Post-Game Talk: Oilers blow another 2 goal lead

[Broberg Speed]

Literally nobody has said the Oilers are a top-4 team in the League. (Unless some idiot like Kelly Hrudey did, in which case nobody should have been listening.)

I think I'm going to stop using this particular forum, as it's just a cesspool of negativity or weirdly self-satisfied posturing. When the Oilers win, it's "just win baby!" and "play LaBamba", and when the Oilers lose it's 25+ pages of recycling the same shit as 2018... 2019... 2020... 2021... 2022... Everyone here is an expert of course, and every coach / GM / player is an idiot who can't do anything right.

As for me, I'm quite enjoying this season and I enjoyed the game yesterday. Go Oilers!

That's just not true, go back and look at the offseason posting on this board. It's clear as day the general sentiment was the Edmonton Oilers were, and will continue to be, a top-4 team, and if not inside the top-4 just outside of the top-4... only a slight adjustment or two away from winning the Stanley Cup.

That's a down-to-earth perspective because we are exactly where we should be, no better and no worse. I by no means aim to place an embargo on your happiness. Have at it and revel in the spectacular pageant that is NHL hockey.

 

[nally]

Singh and Debrusk make watching Oiler games sad

"MAKAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!"

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Least intelligent, most toxic fan base in the league AINEC.

Oiler fans deserve a much worse product then what is being put on the ice.

Be better.

Year 8 of McDavid and we're a floundering wild card team. Would you expect the fanbase to be happy?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Least intelligent, most toxic fan base in the league AINEC.

Oiler fans deserve a much worse product then what is being put on the ice.

Be better.

That award belongs to Leaf fans and you know it.

 

[Harry Curry]

I wonder how many more wins they'd have right now if they kept Stalock ($750 K caphit) and ran with him and Skinner.

He's got some pretty good numbers playing on a pretty dismal Hawks team. The win/loss record isn't very good but he's rocking a 2.50 GAA and .921 save percentage.

lol

Maybe one or two more wins. In a best case scenario.

Could you imagine the reaction if Holland had tried to start the season with a Stalock - Skinner goalie tandem?

Stalock has stolen the starting job on the last place team in the league. Gotta aim a little higher with the speculation.

 

[K1984]

Saturday was yet another banner night for the coaching staff. Woodcroft's refusal to read and react is getting almost worse than Tippett at this point.

It was pretty apparent after about the second shift of this matchup that Leon's line wasn't capable of doing a god damn thing against MacKinnon/Makar. That line was getting smoked about as bad as a line could possibly get smoked. Dipshit kept the matchup though right up until he moved Leon with McDavid late in the third. In the bigger picture Hyman should never be with Drai because both are inept defensively and have already proven that this year, but Woody keeps going back. Mind blowing stupidity. Then he says "oh we played good" post game. Get a god damn clue.

I've seen some over the past two days absolve Nurse for the MacKinnon goal because MacKinnon is so good. Nurse deserves every bit of criticism for that. Defensemen that aren't stupid can recognize who is coming at them and then read and react accordingly. Dumbass opened the lane to begin with by moving to the outside, then stopped moving his feet and went for a cute poke check when he went back inside. I was at the game in seats at allowed me to see the entire sequence from Nurse's perspective and it was apparent about 5 seconds earlier that he needed to get back inside and turn. He just stood there though. Incredibly painful to watch him play hockey right now.

 

[frag2]

Saturday was yet another banner night for the coaching staff. Woodcroft's refusal to read and react is getting almost worse than Tippett at this point.

It was pretty apparent after about the second shift of this matchup that Leon's line wasn't capable of doing a god damn thing against MacKinnon/Makar. That line was getting smoked about as bad as a line could possibly get smoked. Dipshit kept the matchup though right up until he moved Leon with McDavid late in the third. In the bigger picture Hyman should never be with McDavid because both are inept defensively and have already proven that this year, but Woody keeps going back. Mind blowing stupidity. Then he says "oh we played good" post game. Get a god damn clue.

