Tag: Edmonton Oilers

The NHL must suspend Alex Pietrangelo for his dirty two-handed slash on Leon Draisaitl

This was so dirty and deserves a suspension.

Alex Pietrangelo should know better.

And that’s especially true given the fact that he was just on the wrong end of a reckless cross-check to the face courtesy of Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane.

But there he was, with the Oilers sealing up Game 4 on Wednesday night and attempting to score on an empty net, taking his stick and slashing leading playoff scorer Leon Draisaitl with two hands, which very much looked deliberate and could be interpreted as an intent to injure.

After review, Pietrangelo was given a five-minute major and game misconduct, although it wasn’t a match penalty. Still, it’s time for Player Safety to take a look at this and suspend the defenseman for at least a game.

Connor McDavid clearly agreed:

The NHL has no choice but to suspend Evander Kane after reckless cross-check to Alex Pietrangelo’s face

Evander Kane has made yet another undisciplined play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Evander Kane is once again in hot water after yet another undisciplined play and the NHL has no choice but to act this time.

On Monday, during Game 3 of the Edmonton Oilers’ second round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Kane took a run at Alex Pietrangelo at the end of the first period. After the horn blew to signal time, Kane finished his check into Pietrangelo, cross-checking the Golden Knights’ defenseman in the face with this stick.

Kane was assessed a two-minute minor for cross-checking to give the Golden Knights a power play to start the second, as the play was as unnecessary as it comes.

While the officials on the ice gave Kane a minor penalty for the infraction, the Oilers’ forward has been stirring the pot all series long for Edmonton. In Game 2, Kane received a double minor and a 10-minute misconduct for roughing after this brutal scrum where he landed multiple body blows to a defenseless player on the ice.

Kane’s response to the Game 2 kerfuffle?

“When you want to [expletive] around, sometimes you gotta find out.”

Well, considering Kane has been at the center of two reckless plays in two games, surely now is when he finds out about consequences? Yes, the referees on the ice penalized Kane for the dangerous cross-check, but enough should be enough for him at this point.

Here’s how NHL fans reacted to Kane’s dangerous cross-check to the head of Pietrangelo.

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An Oilers fan trolled Kings fan Will Ferrell by copying his elaborate face paint

If you can beat em’, recreate their face art.

A resident of Southern California, Will Ferrell is well known for showing off his passion for the region’s professional sports teams. In particular, of late, Ferrell is a fixture at Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings — since both squads are in the playoffs at the same time.

With the Kings battling the Edmonton Oilers, Ferrell recently broke out some crazy face Kings-inspired face paint to show his love for his favorite hockey team. It’s cool to see such commitment from him, but there’s just one problem:

Oilers fans noticed Ferrell’s recent elaborate face paint and recreated it to a tee on Tuesday night:

If that weren’t enough salt in the wound for Ferrell, the Oilers have won the last two games — while scoring “face” goals — to take a 3-2 series lead and put the Kings on the brink of elimination. So, fans troll Ferrell’s face paint, and his team is losing the series. Brutal!

Zach Hyman’s face scored a painful playoff goal for the Oilers

OWWWW!

The Islanders goal scored Tuesday night off a facial deflection was pretty weird and wild.

But Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers topped him just hours later.

In the Oilers’ 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series, Hyman — who scored the overtime game-winner in Game 4 — was in front of the net when a slap shot from Evan Bouchard hit him right in the face … and then went into the net. It counts, although Hyman was of course in some pain.

It won’t surprise you at all to know that Hyman stayed in the game.

Connor McDavid zinged Paul Bissonnette right after scoring his 60th goal

This was such a savage and unnecessary roast!

Connor McDavid is on top of the world right now.

He’s the favorite for his third career Hart Trophy and has his Edmonton Oilers in a prime position for the upcoming playoffs.

On Wednesday night, McDavid notched 60 goals for the first time in his already illustrious career. He’s the fourth player this century to score at least 60 goals in a season (after Alexander Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, and Auston Matthews) and is the fastest to reach the milestone (just 72 games) in the salary cap era.

After scoring his 60th goal to beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 in overtime, McDavid was clearly feeling himself in an NHL on TNT postgame interview. He seemed to (understandably) be over the moon. When analyst Paul Bissonnette — a former NHL player — asked McDavid about whether he could get a special shirt the Oilers star was wearing to spark a comeback, McDavid responded with the most casual zinger:

PHEW. I personally love how McDavid barely cracks a smile while saying Bissonnette is where he should be. That’s what makes the delivery of the joke perfect. Hey, when you’re king of the hockey world, you’re free to say things like this in any tone you want.

Connor McDavid had the most hockey player answer ever about scoring 50 goals

You couldn’t tell if this was Goal 50 or Goal No. 1.

A two-time Hart Trophy winner, you would’ve thought Connor McDavid had done it all in the regular season already. But the best player in the game achieved a notable mark for the first time on Monday night: scoring 50 goals.

Yes, despite all the accolades and prolific scoring from his career to this point, the incredible McDavid had not yet potted 50 goals in a season. And as he steamrolls his way to a third career Hart Trophy, it’s worth noting McDavid did this in 61 games.

Even in a 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, it’s still something to see the Edmonton Oilers center outdo his own on-ice magic:

McDavid’s first time reaching the half-century mark for goals (along with at least 65 assists) in 61 games is also among the fastest in league history. It puts him in the company of some real legends:

But McDavid is a professional hockey player, and pro hockey players are known for focusing on keeping their noses to the ground whenever they can. So when the Oilers star was asked about what it meant to reach 50 goals, his answer was hilariously on brand:

I think I’ll speak for McDavid on this one: 50 goals is decidedly not just a number. It’s the latest hallowed accomplishment in a young career that is seemingly only growing in scope by the year.

