Hurricanes 5 Oilers 3

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

How the hell do you outshoot your opponent 51 to 21 and lose? This feels like what happened to the Kings last year taken to the nth degree.

Quality, not quantity. When you have very few scorers this is what happens.

 

[Aerchon]

I am a Alberta hockey fan. My team of choice is the Flames but I cheer for the Oilers as my second team. I see so many hard core fans getting mad at all the players but they need to look at facts imo. You are out playing and out shooting most teams. You have some injuries which hopefully will not be out long. IMO to win in this league you need a goalie to bail you out a couple times a game. The biggest difference this year is last year your goalie was making key saves and this year they are not. Every team can pick apart their players but if your goalie cannot make the odd key save, you will lose more then you win.

I would also add the team defense/defense has been incredibly shaky. Klefbom with a career worst game last night, hopefully those kind of performances start disappearing.

But yes, technically the team has not been near as bad as the record suggests. A couple good bounces to hopefully get the teams confidence back and hopefully this start will just be a bad memory on an otherwise solid year. Injuries hurt but every team has them, Oilers got to just push forward and make the best of it.

 

[Frank the Tank]

Quality, not quantity. When you have very few scorers this is what happens.

Through the quantity advantage the Oilers had the same number of high quality chances as the Canes. The difference was that Ward made a few big saves, whereas Brossoit did not.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Through the quantity advantage the Oilers had the same number of high quality chances as the Canes. The difference was that Ward made a few big saves, whereas Brossoit did not.

But it's Cam Ward... This isn't 2006 Ward.

 

[CycloneSweep]

But it's Cam Ward... This isn't 2006 Ward.

We still shouldn't be allowing f***ing the same amount of grade A chances when we out shot them by 30.

 

[oobga]

We still shouldn't be allowing ****ing the same amount of grade A chances when we out shot them by 30.

If you trust another guys eye test. David Staples counted 19 chances for us, 7 of which were grade A. 7 for Carolina, 4 of which were grade A. We went 2/7 on the grade A chances (1/12 on the B's). Canes went 4/4 on their grade A chances (1/3 on B's), Ouch.

 

[Frank the Tank]

But it's Cam Ward... This isn't 2006 Ward.

I know. I was forced to watch the Canes feed on Center Ice and outside of the Lucic goal they were pleasantly surprised by the way he played.

Overall, the Oilers defensemen need to adapt. Teams are collapsing low and forcing the Oilers forwards to go wide and pass to the open point once the zone is gained. We don't have many dangerous point options so it becomes a volume game. It also makes the Oilers prone to counter-attack.

 

[CycloneSweep]

If you trust another guys eye test. David Staples counted 19 chances for us, 7 of which were grade A. 7 for Carolina, 4 of which were grade A. We went 2/7 on the grade A chances (1/12 on the B's). Canes went 4/4 on their grade A chances (1/3 on B's), Ouch.

Not all Grade A chances are equal either. All the Grade A chances they scored on go in on MOST NHL goalies.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Cagguila and Drai are making the trip but won't play Thursday. MIGHT play Saturday.

 

[oobga]

Not all Grade A chances are equal either. All the Grade A chances they scored on go in on MOST NHL goalies.

Yeah I'm not fully blaming LB. There was some 2nd year Eberle quality shooting going on out there. And brutal defensive errors. Just don't think this stuff, at least the every shot on us from a good spot receives a blessing from the hockey gods thing, can keep going on forever.

 

[MessierII]

Not all Grade A chances are equal either. All the Grade A chances they scored on go in on MOST NHL goalies.

I don’t agree. A good nhl goalie will stop 2 of those 4 on a regular. Talbot often saved more than that at times. Even a breakaway is statically geared towards the goalies.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Cagguila and Drai are making the trip but won't play Thursday. MIGHT play Saturday.

Excellent news. Drai is obvious, but the team could really use Caggiula's speed and tenacity in the line up. I know he hasn't been good offensively this year (or last year), but he has other elements to has game the team could use.

 

[PinSeeker]

Quality, not quantity. When you have very few scorers this is what happens.

Oilers lead the league in high danger chances for % right now, so it is not in any way shape or form a problem of quality.
Egads I get that we all have our points of view - and believe me I am not happy with the record - but it is hard to make a case that we are not getting enough quality chances...
*Also - we are 2nd last in high danger save % by our tenders, 4 last in high danger shot % by our forwards.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Oilers: 5.34% shooting pct
NHL median shooting pct: 9.52%

Oilers: 87.16% save percentage
NHL median save pct: 91.11%

A team is obviously not going to win many games when they are shooting 4% below the NHL median and letting in goals at a 4% higher rate than the NHL median.

