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Jack Michaels | Edmonton Oilers Radio PxP Voice

Amy Lawrence Show / Amy Lawrence
The Truth Network Radio
May 4, 2023 6:08 am

Jack Michaels | Edmonton Oilers Radio PxP Voice

Amy Lawrence Show / Amy Lawrence

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May 4, 2023 6:08 am

Radio PxP voice of the Edmonton Oilers Jack Michaels joins the show.

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So you can spend more time with the ones who matter most. Visit Instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. Here are Jack Michaels on the Oilers Radio Network. He joins us now. From Las Vegas. And we'll talk about kind of the back and forth in this game. But I heard you say on the broadcast, Jack, this kind of blew me away, that the Oilers had not lost a game in regulation in nearly two months. So against the Vegas Golden Knights, what was the difference, at least initially in this series? Well, the curiosity about Vegas is, you know, they've been their nemesis in the sense they've beaten everyone other than Edmondson. I mean, coming into tonight, Amy, the Oilers that actually won their last four trips to T-Mobile Arena over the last two years, they've been 6-1 and 1 against them. But the reason you heard that regulation talk is somehow Vegas held on to win the division title, despite the fact Edmondson went 14-0 and 1 in the last 15 games. And that's the thing about Vegas, is the Golden Knights have made a living out of winning close games all year long, and they hung on to win the division simply because they wouldn't let anyone else other than Edmondson beat them. And, you know, they went 16-3 and 3 down the stretch in their own right. They beat Winnipeg in five games in the first round, and they, you know, dealt Edmondson their first loss in regulation, as you talked about, since March the 10th.

They're a good hockey team too. This is also, I think, the most long-awaited series in the Western Conference over the last five years. We've seen Colorado-Edmondson, we've seen Colorado-Vegas, we haven't seen these two teams get after one another.

And tonight lived up to the billing. I mean, Leon Dreichel scores four goals. I mean, Amy, you're looking for the definition of Stanley Cup playoff chaos. We've had two four-goal games on back-to-back nights, and both nights, the team for whom the guy who scored four lost.

I mean, that should tell you why they say it's the hardest championship trophy to win in sports. What makes Vegas so good in those situations where the games are tight and there's so little margin for error? Tonight, I think it was Vegas' depth. I mean, they've got players, you know, in their third and fourth lines, and they're willing, Amy, to play their fourth line against Edmondson's top players. And if they can get away with that for a shift or two, that creates mismatches on other lines. And today, quite frankly, tonight, with Leon Dreichel scoring four and no one else scoring for Edmondson, guys like Chandler Stevenson and Mark Stone, who are accomplished 20-goal, 60-point players, you know, had the advantage. And Vegas was able to exploit Edmondson off the rush a little bit. The Oilers were leaking defensively.

It's the same for both teams in terms of the layoff. In fact, Vegas had been off for six days as compared to four for Edmondson. But I thought some of the Oilers' attention to detail defensively sorely lacking tonight. And that could be attributable to the fact they basically had one full practice in the days leading up to this. And as you know, most teams will tell you rest is more important this time of year.

I still think that's true, but I also think it comes at a price. And attention to detail defensively was that price that Edmondson paid tonight. Connor McDavid did not score in this one, though he and Leon have had maybe the greatest season for two teammates ever in NHL history. How much fun was it to watch these guys continue to get better and to see them spark the Oilers to such a great regular season, especially the finale? Well, Amy, you and I grew up in the 80s and 90s when players and teams routinely scored five, six goals a night. Players were often in the neighborhood of 140, 150 points. And those players were named Merrill Lemieux and Jaromir Jager and Wayne Gretzky.

And that's what the league is heading toward right now, at least at the upper crust with McDavid and Drysettle. I mean, we haven't seen these numbers. They're video game numbers. They're numbers we haven't seen in the league in 30 years. It was a magnificent regular season turned in by, you know, two generational players that I mentioned, too, because you look at the all time scores in the history of the playoffs. It reads Wayne Gretzky and then Leon Drysette and Connor McDavid is sitting there right after Merrill Lemieux in fourth place in terms of points per game. We are talking about two of the world's best players. McDavid is unquestionably the best player in the world right now.

