This type of play eventually got rewarded on the scoreboard with the Oilers’ third goal. It starts with Adam Henrique recovering back up the ice into a great defensive posture. Notice how many Oilers are back defending their blueline on the lob pass. Then, when the Oilers gather the puck, watch the great play by Jeff Skinner (he was great tonight) to flare out. This forces the Dallas defender to go to him and leaves a massive lane in the middle of the ice. Now the Oilers are on the attack.

Once in the zone, again, the Oilers go to work with a great cycle forecheck. Constantly forcing the Stars to regroup and try and again to exit. In this case, the Henrique line eventually turned the puck over and the red light eventually went on.

The Oilers forwards tonight were so good structurally in all three zones and it paid dividends both on and off the scoresheet.

The Hit Parade

Those who follow me know that I like hits in a very specific form in hockey games. Most often hitting, especially when it comes from your defencemen, means you don’t have the puck and that means you’re defending.

However, there is a type of hitting which is constructive to a team’s success in a game. It is the hit that comes off the forecheck by a forward and the hard pinch by defencemen at the offensive blueline. This series was a very effective five games in terms of this style of hitting by the Oilers. The team didn’t have a game with fewer than 43 hits. In the series, the Oilers outhit the Stars by 74 more hits. The Edmonton Oilers! 74 hits!

This was a very important part of the series for the Oilers. Last night, the Oilers scored a goal where they had four hits in the entire sequence. Watch this clip. This is the goal where Jake Walman does a great job retrieving the puck, having already scanned the ice and sending a stretch pass that led to the goal. However, prior to that were four hits. The hits were not of the car crash kind, but they were effective and constantly forced the Stars backwards.

The Weakside Activation

The Dallas Stars were ripe for Royal Road plays all series. It is something they struggle with as a group. The Oilers did a very good job all series, getting the puck moving across the ice as they went up the ice. This created time and space as Dallas struggled to react quickly. Here is one clip from last night involving Evan Bouchard not once, but twice.

Bouchard’s weakside support opened lanes all night. Watch this play starting behind the Oilers’ net. Bouchard helps transition the puck and then is immediately up the ice as an outlet option. Then at the Dallas blueline, the puck gets turned over. Leon Draisaitl works hard back up the ice to blunt any potential attack. The puck gets transitioned and Bouchard is immediately back on the attack. This should have been at least a high danger chance, if not a goal.

The Oilers’ defence group were so good supporting the attack tonight. It made it a challenge for the Stars to sort out assignments, which created some very good Oiler opportunities.

Notes From Game 5

I had a lot of interaction last night on the X about the Kulak-Nurse pairing. Let’s be clear: I do not like this pairing, but last night it worked very well, although it started poorly. Here was Dallas’ first goal.

I think a lot of people didn’t like Nurse’s play on this goal against. I was ok with his play. Would you prefer him to stop up and be available on the weakside without giving up the middle of the ice? Sure. However, this is Kulak. The Dallas forecheck was in a perfect setup and it was flooded to the strong side. Nurse is wide open for a weakside pass to attack up the ice. He tries a really tough pass in tight quarters and Dallas makes the Oilers pay.

We will talk more about this pairing in the Stanley Cup preview, but it will be interesting to see what the coaching staff does with a pairing that may struggle against a more aggressive forecheck. Here is one reason why: Brett Kulak struggles on his weak side. Watch this clip where the Oilers eventually take a penalty.

Stuart Skinner sets up the play, but because Kulak is on his weak side, the pass goes to where a right-shot defenceman would have his stick. No blame on Skinner. Kulak needs to get to a better spot quicker, but that is tough because to do so, he would have to round on the puck from the corner. This allows more forecheck opportunities. The puck gets bobbled and ends up going back the other way. Then, when the puck comes back up the ice, the Oilers kick it back to the middle of their zone. Again, Kulak struggles with his angle to support the play and the puck bounces off his stick again. Ultimately, the Oilers take a penalty to prevent a scoring chance.

Dallas is not Florida. Florida will come hard after all the Oilers’ defensive pairings. This one pairing may get exposed.

Congratulations to Jeff Skinner. He was excellent all evening. For a guy who hadn’t played in weeks, he showed no rust. He skated well, was defensively responsible and scored a goal. Not sure we will see him in the Stanley Cup Final, but the Oilers coaching staff should feel comfortable with him based on his Game 5 performance.

That is it for the Game 5 review. We will see you here next week for the Stanley Cup Finals Tactical Preview. Enjoy your weekend.