Tag: Edmonton Oilers

Alphonso Davies cements status as Canadian legend by attending NHL playoff game

In addition to being quite good at soccer, the Canada star is also a big hockey fan

It may be easy to forget now that Canada is the new overlord of North American soccer, but hockey also maintains a reasonable degree of popularity up north as well.

So it comes as no surprise to learn that in addition to being quite good at soccer, Canada national team star Alphonso Davies is also a big hockey fan.

Davies was in the building on Sunday night as his hometown Edmonton Oilers took on the Calgary Flames in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals – a series that has been dubbed the Battle of Alberta.

Attending his first NHL playoff game, Davies earned a rousing reception from the crowd at Rogers Place as the Oilers defeated the Flames, taking a 2-1 series lead (they have since made it 3-1).

Fittingly, Bayern Munich defender/midfielder Davies wore the jersey of the Oilers’ German star Leon Draisaitl.

“You saw in November against Costa Rica and Mexico, Edmonton fans are amazing,” Davies said, referring to two wins that helped Canada reach its first World Cup since 1986.

“Hockey in this country is big, especially in this city,” he added. “The fans are truly amazing and I had to come see for myself.”

Davies and Adekugbe bet on Battle of Alberta

Davies and his Canada teammate Sam Adekugbe, who is from Calgary, have put down a $2000 bet on the series, with the loser donating the money to a charity of the winner’s team, as well as being forced to take a photo wearing their rival team’s jersey.

Unless the Flames pull off a three-game winning run, Adekugbe will be posing for photos wearing an Oilers jersey in the very near future.

Davies gets Canada recall

In addition to his favorite hockey team being on the brink of the NHL’s final four, Davies got some more good news on Wednesday when he got his first Canada call-up of 2022.

Davies missed Canada’s final six World Cup qualifiers after being diagnosed with a mild heart condition in January.

The 21-year-old missed three months of action before making his return for Bayern in April.

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Oilers goalie Mike Smith gave up the worst goal to the Flames from almost the other end of the rink

Oh no.

Mike Smith, at 40 years old, has had his share of struggles in the NHL playoffs for the Edmonton Oilers (remember when he gave up three goals to the Calgary Flames in just 6:05 of ice time in Game 1?), who continue to win games thanks a lot to their incredibly stacked offense.

He gave up three goals on Tuesday, but the Oilers won Game 4 of the Western Semifinals 5-3. And one of those goals was an awful one, with Rasmus Andersson sending a puck toward Smith from the Flames’ zone … and it went in to tie the game at 3-3 near the midway point in the third period:

Ref during Game 3 of Flames-Oilers hilariously doled out a penalty to everyone sitting in the box

Everyone in the box is on notice!

The Flames and Oilers’ second-round playoff series has been an absolute barnstormer. A great rivalry in the “Battle of Alberta.” Lots of goals. High stakes. What more could you ask for?

On Sunday evening, with the series shifting to Edmonton (-105), both of these squads were probably on edge. Again: They’re already rivals, and now there’s a spot in the Western Conference Finals on the line? All opposition get out of the way because all bets are indeed off.

With the Oilers holding a commanding 4-0 lead midway through the third period, frustration started to set in for Calgary. And a usual suspect — one Milan Lucic — happened to be at the forefront of a roughing penalty that would turn into an all-out brawl:

What chaos!

Aside from Lucic (who was given a five-minute major): How does an official even begin to sort that mess out and designate appropriate penalties? It’s actually pretty simple, as it turns out:

“Everybody else in the penalty box!”

Shoutout to this official for the funniest delivery of a penalty we’ve ever heard and for adding more fuel to the fire of a playoff series only getting more heated.

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Connor McDavid’s ridiculous goal at the end of the Oilers’ Game 7 win had NHL fans in awe

What. A. Goal.

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs last night with a 2-0 Game 7 win over the Los Angeles Kings at home.

McDavid, who led the league with 123 points (44 goals, 79 assists), assisted on the first goal of the game and then sealed things late in the third period with a ridiculous goal that showed why he’s the best player in the entire league.

The 25-year-old center simply refused to quit on this play and put his team and his city on his back and lifted them into the next round with a goal that will live forever on his highlight reel.

