey hosts Carolina in an attempt to tie the series at two apiece and Dallas in Seattle needs to win or faces an elimination game at home for game five.

Road teams crushed by four and five-goal margins and one OT

NJD 8 – CAR 4 The Hartford Whalers franchise was accepted into the NHL eventually settling in North Carolina once had eight goals against in the playoffs during the 1980 playoffs, it took 43 seasons for it to happen again.

Incredibly the Hurricanes score three SHG with one on a penalty shot and the Devils’ Luke Hughes in his NHL debut earned two assists with all three goaltenders that played in this game producing subpar performances.

FLA 3 – TOR 2 OT Florida’s Mr. Reinhart put forth an outstanding individual effort in overtime to push the Maple Leafs to the brink of elimination.

The Maple Leafs were at 61% faceoff percentage with a dozen more blocked shots and only four less SOG in regulation than Florida, yet the offensive players Toronto counts on, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Marner, and Mr. Nylander combined for one assist in this disappointing loss.

SEA 7 – DAL 2 During the second period the Stars launched 17 SOG at the Kraken’s Mr. Grubauer and he let one past him as Seattle took eight SOG and managed to score five times.

Seven different Seattle players scored a goal and Dallas had 14 different players on the ice earning a -1 to -3 for their plus/minus statistic with both Stars goalies playing in the .700 save percentage range.

A split affords the Oilers an opportunity to take charge of the series with the Golden Knights tonight with a win at home in game three.

Oilers beat the house

After taking 32 SOG and scoring five times with one player absorbing 24 PIMs the Edmonton Oilers after two periods earned a 5-0 lead and no one can blame them for possibly taking the foot off the gas a bit.

The Knights switched goaltenders for the third period and Mr. Hill stopped all four shots from Edmonton while sin city took 14 SOG scoring once as Mr. Skinner stopped a baker’s dozen worth of shots and posted a .968 save percentage for the Oilers.

There are three-game threes this Sunday with the Seattle-Dallas series tied at one victory apiece, Toronto having to win two on the road to tie their series, and New Jersey needing solid goaltending and two home victories to avoid the sweep.

A Tale of Two Schmids

CAR 6 – NJD 1, In five starts Mr. Schmid has two shutouts and has been pulled in the other three in what has to be one of the most bizarre NHL playoff performances by a goaltender, and in the other net Mr. Andersen is at the top of his game.

Carolina has scored 11 times in two games and the announcers proclaim it is not the goaltender’s fault because the Devils have only scored twice and have continuously come up short on the power play in the last two playoff games.

The Golden Knights and the Oilers will provide the entertainment this Saturday night in game two of their Conference Semi-Final series.

Dallas ties their series, and Toronto is down by two

FLA 3 – TOR 2, During last night’s games one team scored twice in five minutes while the other team scored two goals in one minute.

Florida’s Mr. Reinhart made a difficult behind-the-back pass from behind Toronto’s net to set up a Panther linemate for their first goal in the first period which was the difference in this game.

DAL 4 – SEA 2, Mr. Pavelski scores only once and it is the game’s only power-play goal as his teammates score the other three tallies, the Stars won nearly every faceoff, and Mr. “HOT” Oettinger allowed one goal all game until there were less than four minutes.

Friday night’s matchup between New Jersey and Carolina is game two of their series with the Hurricanes attempting to increase their series lead.