Canucks Lose 3-2
Series tied 2-2
MEETING OF THE POD: ROUND 2 GAME 4 - Vancouver Canucks (2-2) at Edmonton Oilers (2-2) - 14 May 2024 - 6:30PM PDT
GAME THREADLETS GO PETEY!
LETS GO PETEY . . . . . LETS GO PETEY
Pregame chant let's make it happen! Show how good of a fanbase we can be.
LET'S GO LEKKERIMAKI!... LET'S GO LEKKERIMAKI!
LEKKERIMAKI > PETTERSSON
I would die for Elias Petterson. Happy game day fellas.
Its amazing with the skill of our players...they cant do a simple give and go during the PP.. Oilers are so good at it
GM ADDED DEPTH TO PUSH US THRU.. our top line is nill.. hopefully we pass this round and our top line lit up next round if we make it ;-)
He's going to do it. He's going to ice Lekkerimaki and Pettersson is going to feast. Probably the worst case scenario is Lekkerimaki coughs up the puck, OIlers score, gets benched. But the best case scenario is Pettersson activates because his focus moves from feeling sorry for himself to taking this rookie under his wing.
I say scratch Pettersson, let Lekkerimaki play.
fans already turning on EP40, embarrassing
I’m trying to romaine 🥬 calm.
Im going on vacation to a cabin with my fam until Monday and I’ll be packing the essentials (a tv, 🍃, family jerseys and liquor. Let’s gooo)
Lettuce cheer for EP40 and romaine hopeful
It's crazy how much cleaner the COL/DAL series has been.
More importantly, the whistles are all reasonable. Meanwhile the East...
Just had a random thought, it's been a while since I thought of him, but I really miss Botchford. He had his controversial moments, but it felt like he really understood the pulse of the hardcore Canucks fan.
Trade Petterson and Demko for Luke and Jack Hughes this offseason.
Wtf
fuggit here’s my lineup for tmr
1: PDG Miller Boes 2: Lindy Petey Hog 3: Josh Blue Garly 4: Podz/Mik Suter Laff/PDG
You coulda nailed it had you been aware PDG is out for personal reasons
SCRATCH MIKHEYEV ASAP.
So apparently Bouchard is better than Hughes now according to fossil fuel fans. The delusion is on spectacular display lol
Mikheyev should be scratched or stapled to the 4th line. As garbo as EP has been, you cannot leave that russian floater with him if you wanna get a star player going. Get hoglander back in and maybe even podkolzin for some added forecheck pressure on that line. EP needs every help at this point. So tired of seeing him get all dejected from this awful slump.
Pettersson back checks no problem Petey forechecks no problems. What his problem is is that he can’t create shit on his own right now. Dude needs to watch 1000 hours of McDavid destroying people one on one.
Petey has about 40% of McDavids speed.
Yeah, not even about the speed, he’s so fast but when someone gets on their horse to chase him down, that’s when he cuts back and sends the defender to the nether realm, leaving him time and space to do what he wants. Hughes is the only guy we have that can come close to that ability
Regroup boys
Gay porn hard
Bouchard’s eyes are to close together, and his upper lip sticks out too far.. 🤓
Guy is so fckn ugly
Hasn’t stopped him from scoring unfortunately.
The under-bite helps with increased field of view.
You'd think the resilience and never say die attitude of this team woulda built up some good will, yet we mfs are still doubting hard after a close loss.
Playoffs are long and arduous, we're bound to have a bad game every so often and we still almost managed to steal it at the last moment. The boys are going to show up tomorrow like they always do for big games, they know what's on the line and I have faith they're going to get it done.
Yeah I agree, it’s moments like these that build legends so let’s see how they do. It’s a very winnable series.
How yall feeling about
Suter - Miller - Boeser
Joshua - Pettersson - Garland
Blueger - Lindholm - Mikheyev
Hoglander - Aman - Lafferty
Get Pettersson going and the third line are 3 good defensive forwards
Hey Lindholm, know you’ve played great but we pay Petey 11 million so we’re gonna have to bump him into your spot. That’s cool riiiight.
You really writing off Karlsson?
toch said hes not breaking up the top 2 lines. Petey needs to find something else
On the bright side, I know JR and Allvin are watching these playoffs, plotting what to do, and going to build a juggernaut for next year. I mean if they turned a joke of a franchise into going toe to toe with a cup contender in a few years, they can build a monster team.
Yeah I have a good amount of faith for what these guys will do. They’re so much more calculated and rational than Benning’s “run out of time” attitude
Suter-Miller-Boeser Hog-EP-Lekkerimakki Garland-Lindholm-Joshua Mikheyev-Blueger-Podz
Hughes-Hronek Soucy-Myers Zadorov-Juulsen
Please.
