Almost always toeing the line, Wilson drew significant ire for charging through the extended leg of Sheary, who was at a standstill after releasing the puck.
There's a chance the communication lines at Rexall Place are compromised on Saturday. The rough estimate on that is 13.5 percent.
Staffers will be busy sifting through hate mail, conspiracy takes, and all kinds of venom over at headquarters if the Oilers' lottery ball is plucked from the NHL's air machine again, and they're awarded the first selection at the draft for the fifth time in seven seasons.
But regardless of whether Kevin Lowe or Craig MacTavish has to call hydro, or Peter Chiarelli slides behind the hysteria, accepting the fifth overall pick at a TV studio in Toronto, the working transmission must be fortified. And swiftly sprung into use.
***
It's the next most important summer in the history of the Edmonton Oilers, who after wasting another season - their last at Rexall Place - have indicated they may be finally prepared to make the leap.
Chiarelli's now had a season to appraise a franchise whose commitment to the rebuilding process is only rivaled by its staunch devotion to its first-round lottery selections spent. In their failures to do the audacious, the Oilers have cemented their place as the NHL's punchline and the average fan's fall-back to cope with insecurities borne from their own frustrations. Rightly so. It's something the club must, and will continue wearing until it finally does something different - something lasting.
In his short time with Edmonton, Chiarelli's only success has come working the margins. In an effort to be "Bruin-ized," he acquired Zack Kassian and Patrick Maroon - two big bodies who quickly carved out roles - in-season and at virtually no risk. Where Chiarelli's failures lie is his sharing of the same reluctance to shake the roster at its very core. It's only been a season, but he's fallen into the same pattern as those who have previously failed to satiate the team's agonizing and glaring need since Chris Pronger requested a trade.
After Dougie Hamilton landed with the rival Flames, Chiarelli almost seemed to panic in his pursuit of help on defense, impatiently trading a mid-first round pick for a slow-footed project before signing a veteran with a second-pairing ceiling to a lucrative long-term contract in free agency.
But while the $33 million and Matt Barzal isn't coming back, and as much as it might feel this way, this situation is not beyond repair.
Edmonton has retained every capability to deal from a position of saturated strength to fill their holes this summer, an opportunity only helped along by the valuable - and perhaps importantly faceless - top-five draft ticket they will toss into their asset pool Saturday night.
It's absolutely imperative that this team starts to win, so when the lottery balls finally settle, and regardless of where they stand, it behooves the Oilers to use that leverage and unearth every option under the sun to aid a starving defensive corps.
The last thing this team should do is wait on Olli Juolevi.
But to find that stallion on the back end, that elite defender who'll not just take 25 minutes a night but slot everyone down into their proper functions, it's going to take more than a draft pick.
The Oilers must be willing to dig deep, to pillage their superfluous collection of top-six skill, and completely transform the environment around Connor McDavid to finally stop spinning their wheels.
Radulov did not elaborate on any of the details of a contract. Earlier in the week Radulov reportedly skipped out on Russia's World Championship camp, making a trip to New York to meet with several NHL teams instead.
The trip left the Russian team angry, but they have since reportedly forgiven him, and Radulov will join the club for the tournament that kicks off next week.
Radulov last appeared in the NHL in 2012 where he had seven points in nine regular season games with the Nashville Predators and six points in eight playoff matches.
Bruce Boudreau has suffered his last heartbreak in Anaheim.
The Ducks announced Friday, two days after their fourth consecutive loss in a Game 7 on home ice, that they relieved Boudreau of his head coaching duties.
Boudreau's time in Anaheim ends with four consecutive division titles, along with 208 wins to 104 losses, and another 40 in either overtime or the shootout. But for all his regular-season success, which includes another 200 wins in five seasons as the Washington Capitals' head coach, Boudreau hasn't been able to guide his ultra-talented teams to a Stanley Cup Final.
His success, though, which includes organizing both the league's top power play and penalty kill, and also his ability to completely reshape the Ducks' scheme on the fly this season, will ensure he's not out of the game for very long.
