The Cult of Hockey's "McDavid rips up Columbus in 6-3 win" podcast

[@Apex1000snow]

Great game tonight, thanks for covering Bruce and David!

[@patrickhawley7608]

Great job guys!

[@r0ckstarc0p40]

I can just picture David Staples bombing around on a Segway. Thanks for the podcast fellas.

[@niklasschell9259]

Really liked Bruce's comments about Bouchard/ Parayko. So true...

[@zacharyhoehn6127]

i agree

[@kwaty]

Nice rant bruce! 3 year History clearly doesn’t matter. A great 2 months and having a voice in management is most important. Joke. Same could be said about Hyman. Elite goal scorer. Who forechecks better and scores more the past 3 year & playoffs!

[@fontainefitness5698]

The thing with Bouchard is Tyson Barrie was the league leader in points 1 year with Edmonton too, and everyone knew why. Plus he is a tire fire defensively. I think leaving Hyman off, was a bigger mistake.

[@DS-hs3qp]

For a lot of people Bouchard's huge defensive mistakes wipe out everything positive that he does.

[@jasonb9152]

And yet last year when it really counted in the playoffs, he was amazing on both sides of the ice.

[@robmoen4609]

Bruce, Toronto hates Edmonton. They had no choice but to include Connor. Any other Oiler was never going to make it.

[@PaidShills]

I liked Bruce’s rant. Couldn’t care less about this stupid meme tournament, but I agree that was a snub of Bouch and Hyman.

[@daveherman4546]

Hello Bruce, Hello Nuclear Device, Hello David...all three of you are doing a great job!! Go Oilers !!!

[@ReinhardP]

I'm so glad Hyman and Bouchard weren't picked for this nonsense tournament. They should just take that break and reload their batteries.

[@dianedyck3474]

Me too!

[@TedArchbold-ih3tc]

I am totally behind your observations Bruce. Buch should be on the team. And I can’t understand how fans run him down.

[@Ace96x10]

Poor Pickard, he got Skinner'ed!! Crazy weird pinballing pucks etc, but he was solid on everything when it mattered. The Church Of Skinner crowd sure get worked up when Pickard is in, plays well and wins for some reason. Not hard to figure why that is really but it is what it is. Hyman back from being very obviously playing injured, was exactly what me and many predicted. Right back to his old effective self. Dominate Oilers win really. Oilers are amazingly lucky to have gotten both Dria and MCD. Historic Careers well in the making.

[@epiphany519]

