Oilers-Ducks notebook: Coaches already bickering about faceoffs

Hockey Central @ Noon discussion on Connor McDavid’s productivity and other contributions, wondering if the Oilers can beat the Ducks if he repeats his 4 point performance from the first round.

ANAHEIM — Call it “predictive whining.”

Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle, whose Ducks were the best faceoff team in the league this season, figures it’s only a matter of time until Edmonton — the league’s worst team on the draws — starts complaining to the officials.

“They’ll be whining to the officials. I know that’s coming,” Carlyle said on the morning of Game 1. “That’s the way the playoffs are. Because we’ve been a strong faceoff team I’m sure they’re going to complain to the officials about what we’re doing.”

Quipped Oilers coach Todd McLellan: “I’ve been whining about our faceoffs all year — because we’re in 30th place.”

This we know about faceoffs. The more you cheat, the more you win. As such, when you win the most, there’s a pretty high likelihood you don’t cheat the least.

“Some of those (Carlyle) comments are an admission of guilt,” McLellan said. “They’re very effective in the faceoff circle, and they do things. It’s always nice to distract.”

Ryan Kesler vs. Connor McDavid is a mismatch, but not as big of one as Ryan Getzlaf vs. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. This is an area of major concern for Edmonton. Don’t kid yourself.

Blackhawks Down

Don’t talk to Kesler about how the ousters of Chicago and Minnesota have cleared the path to the Stanley Cup for the Anaheim Ducks. By his math, if those clubs are gone there’s a good reason.

“Those teams lost because they weren’t the better team,” Kesler said. “Nashville swept Chicago — they’re the better team. St. Louis beat Minny in five games.

“We don’t worry about the path. We worry about the Edmonton Oilers. Whatever team moves on, will assess that at that time.”

As Pacific Division champs with 105 points this season, Anaheim is the highest ranked team left in the West. Edmonton (103 points) is second, and in fact, the Oilers had the best record against the Western Conference (33-11-6) of any Western club.

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Pile of Crap

Carlyle has already has his fill of hearing about the “young, inexperienced” Oilers, and we haven’t even played Game 1 yet.

“They portray that they’re so young, they’re so this, they’re so that. That’s a pile of crap. Because they’re not young,” Carlyle said. “They have some very good young players, one specifically in McDavid, the young defenceman in (Darnell) Nurse…. Dynamic young players. (Drake) Caggiula another young player. After that, they’ve got a lot of veteran talent, a lot of high draft choices that have been moved to different spots in their lineup that’s solidified them as a group.”

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Chalk Talk

A few things to watch for tonight:

To get McDavid away from Kesler this season, McLellan would put McDavid on the ice for a faceoff in Edmonton’s zone. Traditionally, Randy Carlyle wants Getzlaf’s line out for those O-zone faceoffs, and Getzlaf — the Ducks leading scorer this season with 73 points — expects to get those offensive opportunities.

So it leaves Carlyle in a pickle. Does he match with Kesler and deprive Getzlaf of offensive opportunity? Or does he put Getzlaf out and hope McDavid doesn’t capitalize away from the Selke nominee Kesler?

The other factors with the Ducks are the three defencemen who bring some level of injury into this series. Cam Fowler (knee) and Hampus Lindholm (upper body) are expected to play in Game 1. Sami Vatanen, who we suspect has a right shoulder issue, is the most questionable of the three.

Any team’s game plan would be to forecheck hard and pound the Ducks defencemen at every opportunity. That strategy gets ramped up if those D-men are protecting injuries, and more likely to get rid of a puck to avoid contact.

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