Post-Game Talk: Its a Trap

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

At least we don't have to play the Coyotes anymore.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

This is a massive overreaction to one game.
They've been consistent in the 10 games prior to this one. outscoring teams like the Bruins, Leafs, Preds, Coyotes, Flames and Blues 43-24 and playing the right way getting those victories. This isn't a Cup contender, there's going to be some ebbs and flows in their game.

If they lose to San Jose, I can see cause for concern but I'd chalk last night up to **** happens. Coming off the highest of emotional highs playing a team in a quiet arena on choppy ice, it's just one of those games that happens in a long season.
This isn't a Cup contender and it's a team with some notable flaws so there's going to be some ebbs and flows in their game.

You'd think that we were mired in last place again. A team isn't going 82-0. Most here did not even expect to be in a playoff race. We came off 3 very emotional games in Calgary, St Louis and Calgary again. They had 2 days of golf in Arizona. We played an ok game overall. I expect a much better game and execution against San Jose Thursday and some critical games vs Chicago and Nashville next week.

 

[K1984]

Other than the first period I didn't think it was THAT terrible. Playing from behind against a hard trap doesn't look pretty. The awful PP is what cost them the game ultimately.

Rantaa was very good and two sloppy errors were the difference in a pretty choppy game for both teams.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Man the Coyotes having a decent home record is a miracle. They are up 2-0 late in the third and it sounds like a mausoleum in there. They literally play to make their crowd fall asleep as a strategy. I guess they can't leave early if they are all napping.

And its not like this style of play his been effective for this franchise, barely any playoff victories and success in the 20 plus years they have been in the league. You would figure the goal should be to win fans over with entertaining hockey. If i am a casual attending a first ever coyotes game and i see that, i never come back.

Over 20 years for the Oilers and they still cant find a way to beat teams that trap. Brilliant guys.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Man the Coyotes having a decent home record is a miracle. They are up 2-0 late in the third and it sounds like a mausoleum in there. They literally play to make their crowd fall asleep as a strategy. I guess they can't leave early if they are all napping.

And its not like this style of play his been effective for this franchise, barely any playoff victories and success in the 20 plus years they have been in the league. You would figure the goal should be to win fans over with entertaining hockey. If i am a casual attending a first ever coyotes game and i see that, i never come back.

Over 20 years for the Oilers and they still cant find a way to beat teams that trap. Brilliant guys.

Weekday games in Glendale are always half empty as the freeways that lead there (the 101 and the I-10) turn into parking lots for a couple of hours and it is on the exact opposite end of the city where the their major demo is located. The metropolitan area of Phoenix is massive, it's so spread out. My daughter had dance lessons there one summer and it was an hour and a half drive one way. They really screwed up putting the arena in Glendale.

 

[guymez]

We're 8-2-2 in our last 12 games, some of which were some of the most important games of the season. The Oilers have come up big recently, and we're second in the division with games in hand. Plus we have #1 and #2 in scoring. I'm extremely happy with how the season is unfolding, so I'm perfectly okay with us dropping a stinker every now and then.

Exactly.
Perspective is a good thing.

 

[TheRebuild]

Just a reminder the Coyotes are under investigation for breaking the rules.

The penalty should be forcing the team to fold, or re-locate to a Canadian city (preferably one far far east...)

 

[ZJuice]

Am I the only one seeing us losing to the Sharks!?

When we don’t lose to teams like the Sharks and the Yotes I am surprised

 

[McDeepika]

The game would have annoyed me a lot less if I didn't have to listen to Tyson Nash.

 

[tardigrade81]

It’s obvious the Oilers are Devastated from the mookie Betts news as well crushing blow

 

[iCanada]

I only fell asleep 4 times.

Anybody else have trouble with the telecast. 2 of the SN channels carrying the game dropped out in the 2nd period. Pixallation followed by a screen with "this channel is temporarily unavailable" So that I missed the two goals scored in a long boring hockey game. Finally I noticed that Shaw channel 298 was working and also had the game on.

I had massive problems watching the game.

Not broadcast related, but mostly hard to stay awake when one team employs the 1 forechecker + 1 safety + 3 guys on the Blueline counter attack trap. Jesus.

Like Cooper's Flyers all over again.

 

[iCanada]

Other than the first period I didn't think it was THAT terrible. Playing from behind against a hard trap doesn't look pretty. The awful PP is what cost them the game ultimately.

Rantaa was very good and two sloppy errors were the difference in a pretty choppy game for both teams.

Yeah... Idk, even the 83-84 Oilers got shutout a few times.

Notably, on Feb 12th 1984 after coming off an emotional 10-5 BoA win and proceeding to lose 4 straight, they got blanked by the Hartford Whalers 11-0. And we're talking about the team that holds the NHL record for wins in regulation.

Losing to the yotes 3-0 after going 8-2-2 in our last 10 in a game where our guys didn't have their legs and the yotes were desperate isn't exactly the end of the world.

Every team has off games, you can't be 100% in them all or with all the sports Science and medicine at this stage of the game everyone would be all the time.

 

[bone]

The only thing that sucks about losing that game is that the fact that had they won, every single Pacific Division foe would have lost last night which would have done wonders for their playoff chances. However, since everyone except Arizona lost the damage is minimal.

It was a terrible game. Hopefully it's just a one off.