So still no word from the league about the possibility of a fine or suspension for Kanes crosscheck to the face...
There won’t be anything since it didn’t happen to McSpecialTreatment
Here’s my opinion: whoever wins tomorrow, wins the series in 7 in Vancouver. That’s been my opinion from the beginning & I stand by it.
Just watched some of the pressers.
Super glad to see Tocchett calling out players finally. I know he probably didn't want to say anything while we were pulling wins out of our butt, but it was frustrating to watch the team float around the ice yesterday. Petey in particular is mind-boggling to me. Man is obviously really fucking talented, but he has zero willpower/resolve. If he had half the energy that Garland has, he'd be unstoppable; just makes it even harder to watch.
After Demko went out, I never imagined the goalie position would be the least of our worries, and we're taking Ls because of our stars. High point is that it's still a really solid team that's shown they can clean up games if they put their heart in it. Silovs is so fun to watch, and the Oilers almost fumbling the bag yesterday after our performance gives me hope. Also, the fact that the Oilers basically always eke one out via a power play makes me feel better; they're so reliant on special teams that we have a good shot if we shut that down/avoid taking the penalty.
Obviously, 2-2 is a totally fine position to be in, so praying all the deserved criticism from Tocc/pundits light a fire under some of their asses. Go Canucks go!
Listening to SN650 and having an ad from the Gov't of Alberta about tradespeople moving to AB feels...misplaced at this time lmao
Possibilities of seeing Lekky make their debut have increased!
I mean it worked for Silovs but I would be absolutely shocked if they did. I honestly wouldn't be opposed to a line of EP - Podz - Lekk
My line up thoughts for game 5:
Suter Miller Boeser
Petey Lindholm Podkolzin
Joshua Blueger Garland
Hoglander Lafferty Mikheyev
Makes sense. Don’t dismantle Miller-Boeser, Lindy’s playing well enough that taking him off of Dak and Garland won’t be an issue. The thirst line reunites and hopefully that gets Teddy going offensively. 4th line feels pretty standard and reasonable given where all of those players are at offensively as of late.
Makes NO sense to break up the most effective line of the series. Petey said it himself - he wants to be the man and he can accomplish that with any linemate. His words, not mine.
With all due respect to Petey, those words are moot if he’s failed to do so and it’s gotten to the point where Tocc has to publicly hold him to account. It’s not a matter of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” for the Lindholm line, either. Garland and Dak are noted to be such an effective tandem together that you could probably sandwich any centre between the two. I honestly think Lindy’s playing so well in the playoffs on an individual level that he could hopefully elevate Petey’s play again. The only caveat being how Petey handles playing as a winger on Tocc’s system.
User deleted comment
18d
Despite his play being sub par this series - who do you sub Cole for? Juulsen?
Soucy comes back for G5 so he's in for Juulsen anyways.
Our defensive structure isn't what's losing us these games - it's our special teams. 5v5 we've been the better team all 4 games now.
The only reason Tocchet hasn't called Pettersson out before now is because the team was winning anyways and most coaches don't rock the boat if they lock up wins. It doesn't matter what anyone's cap hit is if, as a team, they're winning because ultimately the game is still hockey and not math or accounting.
But now that the time is ripe I wonder just how severe he'll call out Pettersson if he doesn't score tomorrow. He has praised Tortorella before and I wonder if Tocchet has some of that mean in him when the chips are down.
I don’t think he’s gonna be as vicious as Torts, or at least we haven’t seen it from him yet. I do think he’ll still call him to account, but not without the other players that aren’t playing well. He won’t put all the blame on Petey, but I don’t think he’s gonna let Petey get away with not producing if that occurs in Game 5 + 6.
Ya you're probably right but I just wonder because Tocchet was a mean, aggressive player.
Plus add to the fact that when Pettersson was called out as being too soft for the NHL before he even played his first NHL game he played superstar level hockey right out the gate. I wonder if Tocchet might take the kid gloves off and challenge Pettersson.
Oh yeah, I definitely recall how Millsy and Tocc both have to remind themselves if they ever get too heated in the face of competition. I love that firebrand style of leadership, but it’s clear that Tocc doesn’t want to get himself too riled up and tries to be even keel.
I would say he’s already challenged Pettersson to some extent with last night’s press conference by outwardly naming him after mentioning how there are passengers on this team. It’s almost like he’s asking Petey to prove that he’s not just free riding and wants to take charge.
The Canucks in the playoffs feel like me in university after discovering that I could write a paper in one night and still get a good grade on it, and they’ve finally been burned. It’s nice that they came back from a 2 goal deficit again, but they played horribly for ~45 minutes before that and for the minute afterwards — and tying the game with the goalie pulled is meaningless if you can’t even hold on until OT.
