Post-Game Talk: Nurse Skinned the Oilers

[bone]

They really didn't though. They turned the puck over numerous times. The spent more time in their end. Their second pairing got absolutely torched.

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The top pairing had a great game. That's about it as far as positives go. You simply cannot sit back against anyone and allow them to dictate play. If they tried that nonsense against the Avs they'd be relegated.

Zone time doesn't always add up to bad defense as Edmonton really didn't give them any real good looks. Similar to how Vegas handled Edmonton through stretches last year, the difference was that Hill wouldn't give them 2-3 freebies.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not happy with their game overall as they should have dug deeper for at least some kind of offensive push even after getting 4 goals on what should have been maybe 2 goals, but 99% of the time a team performing like they did defensively in the last 24 minutes wins if doing so with a 4-1 lead.

 

[guymez]

Yeh I don’t know what to make of the lack of shots. Are the Nucks just shutting us down? Or are we playing to protect the lead? In those tight LA games it seems the team was more than happy to sit back and defend a tight lead. So I’m hoping it was just that and not anything the Nucks themselves were doing to us.

I think that you nailed it.
Thats the strategy they used in the LA game and it wasnt pretty but it worked.
It didnt work last night in part because the Canucks are better than the Kings.

I understand not taking unecessary chances but you cant just 100% go into a shell and not try to produce any offence.

 

[TheNumber4]

agreed, I think back to Calgary game 1 loss from two years ago, its just hurts man

Especially with all the pre game tribalism between the fanbases that was 7 days long, that makes this hurt more than just any ol loss. It’s okay though, we can turn the script right around on Friday.

 

[SnooPac]

Oilers in 5.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Should've kept playing harder offensively after Hyman's 2nd goal. It was by far a weak goal but it definitely rattled Silov, the canucks, and especially silenced the building. Extremely frustrating to lose that game especially after having a 3 goal lead.

The Oilers just love letting inexperienced goalies feel comfortable. It's a baffling mindset. He wasn't playing well and instead of keeping it up you go completely silent. Far from the first time this has happened, too.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Skinner was terrible. Compounded the issue as well with terrible puck handling that included taking a minor penalty because he handles the puck like a five year old. But he had a lot of help from Nurse who was lost in space too much with soft, tentative coverage and bad reads. Add Desharnais (& Perry) screening him on the Zadorov goal instead of blocking the shot.

The collapse covered reality that, despite the score, after two two periods a telecast SportLogic graphic showed the Canucks with double the Slot Shots (10 to 5); 5 to 1 in High Danger Scoring Chances; 7 to 2 Cycle Chances; and 5 to 2 Odd Man Rushes. The Canucks finished with a lopsided face-off aka possession start difference of 63.5% to 36.5% which flattered the critical top six face-off results of McDavid 27.8% and Draisaitl 28.6%. Line 1 had 4 shots last night. They were dominated. Second line wasn't much better. This is a massive and very troubling reality especially if Draisaitl's back is f***ed. Puck possession is this team's oxygen and it starts from winning face-off draws.

Edmonton was outworked, had good fortune with an organizational third string raw rookie goaltender, imploded behind a terrible goaltending performance and dud defense work principally by Nurse and Ceci. But there is significant underlaying concerns with the need for this team's top six to be much, much better to push back in this series.

 

[guymez]

They couldn't keep up. The Oilers couldn't be aggressive because they chased practically the whole game. When they did get the puck they made an absolute mess out of it.

And it started with their captain to be perfectly honest. May not be something I'd like to acknowledge but McDavid was really .. bad last night. I'm not blaming the loss on him. The whole team suffered the same affliction as him.

Did they plan or want to lay that egg.. god no. That's the scary part. This team can't deal with success.. it kills their game. They have to have a measure of guilt in their game to find their legs and dial in.

This teams biggest weakness is themselves.

Very fair post and it speaks to being too mentally weak.