I've seen some over the past two days absolve Nurse for the MacKinnon goal because MacKinnon is so good. Nurse deserves every bit of criticism for that. Defensemen that aren't stupid can recognize who is coming at them and then read and react accordingly. Dumbass opened the lane to begin with by moving to the outside, then stopped moving his feet and went for a cute poke check when he went back inside. I was at the game in seats at allowed me to see the entire sequence from Nurse's perspective and it was apparent about 5 seconds earlier that he needed to get back inside and turn. He just stood there though. Incredibly painful to watch him play hockey right now.

Nobody on the Drai line had any answer to Mack's power game. Just let him run roughshod on them. Drai could but seems like trying is the least of his priorties unless he's lined up with McD; Nuge was buttersoft Nuge again; and Hyman...well A for effort I guess lol

WRT to Nurse - he couldve done something, anything. Even take a penalty. Nope. Guy couldnt care less about defending. It's like do you not want to defend or do you just not know how to defend?

 

[K1984]

Nobody on the Drai line had any answer to Mack's power game. Just let him run roughshod on them. Drai could but seems like trying is the least of his priorties unless he's lined up with McD; Nuge was buttersoft Nuge again; and Hyman...well A for effort I guess lol

WRT to Nurse - he couldve done something, anything. Even take a penalty. Nope. Guy couldnt care less about defending. It's like do you not want to defend or do you just not know how to defend?

With Nurse I keep hearing him talk about "less is more" in his game and I wonder if half of the problem is he doesn't grasp what "less is more" actually means. Nurse's snarl in the corners has pretty much evaporated and he is so, so casual defending through the neutral zone. He either is completely incapable of making reads or he has forgotten how to defend them. It's one or the other at this point, but possibly both.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Year 8 of McDavid and we're a floundering wild card team. Would you expect the fanbase to be happy?

Oilers fans deserve less then decade of darkness, followed by like what 4 playoff series wins in 8 years with the best player in the world? Yeah... idk about that lol.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

lol

Maybe one or two more wins. In a best case scenario.

Could you imagine the reaction if Holland had tried to start the season with a Stalock - Skinner goalie tandem?

Stalock has stolen the starting job on the last place team in the league. Gotta aim a little higher with the speculation.

Oh sure people would have raged about it, myself included. Hindsight and all but it would have freed up roughly $4 million in salary and I say they'd have 2-3 more wins right now, where that's a big 4-6 point swing in the standings.

Think about your comment for a second...he's on the worst team in the league with a GAA in the mid 2s and a save percentage well above .920. This means the Hawks aren't giving him much run support but he's keeping them in the game. With the season Skinner is having, Skinner is likely still the starter where the 1B is giving you that kind of a performance compared to what the $5 million dollar gatekeeper is giving the team, which people are raging about and rightfully so as Campbell's numbers are terrible and has cost the team 2-3 wins, if not more.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Oilers fans deserve less then decade of darkness, followed by like what 4 playoff series wins in 8 years with the best player in the world? Yeah... idk about that lol.

Three, actually. They've won 3 playoff series since the Cup run, and if they finish in a wild card spot (or worse), there's a very large chance that number doesn't change.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Foegele has 0 goals and 2 assists without Draisaitl on the ice.

It's pretty obvious who should be the healthy scratch.

Bear is better still

 

[Harry Curry]

Think about your comment for a second...he's on the worst team in the league with a GAA in the mid 2s and a save percentage well above .920. This means the Hawks aren't giving him much run support but he's keeping them in the game.

The Blackhawks have better defensemen at the top of their lineup than the Oilers.

Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe are their three highest paid defensemen. Better than Nurse, Barrie and Ceci.

 

[Stoneman89]

Makar and Toews played half the game yesterday.

