Post-Game Talk: Montreal 6- Oilers 2 but of French.

[iCanada]

Yeah, I think they've been a bit unlucky with some scoring chances. But I'm referring to defensive lapses like McDavid (and his entire line, frankly) on the 2nd goal, and Drai on the 5th. Just seeing too much of that for my taste. These two can be two-way beasts; McDavid did it for large stretches last season. Would like to see that again, and hopefully it happens down the stretch.

Honestly, I'd like them to save that kind of herculean effort for the playoffs, tbh.

You can't be at your best all night every night, that's just not how the human body works. I'd like to see us load up in next little bit and take as much of a load off of those two for the rest of the season as possible.

I certainly am not going to judge either of their years by a game against a team eliminated from the playoffs on their third game in 60 hours. I think it's more of an indictment on the rest of the team that they are put in those scenarios. Most teams don't have their big guns playing these situations against bottom feeders.

To quote the coach of that bottom feeder; "it's an 80% league."

 

[KarmaPolice]

Honestly, I'd like them to save that kind of herculean effort for the playoffs, tbh.

You can't be at your best all night every night, that's just not how the human body works. I'd like to see us load up in next little bit and take as much of a load off of those two for the rest of the season as possible.

I certainly am not going to judge either of their years by a game against a team eliminated from the playoffs on their third game in 60 hours. I think it's more of an indictment on the rest of the team that they are put in those scenarios. Most teams don't have their big guns playing these situations against bottom feeders.

I guess I am coming across as too critical. Defensive lapses really stand out and irk me a lot. Certainly those numbers are affected a lot by the pretty terrible goaltending we got earlier in the year, so you can't really use them to indict them too much. It is hard to be perfect all the time in their two-way play; not everyone can be Patrice Bergeron defensively. I made a ninja edit to that post to include that they have been better recently, and today was a pretty big one off. Playoffs are what it's all about, and they were great last year and I don't doubt they can do it again.

But I do hope for a return to form from the 10 or so games previous to today.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Had my smoked meat sandwich at Reubens. Fantastic as usual.

But the best part of my trip to Montreal is the hotel I stay at did a complete renovation and the new toilet has a heated seat.

 

[K1984]

The other thing is he absolutely locked it down after the third goal and gave them an opportunity to win the game in the third (which he did).

Should be around 2 starts for every 1 start Stu gets the rest of the reason.

Campbell is the starter

Campbell has to be the starter for no other reason than the team seems to just choose to no show when Skinner is in net.

Add it to the list of things that are inexplicable, unexplainable, nonsensical, but a dumb thing that this team just does.

 

[AUAIOMRN]

Oilers losing to shitty teams will never cease to amaze me.

It amazes me that this team can adopt a "too cool to try hard" attitude against bad teams when they haven't even come close to ensuring a playoff spot.

 

[JianYang]

The league should just not schedule games on Superbowl Sunday.

The Habs have been doing matinee games on SuperBowl weekend since 1990.

Both Saturday and Sunday back to back each year... This year it was isles and oilers. I'm not a big fan of matinees in general considering I'm out on the west coast, but it's pretty crazy that it's been going on for 33 years running.

 

[rboomercat90]

You can second this. I approve.

View attachment 649420

Maybe hold off on the bunk beds.

 

[McSuper]

Lol holy.

Yes Holy shit . How can a contending team play like crap in a game like that. Pretends can.

 

[The Panther]

Posted this in the game thread but feel it fits here.

Habs and their fans today

I'm not sure about Habs and their fans, but the TSN Montreal broadcasters were a little cringe. They were basically giving the Canadiens' hand-jobs every time they completed a play.
"And Montreal kills a penalty against the League's best Power play!!"
"And so-and-so scores his first NHL goal. WHAT A MOMENT!" (broadcaster almost orgasms)
"And Montreal kills another penalty against the League's best Power play!!"

Not really a good look when the broadcast team is acting like they just won game 7 of the Finals after the club scores one goal on home-ice in the first period of a RS game.