This series is going to reveal a lot about this team

 

[Broberg Speed]

I lost a lot of sleep last night, I don't think I completed a single REM cycle

anyway, Im gonna avoid social media and this place until tomorrow. bye yall

I went to sleep thinking about it. I woke in the middle of the night thinking about it. I woke up thinking about it. I'm thinking about it now.

The Oilers need to take this series.

 

[CornKicker]

It’s strange, you’d think something like have a week to coach with video might help them understand this, but I guess not

i know one thing for sure, if dustin schwartz is talking to skinner hes saying smart things like "dude play the puck in the corner"

 

[Drivesaitl]

Zone time doesn't always add up to bad defense as Edmonton really didn't give them any real good looks. Similar to how Vegas handled Edmonton through stretches last year, the difference was that Hill wouldn't give them 2-3 freebies.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not happy with their game overall as they should have dug deeper for at least some kind of offensive push even after getting 4 goals on what should have been maybe 2 goals, but 99% of the time a team performing like they did defensively in the last 24 minutes wins if doing so with a 4-1 lead.

Just gonna say as well that goals 1, 3 are Nucks schemes. They are set practiced plays. The Oilers and their coaches even say they do not study the other team as much as worry about their own game. This is another thing that surprises me in todays game how much coaches say that, and how much teams seem not to be aware of setplays.

Nucks scored basically two goals because the Oilers for some reason either weren't aware of didn't have film on those schemes.

Nucks do a lot of shot passing and a lot of pounding pucks off backboards for rebounds. I don't see an excuse not to know those when any punter can see a team does it fairly often. Nor is it a new thing. Nucks have been shot passing since Naslund, since the Sedins. They do it as much or more than any other club.

 

[bone]

agreed, I think back to Calgary game 1 loss from two years ago, its just hurts man

That game though actually gave me hope. Calgary owned them that game and likely deserved to win 9-2. But Edmonton kept scoring to make it look respectable, then Calgary players started mocking the Oilers just amping them up even more. At that point, I knew they could score enough to win and trusted that Smith wouldn't give up 9 every game. I didn't think they'd get it in 4 straight, but I wasn't really nervous at that point.

 

[McAsuno]

The Oilers just love letting inexperienced goalies feel comfortable. It's a baffling mindset. He wasn't playing well and instead of keeping it up you go completely silent. Far from the first time this has happened, too.

This team does have holes still especially in the top four D spot. But IMO, the biggest weakness this team has is literally themselves mentally. When the Oilers play at their best, they literally play like a cup contending worthy team. More often than not though, this team just really loves shooting themselves in the foot year after year.
They were f***ing rattled mentally after the nucks tied/took the lead in the 3rd. Multiple players falling over the ice, not making a simple pass, bobbling the puck, refusing to shoot it, and looking for somebody to pass to which resulted in turnovers.

 

[TheNumber4]

I think that you nailed it.
Thats the strategy they used in the LA game and it wasnt pretty but it worked.
It didnt work last night in part because the Canucks are better than the Kings.

I understand not taking unecessary chance but you cant just 100% go into a shell and not produce any offence.

Yeh I agree. I’ve said a couple times too that when we eventually have to face the Avs. We need to be in position to be able to fight fire with fire. I don’t know if the MacKs and Makar’s can be defended, only limited. In that sense we will need to fight fire with fire and win some games trading offence with them. We may need that sooner than the Avs though as the Nucks are no slouch at scoring when they start clicking. Oilers can’t forget their roots as a powerhouse offensive team. I just hope Henrique is back soon, cause Janny/Holloway in the top 6 isn’t ideal.

 

[Pavel10]

One thing I've noticed is that oilers management is 100% asleep during this series.

Canucks have been waging psychological warfare and where is the pushback?

In the past week we've had

1. Tocchet mess with the Refs heads we get zero penalties no one says nothing. Step up Mr Ken Holland or are you already talking to hr about your exit package?

