And we have a series!

I was watching closely for the Edmonton Oilers’ breakout against the Anaheim Ducks’ speedy forecheck, and wouldn’t you know it, it was a one-sided affair for the first five minutes of Game 1. The Oilers started on time by controlling the puck in their zone and moving it efficiently up for eventual entries into the Ducks’ zone.

The encouraging thing early was that even when the Oilers were under pressure, they made a play. Three reasons for this:

There were a lot of controlled breakouts for the Oilers early, which means Anaheim was giving the D time to set up behind the net without chasing. Let’s leave those out because they’re boring and check out the breakouts under pressure early. There are a couple key sequences from which the squad could build some confidence.

Now, and this is easy to forget, but the other team is trying too. Anaheim is young and fast. At the end of the clip above you’ll see a human who isn’t either of those things make a great play to threaten the net before dishing to the dot line for a one-timer. And who’s there to meet the puck before it arrives? Connor Ingram. That save showed he’s tracking the puck and reading the play well, something I was looking for. Big moment.

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