Game 1, Edmonton at San Jose, started \~2015 Eastern, 7 May 2006.
MacT started with Horcoff's line + Pronger and vs Thornton Winchester on RW. Will that last? Moreau, Murray, Dvorak vs Marleau's line
First penalty early in as Dvorak tried a wraparound and Carle took a penalty - tripping
First pp unit was Smyth, Hemsky, Samsonov with Pronger and Spacek
Pronger had a decent shot with Smyth in front. Samsonov is handling the puck very well, some quick passing to work the puck. Spacek finally hits the net with the one-timer backdoor, and it's in. Great passing Sammy -> Hemsky -> Spacek and in. As CBC guys said, passing right through the slot.
Interesting, the Oilers played the same unit for almost the whole PP (didn't score until about 1:30 into the penalty).
Pairing is Smith + Pronger.
Thornton out vs Murray's line.
Colourguy thinks the Sharks need to adjust to take away the seam shot - sort of agree. THey need more active sticks - if the collapse in a bit to take away the middle pass, they give up good passes back to the point and Stoll and Pronger will make them pay.
Bad coughup pass @ 5:30ish, on the change - but SJS were changing too.
Thornton's line out against Murray's again.
Moreau had a great chance carrying the puck - poor defensive play to let two Oilers charge the net.
Peca got hammered off the puck by Goc. Looks like the battle of third lines (if we call Peca the #3C).
S Thornton hammered Peca hard - looks like they're targeting him a bit maybe? Why?
Poor defensive play led to a Marleau goal. Horcoff's line was out, plus Staios and his partner.
Hemsky made the Sharks look a little stupid, but didn't get a chance out of it - looks like he's flying.
Thornton's line went out against tired Hemsky+Samsonov. Is that the matchup Wilson wants, or was he just taking advantage of a tired line?
Sharks are playing *very* physical. They're mostly taking oit to the Oilers, although Bernier bounced off Torres pretty good.
Ekman got away with a call, cuffing Staios in the back of the head, coming out of the conrer at about 12:30. Later on I think Dvorak got away with hauling down a Shark in a 4 man pileup.
Great play by Peca to get the puck by Ehrhoff, and then drew a penalty - a bit of a dive.
Some pretty lazy 4-4 play by the Sharks led to a couple of dangerous-looking Oilers rushes, but not much came of them.
Marleau's *fast* - totally outclassed Jason Smith on the rush. Smith's not slow - are any of the Oilers defencemen fast enough to catch him? Maybe Bergeron.
Staios likely got away with covering the puck, but Roloson was pretty smart to get his mitts in there too. Cheechoo's a lot more agile than I thought, very good skater and stickhandler.
Murray gave the puck right to Cheechoo trying to clear the zone - poor play, eventually Jason Smith got forced into hauling down Mark Smith.
Hrudey sez the Sharks did collapse on the PK - Hemsky got the puck under the Sharks stick. But ... if the Sharks player is waving his stick about, does that pass get through?
Ryan Smyth went down hard about 3 minutes in to the second period - no call, looks like maybe it was a high stick? Hopefully we'll see the replay.
Edmonton broke down defensively - that was actually maybe a boo on Roloson, I think he could have had the puck - ah, dman kind of knocked it away. Ugh. Total miscue behind the net on the 2-1 goal. Edmonton's going to have to bear down a bit defensively, maybe they should get their hitting machine going.
Jason Smith levelled a Shark on the PP, \~5:50 - took himself out of the play, but was harmless in the end. Not sure who the Shark player was, couldn't even see his number. Later on in the same PP, Sharks did a great job passing the puck around and getting the Oilers scrambling (Marleau's unit). Edmonton needs to come off the PK with some big hits and some energy. San Jose's all over the Oilers.
Edmonton came back after a commercial break with Peca + Torres who took it to the Sharks a bit. So far all the big hits are still the Sharks. Bernier had a pretty good chance on a nice passing play as the Oilers fell down defensively again. It looks like the Oilers have lost focus since the Sharks goals. San Jose is playing very well defensively - Edmonton hasn't had a shot yet, halfway through the period.
What did Hemsky do to Nils Ekman? Hemsky avoided one check nicely, the Shark almost took himself into his own bench. Pisani got their first shot, really weak.
