We win

Sound defensive play

The Oilers defensive play was far from perfect, I’m the first one to admit that. Losing 4-0 in game four, then 5-4 in OT in game five, and 4-3 in game one on a defensive gaffe (a lot of people blame Mike Smith for that goal, but I’d argue the Kings wouldn’t be in the Oilers end at that point at all if they had played properly defensively) is pretty damning evidence they didn’t play their best in those games.

Nonetheless, they played well enough defensively to get the job done, and that’s what counts. Game seven, in particular, was not only a victory on the scoreboard but a victory for our defensive play as well, as with the exception of the last two minutes of the game the Edmonton Oilers spent the vast majority of it in the King’s zone, outshooting them 41-29.

This was a far cry from the Winnipeg series last season when they went well with the Jets head to head but unfortunately had a tendency to commit defensive gaffes at inopportune times that cost them all four games.

Sound defensive play combined with a killer instinct is what gets you.

The +/- stats bear this out. McDavid – +10. Kane – +5. Ceci – +8. Nugent-Hopkins- +1. Barrie (of all people…) – +1. Yamamoto – 0. Nurse – +7.

In fact, the most disappointing player defensively was Evan Bouchard at -4, which frankly for someone playing their first playoff games is pretty good. Duncan Keith was on the wrong side of things at -3, but it hardly seems like coincidence that he’s Bouchard’s partner, which probably had something to do with it.

Last playoffs almost everyone was a minus player and the best one was Tyson Barrie with a +1.

Talk about a huge improvement playoffs over playoffs. Even the McDrai duo were both -2 last playoffs, with both players improving on that number this series.

With vastly improved defensive play this year, it’s no surprise they won as expected. Now they just need to work on playing consistently like they did in games six and seven and they’ll be an unstoppable machine in the playoffs.