Last 8 seasons worst PDO stats each year:

97.1
97.7
97.9
96.5
97.4
97.1
98.0
96.6

The Oilers are currently at 92.5

Could the Oilers end up having a combined save pct and shooting pct that's 4% lower than the lowest recorded level in the past 8 seasons? Very unlikely.

They will improve... but they have a LONG way to go to get to even mediocre at this stage... let alone getting to a PDO in the ~99+ range where they would then be expected to have a shot at making the playoffs.

 

[Soundwave]

Last night is on Klefbom. That should be at minimum a 3-3 game that we have a good chance of winning in OT. Klefbom single handedly gave them 2 goals at minimum and was swimming on another one.

He sabotaged the team right off the gate and then gives them a goal right back as soon as we were getting momentum again. Twice he shot this team in the foot yesterday. That's on him, he needs to own that.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

The Nurse-Larsson pairing looked excellent last season in the limited time they played together. That definitely needs to be a thing again over the next few games. Nurse is the only defenseman on this roster that knows what he's doing 5 games into the season. Should be rewarded for his excellent play and maybe it'll snap Klef out of his tailspin.

 

[Soundwave]

If we weren't thin on D as is with Sekera out I honestly would scratch Klefbom for a game. He doesn't deserve to be playing on an NHL roster right now.

If Gryba or Auvitu or Nurse made the mistakes he made last night, they would be sitting in the press box.

 

[CycloneSweep]

The Nurse-Larsson pairing looked excellent last season in the limited time they played together. That definitely needs to be a thing again over the next few games. Nurse is the only defenseman on this roster that knows what he's doing 5 games into the season. Should be rewarded for his excellent play and maybe it'll snap Klef out of his tailspin.

Except for the 5th goal. But I can maybe chalk that up to unfamiliarity

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Oilers lead the league in high danger chances for % right now, so it is not in any way shape or form a problem of quality.
Egads I get that we all have our points of view - and believe me I am not happy with the record - but it is hard to make a case that we are not getting enough quality chances...
*Also - we are 2nd last in high danger save % by our tenders, 4 last in high danger shot % by our forwards.

Part of the reason that happens is because the Oilers are constantly playing from behind.

 

[MinimaMoralia]

Well, both Lowe and Simpson have looked very solid for Bako so far. Maybe it's time to give one of them a shot. Something needs to happen with our blueline. Even the corpse of Mark Streit would probably be better than Auvitu or Gryba.

 

[joestevens29]

Well, both Lowe and Simpson have looked very solid for Bako so far. Maybe it's time to give one of them a shot. Something needs to happen with our blueline. Even the corpse of Mark Streit would probably be better than Auvitu or Gryba.

I really don't think it's going to make much of a difference if you swap out those guys with those guys you mentioned. They're essentially all of similar talent levels. None of them are overly special with the exception that Gryba plays a mean game that TM likes.

The team needs top 4 d-men to be inserted, not more fringe NHLer's.

 

[Soundwave]

I really don't think it's going to make much of a difference if you swap out those guys with those guys you mentioned. They're essentially all of similar talent levels. None of them are overly special with the exception that Gryba plays a mean game that TM likes.

The team needs top 4 d-men to be inserted, not more fringe NHLer's.

We need a priest for Klefbom.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Well, both Lowe and Simpson have looked very solid for Bako so far. Maybe it's time to give one of them a shot. Something needs to happen with our blueline. Even the corpse of Mark Streit would probably be better than Auvitu or Gryba.

Auvitu actually had a decent game... as did Gryba. People just want to paint them as being crappy every game because they are bottom pairing and supposedly defective on D for 60 minutes every night but they certainly were far from that last game.

When Auvitu has been on the ice at evens the team outshot their opponents 24-9 (17-8 in scoring chances as well) and the team was even in GF/GA at 1 each.

 

[Porkleaker]

^ Yep I'm usually after Gryba for his mistakes but he was decent last night, real problem was with Klefbom.

 

[Drivesaitl]

How the hell do you outshoot your opponent 51 to 21 and lose? This feels like what happened to the Kings last year taken to the nth degree.

Different style of play and tactics. Canes are a counter team. Fairly classic NZ type team that likes to punish opponents for their mistakes and thus pouncing on odd man dangerous situations and turnovers. Invariably those lead to dangerous scoring chances and not necessarily a lot of shots. On one sequence the Canes had 3 good scoring chances and no shots. So that the stats don't reflect that. Conversely the Oilers are a goal scoring struggling club that are being told to put everything to the net. Thus a lot of harmless shots.

Myself I think the scoring chances overall were fairly equal but its always harder trailing.