Post-Game Talk: Kicked right in the Cernak. Oilers lose 3-1 By Kass

[MaxR11]

Decent effort overall tonight. Can't be mad with this team when they play generally decent like tonight. Though still need to clean up some puck management and lapses.

Kassian needs to get his head out of his a**. He's been poor since he signed the contract. Complacency? The effort, urgency and engagement is just not there. Looking like another JJ Khaira out there. Not happy with Zack. Too many lazy plays and not getting engaged in the play and battle and floating away from it or not jumping in to the action when it was clear that was his play to be made.

 

[Bones2079]

They didn't play that bad of a game at all. Travel across the continent and lose a 1 goal game to the best team in the league. The overreaction to this loss is nuts.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Do you think Chara avoiding discipline will help Zach? Cross checking to the throat is pretty bad I'd say.

 

[Cloned]

On the plus side, the OOT is pretty decent aside from the Flames and Nashville game.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

Do you think Chara avoiding discipline will help Zach? Cross checking to the throat is pretty bad I'd say.

No. Different rule book for Oiler players it is why Mcdavid actually has a suspension and Tkachuk is allowed to charge and make contact with the head and walk away with not even a penalty.

 

[VainGretzky]

The point is for them not to get scored on and let the 1st line and special teams win the game. Tampa is a much deeper team and the Oilers were in it. The Oilers played vintage Phoenix Coyotes hockey out there and it was a great game plan IMO.

4th lines are expected to chip in once in a while , this one is dreadful

 

[OfCorsiDid]

4th lines are expected to chip in once in a while , this one is dreadful

If you think about it our 4th line is technically our 5th line.

Cave, Kharia, and Russell are not NHL players.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Benson, Currie, Gambardella and Granlund are all decent options for the bottom 9... there's some upgrades there for this roster to try out before trading good assets away.

 

[The Panther]

It's funny how as soon as McDavid is out, the lack of forward depth is brutally exposed... again. It kind of underscores what we're asking Connor to do on the current line he's playing with...

Anyway, if there's such a thing as a "positive loss", this is probably it. Given the Oil were down two top forwards and were facing probably the League's best team (albeit with two of their best guys out) on a massive hot-streak, a one-goal loss is acceptable.

The Oilers were completely manhandled in the first 7 or 8 minutes, and briefly it appeared this would be another loss like that nasty one in Colorado where they phoned it in. But after that awful start, the latter 52 minutes or so of the game was very evenly played between the two clubs. The Oilers, I thought, showed some grit and determination in the third, trying to overcome the 1-goal deficit, and they nearly did several times (Tampa is something like 24-0-3 when leading after two periods).

They likely would have stolen a point if not for Draisaitl making a poor giveaway while on the PP. Then again, Drai's great 'on-side' play allowed them to score their only goal.

Yamamoto and Bear and Smith were the best Oilers.

Yamamoto and Bear are just total studs right now. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Tippett (who has otherwise done a great job of player management) does not start Bear on the PP. Nurse's hockey IQ is not high enough to get big PP time, and while Klefbom's IQ is certainly good enough, he could not hit the Great Wall of China from 6 feet away with his slapshot. I have never seen a skilled player at the point who is more hopeless than Klefbom at putting a puck on the net. Remember that huge OT goal he scored in the '17 playoffs? He hasn't had a shot on goal since.

 

[snipes]

They didn't play that bad of a game at all. Travel across the continent and lose a 1 goal game to the best team in the league. The overreaction to this loss is nuts.

No kidding. We had several good chances in the 3rd to tie it as well.

It was a good effort tonight against the best team in the NHL.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

This was what the call a “schedule loss”
Not mad at the effort..don’t have the horses to beat a red hot TB team

 

[nexttothemoon]

Remember that huge OT goal he scored in the '17 playoffs? He hasn't had a shot on goal since.

I often think of that shot and goal and wonder why he can't duplicate that at least a little more often.

Oh well... it won't be long until Bouchard is ripping those shots at the net with regularity.

 

[harpoon]

The current 4th line is the weakest one in the league easily

No argument. And the third line isn’t much better when it comes to generating goals. None of this is new information however so I don’t understand why some people (not you) are flipping out after a close loss to one of the best teams in the league.

 

[The Panther]

At this point, I think I could grab three players from my University's team here in Tokyo, and they'd be better than the Oilers' current fourth-line....

 

[harpoon]

. In fact the reason why Holland/Tipp hasn’t sent down Kharia is because they believe that he’ll be claimed

Doesn’t make sense. Nobody is claiming Khaira, and if they did we should send our deepest thank you to them for saving us cap space next year.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I'm pretty sure they feel Patrick Russell would be claimed as well which is why he hasn't been sent down.

