HOCKEY: In the Box with Brent & Craig
Putting the X in Jets
Playoffs? Playoffs! The Oilers start their second season this Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets 2.0. After watching most of the last of the games, Craig and Brent return in the best shape of their lives, and ready to take down the Golden Boy and all of the members of the Weakerthans. Let’s do it!
Brent Oliver
Here we go again – and this time, I’m actually excited.
Last year’s bizarre season and the three game play-in series left all Oilers fans pretty cold – especially bowing out to the Hawks in 2 games. So, we’re back in the playoffs, the real ones (or at least as real as this season can be) and playing those pesky Winnipeg Jets starting Wednesday night.
Yes it’s a proper 7 game series.
Yes it feels more like the playoffs.
No you can’t go to a game or watch it on a patio.
Winnipeg wrapped up the year in third place in the Marmite North Division, and the Oilers crushed them in the season series 7-2. To not think the Oilers have a distinct advantage going into this series would be foolish to say the least. Winnipeg’s top scorer – Mark Schiefele – is a whopping 42 points behind McDavid’s point total for the year. Mike Smith has been the better goalie than the Jets’ Hellebuyck, but as with all things Mike Smith – please be good… dear god Mike, please be good. The Oilers have shored up a number of defensive woes, and with Drai and Nuge playing so well – all other secondary scoring is gravy.
I’m going to be super optimistic about the result of the series, and try not to look beyond the Jets to a likely Leafs/ Oilers “no shit Connor’s better than Matthews” tilt in a couple weeks.
Here we go with my Predictsh:
Oilers in 5
McDavid racks up 12 points and Mike Smith lays exactly one turkey of a game but is otherwise unbeatable in the series. Darnell Nurse scores a couple and Tyson Barrie quarterbacks a neutral zone clampdown of the Jets top line.
Also, I text all my friends in Winnipeg over the next two weeks so that they never want to speak with me ever again.
Craig Douglas
Playoffs, baby! Every year I watch the opening game(s) of any random series of the playoffs and am reminded that watching the regular season is just a colossal waste of time. During the regular season it usually appears that the players are trying and really ‘giving it their all’, but then after seeing literally any team play a playoff game, I’m always blown away by what it looks like when they are undoubtedly giving it their all, and it’s such a world of difference. This shit is the best, and the regular season really is a fucking snooze after seeing the real thing.
So what I’m saying is that we’re pumped up to watch some real games here at In The Box. Bring on the Jets, bring on the Penguins, bring on the stupid expansion team from Vegas! Bring it all on!
I think the Oilers have the proper depth, the proper coaching, the proper D, and everything they need to make a nice run. It’s the goaltending that gives myself and everyone else pause. If anything goes poorly in that department it could send them careening of the rails before they even realize what happened. Smith has the veteran mettle to go on a long ride through the rounds, but the thought of putting 2021 Koskinen in net for any amount of time would have me peering through my fingers at the screen.
The steely determination that McDavid has shown all year is enough to cancel out any concerns that one might have though. He is on a whole other level compared to the already better than anyone else elite level that he was at for that stupid play in tournament we all had to suffer through last summer. It is going to be wild, wild, wild to watch these guys in this setting, against a team that they are developing a nice, healthy dislike for already, having played them over and over and over again during this dumb season.
I will now predict the first round of the playoffs for all eight series while acting like I’m some kind of expert who is good at prognosticating, and someone who was definitely paying close attention to all four fake divisions for the last five months.
Playoff Predictsh!
North
Oilers 4 Jets 2
Maple Leafs 4 Canadiens 1
South (or Central as they’d like us to call it.)
Hurricanes 4 Smashville 0
Panthers 4 Lightning 3
East
Penguins 4 Islanders 3
Capitals 4 Fuckface-Bruins 3
West
Avalanche 4 Blues 1
Wild 4 Dumb Expansion Team 3
There you go, one sweep four game 7s. That looks like a good first round to me. Once again, bring it on, bring it all on!
It all kicks off on Wednesday at 7pm MST. What should I wear? Maybe that pretty jersey from 1987? Should I make chicken wings? Nachos?
LISTEN EVERYTHING HAS TO BE PERFECT OK!
See you next time – In the Box.