Fans and pundits alike are already linking him to the vacant Ottawa Senators job.
The Senators have scheduled interviews with Marc Crawford and Guy Boucher, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported in his latest 30 Thoughts column.
The Senators have already interviewed former Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo. The team began their due diligence with an initial list of around 30 names, according to Friedman.
Crawford and Boucher have both spent the last number of years coaching in Switzerland. Crawford has been with Zurich since the 2012-13 season - even having the opportunity to mentor highly touted prospect Auston Matthews this year. Meanwhile Boucher has coached Bern over the last three seasons.
Both coaches are expected to return to North America this year.
Both the Sharks and Predators enter the second round after knocking off higher seeds in their first-round matchups. The Sharks now sit atop the throne in California, while the Predators proved though they might get down, but they're never out.
The Predators bested the Sharks in the regular season, taking the season series 2-0-1 while outscoring San Jose 10-6.
However, previous playoff history strongly tips the scales back in the Sharks' favour. The two have squared off twice in playoffs past and both times (2006, 2007) the Sharks have walked out with a 4-1 series win.
Heading in to the third installment, the Sharks should prevail once again and here is why:
Brent Burns
Though the Sharks have just five games under their belt, they still hold the most productive defenseman this postseason.
The bearded-wonder Brent Burns paces the league with eight points to date, good enough for an impressive 1.6 points per game.
He has been the quarterback of a power-play unit that sits fifth among the remaining teams and he ranks second among defenders with three power-play points.
Burns has nearly matched the Predators' entire defensive core in points per game largely due to his six assists.
The Sharks forwards have also been more potent thanks in large part to Burns' six helpers. Burns has been in on 50 percent of his team's goals in the playoffs making it pretty obvious, the Predators must stop him.
Sharks besting Predators statistically
While the Predators may have taken the regular-season series from the Sharks, the fact is throughout the playoffs the Sharks have been out performing the Predators in most statistical categories.
While the Sharks have had to play just five games to date, the team made quick work of the Los Angeles Kings and did so in commanding fashion as the numbers suggest.
Sharks
Stat
Predators
3.2
Goals for
2
2.2
Goals against
2.57
23.8
Power play
3.8
78.6%
Penalty kill
84%
25.6
Shots for
27.6
25
Shots against
28.6
45.6
Corsi
49.8
While the Predators do edge the Sharks in three categories, the Sharks have outscored and outdefended the Predators. Special teams could be very telling of the series. The Predators have been the more penalized team of the two clubs while the Sharks boast a far superior power play.
Simply put, the Predators will need to be better all around to compete.
X-factor: Joe Pavelski
The Sharks have sat idly by for a week waiting for their second-round opponent, and in so have been keeping arguably the postseason's hottest goal-scorer waiting.
In his first year as captain, he had 11 more goals than the next highest-scoring Shark, and during the postseason leads the team in power-play goals and in shooting percentage with a wicked 35.7 percent success rate.
Not to mention he has netted nearly a third of his club's goals so far.
Though their season may be over, the Florida Panthers have not lost the support of their beloved Kevin Spacey.
All votes on Thursday for the player to grace the NHL '17 cover were worth double on Twitter thanks to an EA Sports campaign. It was an opportunity that Spacey made sure to take full advantage of, casting his vote for forward Aleksander Barkov.
I'm putting in my vote for #NHL17Barkov, or as I like to call him: the first recipient of the #SpaceyinSpace hoodie.
Another checkpoint has apparently been reached in the expansion process.
TSN's Gary Lawless reported Friday morning that the NHL and NHPLA have agreed in principal to an expansion draft model and mandate on existing no-movement clauses.
Lawless notes this doesn't mean that expansion is imminent, but that the agreement is a "major hurdle cleared" in the process because it couldn't be recommended by the NHL's executive committee without proper regulation in place.
The NHL's working concept is believed to have each team losing one player per expansion entity, with the option to protect either seven forwards, three defensemen, and a goaltender, or eight skaters and a goaltender.