Check this out:

Unbelievable.

NHL fans loved it.

Oilers goalie Mike Smith made an incredible pass to Connor McDavid to set up OT winner

What a pass from… Mike Smith???

You don’t often see goaltenders making passes like the one Mike Smith made.

On Tuesday, the Edmonton Oilers were deadlocked with the San Jose Sharks 1-1 in overtime after the away team engineered a third period comeback. Coming off a rush, the Sharks were looking to put things away early with a shot from Brent Burns, but Smith gloved the shot with ease.

Normally, in that situation, goaltenders would either freeze the puck or play it to a corner. Instead, Smith took a few strides out of his net and… made a breakout pass in stride to Connor McDavid streaking down the far boards.

And, of course, McDavid buried the shot on the breakaway, giving the Oilers the incredible 2-1 overtime victory off Smith’s stunning assist.

What an awesome moment! I also love how McDavid points down to Smith in his celebration before the pair hug to cap off the victory. Talk about a creative play to get McDavid the puck on a breakaway for the overtime win.

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2022 NHL trade deadline winners and losers

Monday’s trade deadline was a busy one.

The 2022 NHL trade deadline has officially come and gone. On a day that saw nearly 30 deals made — at the time of this writing, anyway — it was quite the chaotic afternoon, even though there were very few blockbusters made.

This year’s trade deadline certainly was much more active than the 2021 deadline, which saw fewer than 20 deals made on deadline day, so it’s fair to say the day went by quite fast. Even with over half of the league capped out, nearly every single team made some sort of trade or deal by Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. And hey, in a flat salary cap world, that’s not too bad!

Now that the rush has died down, let’s take a look at the big picture! Here are our winners and losers from a busy 2022 NHL trade deadline.

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Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl snaps back at reporter as tensions boil over in Edmonton

Leon Draisaitl is not happy!!!

To say things are going poorly for the Edmonton Oilers right now would be an understatement.

Since sitting atop the Pacific Division on December 1 with a 16-5-0 record, the Oilers have lost 12 of its last 14 games — including six straight defeats — and have plummeted out of playoff contention entirely. A big reason why is due to the Oilers’ goaltending duo of Mikko Koskinen and Stuart Skinner playing disastrously this year, with save percentages of .900 and .907 respectively.

However, around Edmonton, a lot of the blame has fallen at the feet of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two players who have each put up over 50 points this year and are doing everything in their power to drag the Oilers into the playoffs. On Tuesday, frustration boiled over during a press conference with Draisaitl, as the 26-year-old had a very tense interaction with reporter Jim Matheson after a question.

The original question Matheson asks — what the Oilers need to be better at — is a legitimate one, but things spiral once the reporter asks Draisaitl why he is “so pissy” at him.

Here’s the exchange between the two in full:

Matheson: What do you think is the number one reason for the losses now? Is there one thing in your own mind where you say ‘we’ve got to get better at that?’

Draisaitl: We have to get better at everything.

Matheson: Would you like to expand on that?

Draisaitl: Nope. You can do that. You know everything.

Matheson: Why are you so pissy, Leon? Why are you so pissy?

Draisaitl: I’m not, I’m just answering.

Matheson: Yeah you are, whenever I ask you a question.

Draisaitl: I gave you an answer.

Matheson: Not a very good one.

Hilariously, Matheson asks another question after that tense back-and-forth, but Draisaitl clearly is exasperated and his answer is curt at best before the press conference ends.

To me, this is a clear example of playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes. Of course being combative with the person you’re interviewing is going to lead to getting an acrimonious response in turn. Not only that, it’s tense all around in Edmonton with the way the team has been spiraling, so it’s no surprise frustrations are coming to a head here.

Honestly, Edmonton media should be pivoting their hard-hitting questions to general manager Ken Holland, who put the Oilers in this mess with his inability to craft a team around McDavid and Draisaitl, instead of the two players trying harder than most to will this team into playoff contention.

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Connor McDavid carved through the Winnipeg Jets defense for another astonishing goal

It’s magic.

Connor McDavid has done it again.

