![]() "If you look at the goals that Vegas scored against us, the majority were just point shots that got through. ![]() That's just the reality of the playoffs, I think, where a lot of goals are scored on five-on-five is just from simple plays," Zach Hyman said during the end-of-season press conferences. Those are the breaks that can decide a series, and the lack of capitalization on their chances mixed with some excellent goaltending by Adin Hill made the Oilers 5-on-5 play appear worse than it may have been. Edmonton saw the high-danger chances also in their favour with a 54-46 margin, but they were outscored 10-4 on those chances. It wasn't only in the shot attempts that the Oilers held the advantage in play at 5-on-5. Of the 16 teams that made the postseason, 12 were within the top half of the league in Corsi-for with Edmonton finishing in seventh. While Corsi - a statistic which includes all shot attempts directed at an opponent's goal - is far from a perfect stat, it has been a good indicator of repeatable success. Over the course of the series, the shot attempts were tilted solidly in the Oilers favour with a 55.21 per cent Corsi for according to Natural Stat Trick. However, a deeper dive into the series goes to show how important a distinguisher 'outcome' truly is. It was especially against the Golden Knights where the outcome fell greatly in the Oilers opponents favour with a 15-9 advantage at 5-on-5 in the six games of the series. Edmonton was outscored 24-26 with five-a-side on the ice and 25-30 in all even-strength situations over the 12 games of their two series against Los Angeles and Vegas. Since the PP never missed a beat, much of the discourse throughout the playoffs and into the year-end press conference centred around the Oilers team play at 5-on-5, and for good reason. The record setting power-play continued to click in the postseason, scoring 18 goals in 12 games, but it still wasn't enough to overcome the Pacific Division winners in a best-of-seven series. However, after a six-game second round series against the only team in the Western Conference to finish ahead of the Oilers, the exceptional regular season proved to be all for naught. The team also seemed to hit their stride at the perfect time, winning 14 of their last 15 games heading into the playoffs. The Oilers prolific core, situated directly in the prime of their careers, contributed to a power-play which set a new NHL all-time mark for efficiency at 32.4 per cent. Edmonton finished the year with three 100-point scorers with McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, and Darnell Nurse all setting new career-highs in points. The 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers seemed to be on the precipice of a playoff breakthrough after a Western Conference Final trip the year before, followed up with a season of historic dominance by Connor McDavid and the Oilers special teams. EDMONTON, AB - Now that the Oilers season has ended and they enter the offseason as one of the 31 teams chasing next year's Stanley Cup instead of defending it, the review of why and how the Oilers fell short of their goals begins.
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