Oilers win first Stanley cup in MRFHL history

"When I took this team over, we had finished deadlast in the league. In the last few years we've established that we are a top team in the league. Now, finally, we have our cup."

GM Braithwaite was ecstatic about on Saturday regarding his teams big game six win. Patrik Laine proved to be the hero as he put the last goal of the season in past Corey Crawford in overtime. It was a memorable run for the Oilers, expectations were high given they had just won their second straight presidents trophy, and much of the same core remained in tact from their deep run from last season. It's been a big two years, as the Oilers have won 2 division, conference, and presidents trophies, an EA sports tournament, made a deep run last season to be cut short in the conference finals, and have finally won the Stanley cup. Lets recap the Oilers run. 

Predators vs. Oilers

The first round saw the Oilers pitted against the 8th seed, but still a tough underdog team in the Predators, The players didn't take them for granted and stormed out of that gate posting two dominant performances, a 6-2 and a 5-2 victory to control the series. They then laid an egg in the next game and lost 6-1. This lit a fire under the team and they took the next two games 2-1 and 4-2...however, in the last game of the series, the Oilers lost a top 4 defenceman in Brett Pesce, and their #1 center in Evgeni Malkin.

Ducks vs. Oilers

The next series saw the Oilers going in hurt against a tough division rival in the ducks. The first three games saw the ducks defence shut down the Oilers top guns and the ducks stormed out to a 3-0 series lead with a 2-0 shutout sandwich in between 2 3-1 victories....before game 4 coach John Tortarella gave the team a rousing speech and told them "What the fuck are you idiots doing". The team seemed to take this to heart as the Oilers top guns started firing off. Winning the next two games 3-1 and 4-2 in close affairs, before taking the hammer to Ducks in game 6 and seven. Scoring a combined 13 goals in 2 games in a pair of 5-1 and 8-1 victories. Patrick Kane had himself a time, scoring 9 points in those 2 games. Oilers would return to the conference finals for the second straight season.

Blues vs. Oilers

The St. Louis Blues had gone from the worst team in the league, to winning their respective division this season. Not only that, but they seemed poised to make a run, already reaching the conference finals with a young team. The Oilers pressured the inexperienced blues in game 1, and jumped out to a 1-0 series lead with a 5-3 victory. This would be the only lead the Oilers would have the entire series, as the Blues took games 2 and 3 2-1 and 5-2 respectively, the Blues and Oilers would swap a couple wins leaving the series in the Blues hands with a 3-2 lead. The Oilers again faced elimination and staved it off with a 3-1 victory in game 6. in another elimination game, the Oilers top guns stepped with a 3 point night from kane and Malkin and Giroux both recording multi point nights. There was also some depth scoring from the 2nd and 4th line, while the defence also popped a couple goals in with a dominant 6-1 victory to claim the conference. It was a great seven game series, and the future is bright in St. Louis...but the right now is about the Edmonton Oilers. 

Rangers vs. Oilers

The rangers had made there way to the finals as underdogs. They didn't win their division, they had to beat the Penguins and their dynamic duo of Dadanov and ROR. Then they had to face one of the best teams in the league in the Tampa Bay Lightning, who they beat in game seven of the conference finals to purchase their ticket to the show. If theres one team who earned it, it was the rangers and they weren't gonna let being the underdogs concern them in the last series, or this series. They showed this as they jumped out to a 3-1 win in game 1 to take the series lead while Antti Raanta posted a 973 in game 1. Game two saw Hellebuyck shut out the Rangers in a 4-0 win to tie the series. The Rangers switched goalies and saw Corey Crawford take the helm,  an understandable choice as Crawford is a proven vet and stanley cup winner. They were reward with another 3-1 victory. This would be the last victory of the series though, as the Oilers won the next game 5-3 and the following game 4-3 to take a 3-2 series lead. Which brings us to game six. The Oilers carried the momentum in the first potting 2 goals and taking 18 shots on Crawford. The second period saw an even match and the teams traded a pair of goals. the third saw the rangers desperately trying to keep their season alive, recording 10 shots to the Oilers 4, putting 2 past Hellebuyck. This game needed extra time. The extra time saw both teams trade 3 shots, however Alex Barkov, the Oilers 2nd line center put the puck over the net, and Nylander picked it up and put it in Crawford, Crawford was unable to corrale the rebound, giving Patrik Laine and open net, and he made no mistake, burying the rebound and ending the game, the series, and the playoffs. 
 

The top players from the Oilers Showed up As the top pairing shut down teams top guns, the defensive depth showed up when needed...all the way down to Korbinian Holzer, an injury replacement picked up at the deadline who stepped up when Brett Pesce went down. Connor Hellebuyck was the top Goaltender he always is posting an incredible 929 save percentage and a 2.20 GAA. the depth scorers were there when needed. But the top guns were the reason the Oilers won. The Oilers top six was the most offensively charged unit in the league this year and they didn't disappoint, Barkov went PPG, playing shut down hockey against the other teams top lines, while finishing with a +11. Laine was the game 6 hero, on top of adding 14 points to his playoff totals. William Nylander was a scoring machine, potting 11 goals through the playoffs. The top line all went PPG. Giroux scored 25 in 25 while playing a strong defensive role on the first line. Malkin was the acquisition he was supposed to be at the deadline scoring 13 goals and 30 points in only 23 games an absolutely torrid pace. But the big key for the Oilers was their best player..Patrick Kane. Who scored 13 goals and added 24 assists for 37 points in 25 games. He also showed up with big performances in both game sevens and all the elimination games. They don't call him show time for nothing.

Now to the offseason, how much of this team can GM Braithwaite keep together?