I guess the good news is they looked bad for so much of the game and Edmonton still almost blew it, so you’d hope that tomorrow we actually play like they want to win for 60 minutes lol.
Also, Cole is a problem — that’s 4 games now when his mistakes have directly caused goals against, and at some point you’re no longer getting “unlucky.” I get keeping him in (especially after Juulsen did what we were all worried he would do) the lineup, because he’s a veteran who you’re hoping will get back to his game, but I swear…if I watch one more failed clearing attempt from him on the PK 😩
Juulsen always plays better after a game or two being back. If he stays in and Cole goes out i guarantee we’ll see a better performance than what Cole would’ve given
I really hope that’s the case! I don’t know if the speed of the Oilers is catching up to Cole, if he’s just flat out tired after a round and a half of playoff hockey, or if he just broke about a dozen mirrors in between Game 6 in Nashville and Game 1 of this series (it’s not like he’s the only one making mistakes, all of his just seem to end in the back of our net). But every game, I think he’s going to prove that he’s a long-time player who can put bad games behind him, only for another mistake to cost us a goal lol. If we can get the best version of Juulsen then I’d love to see him continue to play.
If we win Game 5, I feel like we win the series. If we lose, I give it 50/50 we force a Game 7.
Spicy hot take... well, it's not spicy. But kinda warm. Still good, tho! And I agree.
I say it's a warm prediction than a hot take. Hahaha
Legorocks99 made a good point that I missed while watching.
Sleeper agent Ian Cole had three opportunities to get it out of our zone in the 1st period and botches all three attempts in the lead up to the JT Miller penalty.
I had the misfortune of noticing that in real time. All 3 goals were bc of egregious mistakes by us. Which is actually good bc if we clean those up we should win.
3? Shit I thought it was just 2. That’s a sad clarification that I almost wish I didn’t know.
As much as I hate it I think we might want to consider trading Pettersson next season because if he just can’t keep up in the playoffs what the point of having a regular season stud than goes to sleep when you need him to step up.
Even at the deadline I was fully in support of moving him for a pick prospect and lower end 1C on a good deal
If they could’ve swung for Thompson or Necas plus a few other assets I’d take it in a heartbeat
found kneejerk’s burner!
On the bright side, all my friends agree this is the best series of the playoffs
Wondering how you accidentally crosscheck 6'8" Tyler Myers in the face
With a ladder
Well that sucked
New line up:
Pettersson-Miller-Boeser (must get Pettersson going offensively)
Joshua-Lindholm-Garland
PDG-Blueger-Lafferty
Mikheyev-Suter-Karlsson
i don’t see how that helps us is my problem. Is Lotto significantly better than Suter-Miller-Boeser? It hasn’t been whenever it’s shown up. I’d way rather do Joshua-Blueger-Garland (we know it can work just as well as with Lindy) and put Lindholm and Petey together
At this point, I’d be in favour of sitting Mik for Pod or Hog
Mik kills penalties and Pod/Hog doesn't. That's why he still gets ice time ahead of those 2.
When the fuck is Corey Perry retiring? Not even counting his stick taunt antics he's just so fucking annoying.
Nah I got a kick out of that one. It was funny, you're just being too serious if you get mad over that.
What an idiot, just standing there with his stick at Boeser’s face
I wish perry tried it to be honest.
The dump and chase was abysmal last game, especially on our 4 min PP. We have some seriously skilled puck handlers on our end to gain the zone but I didn't see much of it last game. What's with the dumping and low effort chasing? Am I missing something here?
Petey has historically been the main PP entry guy and is by far the best at it, but he ain't got no mojo right now so they are using other people. The problem is that Miller and Boeser are pretty terrible at it, and even Hughes is struggling and has honestly never been amazing at zone entries despite being great at exits and thru the NZ.
So they get stuffed a few times, get frustrated, and then start half-assedly dumping it in instead. It's painful to watch.
The powerplay is horrid at zone entries, they tried multiple times and got stuffed so they defaulted into dump and no chase. It's been the same thing all year so I'm not sure why we haven't improved our entries by this point
That was one of the worst PP's I've seen. 1 shot on goal and nonstop failed attempts at zone entry. At one point during a PP, all 4 EDM penalty killers were down by the boards to win the puck battle from us (and they won and cleared the puck).
We need a few line up changes. I like the Lindholm line but Blueger needs to wake up and reuniting that third line could be a game changer. Hog was successful in a bottom six role. Podkolzin needs to get in just to light a spark. His effort alone should give the team a bump.
