Post-Game Talk: It was offside

[Keggatron]

I thought our 3rd and 4th lines were excellent tonight. No give up from them when it looked like the game was out of reach and even better, were very physical. Colorado may have won the game but they paid the price for it. That’s how you wear a team down in a best of seven series.

They played great. Best game by the 4th line this playoffs.

I know the line scored but how do we continue to play the 4th line. They get caved every god damn shift and the stats show it…

I honestly think 11-7 is the only way we do this. Give other players a shift with Kass and Ryan or something. Archie can get blasted into the sun.

You don't have a clue.

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Yeah, let's not make this what it isn't.

Then you should be quoting the poster that suggested that.

Any criticism to the players is fair game, especially towards the leaders of this team.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Just being honest I thought Koskinen was stoning the AV's in 3rd period otherwise we give up 10 goals. Wasn't like the Oilers ever figured out the own zone. The Oilers were pretty good offensively at moments, but own zone disaster all the way through.

I think we seriously have to consider giving Koskinen the game 2 start. He was miles better than Smith is looking the last 3 games. Mike Smith has hit that wall again folks. Give him a rest, and if Koski somehow stands on his head and steals a game then he gets game 3 as well.

Really thought the goalie pull should have been far earlier. Had concerns about Smith after first period and stated them.

Koskinen was light's out in relief. Totally agree. Much better than his game 1 long relief against Calgary. That is the challenge of Mikko Koskinen - which one are you going to get? I think they come back with Smith - that's been the pattern and the belief held by coach and players that he will get the next one. But if the Oil don't take game 2 then it might be open season for Mikko to start.

Smith was not good in that game. And he was picked apart by a great shooting high skilled team.Aves put up the high speed, high pressure game that I think can expose the Oilers D and own zone play. Essentially they did want they needed to win game 1. But their d and goaltending is certainly exploitable. Game 2 will reveal what kind of series we can expect. Tighten it down or it could go quick.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Oh did anyone nail down where Kuemper got hurt? I can’t find any sort of footage.

There’s tweets saying he reaggravated the eye injury from round 1. So I’m betting it was one of the shots off the mask he took.

I wouldn’t bet on him starting game 2 and you’ll likely see Annunen on the Avs bench.

I hope (as an Avs fan) a more mentally prepared Francouz shows up in game 2. Cuz if it’s the backup goalies dueling like we saw tonight, it’s gonna be a 1-1 series.

 

[thaman8765678]

It was clearly offside and the Oilers got jobbed.

 

[TheNumber4]

Anyone else enjoying Gene’s analysis on Oilers Now? When he’s not in Sportnet Meme Mode he actually has some pretty good analysis and good insight.

 

[Keggatron]

Then you should be quoting the poster that suggested that.

Any criticism to the players is fair game, especially towards the leaders of this team.

Yeah sorry, misquoted. Completely agree.

 

[Ibanez]

They played great. Best game by the 4th line this playoffs.



You don't have a clue.

Pretty rude. Could have replied with some class. Now I remember why I’m mostly a lurker on these boards…

 

[Captain Fantastic]

This must have been mentioned somewhere in this thread . Kadri and his f**king ripping helmets off . He did that to Nurse in a regular season game and did it to Smith tonight. Was supportive of him with the St. Louis ordeal but honestly the guy is a dirt bag of a player.

 

[T-Funk]

Anyone else enjoying Gene’s analysis on Oilers Now? When he’s not in Sportnet Meme Mode he actually has some pretty good analysis and good insight.

He is awesome when he's not trying to be funny and not pausing after every word trying to put out a funny vibe while trying to be serious introducing a matchup.

 

[TheNumber4]

He is awesome when he's not trying to be funny and not pausing after every word trying to put out a funny vibe while trying to be serious introducing a matchup.

I agree. When he’s working with Brar he comes off as more knowledgeable and thoughtful.

 

[Keggatron]

Pretty rude man. Could have replied with some class. Now I remember why I’m mostly a lurker on these boards…

Sorry, it was rude, but I've posted on this multiple times, including in this thread. If you can't see the great game the 4th line played tonight I'm not going to repeat the same thing several times. If that's how you feel you weren't watching the game impartially and are basing your opinion off preconceived notions of the players. Sorry to be rude again but they played great, and the coach agrees which is why he had them out in the third to score a big goal for us.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Such a WTF moment. Was wondering about what Nurse thought process on that play was. Looks like he's so injured he's scared to retrieve the puck and get hit. This is just hurting the team. If he can't play, he can't play. He's not surviving his injury well. Drai compensates with out of body reads and anticipation. If Nurse isn't 100% and physically dominant his game isn't there.

Nurse was awful tonight. I think many of his mistakes were (are) mental ones often when choosing high risk decisions over simple, smart plays. Likely from a place of belief in self and wanting to help carry the team. Unfortunately, unlike forward position when the elites in those position fall into that trap, there's no safety net for defensemen.

Now to this play in question, I wonder a couple of things. First, it looks like there is some eye contact between d-partners and I wonder if Nurse believes Ceci is coming back to pick up the puck that's moving into Ceci's defending side. Nurse chooses to pull up and protect the net front on his side as the safe, responsible play. Unfortunately the puck dump is soft and like a good curling stone slows behind the net. Ave forward (not held up by Nurse) recovers the puck and drives a scoring opportunity from it. Normally Nurse is like a wild horse all over the ice (not a good thing, imo).