I think Drysette will rank second. And I quite frankly think they're two of the best players to come into the game in two and a half to three decades. I honestly believe they are Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin magnified a more developed, a more progressive version of those two players.

And I know that's a big statement, but I'm telling you, I think we're heading into an era that approaches the kind of era that you and I grew up on in terms of hockey, the scores, the point totals and that sort of thing. Jack Michaels is with us from Las Vegas. You can hear the ambiance behind him there. He's the voice of the Edmonton Oilers and joins us following game one of the series between the two best teams in the West, the Golden Knights and the Oilers. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I heard you say this on the air and it kind of blew me away. First time since March 20th that Edmonton has even trailed entering the third period.

Oh my goodness. A run of dominance, Jack. It really was. And, and, you know, coming into the Stanley cup playoffs, I would have told you that, you know, the two best teams in the league were Boston and Edmonton and as great a year as Boston had, Edmonton actually had a better record in the second half of the season of the Boston Bruins and the Boston Bruins had the best record in the regular season in the history of the league, 104 years. So it's quite a statement.

And yet having said that, I mean, think about it. Edmonton was the best team, including Boston in the second half of the year, not for 20 games, but for 40 games. And they still couldn't catch Vegas. Anyone can be beaten in any kind of best of seven playoff series. That's what makes Stanley cup playoff hockey, in my opinion, the most compelling postseason tournament in all of sports. But I'll tell you right now that Edmonton and Vegas have earned that battle.

Very deep teams with explosive high-end players, but also with players that can give you 11 or 12 minutes that play at a much higher level than everyone else's third and fourth line. And, you know, it's a captivating type of series because Edmonton is explosive offensively. Vegas is known as a defensive team, though you wouldn't know it by tonight's 6-4 final.

You've got fans that travel exceptionally well. And why wouldn't you, Amy, if you live in Edmonton, you'd love to get a taste of Vegas. And the Golden Knights have been extremely well received in this market. As you know, there was a question of, you know, could pro sports thrive in Vegas where no one seems to be from, but rather they've moved to? Well, Las Vegas have now been here 25, 30 years. That transition, there's a lot more people that have grown up in Vegas than maybe when you and I were kids.

I mean, the only one I could think of off the top of my head was Andre Agassi. You've got people that call Vegas home, and with that comes pride and ownership. And because it's not the Raiders who moved from Oakland, but it's Vegas and expansion team, it's Vegas's very own. And so you've got two rabid fan bases, and that makes for an electric atmosphere. I'm sure, listening to the game, you could hear much as you could hear the ambiance behind me. That crowd is loud.

It's loud in Edmonton, but it's also very loud in Vegas. How surprised were you that right after Leon Dreyseidel gets the tying goal to begin the third period that boom, Vegas scores twice in quick succession? That was the key to the game, Amy. I mean, honestly, the Oilers flirted with prosperity a couple times. They took a one nothing lead. 40 seconds later, the game was tied. They finally worked their way back into a 3-3 tie early in the third period, and 50 seconds later, they're down two. I mean, that has, when you're chasing the game, and a team gets two on you, and all of a sudden, having tied the game, that feeling of elation lasts a minute, and you're down two again.

It exacts a physical toll, an emotional toll. You're constantly battling back. It was an uphill struggle, and Edmonton just could never get over the top tonight. And again, full marks to Vegas. They were excellent in transition.

They are not known as a rush team. Edmonton, obviously, is known as a team that could really beat off the rush with their electric group of forwards, and tonight it was Vegas who won that battle. So again, full marks to the Golden Knights, and the Oilers have some work to do defensively to clean up those areas that, as we talked about, I think that attention to detail. The layoff, again, it was the same for both teams, but Vegas was slightly better in terms of, you know, what they did against Winnipeg against Edmonton. The Oilers saw a drop, especially in their defensive game. Jack Michaels of Oilers Radio with us from Vegas.