So what? Avs are also fighting through a bunch of injuries. And the game also went to OT. D men typically play more than forwards. And both of them are fluid, natural skaters, especially Makar, making it easier to conserve energy. Draisaitl is not a natural skater compared to some others and has to grind it out. Our top 2 forwards are pushed to the max 3 out of 4 games, not just a tough OT game against a big rival.

 

[CycloneSweep]

The Blackhawks have better defensemen at the top of their lineup than the Oilers.

Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe are their three highest paid defensemen. Better than Nurse, Barrie and Ceci.

Are they? 5v5
Nurse 2.74 xGA/60 11.6HDCA/60 19:09 ATOI
Ceci 2.76 xGA/60 11.95HDCA/60 17.01 ATOI
Barrie 2.69 xGA/60 10.89HDCA/60 15:10 ATOI

Jones 2.92 xGA/60 13.03 HDCA/60 18:15 ATOI
McCabe 2.66 xGA/60 11.90 HDCA/60 16:31 ATOI
Murphy 2.65 xGA/60 11.14 HDCA/60 16:50 ATOI

Jones has rougher numbers than Nurse and the other 2 have slightly better numbers than Ceci and Barrie.

So really, it’s close.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

So what? Avs are also fighting through a bunch of injuries. And the game also went to OT. D men typically play more than forwards. And both of them are fluid, natural skaters, especially Makar, making it easier to conserve energy. Draisaitl is not a natural skater compared to some others and has to grind it out. Our top 2 forwards are pushed to the max 3 out of 4 games, not just a tough OT game against a big rival.

And MacKinnon/Compher/Lehkonen almost played 24 minutes each. Damn, shouldn't they reduce their ice time?

 

[CycloneSweep]

And MacKinnon/Compher/Lehkonen almost played 24 minutes each. Damn, shouldn't they reduce their ice time?

When the team is healthy, they would.

 

[Roderek]

No, trade for a third-line center and the defence will improve. Every defenceman will improve.

Their game play will change accordingly when a position is filled that was previously unoccupied.

A third line center is not the answer, technically the Oilers have that in Nuge, but he is always played at the wing. Center is not a week spot for the Oilers, The Oilers need all of the centers to be responsible in the D zone. When they realize they will get more offensive zone time at 5v5 when they defend/check properly in the D zone and break up cycles, is when this team can turn it around. Until then nothing is going to change.

A 3rd line center on this team is only going to play 6-10 min, that isn't going to be game changing... Probably even less if he turns the puck over once.

 

[Harry Curry]

Jones has rougher numbers than Nurse and the other 2 have slightly better numbers than Ceci and Barrie.

So really, it’s close.

Yup, the Oilers top 3 defensemen are close to the top 3 defensemen of the worst team in the league.
How does that support the assertion Alex Stalock would have been the smart move to start the season as the Oilers starting goalie instead of Jack Campbell.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Yup, the Oilers top 3 defensemen are close to the top 3 defensemen of the worst team in the league.
How does that support the assertion Alex Stalock would have been the smart move to start the season as the Oilers starting goalie instead of Jack Campbell.

Cause Stalock is putting up much better numbers with a similar defence. Wasn’t smart at the time for sure. In retrospect, it sucks to see another goalie we had do well elsewhere.

 

[Harry Curry]

In retrospect, it sucks to see another goalie we had do well elsewhere.

Doing OK. Stalock is on part with Calvin Pickard.

Who know is Pickard could go on an ok run following a Campbell or Skinner injury? All I know is I don't want to find out the answer to that question.

 

[North Cole]

Least intelligent, most toxic fan base in the league AINEC.

Oiler fans deserve a much worse product then what is being put on the ice.

Be better.

Ironic. Thinking fans deserve anything at all is the issue.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

The Blackhawks have better defensemen at the top of their lineup than the Oilers.

Seth Jones, Connor Murphy and Jake McCabe are their three highest paid defensemen. Better than Nurse, Barrie and Ceci.