2. Paul coffey is apparently aracist because he pointed at his head and said wacko to a guy who was bang on the glass all night.

3. Oh evander kane yelled at some players and left the dressing room early after the collapse.

Spare me the "oh we don't want to sink to their level" "you think they care what the media says" "refs we're not influenced" nonsense.

Everyone wants their management to back them and the radio silence is deafening.

 

[bone]

Skinner had 7/12 games last playoffs with a GAA of 4 or higher. He now has 3/6 so far this post season. The latter is even more concerning as the team this year under KK Coffey are givng up much less.

To wit, again Skinner gave up 3 goals in third period on one HDSC. What clutch goaltending...

Skinner converted a win to a loss. That can't happen often from your starter.

That 1 HDSC goes back to the last four minutes of the 2nd even, so it was 4 goals on 1 HDSC.

 

[MoontoScott]

Very fair post and it speaks to being too mentally weak.

This series is going to reveal a lot about this team

The great thing about the playoffs is that it removes all the makeup and shows what you really have. Were you just a 2 dressed up as a 9?

Having said that I'm going to take the Oilers to win on Friday night.

If they go down 2-0 then I don't think they have the mental strength to win the series.

 

[TheNumber4]

Yep. The NHL replays didn't have the overhead. Thanks for the exchange and the better view. Good work my friend!

lol thanks. It’s all good, on that play I remember the GDT and no one caught it live either including myself.

 

[K1984]

Mentioned this in the GDT that the Oilers had lost all semblance of a centre ice breakout and were making soft plays along the wall. I actually got some pushback from a poster about this saying the wall "eats clock"

Horseshit. Make the play that is available. If the wall is sealed, go up the middle. They did that all season when they were successful. Coffee wants his D-men to make plays. Well, if the wall is sealed, make a f***ing play.

This was hands down the biggest problem last night. The air head stretch passes, the rims around the wall, the lazy chip up the boards were all basically gone in the LA series and now they're back in spades.

They need to make plays, but they also need to recognize when there is no time to make a play and make responsible decisions. If nothing is there you either punt it and regroup or eat the puck on the wall and wait for support. Really not that f***ing hard. This group instinctually just throws it up the boards for a free, usually very damaging turnover. Those turnovers almost always end up in established cycles that snowball.

To add to this, the forwards aren't much help either. They're equally as guilty of the dumb f*** board decisions, and there were stunning amounts of occasions where we would be getting cycled on, finally get the puck up to a forward with time, then the forward sits on it and either turns it over or doesn't get the puck much further out then the blue line. If you're getting caved, and you have time to move it, CHIP THE f***ING PUCK OUT AND CHANGE. Kane, McLeod and Foegele especially guilty of this BS last night.

Infuriating to watch.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not just the game was frustrating but the amount of times the telecast was cheering on a Nucks comeback even before it happened. "lets hope the Nucks come back" type telecast. They operned the third period with Simpson saying it multiple times. Thought it was a homer national telecast...

 

[bone]

Just gonna say as well that goals 1, 3 are Nucks schemes. They are set practiced plays. The Oilers and their coaches even say they do not study the other team as much as worry about their own game. This is another thing that surprises me in todays game how much coaches say that, and how much teams seem not to be aware of setplays.

Nucks scored basically two goals because the Oilers for some reason either weren't aware of didn't have film on those schemes.

Nucks do a lot of shot passing and a lot of pounding pucks off backboards for rebounds. I don't see an excuse not to know those when any punter can see a team does it fairly often. Nor is it a new thing. Nucks have been shot passing since Naslund, since the Sedins. They do it as much or more than any other club.

For sure, and the Canucks' best stretch of hockey doing these things was from the start of the 2nd period until the last TV timeout of the 2nd period. Edmonton shockingly survived that stretch going 2-1 over it, but got eaten alive for goals against in the stretch where they played with better structure.

3. Oh evander kane yelled at some players and left the dressing room early after the collapse.

Did this actually happen? The only place I saw it was an obvious parody account.