Podkolzin Miller Boeser
Petey Lindholm Karlsson
Joshua Blueger Garland
Hoglander Suter Mikheyev
Hughes Hronek
Soucy Myers
Zadorov Juulsen
I don't think I'd want to touch the Joshua, Lindholm, Garland line... they've been tearing it up each game. I could see reuniting the Lotto line as an option though
Joshua-Blueger-Garland tore it up in the regular season though, and Lotto hasn’t been good whenever it’s shown up (plus Suter-Miller-Boeser has actively won us multiple games)
I think it’s a matter of whether the line as a whole is gelling or if all 3 are just super solid right now. People have brought up that Dak and Garly operate as a tandem with solid chemistry that really boosts the centre between them. In that case, reuniting the Thirst line might get Blueger going.
I also think Lindy has been playing so well on an individual level that splitting him from the tandem would not be the end of the world. He can hold his own for sure
Four, 1-goal games. With slightly different bounces, this series could be over already, either way.
We can all see the flaws in our team’s play: Something is wrong with Petey, probably more than just mediocre linemates because he doesn’t look good on PP either, Ian Cole is incredibly unlucky or he’s taking Oil money under the table, and Noah Juulsen gets in a little over his head during the heated moments of playoff hockey.
It’s not a sure thing whether Demko would be better than Silovs.
idk if Demko would have been better than Silovs in 2 and 3, but I’m 90% certain he saves that shot at the end of last game, and certainly would be better than Silovs was in game 1. Not a shot against Silovs, he’s been way above expectations
Even if Demko is healthy to play, I would keep Silovs in until he has a really bad game (which isn't looking like it'll happen by the way he's playing)
This is in no way a slight at Silovs (he's been incredible) but I felt that last night showed the small differences between an elite goaltender and a good one. I could be wrong but Demko saves 1 or 2 of those goals, again Arty has been one of the few players to show up but if Demko is fit you play him.
Even Though Silvos is probably one of our best players out there right now, you don't sit the vezna runner up unless he's not 100% ready to go.
Don't think Demko would've changed the result of this series. We aren't losing because of goaltending, in fact he's the reason we were even competitive yesterday.
the team is more offensively minded with demko in net.
Reposting my previous comment
Wanted to also mention if Demko is ready play him, Silovs didn’t do anything wrong to be benched except the team plays better in front of Demko because they know if they play more offensively and make a defensive error Demko will bail them out, they probably don’t feel that way as much with Silovs.
Also GF stat per game is higher with Demko and lower with DeSmith/Silovs. No one mentioning this but it’s a fact.
Yes I agree, the team plays a bit freer when Demko is in net. As much as they deny they play the same way no matter who is in the net, I disagree and they obviously play the style they want to when he's in.
We need a shake-up to the lines.
I hate to spoil what has been working (between JT and Boeser) but regardless of whether we can even win this series, we need to get Petey going if we want to seriously make a run for the cup. Let's face it - at this rate, we won't get Petey playing to his usual self. But, we need to get him to at least capture 60%, 70% + of that if we can.
My proposal is to suit him with Boeser and see how that goes.
Mikheyev - Petey - Boeser
Hoglander - Miller - Suter
Garland - Lindholm - Joshua
Lafferty - Blueger - Aman
Yes, it's risky, but this gives 3 potential line combinations that can contribute offensively.
Alternatively, if we are going to stick to keeping our 1st and 3rd line, and we're content with just having Petey's line do nothing, I think we need to see Hoglander and Lafferty together on that 4th line. They were absolutely dynamite for us during large chunks of the season, consistently outscoring and outplaying their counterparts on the other team.
Petey isn’t getting going, he’s wimpy and doesn’t have his head in it. Lets hope he comes around next season 🤞
I would rather keep the Miller line together. Play Petey 3rd line minutes with podz and hog to see if they can generate anything. Lafferty blueger mikheyev on the 4th.
- Suter Miller Boeser
- Joshua Lindholm Garland
- Hoglander Petey Podkolzin
- Mikheyev Blueger Lafferty
Problem with that 3rd line is they will get crucified defensively if McDrai are out
Petey and pod are good defensively hog not so much but I'd be more worried with their offence
I agree but we will have home ice advantage so you'd have to manage their matchups as best you can. It probably means playing Petey only 12mins or so + powerplay.
There's no great solution IMO. If you want some secondary scoring you need to go to something like that. Or else you stick to what they've been doing which is an offensive black hole for Petey's line.
You could almost slot PDG in for hogs and now you have 3 guys that PK and should be good defensively but then we're back to the Petey line having nothing offensively.
If we could have capitalized just once during that 6 mins of PP time that's a whole different game.
