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Dans les coulisses

Renaud Lavoie has no respect for the Oilers heading into the third round

The Oilers struggled to eliminate the Canucks, who were without their first two goaltenders, last night in British Columbia. Alberta won the Canadian battle. Good news for Vancouver, though: there were no riots this year, following elimination in seven games!

Time for the third round
The third round begins tonight in New York, when the Panthers host the visitors at the legendary Madison Square Garden.

This four-of-seven between the Rangers and the Panthers is probably the match-up that every non-team-specific hockey fan in the East has been hoping for.

Two teams with 110 points or more…

Two teams brimming with talent, but not quite where they should be in terms of physicality/robustness…

Zibanejad, Trocheck, Panarin, Kreider, Trouba, Lafrenière and Shesterkin vs Tkachuk (Matthew), Barkov, Reinhart, Verhaeghe, Bennett and Bobrovsky!

The Rangers have an 8-2 record since the start of the playoffs, while the Panthers have suffered one more defeat(8-3).

In short, we’ll be treated to a summit clash between two teams whose weaknesses are not apparent. My call: Rangers in 7. Maybe a little because it’s our current VP hockey who built the team, and I hope that one day, the Montreal Canadiens will be just as powerful…

But watch out! I could also say Panthers in 7 if you ask me in a few minutes!

In the West, tomorrow we’ll be treated to a series between a (really) well-balanced team with no real weaknesses either…. and a team that boasts the top four scorers in the 2024 series. As well as the top scorer in Zach Hyman!

(Credit: NHL.com)

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Except that this team, blessed with the two best center players on the planet, also has the worst goaltender alive today. No other goaltender who has played more than five games has statistics as bad as Stuart Skinner’s this spring.

In short, the duel between the Oilers and the Stars promises to be special. That’s a kind word…

Jake Oettinger is better than Skinner (and Calvin Pickard… together). We’re talking about a duel between a star goalie and a guy who could play in the AHL. #Unmatched

The depth of the Stars’ attack is mind-boggling. When you’ve got Tyler Seguin on your bottom six, it’s a sign that you’ve got a whole offense.

And the Stars’ defense (Harley, Heiskanen, Lindell, Tanev, Suter and Petrovic) is equipped to go to war. And to stay up late!

The Oilers have McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman, but the rest of their offense is less certain.

Evan Bouchard is a magician in the back and Mattias Ekholm holds down the fort… but then again, the rest of the defense isn’t as deep as in Dallas.

If the Oilers manage to pull through, it will be largely thanks to their two-headed monster, as well as Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. If Skinner struggled against the Canucks, things could get a lot worse against the “perfectly mixed” Stars.

Is this the year of Peter DeBoer?

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Renaud Lavoie, in the Journal this morning, indicated that there are only six aspiring Stanley Cup teams in the current NHL: the Panthers, the Avalanche, the Stars, the Lightning, the Golden Knights and (one would think) the Rangers. They must be deep in talent and love the physical game, the teams that are true “contenders“.

Where are the Oilers in Renaud’s list? Not there! And his following comment shows just how little respect he has for the Albertans ahead of this Stanley Cup 2024:

“The Avalanche and Golden Knights weren’t able to stand up to the Stars, who are almost guaranteed to play in the finals.” –Renaud Lavoie

I wonder what a good friend of mine who’s a big Oilers fan thinks of all this…

In Brief

– Third round in the NHL: there will be a game every night until one team is eliminated. [NHL]

– I would have liked to see Laurent Courtois answer my question a little longer on Saturday night, hehe.

– Injury update from Laurent Courtois.

– How would you find this appointment?