Three Edmonton Oilers That Exceeded Expectations In The Second Round

Last week the Edmonton Oilers were able to advance to the 3rd round of the playoffs. This comes after defeated the Calgary Flames 5-4 in overtime. The win clinched the series after only 5 games.

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Generated 5/27/2022.

In the series the Edmonton Oilers lost the first game. After they lost the first game they Oilers turned it on and won the next 4 games. The Calgary Flames did have some moments where they looked like they could win, but overall the Edmonton Oilers were the better team.

In the series the best player for the Edmonton Oilers was as expected. Connor McDavid was able to take over every game. The one game he seemed to struggle was the clinching game 5. In that game he was pointless going into overtime, but in extra time he was able to score the series finishing goal.

This series wasn’t just McDavid pulling his team through the mud. Almost every player played a good series. That is what is needed at this time of year if you want to have success. Everyone from your 1st line superstar to your 12th forward need to play mistake free hockey.

In this series there were players that exceed my expectations coming into it. I made a list of the 3 that I think exceeded them the most. There may have been better players in the series, but they had high expectations coming in. These 3 exceeded the most in my belief.

Evander Kane

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In this series Evander Kane averaged a goal a game. That is a crazy for a player to do in the NHL playoffs. For me this is why I have Kane on this list. I expected him to add a couple goals through out this series. No way did I think he could score 5 goals in 5 games.

His scoring wasn’t the only thing he did well, he was playing against Matthew Tkachuck. After a game one hattrick Tkachuck only have 1 assist in the next four games. The fact that one of the Calgary Flames best players could only muster up on point in 4 games is one of the main reasons the Oilers were able to win in 5 games.

He also opened up space for Connor McDavid. With McDavid’s skill he needs a tougher player out there in post whistle scrums. Evander Kane is a perfect player for that role. Gretzkey had Semenko and in this series McDavid had Kane.

Zach Hyman

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First of all I would like to thank the Toronto Maple Leafs for letting Zach Hyman walk during free agency. If the Leafs were willing to get off their wallet then Hyman would never have come to Edmonton.

Scoring at least one goal in every game Zach Hyman was a very important player in every game. I think he may have scored the most important goal in the series. The shorthanded, game winning goal he scored in game two turned the momentum in the Oilers favor.

In game 5 he was moved to the first line to play with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. As soon as he got moved up he seemed to ignite those two players. Hyman brings an energy a drive to which ever line he is on. He never gives up on a play and disturbs things in the offensive end.

I don’t know if he will start the series with Leon and Connor on the first line or not. If he is then he should be able to create chances all over the ice. If not he will make whichever line he ends up on better. He is a solid player that can help you on any line.

The Edmonton Oilers Defense

With everyone talking about the offensive numbers and players in this series, I am going to send some love towards the Edmonton Oilers back end.

In the regular season the Calgary Flames were the best team 5v5. In this series the Edmonton Oilers were able to beat the Flames in that aspect. This is largely because of the solid play of the Edmonton Oilers defense.

The thing about this group of defenseman is they don’t really make to many flashy plays. They stay calm and just make the smart play. That isn’t as easy as it seems with all the pressure and volume of the crowd. The crowd is either putting positive pressure or negative pressure on you, hoping you make a great play or make a mistake.

There wasn’t any goal that you can look directly at one player for making a glaring error. That is the type of things that a Stanley Cup Champion does. Goals are hard to come by in the playoffs so gifting your opponent a freebee just can’t happen.

This round against the Colorado Avalanche they play against a lot of high skilled players. This is nothing they have seen so far this postseason, how they fare against them will be the deciding factor in the series I think.