I'd like to see Hog and Pod draw in next game, Mikheyev and Laf can drop to the 4th line or scratch them, they are providing absolutely nothing out there. We are treading water at 5v5 against McBaby and Crysaitl, then our 3rd and 4th lines provide zero offensive pressure as they just double team Petey until their one line has rested.
The Oilers only 2 wins in this series were basically OT winners, we could easily have swept these guys with a little more luck
It goes both ways, our first win was a big comeback win and they came super close to tying up that 3rd game. Neither team has deservedly had a stranglehold of the series.
True, but that doesn’t invalidate my point that we could relatively easily have swept this series. We also could have been swept ourselves though. Fun series
Yeah, I see what you're saying. All games have been really tight. I'm not gonna lie these two losses hurt because you're right, they were defined by the thinnest of margins. But we've dealt with so much losing and grief these past couple years, I believe in this group.
If we could capitalize on more power plays we definitely could have. Edmonton is so over rated it ain’t even funny.
I still think they’re decent but we matchup really well against them
Wanted to also mention if Demko is ready play him, Silovs didn’t do anything wrong to be benched except the team plays better in front of Demko because they know if they play more offensively and make a defensive error Demko will bail them out, they probably don’t feel that way as much with Silovs.
Demko still hasn't skated with the team yet, has he? I'm fairly sure he's not ready to go.
To be fair, they didn’t play great defensively last night and Silovs did keep them in the game with some stellar saves. The kid is incredible under pressure, as shown in his performance at the worlds and again these playoffs. He is stepping up for his team and I think you have to keep him in. Remember Demko hasn’t played a game in multiple weeks and we can’t afford a period of shaking off the rust.
Not disagreeing but if you look at their goals for when Demko is in goal vs DeSmith/Silovs it’s higher.
Fair point, I just believe that’s because of other reasons than our goaltending. It may not always seem like it, but this series has been as much of a strategic coaching battle as it has a battle on the ice, if not more. I think we’ve yet to see a complete game with perfect effort and execution, puck drop to end whistle, from either team. Looking forward to game 5!
Not saying this isn’t a coincidence but look at the score game 1 vs Nashville 4-2, that’s the only game in the playoffs that we won by more than 1 goal, all the rest have been 1 goal wins. We had Demko in net that game so I think it’s a little more than a coincidence.
I'm not clear why Hoglander was scratched, he didn't seem that bad to me. But then again, I'm not a coach. Seems a more decent option than Lafferty or Mikeyhev. Hog at least will mix it up.
Hoglander was just not accomplishing anything with the puck. He was winning a lot of wall battles, but then he would just throw the puck away or make a bad play with it leading to an easy clear. I think his leash was already short because of this and then he had an especially bad game where he wasn't forechecking well, which is something Tocchet just won't accept.
Mikheyev is forechecking well and PKs... obviously he's become a complete non factor offensively unfortunately. Lafferty, I have no idea why he's in the lineup still to be honest... I think he's been the worst forward for a couple games now.
Mik at least has size
Lineup should be something like this next game
L1-Pettersson Miller Boeser L2-Joshua Lindholm Garland L3-Hoglander Suter Lafferty L4-Karlsson Blueger Mikheyev
D1-Hughes Zadorov D2-Myers Soucy D3-Cole Hronek
Excuse me if I dont know if some guys can’t play on the opposite wing
Get cole out of the line up. He has had a HORRIBLE series
Juulsen made 2 big mistakes in both his games so far.
Hasnt Juulsen only played one game? Big fuck up though
He played 1 game vs Nashville when Myers was sick, if I remember correctly he made the same mistake like last night and got caught out position after a hit which caused a goal
I don't disagree at all, that hit he tried to make directly led to RNHs goal yesterday but Cole has been so bad and bad puck luck too.
Cole has been terrible but at least his mistakes allow for us to potentially recover. They're typically inzone mistakes on net getting the puck out. Which is terrible don't get me wrong and I wish he wasn't in the lineup.
But Juulsen's mistakes are almost always making a stupid hit that takes him out of position and results in an immediate grade A chance which is usually a 2on1 or something. That hit last night was beyond stupid and we have seen it time and time again from him. That play actually resulted in a 3on1.
So when is Kane getting suspended?
For the high stick on Myers? It wasn't nearly bad enough to be a suspension.
Hoping Kane gets suspended for that crosscheck to the head
We will be lucky to see him get fined. They will claim it's not a suspension because it was during the course of play.
Ridiculous bullshit reason
There were at least two shifts where Petey gained the zone, moved the puck to a corner, and then one or both of his wingers lost the puck battle and play went back the other way.
I hope we can see Podz get in. Petey needs hard-working wingers who can score.
