Post-Game Talk: Oilers are good at shootouts now?

[Stoneman89]

A few thoughts....

1. Vinny D looks night and day from last year. I don't know what he did over the summer, but he improved in 3 huge areas- his skating looks miles better, his first pass looks much better, and he's (so far) cut down on the egregious mistakes that he would make from time to time last year. I wasn't fully sold last year, but as a tough #6, I like him in that spot.

2. Games like last night is when Bouchard looks like a superstar. He was everywhere, and made great decisions on both sides of the puck. I wonder how he can have games, or even stretches like he played yesterday, and have other games where he looks like he's never seen his side of the blue line before. He's still 24, which is young in this league for Dmen.

3. Nurse is playing incredible. He gets a lot of hate, so it's only fair we give him his flowers when he plays well. On a similar note, Ceci has quietly had himself a good season. In fact, I would say that Nurse-Ceci have been our most consistent Dmen all season- but now that Bouchard and Ekholm (who was injured and missed preseason btw) are rounding into form, things are looking better.

4. I'm impressed with the gumption our bottom 6 plays with, especially Hamblin, Erne, and Gagner. That being said, a big part of the success of the bottom 6 last year was a pure shooter like Kostin. Guys like Mcleod and Foegele are great at getting pucks in deep, cycling, forechecking, etc. They're missing someone who can snipe the odd goal. That alone would heavily improve our bottom 6.

5. In any other season, that horrendous start would have sunken the season. As it stands, we're 5 points out of a wildcard spot with 3/4 of the season to make that up. After that bad of a start, I'll take that all day long.

These accolades are all good and fine, but really, only after the last few games. For the first few weeks of the season, a lot of the forementioned players were not very good.
As for Kostin, he been a healthy scratch for 4 games, and has produced a goal and an assist in 16 games.

 

[CornKicker]

Salo was a bit of a big game choke artist. Not sure he had a good playoff really at all for us.

that is true, but he carried multiple wins during the season to even get us in the playoffs

 

[Stoneman89]

Maaaaan the Skinner comments in here are hilarious. So many people caught up in stats and not watching the actual plays.
Goal 1: Stone makes a huge effort despite being battled for space pretty hard and gets a fortunate tip that goes in off of Ekholm's ass.
Goal 2: abysmal coverage off of a faceoff (both wingers shoot, dmen are at goal line and boards on the faceoff so the wingers can't shoot in that situation). Turns into a 1v1 with time and space less than 10 feet out, lots of players will make a good play and often score in that situation.
Goal 3: probably the most stoppable but still a quick shot off of a broken play through a screen.
Goal 4: LOL. Screamer backdoor pass 2 feet off the ice that the guy gets a stick on. 1/100 play.

Look, we played well last night but, as has been the case most of the season thus far, we didn't get some bounces. Team is coming together, Skinner included. Let's be happy!

Said it before and I'll say it again. I really think his positioning needs some work, IMHO. Seems to give up far too much of the net when covering angles, thus resulting in no chance to come across and make a potential great save. Way too many easy empty net tap-ins for the opposition. He is playing much better and with more confidence, no question, but there are definitely things to clean up before I can rest easy with him in net.
I'm happy we won, just wish we wouldn't have given those bastards one of Gary's loser points!

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Oh I'm not denying that. But if we are talking about the last goalie to steal games in the Playoffs, I'd say Roloson was the last one, not Cujo.

Cam Talbot not exist?

He had 2 games against anaheim with higher than a .970.

 

[Mav3rick07]

We really need a new goalie. I thought Thompson made some big saves last night, he kept his team in it. Can't say the same about Skinner. We always have the second best goalie.

 

[Stoneman89]

Dude. I said if the player executes (which he did). He was allowed to change the angle by 4 bloody feet and he elevated the puck. No goalie in the league is stopping that. Give your collective heads a shake.

I have been railing against our goaltending all year but last night is about about a dozen games down the 'poor outings' list.

Last night was one of his "better" games, I'll give you that. But there is still a long way for him to go to be really trusted and have the game to beat the big boys in a 7 game series.

 

[Soundwave]

Last night was one of his "better" games, I'll give you that. But there is still a long way for him to go to be really trusted and have the game to beat the big boys in a 7 game series.

lol, any series against a Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net is an auto-loss.

Vegas was playing like their 3rd game in 4 nights yeterday, was badly outplayed, Thompson made some stops but also let in two iffy goals and Vegas STILL put 4 past Skinner and put themselves in position where if that was a playoff game, they could have won it in sudden death OT and stolen the game.

The Oilers really can't play much better than that and Skinner still damn near lost the game.

What happens when Vegas is on their A game and Adin Hill is in net? Skinner will crumble like a cheap cookie again.