Game 26. Long post follows with base game statistics including some for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Read, don't read, up to you. These are BASE stats not detailed ones like the Cult of Hockey compiles. My comments and observations at the end. Statistics for Columbus Blue Jackets at Edmonton Oilers December 5th, 2024 Edmonton Oilers: Hyman 2 Goals (including GWG) Draisaitl 2 Goals (1 PP) Ekholm 1 Goal (PP) J Skinner 1 Goal, 1 Primary Assist (PP) Bouchard 2 Secondary Assists McDavid 3 Primary Assist (1 PP), 1 Secondary Assist Henrique 1 Primary Assist, 1 Secondary Assist (PP) Janmark 1 Secondary Assist Nuge 1 Primary Assist, 1 Secondary Assist (PP) Pickard 19 Saves on 22 Shots = .864 Save %age Columbus Blue Jackets: Labanc 1 Goal Severson 1 Goal Sillinger 1 Goal, 1 Primary Assist Pyyhtia 1 Primary Assist Werenski 1 Secondary Assist Fantilli 1 Secondary Assist Harris 1 Primary Assist Christiansen 1 Secondary Assist Tarasov 31 Saves on 37 Shots = 0.838 Save %age Blue Jackets Oilers Shots on Goal 22 37 Hits 15 12 Faceoffs Won 20 34 PP 0/2 2/5 Penalty Mins 10 4 Giveaways 11 (6 per NST) 10 (7 per NST) Takeaways 4 (3 per NST) 2 Blocked Shots 16 (13 per NST) 16 (12 per NST) 3 Stars: 3-Draisaitl (2G (1PP)), 2-McDavid (4A (1PP)), 1-Hyman (2G including GWG) Player TOI PP TOI PK TOI SOG +/- PIM Hits Blocks Giveaways Takeaways Nurse 23:18 2:46 2:43 3 0 0 2 2 1 0 Bouchard 21:40 5:16 0:09 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 Ekholm 19:27 2:25 1:00 2 2 2 1 1 0 1 Kulak 18:21 0:16 0:37 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 Emberson 16:23 0:00 2:55 1 -1 0 2 4 0 0 Stecher 16:06 0:04 0:28 1 -1 0 0 1 0 0 Draisaitl 21:14 5:10 0:09 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 McDavid 20:36 5:10 0:16 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 Nuge 19:57 4:54 2:36 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hyman 19:05 5:07 0:00 5 3 0 0 0 1 0 Henrique 16:01 2:28 2:52 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kapanen 13:21 0:03 0:31 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 J Skinner 13:19 2:42 0:00 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 Podkolzin 13:15 0:00 0:16 3 0 0 2 0 1 1 Janmark 11:46 0:00 0:00 0 -1 2 0 1 0 0 C Brown 11:22 0:00 0:48 2 -1 0 0 0 0 0 Perry 10:51 2:40 0:00 1 -1 0 0 0 1 0 Ryan 10:05 0:00 0:37 1 -1 0 4 1 0 0 Oilers Faceoff Breakdown: Won Lost Percent Draisaitl 13 5 72.2 Ryan 7 2 77.8 McDavid 7 7 50.0 Henrique 6 4 60.0 Nuge 1 0 100.0 Podkolzin 0 2 0.00 Blue Jackets's Faceoff Breakdown: Won Lost Percent Monahan 9 9 50.0 Danforth 7 8 46.7 Kuraly 2 1 66.7 Pyyhtia 1 0 100.0 Fantilli 1 11 8.3 Voronkov 0 1 0.00 Sillinger 0 1 0.00 Olivier 0 1 0.00 Marchenko 0 2 0.00 Surgery still postponed so here are some stats. Again, I can't watch the games. What follows is my opinion. This was the night the team celebrated Connor's 1000th point (99th player in NHL history, 4th fastest, 4th Oiler to hit the mark, etc.) that he scored back in November. His extremely talented (and attractive) wife Lauren, his dog Lenny, and his parents (Brian and Kelly) were there when he received a Rolex from Darnell, Leon, and Nuge for the team, a Tiffany Crystal from the NHL presented by GM Stan Bowman, a $50,000 donation from the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation in Connor's name to the Ben Stelter Foundation, and a Gold Stick (and gold bone for Lenny) came from Jeff Jackson (and Leon for the Bone). As the bone was an inflated toy Lenny really wanted nothing to do with it (I mean you can't bury it and it isn't tasty). Now with the preliminary celebrations out of the way lets actually get to the game. The Oilers didn't score first, that was Kevin Lebanc just 2:31 into the first period. It's off of 2 skates and fluke goal getting past Pickard. Sometimes stuff happens and there is no way you can plan for 3 deflections in front of you. Second goal of the night, Hyman's BACK BABY. His first of 2 goals assists to Connor and Bouch. On to the second period all tied up at 1. Second period at 2:22 Leon gets his first of 2 on the night assist to, guess who, Connor and Bouch. Beautiful backhander. Columbus challenged the goal and lost so we get a power play. While the usual suspects were buzzing it's Mattias Ekholm that gets the first powerplay goal of the night (first of 2 for the Oilers), assists to Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique both of whom had multipoint nights. This one is a lesson in follow up until it's in. So this power play goal came within 2 minutes of the first goal of the period by Leon. Just over 2 minutes AFTER this power play goal we get goal number 2 of the night (#5 of the season) for Zach Hyman (assists to Nuge and McDavid). Great shot too. Four minutes later the Blue Jackets strike again that was deflected through Pickard (again, bouncing puck) goal credited to Severson. Eight minutes later Jeff Skinner gets his 5th goal of the season (Same as Hyman but Skinner plays on the 3rd line not the first with McDavid) with assists to Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark. Henrique can get them through and his line does contribute. Rico went 6 wins, 4 losses in the circle for a 60% in the dot night too. He was one of, GULP, SEVEN Oilers who had 2 or more points tonight. The Gulp was the hearts of anyone who supports the Blue Jackets. You get that much coming against you from that many people, you're not just toast, you're BURNT MELBA TOAST (and I thought that was the only way that stuff came). Top three lines scored but it's not like the fourth line didn't contribute. PK was 100% on the night. Ryan had the highest percentage in the faceoff dot tonight winning 7 and loosing 2 for a 77.8% faceoff percentage. Yes, Leon won and took more faceoffs but his faceoff percentage was 72.2% (exceptional but still a bit lower numerically). Faceoff wise the ONLY Oiler lower than 50% was Podkolzin (who went 0 for 2 tonight) and those 1 and 2 faceoff taken ones are tossup's with guys who normally don't take faceoff's. On to the third period. Columbus gets the first goal of the period (Sillinger) on a screen. There were three guys in front of Pickard including 2 Blue Jackets. Final goal of the night on the power play, Leon, assists to Connor and Nuge. One timer and BOOM, TWINE. Not from his normal spot either but who cares if you can shoot like that with a boat oar. Lets look at the base stats a bit for trends, first SEVEN Oilers got 2 or more points. That's a lot of guys getting a lot of points. Oilers had way more shots on goal, won way more faceoffs and took a lot fewer penalties. The rest was pretty much a wash, yes the Oilers hit less but giveaways / takeaways and same amount of blocks were close enough to be irrelevant to the overall picture (again this is looking at numbers from orbit, not what EACH number really meant in the game). Been noticing (bit of trend analysis) Ty Emberson plays the most of any D on the PK and the PK has been incredible for some time now. This seems to be a GREAT VALUE PICKUP. Derek Ryan hasn't been a great contributor to the score sheet but he sure wins a lot of difficult PK defensive zone faceoffs and does a great job making sure things are handled well when he's out there. Can he have off nights? Sure, all players do but the vets like Ryan, Perry, Henrique, they seem to have fewer of those nights. Things are more regressed to the mean than wildly skewed outliers. For those that don't speak math as a first language (sigh), I mean they're more stable most nights. You know what you're going to get and you do. Would I like him to score 10 or more this season, of course I would. Who knows, it can happen. Take care all.

