Oilers Playoff Gameday: Game 5 vs Anaheim

Back to Anaheim.

Game 4 was, well, quite an experience. The Oilers came out flying in this one and got up 2-0 early but when the teams skated off the ice for the final time, they’d fallen 4-3 in Overtime in a game that was full of frustration. Officiating would be a major story as Ryan Getzlaf scored on a play that saw Cam Talbot clearly being interfered by Corey Perry for starters.

How is Talbot supposed to use the blocker here? pic.twitter.com/UL9JdEOdk2

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 4, 2017

(Seriously? I hate how this league just makes things up as it goes)

Oh and let’s not forget about Rickard Rakell scoring in this one on what was an offside play but couldn’t be challenged as Todd Mclellan didn’t have a timeout after challenging the interference on Getzlaf’s goal. *Bangs head on desk for an hour*.

As much as the dudes in stripes truly did suck and the NHL rule book is about as valid as Soviet Union currency, after the first the Oilers didn’t come out with that same fire and aggression that they had in the first 20 minutes. The Ducks totally changed the flow of the game for the rest of regulation until Drake Caggiula’s tying goal late in the third.

The OT winner also came from a really sloppy clearance attempt that came from the stick of Adam Larsson and right to (guess who?) Ryan Getzlaf, who made no mistake in finding Jakob Silfverbeg to end things just 45 seconds in the fourth period.

Players To Watch

Edmonton

• Mark Letestu- He struck twice in Game 1 and has three points in the series, look for him to be buzzing once again around John Gibson.
• Leon Draisatil: He has a point in every game this series except for one, I’m calling for him to be the cat tonight to spark the offense on the first line tonight, but don’t expect McDavid or Maroon to just sit back and watch Leon go off….

Anaheim

• Andrew Cogliano- You always have to watch out for Cogs vs the Oil and tonight will be no exception, he hasn’t scored yet in the series but he’s been driving the net and trying to get his chances so far vs his old mates.
• Ryan Getzlaf: Absolutely no choice but to keep an eye on the man, that four point game in Game 4 showed once again why he’s the most dangerous guy wearing orange and black. Getzlaf is the biggest cog in the Ducks offense and I wouldn’t advise anymore lazy plays with his stick in the area.

Projected Lineups

Edmonton

Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl

Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle

Drake Caggiula – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian

Benoit Pouliot – David Desharnais – Anton Slepyshev

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson

Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell

Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot

Anaheim

Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Nick Ritchie – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase

Chris Wagner – Nate Thompson – Logan Shaw

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Montour

Shea Theodore – Josh Manson

John Gibson

Prediction:

Home cooking hasn’t benefited either team and I don’t think that in this series that trend changes, the Oilers put the Ducks on the ropes with a hard fought 3-2 win with goals coming from Letestu, RNH and Draisatil. Expect Oiler fans in attendance to be savage again and start another “You can’t win here chat” again. Seriously, that happened.