I'd like to see:
Suter - Miller - Boeser
Garland - Lindholm - Joshua
Karlsson - EP40 - Podkolzin
Högs - Blueger - PDG
Keeps strong PK guys in the lineup, but Laff and Mikheyev need a mental reset. Högs has thrived in a bottom 6 role before, and if he can return to form could really tilt the ice in those matchups.
If Cole needs to sit, Juulsen can stay in but I wouldn't hate Irwin or Wolanin getting a game.
It's gonna be very tough having either of those bottom 6 out against McDrai. I know Mikheyev and Lafferty have contributed 0 offensively, but they have a lot more defensive experience then some of the other guys
100% see that with petey. It’s hard to generate offense when your line mates are inconsistent as well. Kuz was his sniper last year which gave petey a trigger man to play make with. now he’s left in no mans land and all the defense gets drawn to him whenever his line is out there.
I’m not mad, just disappointed. Canucks had no business winning that game anyways. We’re down 0-2 for 40+ minutes and we were pinned again in the zone multiple times. I don’t remember how many times I saw the ticker “Canucks current shift time in defensive zone”.
I was hoping for another Game 5 steal like against Nashville, but being outshot like that is not a winning formula.
Silovs was great again and he’s established himself as the backup next year.
Garland, Joshua and Lindholm are definitely not the guys Tocchet was criticizing. These guys have brought their A+ game all post season. Lindholm in particular is a playoff warrior. I love how he’s dominating Drasaitl.
Even if we get past the Oilers, a pedestrian Pettersson and Hronek will sink this team. The Stars have more depth than we do and are the most complete team in the West. This isn’t a dig at the Canucks, because I doubt Oilers get past them either.
Prove me wrong, Canucks! But the last 4 games have shown me you’re not there yet. Too many passengers on this team right now. Someone needs to generate sustained pressure before the season is done.
Im hopeful that getting back on home-ice allows Tochett to get some more favourable matchups.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see them load up the top-6 now that they are back home (Lotto + Lindy Line) especially because of how well that Lindholm Line has been playing.
The whole idea of getting Lindholm was getting another C you can play 18-20+/night so you could load up the Lotto Line.
Suter isn’t really scoring, Petey can’t really drive his own line… I think it makes sense to swap those two now that they’re back at home.
Yeah the home ice advantage will definitely help. Hopefully we shut down McDavid again. I predicted Canucks in 7 before the series. So we’re on track assuming everyone wins their remaining home games.
That said, I think if Oilers take Game 5, it’s over in 6.
Lindholm has been great but dominating Draisaitl? Dude has 10 points in 4 games against us, if anyone is dominating anyone it’s Drai dominating the Canucks. He has been by far the best player on the ice this series.
Ahem…maybe after Silovs…
Probably should be more clear. I meant in terms of face offs, hitting and just making things difficult for him. Drasaitl is getting half his points on the PP. Nothing much you can do there against a 48% PP success rate
If it weren’t for Lindholm, Draisatl would have way more points.
Honestly after sleeping on it, there’s still a lot of negative to still point out.
Petey certainly is one of the passengers right now. Beyond his linemates being offensively detrimental right now, his own individual play has still been lackluster, save for his defensive play. He really needs a mental reset, if we assume that Tocc was not lying when he said that Petey isn’t injured. Meanwhile, his linemates, Mik, Laff, Höggy, have all failed to provide any form of secondary scoring. Mikheyev is brutally snake bitten and always shoots into the crest. Laff had a strong first half of the season and has cruised quite a bit since. Höggy provided physicality but not much else beyond that.
On the blue line, Hronek hasn’t done much at all. Indeed, he might be injured, but that can’t justify his lackluster play to such an extent. Cole’s play in Nashville was great, but all the deflections and gaffes are reaching hilarious levels at this rate.
Still some positives though! Garland is an absolute workhorse in every shift. Brock has looked like his best self. Lindy is showing why Allvin and Rutherford were right in bringing him on for the playoffs in the first place.
Regardless, we need to really address our deficiencies. Give Petey wingers with more energy, or put him on the wing with Lindholm.
I think Hronek is pretty significantly injured. Look at his shots from last game. Absolute muffins.
Ya it really sucks to see him not shoot. Ugh
I can get over his lack of offense . But the play at the end of the game was a total cop out . He saw Kane coming and didn't even look at the puck .
Petey needs to open a x account making fun of himself to purge his inner demons
Funny enough, it seemed like everyone lightened up on Lu once his burner account was discovered.
Who are the people who were demanding the team sign EP40 before the season ended? 👀
Guilty as charged. Wanted to get that distraction out of the way, but I guess it has opened up other distractions I didn't anticipate. Kind of expected bubble Pettersson to show up when playoffs started despite slow end to season.