[@robgauthier584]

Bouchard is the most underrated player in the NHL!!! He is one of the most gifted, elite defenseman in the world today!!! Bouchard is in a league of his own and the #'s prove it !!!

[@Feedback4Utoday]

EDM needs to evaluate the mgt.... but we are now set to have a team w/o any 'young rising starts'... did not want to play Holloway or Broberg... so now StL has them for free... EDM is climbing and safely in 8th, 2 pts ahead of StL & COLOR & 3 ahead of SEA. Stetcher (& his low pay) are saving the D.

[@DS-hs3qp]

Pickard looked like a u9 goalie on the 2nd goal.

[@robmoen4609]

And who cares about this tournament. Waiting for the real tournament.

[@DS-hs3qp]

Exactly !

[@ragnaraxelson59]

The tournament sounds like a joke to me and I have little interest in it so far. If Bouchard being off the team and his perennial slow starts affect his next contract value, then I'm all for it. The guy shows up in the big games.

[@dalriada]

I’m a big fan of the CoH and a lifelong fan of the Oilers and Bruce is right about Parayko. He’s a ridiculous choice. However I have to say I agree with the choice to exclude Bouchard. He did up his game in the playoffs last season but you are forgetting a number of high profile gaffes that ended up allowing breakaways and goals in all four series and was one of the reasons Edmonton ended up down 0-3 in games against Florida. Every team has a couple of talented players who could make a case for inclusion and didn’t make it. I heard Calgary fans griping about Weegar getting ‘snubbed’. Bouchard was not snubbed. It was a calculated decision to not entertain his shenanigans in exchange for some reduced offensive power and it is the right call. If he is smart, and I’m not sure he is, he will take this to heart and earn his spot next time. But Parayko ended his season at +4 last year. Bouchard +34. Give me a break.

[@dalriada]

And obviously if Canada doesn’t win gold there will be hell to pay. 😅

[@lingeary2654]

There should have been one mystery mixed nation team as a fifth team so the Czechs could field a team.

[@kevinquinney4165]

Russia

[@MichaelLangdeau]

I can imagine a super scary Mystery Team PP with Leon on the right side and a healthy Ovechkin on the left. :)

[@Feedback4Utoday]

Good discussion. Great win & FAB to score some goals !!! Bruce is usually so good - but 'out to lunch' on Bouchard. At higher level hockey - games are won on 1-2 mistakes... & Bouch makes these every game himself. He might overperform like he did in CupFinal - but looking at his career... he is not a strong defender. Hyman has been very poor this yr.... bottom 300 ... so he had ability to control the narrative - but did not. Makar is amazing... This channel is a 'pay Bouch $9mil/yr' channel which may not be in Oilers best interest.... EDM needs to learn then practice 'Californians' every practice... to get better at that.... teams weakness at deflections, dirty goals etc... They just don't practice them to have the skill...

[@zacharyhoehn6127]

tx 4 pod

[@roykeane8164]

Bouchard is a defensive liability, that’s why he’s not on Canada

[@dianedyck3474]

It’s not much as a tournament without the Russians in it!…I pray this stupid war is over so we can all be friends and play against the best all the time…Russia belongs in these tournaments if we are playing the best!

[@aaronst.pierre3080]

Bouchard would be playing on the third line and with Morrissey. And is that a role befitting him? Probably not.Bouchard was second in points and +14 in the playoffs. Tampa Bay has 3 players on Team Canada and Edmonton has 1? Is this a joke!? The support goals were so good in this game. Draisatl 2, Hyman 2? LOL Skinner let in a weak goal in the first period in the Vegas game that's all people were saying. He needs to save that one to keep them the game at 0-0 for when they do score. But Skinner was still good in that game. He needed to save that one as the team wasn't good in the first though. I thought skinner was sleepy in the first period in that one and he's often sleepy in most first periods. Former Oilers watch: Holloway would be 3rd on the Oilers in goals. Holloway 8g 8a 16p +7 Foegele 7g 6a 13p +9 Mcleod 6g 6a 12p +5 Broberg 2g 10a 12p +7 Everyone we let go is doing crazy good this year. And Perry really struggled tonight getting the puck out of his zone leading to at least that 3rd goal.

[@dnice4145]

Crazy good, lol. You dope, get over it. Whining about a bunch of middling players being let go.