Peca tried to hammer MacLaren - had him all lined up, but MacLaren saw him coming. He's hitting, at least. Maybe he and Torres need to go out with Moreau on his off-wing. Moreau drew a penalty, and now the Oilers get another PP chance. Edmonton can't get the puck down low this time. Sharks are right on top of Samsonov and Hemsky every time they get the puck.
Ethan Moreau made a great hit deep in the Sharks zone, and then later Peca clocked poor Moreau.
Edmonton were just getting some rhythm going, then Spacek whiffed at the blueline and it came back the other way. Sharks had a chance, then Stoll put one off the post, and Thornton's line came out - despite Pronger being out now, that can't at all be the matchup MacTavish wants. Sure enough, Samsonov took a penalty for hooking. Then on one of the first plays of the PK, Spacek whiffed again.
Looks like Stoll's trying to get something started - tapping Sharks G after taking a shot. Then Peca won the offensive zone PK faceoff, back to Spacek, who... missed the net. I don't want to get on Spacek, he's been good, but man oh man. I guess the good part about missing the net a lot at least means he's trying to shoot a lot too.
Good news: Edmonton's PK is looking pretty good, and they're doing very well on faceoffs. Bad news: Marleau is killing them and they're getting outhit like mad. I don't fully buy Staios's explanation that they're getting clobbered because they're spending a lot of time in their own zone; that's how you get the puck back, take the body and force a turnover. You don't get it back by letting them shoot and then gobbling up the rebound.
Pronger just skated away from a late hit: Niemenen tried to draw a penalty. Looks like Pronger said something to him though. Kind of borderline: Niemenen knew that was a late hit, he did it anyway. How is that not a penalty? Not sure what it would be though - is there a late hit penalty? Players shouldn't be allowed to do that. Ah well.
Stevenson PP in the third - Smyth centering Hemsky and Samsonov again. Why does MacT want Smyth taking a faceoff against Joe Thornton? Not sure I agree with that call. Second unit seems to be Horcoff between Pisani and Torres with Stoll and Bergeron. I guess that first unit got the job done on the 1-0 goal, but maybe it was just the novelty.
Crucial PP with 9 minutes left - Thornton bumped Roloson, who honestly looked like he went down a bit easily, but I'll take what I can get. Looks like a pretty nasty injury that Dvorak took before that too. Right knee - which one did he have rebuilt? Pronger stayed out with Stoll on the 2nd unit PP.
Following that PP, Torres and Peca went out with a couple of big hits. Staios almost suckered Thornton into a retaliatory penalty, I think - oh, he punched him, I can see why big Joe was annoyed.
Peca had a clean win back to Spacek, who hit the net with a pretty good shot. Credit where credit is due, and he does have three playoff goals this year. As soon as I typed that, Spacek shoudl have had a penalty as he was all over Goc. Ah, the Oilers keep it in the Sharks zone - too bad they needed their goalie pulled for a 6-5.
Edmonton called a timeout after Niemenen iced the puck - was that the best idea? Niemenen was obviously very tired, and the rest of the Sharks had to be down too. I guess if they score on the set play, it was the right call. Niemenen iced it again! Ouch. Now SJS calls the timeout. Peca came out to take the faceoff against Thornton - I think I would have gone with Horcoff, he's done well tonight. Interesting - Samsonov wasn't on the ice for the 6-5, I don't think. I saw Smyth, Peca, Pronger, Pisani, Hemsky, and Spacek I think.
What the Oilers did right: their PP wasn't bad, although ineffective in the 2nd and 3rd periods. They did well enough on faceoffs, especially Horcoff, although I think they fell off in the third.
What they did wrong: took more hits than they gave. Did pretty poorly on puck possession, too many turnovers.
What the Sharks did right: hit hit hit, and great puck possession, good defensive play.
What the Sharks did wrong: not much. They played a fairly disciplined, defensive game.
What the Oilers need to do next game: bring it, physically. Better puck support and more time in the Sharks end. If Dvorak's out, bring on Georges Laraque or Todd Harvey - Harvey's faster, Laraque's bigger. I think I'd rather see BG, he seems to bring it in the playoffs, and he should be energized after missing G2-6 vs the Wings and G1 vs the Sharks.