 

[harpoon]

Because HFOil loves to act so high and mighty. Calling it out is useful every now and again.

It’s not all of us, and the right people will just ignore your post. So good try, but nah.

 

[nabob]

It's funny how as soon as McDavid is out, the lack of forward depth is brutally exposed... again. It kind of underscores what we're asking Connor to do on the current line he's playing with...

Anyway, if there's such a thing as a "positive loss", this is probably it. Given the Oil were down two top forwards and were facing probably the League's best team (albeit with two of their best guys out) on a massive hot-streak, a one-goal loss is acceptable.

The Oilers were completely manhandled in the first 7 or 8 minutes, and briefly it appeared this would be another loss like that nasty one in Colorado where they phoned it in. But after that awful start, the latter 52 minutes or so of the game was very evenly played between the two clubs. The Oilers, I thought, showed some grit and determination in the third, trying to overcome the 1-goal deficit, and they nearly did several times (Tampa is something like 24-0-3 when leading after two periods).

They likely would have stolen a point if not for Draisaitl making a poor giveaway while on the PP. Then again, Drai's great 'on-side' play allowed them to score their only goal.

Yamamoto and Bear and Smith were the best Oilers.

Yamamoto and Bear are just total studs right now. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Tippett (who has otherwise done a great job of player management) does not start Bear on the PP. Nurse's hockey IQ is not high enough to get big PP time, and while Klefbom's IQ is certainly good enough, he could not hit the Great Wall of China from 6 feet away with his slapshot. I have never seen a skilled player at the point who is more hopeless than Klefbom at putting a puck on the net. Remember that huge OT goal he scored in the '17 playoffs? He hasn't had a shot on goal since.

meh they scored 5 goals last game and had lots of chances tonight.

 

[nabob]

I'm pretty sure they feel Patrick Russell would be claimed as well which is why he hasn't been sent down.

yeah no idea why he’s still on the club. He’s like a useless version of Toby Peterson.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

meh they scored 5 goals last game and had lots of chances tonight.

This was a weird game. It could have been a blowout for Tampa with all their chances they had in the first 10 minutes. It could have been an Oilers win in regulation with the chances they had. It could have gone to OT.

I really can't be disappointed either, Tampa is scalding hot despite who they were missing and the Oilers haven't been slouches either. This was a pretty tough test without McDavid.

I've never seen such a high ranked powerplay give up so many shorthanded goals. Of course the latter cost them at least one point tonight.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Vegas tied it up.

 

[guymez]

This was a weird game. It could have been a blowout for Tampa with all their chances they had in the first 10 minutes. It could have been an Oilers win in regulation with the chances they had. It could have gone to OT.

I really can't be disappointed either, Tampa is scalding hot despite who they were missing and the Oilers haven't been slouches either. This was a pretty tough test without McDavid.

I've never seen such a high ranked powerplay give up so many shorthanded goals. Of course the latter cost them at least one point tonight.

The Oilers had a chance with 50 goals out of their lineup to beat an excellent hockey team who was also missing some key players.
Tampa is winning the Stanley Cup this year.
Best team I have seen sp far this season. When they get all their players back I dont see them losing.

 

[Oilers 322]

I hope the team is able to build on the “moral victory” and get some wins against hard opponents in the next 3 games. In the past, these good losses often lead nowhere. I’m also afraid the inevitable Kassian suspension might overshadow all the goods that can be taken out of this game.

 

[Mr Tadakichi]

Decent effort overall tonight. Can't be mad with this team when they play generally decent like tonight. Though still need to clean up some puck management and lapses.

Kassian needs to get his head out of his a**. He's been poor since he signed the contract. Complacency? The effort, urgency and engagement is just not there. Looking like another JJ Khaira out there. Not happy with Zack. Too many lazy plays and not getting engaged in the play and battle and floating away from it or not jumping in to the action when it was clear that was his play to be made.

It's what I was afraid of. He's not the guy you give 3+ years to.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

The Oilers had a chance with 50 goals out of their lineup to beat an excellent hockey team who was also missing some key players.
Tampa is winning the Stanley Cup this year.
Best team I have seen sp far this season. When they get all their players back I dont see them losing.

They are a very good team, very solid and smothering structure of play. However, we shall see if they learned any lessons from their rather embarrassing first round exit to Columbus last year.

I still think Boston is the team to beat in the East and never discount the Pens, especially with Crosby back.