Anyway, the game itself was ass. It was clear from the first 5 minutes that the Oilers had no legs. After that, it was all downhill.

 

[ManByng]

Oilers losing to shitty teams will never cease to amaze me.

You know what really sucks? No Caufield, their best goal scorer, no Monahan, their sh*tty backup Jake Allen in goal, a guy who hasn't scored goals all year, D-man Jordan Harris gets TWO ! They even came back to make it 3-2 but in true Oiler form they couldn't play defense and let the Habs score FOUR more ! Every time I think they have turned the corner and are starting to beat teams that they should, they lay an egg again and lose to bad teams! THIS is why they aren't in 1st place in their division right now like I believe they should be and should have been for a long time now !!

 

[K1984]

You know what really sucks? No Caufield, their best goal scorer, no Monahan, their sh*tty backup Jake Allen in goal, a guy who hasn't scored goals all year, D-man Jordan Harris gets TWO ! They even came back to make it 3-2 but in true Oiler form they couldn't play defense and let the Habs score FOUR more ! Every time I think they have turned the corner and are starting to beat teams that they should, they lay an egg again and lose to bad teams! THIS is why they aren't in 1st place in their division right now like I believe they should be and should have been for a long time now !!

The frustrating thing that this team keeps doing is straight up no showing.

Is every team going to be on their game every night? No, but the good teams will find ways to still compete and possibly grind out a result or keep it close when they aren't feeling it. This group just seems to be comfortable saying "don't have it today, oh well" and then shifting into neutral for the game. This team and nearly every player on it (including McDavid and Drai) just allow the poor play to snowball and seem to meet that reality with a shoulder shrug. Did the same thing just a few days earlier against Philly. These aren't one off evenings that they quickly snap out of once reality slaps them in the face, this team essentially chooses to do this for stretches before they realize that they might have to work hard again.

That shift from McDavid to start the second was inexcusable. Not only maybe the laziest turnover I've ever seen to kick the whole sequence off, but the entire shift after can be categorized no other way than lazy. Leon with the signature half cocked backcheck to start the third was just icing on the cake. It's easy to shrug off criticism of these players because of what they contribute on the other end, but if we want to be a contending team then these players need to clean up these details and be the example when things aren't going well, not piss around and be the problem.

 

[Coffey]

You know what really sucks? No Caufield, their best goal scorer, no Monahan, their sh*tty backup Jake Allen in goal, a guy who hasn't scored goals all year, D-man Jordan Harris gets TWO ! They even came back to make it 3-2 but in true Oiler form they couldn't play defense and let the Habs score FOUR more ! Every time I think they have turned the corner and are starting to beat teams that they should, they lay an egg again and lose to bad teams! THIS is why they aren't in 1st place in their division right now like I believe they should be and should have been for a long time now !!

Agreed with everything.
They don't take the reins when they need to.

No bloodlust, no killer instinct.

 

[North Cole]

Hopefully we can weather what looks like a slump coming on. We just got 18/20 points, if we can regress to somewhere above 0.500 hockey, then good enough. We need to avoid the trend of going 7-0 and then 0-7.

I will say, if the team cools off a little over the next stretch of games, this is the time to do it. I know that we want to always be getting as many points as possible, but the reality is we can't maintain 8-0-2 for long. If you are going to lose games, much better that we do it against MTL/BOS/TOR/PIT/WPG, then the next stretch of games against ARI/VGK/SEA/LA/ANA. No one wants to shit the bed, but if you are going to do it, then shit the bed against the East rather than the West.

 

[Drivesaitl]

You know what really sucks? No Caufield, their best goal scorer, no Monahan, their sh*tty backup Jake Allen in goal, a guy who hasn't scored goals all year, D-man Jordan Harris gets TWO ! They even came back to make it 3-2 but in true Oiler form they couldn't play defense and let the Habs score FOUR more ! Every time I think they have turned the corner and are starting to beat teams that they should, they lay an egg again and lose to bad teams! THIS is why they aren't in 1st place in their division right now like I believe they should be and should have been for a long time now !!