 

[K1984]

But they did tighten up defensively. Vancouver literally had 1 HD scoring chance in the last 24 minutes and an expected goal total based on shot difficulty of 0.43, yet Skinner allowed 4 goals against over that 24 minutes stretch.

This is the painful part.

I've been a broken record on this, but the Nucks do a lot of things that look exciting in the O zone with heavy forecheck, established cycles, rapid point shots, etc, but often not a lot gets done. For the most part if you just box out the slot and are aggressive checking the points they don't really do much. As bad as our breakouts, puck management, and general effort were, we still didn't give up much in terms of opportunities and shots on goal.

With this team we always will find a way to f*** it up through.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Mentioned this in the GDT that the Oilers had lost all semblance of a centre ice breakout and were making soft plays along the wall. I actually got some pushback from a poster about this saying the wall "eats clock"

Horseshit. Make the play that is available. If the wall is sealed, go up the middle. They did that all season when they were successful. Coffee wants his D-men to make plays. Well, if the wall is sealed, make a f***ing play.

This is one of those posts that kind of gets buried as the last post of a page and overlooked. Damn straight. The whole 2nd and 3rd periods I'm like "where's the outs" wheres the transition. On many plays a defender could just skate into areas to advance puck or skate out themsleves. Instead doing the Staois up boards all the time. What Nucks want you to do.

Seems like Coffey has to have that lecture with the D again. Wasn't just Nurse and Ceci. Deshaharnais and Kulak questionable as well.

 

[guymez]

The great thing about the playoffs is that it removes all the makeup and shows what you really have.

Having said that I'm going to take the Oilers to win on Friday night.

If they go down 2-0 then I don't think they have the mental strength to win the series.

I am with you 100%.
I think that the Oilers win on Friday as well.
If they go down 2-0 in this series then I dont see them coming back either.

If that happens then this team will need to have major changes in the off season because it will be crystal clear that it just isnt good enough as is.

 

[Pavel10]

For sure, and the Canucks' best stretch of hockey doing these things was from the start of the 2nd period until the last TV timeout of the 2nd period. Edmonton shockingly survived that stretch going 2-1 over it, but got eaten alive for goals against in the stretch where they played with better structure.



Did this actually happen? The only place I saw it was an obvious parody account.

Saw a couple of Twitter posts. Maybe youre right. Ref thing is pissing me off the most. Zero calls.

 

[Oilhawks]

The thousand paper cuts, a lot of them are the weakness in Skinners game.

You absolved him on first goal against, you said Skinner was expecting a shot on net and respecting it would be. That was a set play that the Nucks execute. They pull it out fairly often. The miss was intentional and the shot missed by more than two feet and was taken from right of the net so obviously its going to either come back off boards and hit back of net or come out the other side. Skinner oblivious to it. No goalie in the league should fail to detect that shot was going wide. He saw the shot. His thought process got scrambled.

2nd goal you now blame on Nurse. Despite Skinners stick being in the wrong position and not tight in the whole time. The puck deflected in off skinners STick which was in the wrong position.

Now both of these goals against were poor and were very important in where the game was headed. The first was early in 2nd period and allowed Nucks to get back in game. It was a big mental break for them. The 2nd goal came very late in 2nd period and served the same result, getting Nucks back in it, and Skinner putting the puck in his own net.

We already agree I think on the latter goals being questionable.

Since last nights discussion its been detailed that the Nucks had one HDSC in third period and scored 3 goals. Thats a problem. Our goaltending is a problem. Yes I'm frustrated as anyone that Nurse has the puck on his stick and doesn't get an out but its not like he threw the puck in the slot. It was an up boards play that gets blocked several times a game. While that maintains ozone pressure it doesn't absolve Skinner giving up yet another weak goal.

People aren’t going to want to hear this…but Campbell would have won the game last night (to be fair, for either team but I mean the Oilers).