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Cult of Hockey
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This simply in, accusations from Vegas d-man Alex Pietrangelo that the Edmonton Oilers have been concentrating on him in Recreation 4 earlier than he took his depraved slash at Edmonton forwards Leon Draisaitl.
As reported by Jesse Granger of the Athletic, Pietrangelo stated in the present day: “It’s fairly apparent what’s been happening. It was premeditated stuff, I’m fairly positive. (DoPS) didn’t appear to care, however I’ll rise up and take it. I’m not going to put on the ice like what’s happening.”
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Added Granger:” To be clear, by ‘premeditated stuff’ Alex Pietrangelo is referring to performs by the Oilers towards him (like Evander Kane’s cross test) that he felt was premeditated. He introduced them up in his listening to, however stated the DoPS didn’t appear to care about them.
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My take
1. Is Edmonton entering into Pietrangelo’s head? It seems prefer it. I can’t learn his thoughts however the Oilers concentrating on of him seems to be a lot on his thoughts. And never a second too quickly. The Oilers have gotten to go after him and different Vegas gamers with arduous hits like they by no means have earlier than, creating chaos and confusion within the VGK finish of the ice.
2. Was it the plan of the Edmonton Oilers to go arduous after Pietrangelo in Recreation 4? In fact it was.
Did they plan to hit him as arduous as they may at each alternative? In fact.
Was this all rigorously deliberate and deliberate, absolutely premeditated? Most positively.
And it was additionally completely the correct plan for the Oilers to beat Vegas.
And if the Oilers have any hope of profitable the ultimate two video games of the sequence, they’ve bought to do extra of the identical, getting on the Vegas d-men and blasting them with arduous hits as a lot and as typically as potential.
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3. Edmonton misplaced Recreation 5 and threw simply 24 hits, hardly any of them memorable. It was virtually as if the Oilers have been afraid to put on the physique in case they get too closely penalized by the referees. However in Recreation 4, the one sport of the sequence that the Oilers bought the higher of Vegas at even energy, Edmonton threw 46 hits, 22 greater than of their shedding Recreation 5 effort.
4. About ten of the Edmonton hits in Recreation 4 have been thundering blows, with a minimum of 5 of them on Pietrangelo, one from Warren Foegele, one from Nick Bjugstad and three from Evander Kane, together with one soiled crosscheck of a success that Pietrangelo had each proper to object to. When Pietranglo lastly erupted and slashed Draisaitl with clear intent to damage, I used to be by no means stunned. I used to be extra stunned Pietrangelo hadn’t retaliated earlier than that second.
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5. Edmonton’s play within the loss in Recreation 5 was marked by an absence of bodily play, an absence of defensive self-discipline and an absence of desperation. All these issues should be in place for Edmonton to comeback on this sequence. If they don’t seem to be, Vegas will proceed to dominate at even energy.
6. Total within the sequence Edmonton has extra Grade A pictures (25percenters) than Vegas, 75 to 65. In terms of essentially the most harmful of all pictures, the subset of 5-alarm pictures (33percenters), Edmonton’s lead isn’t so excessive, simply 35 to 34. However most of Edmonton’s superiority comes on the ability play. At even energy, Vegas has been the a lot better group, with the Grade A pictures 44 to 42 for Vegas, and the subset of 5-alarm pictures 26 to 14 for Vegas. That’s proper, in terms of essentially the most harmful of all pictures, Vegas had practically double the quantity at even energy. Ouch!
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7. The one video games that Edmonton did properly when it got here to Grade A and 5-alarm pictures at even energy have been Video games Two and 4, which Edmonton gained. However in Recreation 5, Edmonton couldn’t even muster one 5-alarm shot at even energy, whereas Vegas had three. If Edmonton doesn’t flip round this development pronto, it’s sport over for this proficient group.
And, sure, a part of that turn-around might be extra of these nasty, evidently unwelcome premeditated hits on Pietrangelo.
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