 

[tardigrade81]

Might even eat A and W for lunch tomorrow. WHO knows

 

[BlackDogg]

Might even eat A and W for lunch tomorrow. WHO knows

The WHO is probably monitoring your consumption yes.

 

[AM]

It’s noticeable he has decided to try to play up to his contract.

 

[tardigrade81]

The WHO is probably monitoring your consumption yes.

lol. Wife is making taco salad tomorrow….. so hopefully that will be good enough mojo

 

[SupremeTeam16]

Hey guys just so you know, this team won’t win a 7 game series against Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net.

Just to let you guys know in case you haven’t heard that 8 or 9 times today already.

So just to recap, with Skinner in net the Oilers aren’t beating Vegas or Colorado in a 7 game series.

Also, if it’s a 7 game series, against Colorado or Vegas, with Skinner playing the goaltending position. Oilers aren’t winning, that’s for sure.

 

[snag]

Kane definitely has a different skill set than Hyman. Hyman is more of a Ryan Smyth type and Kane more a Bill Guerin. When they’re both going it’s really good for the team. They have unique skill sets on the team.

Hyman still too pretty to be fully compared to Smytty. Need a couple shots of that schnozz

 

[BlackDogg]

Hey guys just so you know, this team won’t win a 7 game series against Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net.

Just to let you guys know in case you haven’t heard that 8 or 9 times today already.

So just to recap, with Skinner in net the Oilers aren’t beating Vegas or Colorado in a 7 game series.

Also, if it’s a 7 game series, against Colorado or Vegas, with Skinner playing the goaltending position. Oilers aren’t winning, that’s for sure.

So...

 

[North Cole]

Haha, I mean you can expect a save when you leave a guy alone in front with loads of time but you're gonna be disappointed a helluva lot. If the player executes (as he did last night) it's about as stoppable as goal 4.

I mean, being disappointed a helluva a lot sounds like an improvement over...being disappointed nearly every time lmao.

I don't think anyone is asking for the goalie to save 100% of odd man rushes and breakaways. I think we just want to percentage of those saved to be closer to like 20% than 0.

 

[foshizzle]

Dude compared to the rest of the trash, yes he's been better whether you like it or not

lol- no, he has not. Haha. -2 GSAx last night. He’s been utter garbage

I mean, being disappointed a helluva a lot sounds like an improvement over...being disappointed nearly every time lmao.

I don't think anyone is asking for the goalie to save 100% of odd man rushes and breakaways. I think we just want to percentage of those saved to be closer to like 20% than 0.

Average goalie saves about 85% of those.

 

[foshizzle]

Dude. I said if the player executes (which he did). He was allowed to change the angle by 4 bloody feet and he elevated the puck. No goalie in the league is stopping that. Give your collective heads a shake.

I have been railing against our goaltending all year but last night is about about a dozen games down the 'poor outings' list.

lol- most goalies are saving that. Have you seen the shootout results? Advantage belongs to goalies.

Maybe do a better job playing with the lead and don’t let it get to overtime.

Oilers locked it down in the third. Vegas scored on 2 of their first 3 shots of the period. Goalie also needs to lock it down. Sorry

 

[Senor Catface]

Hey guys just so you know, this team won’t win a 7 game series against Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net.

Just to let you guys know in case you haven’t heard that 8 or 9 times today already.

So just to recap, with Skinner in net the Oilers aren’t beating Vegas or Colorado in a 7 game series.

Also, if it’s a 7 game series, against Colorado or Vegas, with Skinner playing the goaltending position. Oilers aren’t winning, that’s for sure.

Hmmm, I'm not sure I'm convinced. Can you say it 100 times more?

 

[KCC]

Maaaaan the Skinner comments in here are hilarious. So many people caught up in stats and not watching the actual plays.
Goal 1: Stone makes a huge effort despite being battled for space pretty hard and gets a fortunate tip that goes in off of Ekholm's ass.
Goal 2: abysmal coverage off of a faceoff (both wingers shoot, dmen are at goal line and boards on the faceoff so the wingers can't shoot in that situation). Turns into a 1v1 with time and space less than 10 feet out, lots of players will make a good play and often score in that situation.
Goal 3: probably the most stoppable but still a quick shot off of a broken play through a screen.
Goal 4: LOL. Screamer backdoor pass 2 feet off the ice that the guy gets a stick on. 1/100 play.

Look, we played well last night but, as has been the case most of the season thus far, we didn't get some bounces. Team is coming together, Skinner included. Let's be happy!

Skinner is not coming together. From the playoffs on he's been horrible. He had the worst GAA of any starter in the playoffs and outside of Campbell this season he's right down at the bottom as well. Last reg season was a complete fluke and he hasn't proven it otherwise. The difference is EDM had such an insane offense last year they were able to cover up the exact same mistakes he's continued into this season.