Petey needs to play better but I just don't understand what Tochett is thinking putting him with Mikheyev who has 1 point in his last 22 games and Lafferty who has 1 point in his last 20 games. You are effectively killing your own line.
Also, remember how good Podz played when Joshua wasn't there?. You are telling me he can't get once chance in this lineup which has many players not showing up every game?
That's kind of a double edged sword. Petey's substandard play has a direct impact on the production of his linemates too, and as an "elite center" making huge money he should be having that kind of impact on his team. He's not driving plays that Mikheyev and Lafferty aren't capitalizing on, he's certainly not outworking them. I'd argue Hoglander wouldn't be scratched right now if Petey was on top of his game.
You can put Miller with any two guys on the ice and know he's going to work his ass off to generate chances. You know Hughes will attempt to set plays regardless of his D partner. I can't say the same about Petterson.
Before we break up the two other lines. Who is more suitable? We have no one for him. We need to sign a player in the off season
Petey gets the puck, gets checked, falls over, loses the puck. Every. Damn. Time. At least he is playing good defense but still. Frustrating to watch.
Yeah, he's like Bambi on skates right now.
I was so disappointed that nobody blocked that shot that Bouchard took. Sure, they failed to clear the zone but then afterwards they all backed off. I was shocked that they didn't throw themselves at the shot, we've seen them sacrifice their bodies before.
They were already thinking about overtime because had we been up at that point, everyone would've tried harder to block that shot.
yeah there was literally two Canucks standing there and left the middle wide open for him to fire one through. As soon as I saw it get up to the point and the two guys standing there I knew it was going in.
The oilers big guns showed up last night and over half of our guys looked tired and/or nervous. If you play like that, you're in for a tough night when you play a team with that much firepower.
I know Petey needs to earn his ice-time at this point and show some compete, but he is playing with Mikeyhev who has hands of stone and Lafferty who is a fringe NHLer. Tough sledding for him to get some points with those guys on his flanks.
But even so, it's not like Petey is setting Mikheyev up for prime scoring chances.
I know I will come off as bitter, but still pissed off over that suspension. Soucy very well could have made an equally dumb play as Juulsen, but hard not to feel that was a huge gift for Edmonton him not being out there and did directly result in a goal. Still thinking I would prefer to see Juulsen over double agent Ian Cole though.
You’re absolutely right. We’ve got a built in excuse. Hopefully we’ll never have to use it
If we win the series, it will be a distant memory. If not, it will be what I use to cope until next season. Can blame officiating, Parros, Oilers bias, and anything and everything in-between.
I’m aware Boeser is a huge part of shutting down the McDavid line with Miller, but Petey always seems to play well with Boeser. there’s the Nashville series winning goal and also they looked dangerous when they were matched together last night. I wonder if there’s a possibility where EP, Miller, and Lindholm all do a rotation of wingers so that Miller gets Garland and Joshua to face off McDavid, EP gets Boeser and Suter to face off Draisaitl and Lindholm gets Hoglander and Mikheyev
Did anyone else notice Zadorov playing less and more timid in the second half of the game? Was that on purpose or was he nursing something? It’s like a switch was flicked off.
Looked like he was just playing overly cautious knowing that refs will be looking for an excuse to call something.
The conspiracy theorist in me was wondering if someone from the NHL spoke to him about his comments. He did not bring the fire I thought he would. Or he was just donee because of all the BS.
Good on Tocc for lighting the fire under the guy's arses. Yes we would've absolutely taken losing in the second round 4-2 at the start of the season, but there is a genuine chance to progress past the Oilers here and while Dallas/Colorado is another beast altogether, who knows what would happen if you make it there. If you get everything out of everyone and Edmonton win 2 of the next 3, when the dust settles we can say all in all it was a good season, but there's much more you can get out of a number of these guys
Sure, Petey and others could step up their game but our game plan should be adjustable so that the team competes for the entirety of each game. There were good chunks of time during every game in this series where the intensity and focus were lacking
Game 1 was by far our most complete effort. Everyone looks exhausted.
Not sure why the loss feels worse. I felt very confident we’d win the series after game 3 but after game 4, it feels 50/50 at best.
lol why does losing make you feel worse and less confident than winning? Come on guys
If anything we have a better chance to beat Edmonton in a best of 3 rather than 5 let alone 7. Sure in a vacuum thus loss sucks but coming into the series we couldn't complain about 2-2.
Yeah, we’ve got home ice advantage, Cal Pickard is their starting goalie, they’re running McDrai into the ground, all 3 goals came off the back of fixable mistakes, we weren’t expected to even make the playoffs, let’s fucking go guys
McJesus only played 23:12 last night, Crysaitl had 20:47.