The Oilers are also generally giving their goalies a little bit of run support. The Hawks are currently at 144 goals against. The Oilers are just two spots above them at 137. Yet the Oilers are +7 in goal differential and the Hawks are a staggering -58. They are dead last in the league with 86 goals for whereas even Dallas Eakins' Ducks have scored 10 more goals thus far while giving up a league worst 169.

I'm not saying Stalock is or would have been the answer but he has always been a capable NHL goalie. He's giving the Hawks an incredibly loud bang for their buck while Campbell has let a few popcorn farts rip. That extra $4.25 million would have been some cushion to get that top 2 or 4 d-man right about now but here Kenny is again, window shopping because he has no money or assets for the real thing.

 

[Broberg Speed]

A third line center is not the answer, technically the Oilers have that in Nuge, but he is always played at the wing. Center is not a week spot for the Oilers, The Oilers need all of the centers to be responsible in the D zone. When they realize they will get more offensive zone time at 5v5 when they defend/check properly in the D zone and break up cycles, is when this team can turn it around. Until then nothing is going to change.

A 3rd line center on this team is only going to play 6-10 min, that isn't going to be game changing... Probably even less if he turns the puck over once.

Center is a weak area for the Oilers.

RNH should never play center again. Because he can't play the position adequately. He can be a very good winger as he has proven this season.

A good third-line center would play more than 6-10 minutes a game. A good third-line center would play the PK so Draisaitl and McDavid wouldn't have to play so many minutes on the PK. A good third-line center would take all the defensive draws and specialize as a 5-on-5 checking player, leaving the offensive draws to Draisaitl and McDavid. A good third-line center wouldn't have to focus on scoring, which Draisaitl and McDavid should continue to do, because they are good at it and it makes strategic sense for them to push for offence. A good third-line center adds incredible defensive structure and awareness up the middle and can settle a game down when it needs to be settled down. In the D-zone a defensive center essentially acts as a high third defenceman responsible for the slot. We currently don't have anyone that can do that.

Rewatch the games.

 

[Roderek]

Center is a weak area for the Oilers.

RNH should never play center again. Because he can't play the position adequately. He can be a very good winger as he has proven this season.

A good third-line center would play more than 6-10 minutes a game. A good third-line center would play the PK so Draisaitl and McDavid wouldn't have to play so many minutes on the PK. A good third-line center would take all the defensive draws and specialize as a 5-on-5 checking player, leaving the offensive draws to Draisaitl and McDavid. A good third-line center wouldn't have to focus on scoring, which Draisaitl and McDavid should continue to do, because they are good at it and it makes strategic sense for them to push for offence. A good third-line center adds incredible defensive structure and awareness up the middle and can settle a game down when it needs to be settled down. In the D-zone a defensive center essentially acts as a high third defenceman responsible for the slot. We currently don't have anyone that can do that.

Rewatch the games.

You don't get it; the Oilers do not play the 3rd and 4th line regular minutes ever. As soon as someone on one of those lines makes a mistake, they get stapled to the bench. It would be incredibly difficult for a 3rd line center to make an impact on this team.

I am willing to be proven wrong, but if the only move Holland makes is to pick up a 3rd line center, the Oilers will be in the running for Bedard, a 1-4 Left D shut down D would be a much more prudent (preferably a 1 or 2) since those minutes would be between 15-and 20 minutes. Arguably against the other team's top line.

I still believe if the 3rd and 4th line got regular minutes every game and were not stapled to the bench if they make a mistake, or the team gets down by a couple goals. The Oilers depth scoring/contribution would be significantly better.

There is a double standard on this team, if you are McD/Drai/Hyman/Nuge/Kane/Nurse do what you want, everybody else, must play mistake free excellent hockey or get reduced minutes/benched scratched. JP included with the first group currently so Holland can try and up his value...