It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Given this battle, what's your reaction to the Bruins losing in the first round to an 8th seed in the Panthers? I, to be honest with you, think the Seattle upset of Colorado, the defending Stanley Cup champions, is at least on par with the Florida upset of Boston, and here's why. Florida won the president's trophy as recently as a year ago, and then they went through some real upheaval. They traded one of their top fours, Jonathan Huberto, and one of their top defensemen, Mackenzie Wieger, to Calgary, and brought in Matthew Pichot. Now, he's an outstanding player, and he had a tremendous season, but the natural chemistry of the locker room, the rhythm of the players on the ice, it took a while for Florida to figure it out. It really did. I mean, there was an adjustment period there, and I'm not just talking with those players in particular.

You've got a different group. Huberto had been there for a decade. I mean, you take a guy like that out of your room, the locker room is a close-knit thing, as you know, in the NHL. So, it took a while for Florida to sort itself out, and then they got going in the last 20 games of the year with their season on the line. So, they had essentially been playing playoff hockey for about four weeks. Boston, ultimately, they were just playing for history against themselves to see whether they could have the best regular season record. Here's the thing.

Think about it. Golden State, 73 wins. Patriots, 18-0. Seattle, 116 victories for the Mariners.

I think that was 2001. None of those teams won. The regular season, when you achieve big things in the regular season, often that takes a toll on you. And so, I didn't think it was as big of an upset, number one, because of how good Florida was as recently as a year ago, and number two, history tells you, when you have that kind of regular season, you pay a certain price.

It is a strange dichotomy. It's one of those things that's very hard to explain, but it could be something about the sense of urgency and being in playoff mode long before you actually get to the postseason. And again, it was important. I mean, the most recent one that I could think of was Golden State, and they won four others, so it's not like they weren't capable of it, but when they pushed, you'll remember this, they pushed to get that 73rd win.

It was important, and it might have been too important to them in retrospect. So, Jack, we saw Joe Pavelski with the Stars, the four goals, but they lose to Seattle. What do you think about the Kraken and the Stars and how they match up? I thought Seattle's upset of Colorado was as, if not more, stunning than Florida's of Boston, because if you look at the Kraken, yes, they had balanced scoring, but they really didn't have a goalie that you felt could win a series against a high-powered attack like Colorado. And yet, their former goaltender, Philip Grubauer, came back to haunt them. And the same thing in this series, you'd think with Jake Gottinger, who was tremendous for Dallas in a first-round playoff loss to Calgary last year, basically carried the Stars on his back to Game 7 in overtime before they lost that to the Flames. I mean, he's the guy with the pedigree, and yet Seattle got five on him, and Seattle blew a lead, as you know, 4-2 in the third period, and somehow survived. So as much as I want to say Dallas should take care of Seattle rather handily, the Kraken are proving me wrong.

So I hate to bail on that question, but quite honestly, I don't know what to think, because I've basically been wrong at every turn. I will say this, if the playoffs has taught us anything this year, it's not as simple as saying, winner of Edmonton, Vegas will represent the West. I just don't feel comfortable saying that, because we've just seen too many wacky things already. We definitely have. That is the beauty of the Stanley Cup playoffs, because of the Cup. Vegas takes the early edge. Game 2 is coming up on Saturday, also in Vegas, and always great to catch up with our friend Jack Michaels. You can find him on Twitter at EdmontonJack, play-by-play voice of the Oilers, TV, radio, he's everywhere, and now he's on after-hours again. We've missed you. Thank you so much for a couple minutes. Well, Amy, just so your listeners know, it's only Amy Lawrence who could get me to do a late night show in Vegas.

Only Amy. I told your producer that, so I don't know whether that means anything to your listeners, but it's a compliment to you. Oh, apparently it's available right now. I'm a little late with this promo.

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Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-04 08:41:46 / 2023-05-04 08:48:25 / 7

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