Before Edmonton's do-or-die Game 5 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton Oilers legend Mark Messier set out a challenge for the Oilers players: play championship defence. And for the first time this playoff season, Edmonton's players met that challenge in their 4-1 win.
Said Messier on the Real Kyper & Bourne show of the modern-day Oilers: 'They got some great players. But great players don't make great teams. And what makes great teams is teams that are able to play that kind of hockey that wins in the playoffs. And the kind of hockey that wins in the playoffs is you have to defend. And if you can't defend or figure out a way to defend, you're going to have problems, and you're not going to out-score your mistakes. And right now, the Oilers are having a hard time defending.'
Messier's Comments Sparked Attention
Messier's comments got a ton of attention. He set out a challenge for the Oilers: play championship defence. And the Oilers, at last, met that challenge. When Edmonton is defending well, they give up no more than 12 Grade A shots in a game, with no more than six of those shots being high danger or five-alarm shots. In Game five, Edmonton gave up just 12 Grade A shots, just four of them high-danger shots, eight of them medium danger. It made for a much simpler and easier night for Oilers goalie Connor Ingram, who met almost every test that came his way, save for giving up one power play goal against on a jailbreak of a three-on-two Anaheim rush.
Defensive Improvements
In previous games in the series, Edmonton's defence had been poor-to-atrocious. Overall Edmonton had created 24 high danger shots on the attack in the first four games, but had given up 42. No team is going to advance in the playoff giving up more than 10 high danger shots per game. It was imperative for the Oilers to play a much better defensive game and they finally did so, mainly by making more of a commitment in the offensive zone to have one forward tracking back hard to help the two Oilers d-men prevent odd-man Ducks rushes. This is still a work in progress for the Oilers, as Edmonton players love to score, but they were mostly aware enough to greatly limit odd-man rushes.
The Oilers also did a generally decent job of limiting the lengths of their shifts. The Oilers forwards also did a much better job in their own zone quickly and smartly covering off point shots. Anaheim had scored a number of goals on deflected or screened point shots and the Oilers largely took away that option, though Colton Dach had some struggles when he was out, just as Trent Frederic had had the previous game. Finally, the Edmonton defencemen did a much better job winning battles, protecting the puck and making smart passes, which is the key to Edmonton's puck possession game.
Standout Performances
Three Oilers d-men had great game in particular, Connor Murphy, Ty Emberson and Jake Walman, who all kept clean sheets at even strength, not one major mistake on a Grade A shot against. The calm, composure and professionalism of Edmonton's defence came out near the end of the game with the team on the power play when Edmonton didn't try to score, but just moved the puck around the offensive zone. When it was sent down to Edmonton's end, first Evan Bouchard and then Darnell Nurse simply held it behind the Edmonton net, not moving, letting the clock tick down.
