Game Recap

Trying this for tonight's game, probably won't make a habbit out of it but hey, it's Sunday, what else is there to do. The plan is to write period recaps in the intermission, with no going back in time for edits! That's what liberals do!

1st Period: Pretty solid start, Pisani played quite a bit and had a long bout on the penalty kill. Is it me or does Anaheim just look slow? They looked like they were just waiting for things to happen, not forcing the play on the forecheck. They threw some big hits but more like followup hits, not forecheck hits. On the Ducks only powerplay, there was a moment where Reasoner had a chance to clear and didn't, putting it right on Pronger's stick. That's death usually, especially since Edmonton's forwards were all up high out of position. Instead the play settled right back down, the Oilers settled back into their box and resumed control. Offense is always created by taking advantage of space created as a result of defensive-side lapses. If you're given a lapse, you have to move your ass!
Ray Ferraro is a great analyst, puts Glenn Healy to shame. So glad he does Oiler games and not Flames'.

2nd Period: Two more for the good guys, that makes TWO powerplay goals! In one game! 4th goal was a lovely pass from Gagner, nice finish by Gilbert. They've got to lock him up, he's a keeper. Killed off a long 5 on 3, again mostly because Anaheim just couldn't execute. Three time they tried a triangle play with Pronger playing middle-point, pass to Schneider on his right who would pass through the box to Getzlaf for the one-timer. Three times they tried to set up this simple play, botched it each time with bad passes. Garon made a few nice saves too, but very uninspired play by the Ducks, settling for long one-timers instead of working down low. They have HUGE forwards, Bertuzzi owning the front of the net and they settle for slow puck movement along the point. That's always driven me crazy, teams with a 5-3 who settle for one-timers. Fine, if you have Souray or Pronger or Lidstrom back there, guys who can pick corners and set up tips, but otherwise just set up the backdoor. Two goals from the defense, now five points for Horcoff in the last two, excellent containment defense both 5 on 5 and on the penalty kill. Perfect road game up to this point, you have to expect Anaheim will come out hard in the third.

3rd Period: Uneventful, Oiler powerplay work was more stagnant than at other points in the game but MacTavish was playing the younglings and they were trapping anyway, so nothing to read into. Surprised that Anaheim didn't try to pick fights with the game out of reach but given that they had little energy for anything else perhaps not a surprise at all. Very well-played game by the Oilers, surprisingly good actually. They limited cross-seam passes on the penalty-kill, played disciplined and mobile man to man coverage, and took advantage of some breaks on the offensive side. Onto Los Angeles tomorrow night where they'll try to avoid the let-down.