Oddsmakers were so wrong about the Bruins, who are about to shatter their preseason points projection

The Bruins are absolutely cruising.

The Boston Bruins are having an incredible season.

They lead the NHL with a 45-8-5 record entering Monday, nine points ahead of the next-best team. They have a +95 scoring margin, which is 44 points better than the next closest team. And they’re still getting better, making a pre-trade deadline move to add depth — with more moves potentially on the way.

Heck, even their goalies are scoring these days.

It’s led to an incredible 95 points in the standings through 58 games, which far outpaces their preseason points total of 96.5. They can eclipse that number Monday against the Edmonton Oilers with 23 games left to spare. BetMGM likes them to do just that, favoring the Bruins to win at -140 odds.

Oddsmakers couldn’t have been more wrong about the Bruins, who they didn’t expect to be bad but weren’t exactly the highest on either.

After last year’s first-round playoff exit, Boston had the the 12th best title odds entering this season at +2800. Today, they’re the consensus favorite, holding +450 odds at BetMGM.

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MSU alumnus, Stanley-Cup champion Duncan Keith retiring from NHL

Former Michigan State hockey star and Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, Duncan Keith is retiring from the NHL.

Duncan Keith has made the decision to retire from the NHL after a 17-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers. Keith is almost a surefire hall-of-famer after a long list of career accolades including being a 4-time all-star, 3-time Stanley Cup Champion, 2-time Gold Medalist, 2-time Norris Trophy winner and one-time Conn Smythe Award winner.

Keith spent the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons donning the green and white as a member of the Michigan State hockey program before being a second-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks, where he played 16 of his 17 NHL seasons before rounding out his career with the Edmonton Oilers.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.

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Denver native Mark Hubbard not-so-subtly trolls Canada with Avalanche shirt on PGA Tour

“Tell Canada, I want them to know it was the Avs,” Hubbard, probably.

As they wait for their opponent in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s worth reflecting on the Avalanche’s path to return to the NHL’s biggest stage.

In the first round, they swept the hapless Predators. Nashville never even had a chance. Then, despite a little more fight from their opponent, Colorado dispatched the rival Blues in six games without breaking much of a sweat. Maybe next year, Jordan Binnington!

Finally and most notably, they steamrolled Canada’s last chance at a Cup in 2022 by sweeping Connor McDavid and the Oilers. That makes it 29 years since any of the NHL’s Canadian teams last hoisted the Cup. Can you imagine a country loving a sport so much and never winning its top prize? Tough scene.

During the RBC Canadian Open on Thursday, Denver native/PGA Tour golfer Mark Hubbard made sure to remind the hometown fans of that fact in the funniest way:

Look at that confident strut after making his putt. That’s a man who knows he’s making himself a public sports enemy and is absolutely reveling in it. Sorry, Canada. Maybe, finally, next year will be the year.

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Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl deserved better in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The NHL playoffs are cruel, and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl know it only too well.

As it turns out, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl can’t do it all.

The Edmonton Oilers season ended Monday night in the Western Conference Final after being unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. Artturi Lehkonen had the game-winner for the Avalanche in the 6-5 overtime loss, sending the Oilers home packing after a frustrating and unsatisfying end to their season.

There’s probably no one more disheartened at how Edmonton’s season ended than the team’s two star players, McDavid and Draisaitl. After all, the pair led the playoff field in points by a wide margin, with McDavid posting 10 goals and 33 points and Draisaitl right behind with seven goals and 32 points.

The next highest point total from a player in the playoffs? Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers with 24.

It’s been 32 years since the Oilers hoisted the Stanley Cup, with this trip to the Western Conference Final the first for McDavid and Draisaitl in their tenure with the team. Given how good Edmonton was for a majority of the season, there’s room for optimism with this team for the future. The Oilers finally seem to have gotten a talented supporting core around their two stars with Evander Kane and Zach Hyman, something Edmonton can build upon in the seasons to come.

And yet, McDavid and Draisaitl deserved better than what they got in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

After yet another season of both McDavid and Draisaitl cresting over 100 points, the pair were the most electric players in this postseason. The Oilers were never out of it when McDavid and Draisaitl were on the ice and it showed. The two combined for just five total games out of 16 played in these playoffs where neither were able to notch a point, with the Oilers going 0-5 in those games.

Not only that, Draisaitl was clearly battling a leg injury for a good portion of these playoffs and yet still managed to put up four huge assists in the deciding Game 4 against the Avalanche.

It’s just a shame the rest of the Oilers weren’t able to rise to even a fraction of McDavid and Draisaitl’s level in the Western Conference Final. A lot of the focus will be on goaltender Mike Smith, who collapsed in key points during this series and gave up some truly awful goals this postseason. The 40-year-old goaltender had some standout moments in the playoffs, but it’s well past time for the Oilers to move on.

The problem? Smith is signed for another season in Edmonton at $2.2 million. It’s a tradable contract for sure, but it’s one that’s indicative of the process that’s still holding this team back from truly being great.

In the Oilers postgame press conference Monday night following their playoff exit, McDavid discussed the process Edmonton has gone through in recent years, which landed them in their first conference final since 2006.

“It feels like it’s steps right?” McDavid said, via NHL.com. “Every team kind of goes through it. They become a playoff team and then they get there most years and then they go on a little bit of a run and they learn that lesson and then it becomes their time to win.

“You look at a Colorado team that’s been in that situation many, many times, and obviously they’re knocking on the door right now. It’s a step in the right direction, but that’s all it is.”

That’s all it is, but it could have been so much more.

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