The puck drops on the match up between the Edmonton Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks tonight, at 8pm Mountain time. It's Anaheim's first trip to the postseason in years, while the Oilers are looking to achieve a rare feat, three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Finals. Both teams are going to hit the ice at a thousand miles an hour tonight, and the series should be a good one.
High scores can be expected, even if the general trend in the National Hockey League Playoffs is tighter defense. The Oilers have scored their way out of defensive issues all season long, and Anaheim has been just as leaky. So while 1-0 or 2-1 wins might be more common overall in the postseason, we can expect some barnburners.
Young and exciteable
With an average age of 27.85, the Ducks aren't the youngest playoff team (That's the Canadiens at 25.67), but they have plenty of youth and limited playoff veterans. For every grizzle former champion like Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas, there are youngsters like Beckett Sennecke and Mason Mactavish.
Their starting goaltender is only 25, and half their defensive corps is younger than that. It's a recipe for energetic play, but also for the errors that can come from the excitement of playing when the games really matter. The Oilers have home ice advantage, and in the first two games of the series they need to target and expose those younger players. If the series heads to Anaheim with the Ducks in a 0-2 hole, there's a good chance Edmonton will be the team to move on.
Goaltending as a weakness
Lukas Dostal played well enough to get the Ducks into the playoffs. It's worth noting that his team would not have finished Top 3 in any other division than the Pacific (but neither would the Oilers). His Goals Against Average is 3.10 and his save percentage for the season landed at .888. With the Oilers averaging 29.7 shots per game, that average would have Dostal allowing 3.32 goals per game. If that turns out to be true, Edmonton wins the series quickly.
The Ducks' defenders haven't helped their goaltenders out much either. Almost every single defenseman on Anaheim's roster ended the season as a minus player. Only six forwards manage to stay on the positive side as well, so overall, defensive play looks like a weakness.
Adding to this imaginary math the very real fact that Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman are returning to the lineup, giving the Oilers back their number one in the league powerplay unit, oddsmakers are surely tilting things toward Edmonton. The Oilers have had some Round 1 scares in the recent past, but I expect they'll find their way past the Ducks and on to bigger challenges.
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