I do wonder about the apparent Nurse injury if it is on the right side of his core (abdominal, ribs?) as an alternative scenario for his soft play in the video. But also, in the poor read of defending MacKinnon's warp speed rush that Nurse sees coming, Nurse pivots the wrong way (to his left) which maybe tied to favouring his right side.

Nurse seems to have strong skating to join the rush. He's still logging big PK minutes. Surely there has to be a reason he's been beaten wide a lot these playoffs and also losing physical battles that I've just not really seen before.

I applaud him for playing through pain and injury. He's had a warrior mindset for this team. But I think best for this team that he play a far more simple game. Help lead this team to clean up their own zone play.

EDIT: Also have a look at the replay. There was not great forward support on that turnover with Hyman caught at the Avalanche blue line, while Yamamoto and Nugent Hopkins were at centre ice.

 

[Ibanez]

Sorry, it was rude, but I've posted on this multiple times, including in this thread. If you can't see the great game the 4th line played tonight I'm not going to repeat the same thing several times. If that's how you feel you weren't watching the game impartially and are basing your opinion off preconceived notions of the players. Sorry to be rude again but they played great, and the coach agrees which is why he had them out in the third to score a big goal for us.

Thanks for the apology. They definitely played better from my eye. They just feel like such a liability so much of the time. I probably have a bit of bias creeping in from the Calgary series where I was clenched every time they were out there.

Let’s hope they can continue to improve. Would be a huge boost. I’m still waiting for Kassian to do something to really shut me up. Would love it.

 

[TheNumber4]

Rewatching that start. Holy hell first shift is just a blunder of own errors. McD attempts a short pass to Nurse, goes right on Avs stick. Followed shortly by Hyman going offside by about 5 feet to stuff our zone entires. This shit doesn’t happen when we play our A game. It’s literally under our full control.

Game 1 LA - We got overly excited and the mistakes piled up as we were a bit TOO amped trying to do too much.
Game 1 Flames - a Very excited Flames with us being complacent and getting skated combined with a shit load of Flames luck and near perfect execution.
Game 1 Avs - I don’t know yet, it could be this is still a young team that’s getting its first taste of the 3rd round, atleast for our impact players thats true. All I know is we can easilly clean up shit like shift 1. And I’m sure many of the other easilly correctable mistakes made throughout the game.

 

[Keggatron]

This must have been mentioned somewhere in this thread . Kadri and his f**king ripping helmets off . He did that to Nurse in a regular season game and did it to Smith tonight. Was supportive of him with the St. Louis ordeal but honestly the guy is a dirt bag of a player.

Yeah, Kadri's a complete dirtbag, always has been.

He is awesome when he's not trying to be funny and not pausing after every word trying to put out a funny vibe while trying to be serious introducing a matchup.

But that's what makes Gene, Gene. It's his schtick. I used to hate it vehemently, but his puns, and his sticktoitiveness in the face of damning criticism. It's what makes him successful and the reason he has the respect of the people he works with. He's had his position for what? 20 years?

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Sorry, it was rude, but I've posted on this multiple times, including in this thread. If you can't see the great game the 4th line played tonight I'm not going to repeat the same thing several times. If that's how you feel you weren't watching the game impartially and are basing your opinion off preconceived notions of the players. Sorry to be rude again but they played great, and the coach agrees which is why he had them out in the third to score a big goal for us.

Cool your jets Keggatron. You're apologizing to another poster and at the same time telling them how they're watching the game. That's nonsense.

 

[McDeepika]

Nurse's play has been horrible no doubt. Surely injuries are playing a huge part but he is hurting us.

This is going to be a tough series. Avs have some dynamic dmen that can really push the play.

 

[Cloned]

Hopefully this follows the same pattern as the other two series for us.

It’s actually funny how similar all the Game 1s have been.

Fall behind big early. Play bad. Somehow claw your way back to even or within 1. Lose on a weak goal.

 

[Leonardlizard]

Makar just looks like he signed up for permanent orange slice duty for soccer games as a kid.

 

[VanillaCoke]

It was unbelievably offside and beyond ridiculous for a professional league. Embarrassing and in a crucial early game one. Nhl is ephin joke league.

 

[Keggatron]

Cool your jets Keggatron. You're apologizing to another poster and at the same time telling them how they're watching the game. That's nonsense.

I'm apologizing for being rude. Not for my opinion. Again I'm sorry if my opinion is offensive, but to say that the fourth line was somehow a detriment tonight and should be changed, I would assume that you have an idea of those players in your head and they can't play their ways out of it.

 

[Ibanez]

Hopefully this follows the same pattern as the other two series for us.

It’s actually funny how similar all the Game 1s have been.

Fall behind big early. Play bad. Somehow claw your way back to even or within 1. Lose on a weak goal.

We really like to make things hard. Lol…

 

[Mav3rick07]

Can we report that Bobby9 user who trolled every response on the first 3 pages with a laughing emoji ?

Or is that allowed ?

 

[Spawn]

Hopefully this follows the same pattern as the other two series for us.

It’s actually funny how similar all the Game 1s have been.

Fall behind big early. Play bad. Somehow claw your way back to even or within 1. Lose on a weak goal.

Obviously that is the hope. The Avalanche are a different beast though. They have more horses than the Oilers do if Edmonton tries to turn it into a track meet.