Groups from Las Vegas and Quebec City are currently working through the NHL's exhaustive application process in hopes of obtaining a franchise for the 2017-18 season.
If one, or both, is granted a team, the NHL's expansion draft, with the rules apparently now agreed upon, figures to take place at some point just over a year from now.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a different beast. The games are tighter, the defense better, everybody's laying the body, and the goalies are practically unbeatable.
The field's down to eight from 16. Here are three players who must improve in order to help send their teams to the final four.
Now, his ice time matters, especially when Vladimir Tarasenko's playing only 17 minutes a game, and is unhappy about the fact. Tarasenko paced the Blues offensively, along with Jaden Schwartz and Robby Fabbri, while Stastny had only two assists.
Making matters worse: Stastny finished the first round with a ghastly 43.7 Corsi For rating, according to War On Ice. Not only is he a non-factor offensively, the Blues are being peppered at the defensive end when he's on the ice. (Granted, the sample size is small.)
It was a disappointing season for Stastny offensively, though, to his credit, he produced better than his first season in Missouri. But he's got to be get going, because the Dallas Stars are no pushover, and this may be his last chance at redemption.
Evgeny Kuznetsov
It's one thing to lead your team in scoring during the regular season, and another to do it in the playoffs.
After exploding for a Washington Capitals-best 77 points in his second full season, Evgeny Kuznetsov managed only a power-play goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in six games in the first round, and was held pointless in Game 1 of the second round. Now, in Kuznetsov's defense, the Capitals' offense went cold as a whole in Round 1, as the Flyers almost pushed the series to seven games thanks to some puck luck and brilliant goaltending from Michal Neuvirth.
But against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the focus is going to be on Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, so Kuznetsov heating up will go a long way for Washington. And he's done it before - he had five goals in 14 postseason games last spring.
It's not that Kuznetsov is playing bad hockey - he went into Game 1 against Pittsburgh with a 59.4 Corsi For rating. The puck's just not finding the back of the net, as evidenced by his one goal on 20 shots.
In other words, the hockey gods are playing a part.
Filip Forsberg
It can't be understated how massive the Nashville Predators' first-round win over the Anaheim Ducks was. After blowing a 2-0 series lead, they rallied, backs against the wall, winning two elimination games, one of them - Game 7 - on the road.
Problem is, they're going to have to do it again, as they face another formidable California foe in the San Jose Sharks. And they're going to need a little bit more out of Filip Forsberg, who managed only a goal and two assists in the first round.
Should the Predators move on, it'll be thanks to their defense and Pekka Rinne. Nashville scored only 14 goals against the Ducks - in fact, the Predators were outscored, allowing 18 goals. But Forsberg's going to have to be more of an offensive factor if the Preds hope to get past a Sharks team stacked with scoring talent.
The Swede needs some help, too. Ryan Johansen and James Neal had three points in seven games, as well, while Mike Ribeiro tallied only one assist, and Mike Fisher only one goal. The Predators, as a club, need a bit more bite.
The Washington Capitals forward was the difference in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring his first-career playoff hat trick - including the overtime winner. It was a moment that brought back childhood memories.
"I haven't won too many championships in my lifetime," Oshie said, according to NHL.com's Katie Brown. "Maybe through the youth years. That's kind of the stuff you dream about when you're a kid playing in the backyard by yourself is scoring the OT winner and getting a hat trick. It was awesome."
8 opponents have had playoff HTs vs. Pens, and 3 from Wash: Ciccarelli in 92, Ovechkin in 09 and Oshie tonight.
In his first year in Washington, Oshie finished the regular season second among all Capitals with 26 goals - second only to Alex Ovechkin - and is quickly becoming one of the team's more reliable stars.
"He seems to be up every single game. I've never seen him take a night off," goaltender Braden Holtby said of Oshie. "His work ethic is through the roof and compete level is amazing. That shows in these games that he's going to be one of those guys that's really key for us."
With his three markers Thursday, Oshie now paces the team with four goals during the postseason and shares the lead in team scoring with seven points in seven games.