It being skating the puck through most of the other team and depositing it past a startled and dispirited goaltender at the end.

You’ll recall when he embarrassed the New York Rangers earlier this year in such a way. What he did against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night — tying a game that the Oilers would go on to win in a shootout (McDavid would score there, too) — might have somehow been even better.

To be fair to the Winnipeg Jets, McDavid pulls this off against Dylan Demelo and Logan Stanley, who rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in ice team this year among the team’s defensemen. Demelo is a below-replacement-level player according to Evolving Hockey, while Stanley is only slightly above. Adam Lowry is also captured on camera here but I’m not exactly sure he realizes he is supposed to be playing hockey.

But this is the impact McDavid has. He’s a singular talent, capable of doing this — and a dazzling array of other things that no other athlete in the sport can do — on a regular basis. Opposing coaches spend so much time and energy ensuring McDavid doesn’t get out there against bottom lines and pairings, because this is what happens.

By the way, McDavid is also right that he doesn’t get nearly enough calls. John Tortorella, an ESPN Analyst and former coach, told him to “shut up” about the lack of calls he draws, and McDavid shot back Thursday by saying “Guess I just gotta shut about this.”

But he doesn’t. He’s only drawn four, according to Natural Stat Trick. Two of the league leaders in this category (with 8) are 5-11 or below; the other is Matthew Tkachuck, who plays as if his salary is dependent upon making other players irate. It’s almost as if there’s a different set of rules for small players,

McDavid is 6-1 and skates like a genetic mashup of Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr who trained as both a speed and a figure skater before settling on hockey. He’s unreal. And other teams constantly commit penalties while trying to stop him. But he floats through it all and doesn’t get calls.

Whatever. A flawed Edmonton team is 12-4-0, good for first place in the Pacific, and ranks third in the league in points percentage.

Just for good measure, you can catch McDavid’s shootout goal here:

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Connor McDavid claps back at John Tortorella’s criticisms with tongue-in-cheek response

Connor McDavid has had enough.

When Connor McDavid of all hockey players gets cheeky, you know something must have ruffled his usually stoic feathers.

On Thursday, McDavid fired back at criticisms lobbied against him from former NHL head coach and current ESPN analyst John Tortorella. In comments made on air last week, Tortorella was harsh on McDavid — who has critiqued referees in the past for putting their whistles away against him — and stated that the Edmonton Oilers star needed to change his game to win in this league.

“Yeah and he complained about it a little bit, that he wasn’t getting the calls,” Tortorella said. “Quite honestly, just shut up. Don’t talk about it.”

“I do think he has to change his game a bit. Not turn into a checker, obviously. He’s talked about culture, he’s talked about standards, he’s talked about winning. You’re not just going to fill the net during the playoffs and outscore teams. You have to play on the other side of the puck. You have to have that business-type attitude of, ‘Nothing’s going to bother me, no matter how you’re going to check me.’”

It took a week for McDavid to be asked by the media if he deserves to have more calls go his way, and his brief — but effective response — was a clear shot at Tortorella: “I guess I just gotta shut up about this.”

According to Evolving Hockey, and via The Athletic, McDavid is 113th in the league with 1.21 minor penalties drawn per 60 minutes of play.

For a player as highly skilled as McDavid, there’s no way he shouldn’t be drawing more penalties as the fastest, most explosive center in the sport. The total of minor penalties per game has been dropping season-by-season as well in what is a clear overall shift of the NHL’s priorities in how the league wants the game to be managed.

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Connor McDavid scored the most stunning goal through 4 Rangers by himself

WOW!!!!

It feels like anytime Connor McDavid touches the puck, magic is going to happen.

And on Friday night, some serious magic did happen.

With his Edmonton Oilers down 5-4 with over three minutes left in the third period against the New York Rangers, McDavid had the puck out at mid-ice while one Ranger changed and a couple of Oilers needed to get out of the offensive zone.

Any other player might make a pass or gain the zone and dump it in. But McDavid isn’t any other player. He took the puck over the blue line with four — FOUR — Rangers surrounding him, stickhandled and used his otherworldly speed to score.

Goal of the year? Thus far, YEAH! Look at this!!

My. Goodness.

Unreal.

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