Last game was a prime example. 2 goals in 5 shots in the third. And he's consistently been doing that. 3 goals on 10 shots, 4 goals on 15 etc. EDM could have the exact same amount of grade A chances as their opponent in a game and EDM be will down a bunch because of him. He cost the team against Vegas last playoffs with the exact same reasons. Backbreaking goals and not making those saves. He's not a starter and Holland needs to find one somehow.

 

[AM]

Kane's last 2 games = 2 goals - 1 Assist - 7 Shots- 17 hits

It’s good to have Kane back

 

[Fishy McScales]

Hey guys just so you know, this team won’t win a 7 game series against Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net.

Just to let you guys know in case you haven’t heard that 8 or 9 times today already.

So just to recap, with Skinner in net the Oilers aren’t beating Vegas or Colorado in a 7 game series.

Also, if it’s a 7 game series, against Colorado or Vegas, with Skinner playing the goaltending position. Oilers aren’t winning, that’s for sure.

So what you're saying is that if the Oilers would have Skinner in net, they would lose a seven-game series against Vegas or Colorado?

If so, that's unacceptable and they need to trade him.

I didn't know this but now I'm really angry. Anyone else angry? I'm angry.

 

[bucks_oil]

Salo was a bit of a big game choke artist. Not sure he had a good playoff really at all for us.

He was solid vs Belfour in 1999 and 2001. FWIW, better stats than Belfour despite losing each of those series... in 8 losses and 2 wins, there was only a single game with 4 or more goals scored, several 2-1 losses where he'd done all he can.

It's tough to get credit when you lose, but those Oilers teams were overmatched by Dallas those years.

But yeah, his career fell apart pretty catastrophically.

 

[bucks_oil]

A few thoughts....

1. Vinny D looks night and day from last year. I don't know what he did over the summer, but he improved in 3 huge areas- his skating looks miles better, his first pass looks much better, and he's (so far) cut down on the egregious mistakes that he would make from time to time last year. I wasn't fully sold last year, but as a tough #6, I like him in that spot.

2. Games like last night is when Bouchard looks like a superstar. He was everywhere, and made great decisions on both sides of the puck. I wonder how he can have games, or even stretches like he played yesterday, and have other games where he looks like he's never seen his side of the blue line before. He's still 24, which is young in this league for Dmen.

3. Nurse is playing incredible. He gets a lot of hate, so it's only fair we give him his flowers when he plays well. On a similar note, Ceci has quietly had himself a good season. In fact, I would say that Nurse-Ceci have been our most consistent Dmen all season- but now that Bouchard and Ekholm (who was injured and missed preseason btw) are rounding into form, things are looking better.

4. I'm impressed with the gumption our bottom 6 plays with, especially Hamblin, Erne, and Gagner. That being said, a big part of the success of the bottom 6 last year was a pure shooter like Kostin. Guys like Mcleod and Foegele are great at getting pucks in deep, cycling, forechecking, etc. They're missing someone who can snipe the odd goal. That alone would heavily improve our bottom 6.

5. In any other season, that horrendous start would have sunken the season. As it stands, we're 5 points out of a wildcard spot with 3/4 of the season to make that up. After that bad of a start, I'll take that all day long.

Agree on everything.

I think Vinny is a pretty perfect #7 and solid contributor in limited action as a #6, but to have him as a #6 full time, you need a better top-4... the obvious spot to improve being Ceci or passage of time and school of hard knocks for Bouchard... so that means we have to upgrade Ceci (who IMO has been playing pretty good... we still need someone Ekholm-lite there).

 

[Fishy McScales]

He was solid vs Belfour in 1999 and 2001. FWIW, better stats than Belfour despite losing each of those series... in 8 losses and 2 wins, there was only a single game with 4 or more goals scored, several 2-1 losses where he'd done all he can.

It's tough to get credit when you lose, but those Oilers teams were overmatched by Dallas those years.

But yeah, his career fell apart pretty catastrophically.

That Belarus goal in the Olympics really did a number on him.

He suffered with addiction and depression for years after it.

 

[CornKicker]

Hey guys just so you know, this team won’t win a 7 game series against Vegas or Colorado with Skinner in net.

Just to let you guys know in case you haven’t heard that 8 or 9 times today already.

So just to recap, with Skinner in net the Oilers aren’t beating Vegas or Colorado in a 7 game series.

Also, if it’s a 7 game series, against Colorado or Vegas, with Skinner playing the goaltending position. Oilers aren’t winning, that’s for sure.

guys we will have to beat them in 5 games then lol