 

[pratt]

Bear has been a bit off lately. His gaffe likely cost us this game as well

The initial give away was on Bear, but that's not an automatic goal type of giveaway. We pick those off plenty and rarely score off that giveaway.

The real failure on that goal was center/winger miscommunication. Look at the replay again and see where McDavid and Archibald are as they play this shift with D zone coverage switched. Archibald is right in front of Koskinen covering a Yote when Bear gives it away. He leaves his man (backdoor) and is puck chasing while Nurse has to cover two Yotes in the slot. Kassian sees the open man at the last second but can't move 10 feet in half a second, fairly. McDavid probably should have been higher on the wall in the first place and he grabs that pass from Bear.

 

[GOilers88]

God I got through the first three pages of this thread and all I can do is shake my head. 8-2-2 in their last 12 and people are back to freaking out and wanting to trade good players.

HFOil really can be worse than the main boards when the team loses a game. Mind boggling.

 

[guymez]

Yeah... Idk, even the 83-84 Oilers got shutout a few times.

Notably, on Feb 12th 1984 after coming off an emotional 10-5 BoA win and proceeding to lose 4 straight, they got blanked by the Hartford Whalers 11-0. And we're talking about the team that holds the NHL record for wins in regulation.

Losing to the yotes 3-0 after going 8-2-2 in our last 10 in a game where our guys didn't have their legs and the yotes were desperate isn't exactly the end of the world.

Every team has off games, you can't be 100% in them all or with all the sports Science and medicine at this stage of the game everyone would be all the time.

I agree.
IIRC that 1984 team didnt have Gretz or Messier in that game. Not suggesting thats an excuse but it probably did make a bit of a difference.

 

[Porkleaker]

I fell asleep after the 1st period, it was just so boring. Glad this joke of a franchise is getting booted out of the Pacific division.

 

[BlackDogg]

I fell asleep after the 1st period, it was just so boring. Glad this joke of a franchise is getting booted out of the Pacific division.

Hoping they get relegated to the Mexican hockey league

 

[OfCorsiDid]

We're gonna blame Tippett now? seems like he's had the team playing real well, and dialed in since NYE. Team went on a busting string for 5 weeks. One lacklustre performance and we're getting the nail guns out?

C'mon people. The Oilers didn't even play badly. Even game, could have gone either way. Two teams on the ice, the Yotes were more determined in this game. The Oilers have been on the right end of these for a dozen games.

I'm not exactly blaming Tippett but what he said in that press conference was bewildering.

 

[Stoneman89]

The initial give away was on Bear, but that's not an automatic goal type of giveaway. We pick those off plenty and rarely score off that giveaway.

The real failure on that goal was center/winger miscommunication. Look at the replay again and see where McDavid and Archibald are as they play this shift with D zone coverage switched. Archibald is right in front of Koskinen covering a Yote when Bear gives it away. He leaves his man (backdoor) and is puck chasing while Nurse has to cover two Yotes in the slot. Kassian sees the open man at the last second but can't move 10 feet in half a second, fairly. McDavid probably should have been higher on the wall in the first place and he grabs that pass from Bear.

As well as he's played overall, the problem is that Bear is coming up with about one of those a game and they are turning into goals.

 

[guymez]

I'm not exactly blaming Tippett but what he said in that press conference was bewildering.

How so?

 

[frag2]

The game would have annoyed me a lot less if I didn't have to listen to Tyson Nash.

Did he keep reminding you Taylor Hall's first name is Taylor?

 

[pratt]

As well as he's played overall, the problem is that Bear is coming up with about one of those a game and they are turning into goals.

I think his play has dipped a bit recently, but he's still playing fantastic and you can see him trying to get into the offensive game a bit more too. Pushing on the offense side will probably result in a few D-zone errors right now but I'm confident he'll figure it out.

Giveaways happen especially if you want to transition the play from D and O quickly like Nurse/Bear do when the top 2 lines are on. More inportantly, we've seen the Drai line cut down on those own zone gaffes, now it's McDavids turn to do the same.

 

[MaxR11]

Man i hope Tips doesn't put Drai and Connor back together. When they're on and they want to put in the effort they're pretty unstoppable but we've seen in Nov and Dec how completely s*** they look when they don't want to put in the effort and they're together.

Problem is they're both more of the "cheaters" or the reactors on the line so they float around and read the plays and let the wingers do more of the running around and forcing the opposition into bad plays or grind for pucks etc (although i have to say drai's been doing some decent grunt work when put with yama and nuge). So when they're both just floating and you really lose that extra puck pressure and support when you have possession of the puck. Both Connor and Leo like to disappear into open areas when we have puck possession and they don't have the puck thus there's less puck support for the player on our team with the puck.

Drai's line actually looked worse with Connor on it vs Arizona than with nuge on it. When you play grinding hard games like vs Coyotes you NEED to put in the work from all three fwds. Connor and Drai when together were just floating around hoping someone else would do the hard work and run around forcing the plays etc.

 

[dssource]

Shame. But everyone knew how this one was going to play out. Too bad we gifted them 2 goals. Yotes are an absolutely terrible team. Oilers played at maybe 40% and the only reason the yotes won is bc we gifted them goals.

Not going to be upset at this one. SJS is what we need to be looking at now.