But this was also why it was so bad that Skinner gave up 6 goals on 30 shots against most of an AHL squad. He was making one career goal scorer types look like dangerous snipers. He made one look like Draisaitl on a really bad angle shot where Skinner wasn't close to guessing what the play was or coming across. Almost every goal against Skinner is in a low cardboard cutout stance barely even moving on shots. Seen this movie before. 3 of the goals were bad goals.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

As one Oiler analyst said this morning - it was an immature loss. I think that analysis is spot on. We’ve had immature losses this season vs Anaheim, Columbus and now Montreal - all bottom feeders, and our game at home has been immature all season long.

 

[Ibanez]

Maybe hold off on the bunk beds.

So much room for activities though…

 

[Stoneman89]

As one Oiler analyst said this morning - it was an immature loss. I think that analysis is spot on. We’ve had immature losses this season vs Anaheim, Columbus and now Montreal - all bottom feeders, and our game at home has been immature all season long.

Well, high time for them to grow up, I'd say.

 

[tardigrade81]

Montreal always seems to play us well no matter how bad they suck

 

[The Panther]

But this was also why it was so bad that Skinner gave up 6 goals on 30 shots against most of an AHL squad. He was making one career goal scorer types look like dangerous snipers. He made one look like Draisaitl on a really bad angle shot where Skinner wasn't close to guessing what the play was or coming across. Almost every goal against Skinner is in a low cardboard cutout stance barely even moving on shots. Seen this movie before. 3 of the goals were bad goals.

How did I know you'd be on here demonizing Skinner? I'm guessing you've made at least 46 posts to say this. You need to get out more often.

 

[Stoneman89]

How did I know you'd be on here demonizing Skinner? I'm guessing you've made at least 46 posts to say this. You need to get out more often.

Yamamoto isn't available these days to trash, so Skinner is the chosen one, in order to deflect from Leon's play.

 

[Drivesaitl]

How did I know you'd be on here demonizing Skinner? I'm guessing you've made at least 46 posts to say this. You need to get out more often.

Skinner gave up 6 goals and the main talent for the habs was out of the lineup. Nobody would be defending how bad Skinner was in this game starting from the first GA which he gifted the habs by not covering up a puck that his defender pushed right to his pad. When Skinner is off, its real off.

Maybe watch the games before commenting.

Habs are missing Caufield, Gallagher, Byron, Evans, Monahan, Price, Edmunson etc. Actually around a dozen player that would be starting.

In anycase I praised Skinner in some of his last starts so not sure what you're trying to invent here.

I made one post summing up the play of Skinner in the game.

 

[Nhlpowerweek]

Kane should play on the first pp unit. Give hyman more time to eas. Play him on the pk and all. He is that great. Kane needs all that powerplay time. He can do all kinds of thangs there and still talk and lead. Give hyman some rest and keep him healthy. Coach better.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Arrived home from Montreal last night and having serious smoked meat and heated toilet seat withdrawals.

3 straight days of famous Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and later ejecting them while sitting on that sweet sweet heated toilet seat made the loss to Montreal almost worth it. Thankfully we beat Ottawa the day before.

Next up: the post deadline day roadie to Buffalo, Boston and Toronto!

 

[HockeyGuy1964]

I don't know about much but I do know that playing the 3rd game in 4 nights is a real thing especially if it's the last game of a roadtrip.

I had all the data from 2000 to 2010 on an old computer & know if you'd bet against that 3rd game in 4 nights team every time without even looking at records you would have won a lot of money.

I'm not all that worried about this loss.

edit: just to clarify it's 3 games in 4 nights on the road.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Just watched the highlight package (so late I know lol). What an awful game.

Glad I was on a road trip to Brantford for a Super Bowl party. I tried to get it on the radio, but just as my friends got in the car (right after MTL made it 2-0) I lost connection and wasn't able to bring it back. I guess that's providence or something lol.