I know. But it’s cumulative. Wouldn’t exactly call playing 23m a rest day. Plus after some icings McDavid looked gassed at times
It is, but it is also still concerning they managed to win while cutting their minutes.
It’s cause they got the lead early and we couldn’t score until the second half of the third. No point of double shifting McDavid/Drai if they’re not down.
These two loses just tells me that Canucks only have themselves to blame. Second game: bad defensive mistakes that led to multiple tying goals and eventually the game winning goal. Yesterday’s game: if Canucks played a full 60, we would have won.
I’ve been a big Petey supporter but he’s out of runway with me. Heading into game 5 round 2 and still hasn’t found his game? It ain’t coming back this season. I thought I was seeing signs of life until Tocc put Sam Lafferty on his line last night and we’re back to square one. No he doesn’t play with our best wingers but you don’t need any wingers to move your fucking feet. He doesn’t skate, Mikheyev doesn’t skate, Hogs has been incapable of winning a board battle. That line is sinking this ship.
Petey frequently plays as if he has to make up for his wingers mistakes.
He's on the wrong side of a fine line separating "too nice" and "self-absorbed and arrogant". As if his wingers cannot own up for their own mistakes, so Petey has to take care of them.
Completely agree that Petey needs to get his shit together and needs to play better regardless who he is playing with but man Mikheyev and Lafferty. You are literally just shutting your own line down. Those 2 guys provide nothing offensively. IMO Petey on wing with Lindholm is the play. You know Joshua/Garland will be okay with Blueger.
We need go with below lines. Need 2 solid players on a line at least. Petey with Mikehyev and Lafferty wont cut it.
Petey-Lindholm-Podz/Hoglander
Suter-JT-Boeser
Joshua-Blueger-Garland
Mikheyev-Aman-Hoglander/Podz
We have come this far thanks to Silovs, JT, Brock and Lindy while our franchise centerman totally going MIA.
Now it's time for EP40 to put up or shut up. This team can't go much further without him stepping up and everyone knows it.
If our playoff run ends with his pitiful stats of 1 goal + 3 assists, there'll be a lot of unpleasant chatters around him during this summer and beyond.
EP40 about to get the Marner treatment in Vancouver if he doesn't do something
also shoutout to Garland too who is showing what putting it on the line every shift looks like
That Smol Boy has become my favourite player this year. I'm heavily leaning towards picking up his jersey next.
There's been like one game this entire 2023-2024/Playoff run that I've had to question whether Garland showed up to play. Every time he's on the ice, you see him making an impact.
Am I the only one that feels like we’re wasting time whenever the 4th line is on? Even if they don’t play a “bad” game, I just feel like it’s a lot of nothingness
Yeah not a whole lot going on in either end of the ice. Not that I’m expecting too much but it’d be nice to have a sliver of offensive output.
Maybe petey should try putting an ice bag on his head during the intermissions
I didn't mind the look of the new 4th line. Aman-Blueger-Karlsson seems like an upgrade over PDG-Blueger-Lafferty. I think it's worth a shot going with a 3rd line of Hog-Petey-Pod just to see if they can get anything going. Don't think either of the former Leafs flanking Pettersson in Ilya and Lafferty have done anything to show that they need to be in the lineup (both have zero points!), so I wouldn't mind them sitting for a game or moving down to the 4th line. I don't want the top 2 lines split up. What a luxury if Tocc finds a line combo that gets Pettersson going.
Agreed. Karlsson and Aman look good, althoug Karlsson did get a bonehead penalty there. You cant do a hold like that in the playoffs, but he'll learn. He's impressed me.
At this point, I'd be on board with throwing Hog and Podz with Petey too. Mikeyhev and Lafferty are ghosts out there.
Time to bring in Hog and Pod. Laffy and Karlsson can sit. They bring nothing nor do they PK.
Start with Hog on Petey’s wing, then Pod if it doesn’t work. Double shift guys like Boeser/Garland/Suter/Blueger.
Also bring in Juuls for Cole. Cole is completely out of gas to the point where getting the puck out is a challenge for him. He’s caused goals against in every single game enough is enough. I know Juuls chased a hit but you’d be lying if you think he had a worse game than Cole.
Petey is such an enigma. Rookie season, last season, even first half of this season he’s a game changer. One of our best players on the ice.
Then on the flip side you have his 2021-22 season, second half of this season, and these playoffs where he seemingly loses all confidence and drags the team down.
Yes he needs actual wingers, but these cold spells wreck his confidence for long periods of time. If he finds consistency he can be a top 10 centre in the league.
LETS GO PETEY!!!
Hope the chant brings back his alien powers and he scores a hattrick in the 1st period