The Anaheim Ducks are a cowardly organization. This much we know is true of any hockey club that employs Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa, and Corey Perry. But after the events of this series we know without a shadow of a doubt that they are afraid and it starts from their coach and flows downhill from there.
Randy Carlyle is afraid. He’s afraid because he knows the Oilers can beat his team. He’s afraid because he knows the best player in the world is playing on the other side. He’s afraid because he knows the only thing he can do to tip the scales in his favor is to cheat. And people cheat because they’re afraid. Afraid of staring into the eyes of the inevitable failure that will come with a team whose core is over 30 and in the same division as Connor McDavid.
He’s afraid. And so is Ryan Getzlaf. And so is Ryan Kesler. They are afraid. Cowardly, even.
It starts before the series even begins as Randy Carlyle starts to cry about the imaginary Oilers seen only in his mind’s eye petitioning the officials about faceoffs. He’s played it out 100 times in his head how he’s going to cheat on faceoffs, either in the dot itself or by making illegal line changes, and that the Oilers will protest them. He’s run the scenario in his head 100 times because it eats away at him at night and strikes him as the only thing he can do to prevent an Oiler win.
He flies his team to Kelowna, a safe space a province away from the game, because he’s afraid. Afraid of answering questions. Afraid of the pressure his team is under. Afraid that he’s seen the character of his club and knows if they don’t get away they will crack. And removed almost 900 kilometers away from Rogers Place, he finally feels safe enough to lob another bomb towards the officials. This time he suggests that Connor McDavid, finalist (and eventual winner) of the Hart and Lindsay trophies, is getting the “white-glove treatment.…
Interesting comments when one could say pretty confidently that Ryan Getzlaf has been given carte-blanche to commit as many infractions as he would like against McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins. It’s been well documented that he’s been tripping, hooking, and holding players who are making plays with the puck but has not been called for it. So what’s this “white-glove… business?
Same thing as it always is. It’s fear. He’s afraid. The Ducks are afraid. They’re afraid that the officials are about to start calling all the hooks and holds on McDavid and other Oiler players and when that happens it’s going to hurt his team. He knows that by saying these things he plants a seed in the brains of the officials (good luck growing anything in there). If that seed takes hold and buys him even one more non-call that’s a scoring chance wiped off the board.
The odds are that he’ll get that non-call. It’s too much to hope that the officials will see through Carlyle’s cheap ploy and do the opposite. It’s too much to want them to call everything that Getzlaf and Kesler have been getting away with up to now. It’s too much to expect them to call that line-change behind the defense a too-many men penalty as is supposed to be the standard.
The Ducks have played well in the last two games, but they’re still down 2-1 and running out of room with the officials to keep abusing McDavid and company. They know it.
And they’re afraid.
LINEUP
McLellan appears to be going back to the standard lines.
Maroon McDavid Draisaitl Lucic RNH Eberle Caggiula Letestu Kassian Pouliot Desharnais Slepyshev
Klefbom Larsson Sekera Russell Nurse Benning
Talbot Brossoit
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Eberle Bounces Back. The whipping boy for this past several days has been Jordan Eberle. People are questioning his willingness to try hard, to engage physically, and to play a responsible game. That’s all after they’ve questioned whether or not he should be getting paid $6 million dollars or if he should be moved in the offseason. Basically, this is the week everyone abandoned ship on Jordan Eberle. The truth is that his inability to generate offense really is a problem for the Oilers. They need this guy scoring goals. That said, it isn’t all bad for Eberle. He’s line has still done a generally good job against key players on the other side of the ice and there have been games in the post-season where Eberle has played tougher defensively than I’ve ever seen. It’s just that after two rough games he’s being singled out. And even McLellan after game 3 said he wasn’t getting enough out of his scoring winger. If I told you David Desharnais would have more goals and points than Eberle after 9 playoff games would you have believed me? Not likely. McLellan isn’t demoting him to the 4th line after these tough games, but you can be sure that he’s challenged him to bring more. The Oilers need their 2nd line to produce. They have 1 goal between them on a combined 54 shots. Not good enough.
2) Get To Getzlaf. A brazen cheater who takes advantage of a weak-willed officiating crew that he may be, Ryan Getzlaf is likely the most dangerous Ducks player on the ice. All he’s done this series is manhandle the Oiler’s best player, cut through their defense like a hot knife through butter, and pick up 4 points through 3 games. All the focus has been on how the Ducks would stop McDavid and Draisaitl, but the reality is Edmonton needs to find an effective way to stop Getzlaf. So far there isn’t a single defense pairing on the Oil that has managed to contain him effectively. Nugent-Hopkins has a marginally positive shot attempt percentage against Getzlaf, but he’s still finding ways to get on the board every game. This is going to be a long series if the Oilers cannot find a way to take away his offense. He has the size to bowl you over and the passing ability to make you look stupid if you give him too much room. It’s no coincidence that he’s a great player and has been his whole career.
3) Manage Pucks at the Point. I was hopeful after game 2 that the Oilers would manage the puck better for game 3, but that wasn’t really the case at all. The Ducks continued to pressure the points aggressively on Oiler breakouts and they continued to feast on Edmonton’s inability to get out. Silfverberg’s 2-0 goal was Draisaitl not getting the puck out. You’ll see three Ducks: 1 engaging along the boards, 1 at the point, and 1 in the middle of the ice to form a triangle. They keep it. Puck goes in. Getzlaf’s unassisted marker to make it 3-0 was a brutal breakout play by Nurse who abandons a pass or his skating ability to ring it around the boards, except the only player on the boards was Getzlaf. Goal. The 6-3 was the result of Eberle failing to make a play with the puck high along the boards as well. It goes out, there’s no goal. So that’s three goals in a 6-3 loss that could have been avoided with better puck management. Right now the Ducks are abusing Edmonton high in their own zone and it’s creating breakdowns.
Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet. Game On!
Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy