Oilers lose 3-2 in OT: Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

[Soundwave]

I'm not buying the gap between a 22 year old player and a 25 year old player. There are too many dominant (very) young stars in this league now.

That's a stupid play, and it cost the team the game. If he's making the same play at age 25 then he needs to sit his ass on the bench. Plain and simple.

That's trying to be a hero because you want to score badly because you didn't score in the third period, but you bail on your teammates. That's just immaturity. Nothing else.

 

[Asher]

I would say the 1st line can now pin other teams in their zone at will at times now, they just aren't burying chances right now, whereas they were early last year. Very rarely last year would we be able to pin lines the Thornton or Sedin line in their own zone with the kid line, but this year it's really not a big deal.

And I'm the last one to quote advances stats but it's obvious than any "sheltering" of the top line Renney did last year is over now. Krueger throws them out in every situation, against any opponent that's out there.

 

[Moonlapse Vertigo]

That's a stupid play, and it cost the team the game. If he's making the same play at age 25 then he needs to sit his ass on the bench. Plain and simple.

Eberle probably doesn't make that play last season. I've never seen him look so frustrated and uncomfortable out there. The team is still wretched and he's pressing too hard to make a difference.

 

[Mr Forever]

I'm pissed about the loss but honestly I'm happy the young guys are being thrown out there in key situations. We're going to see a lot of growing pains this year, but it'll be worth it.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Eberle probably doesn't make that play last season. I've never seen him look so frustrated and uncomfortable out there. The team is still wretched and he's pressing too hard to make a difference.

But the team was wretched last season too... What you're saying isn't making much sense.

 

[McDNicks17]

I think you're overstating the importance of SA too much. The Canucks didn't exactly blow us away with many high quality scoring chances. Most of their shots were clappers from the point into Dubnyk's stomach. If the opposition gets 40 of those a night, is it really that big of a deal?

With Dubnyk's SV% from last season and this season's shot against, you're looking at 3 goals against per game.

You aren't going to win many hockey games with that.


Smyth's goal tonight is a pretty good example of every shot having a chance to end up in the net.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I'm not buying the gap between a 22 year old player and a 25 year old player. There are too many dominant (very) young stars in this league now.

I feel like our younger guys don't have the benefits a lot of these young stars have, and that is playing on a team with some offensive talent to learn from, and to take some of the pressure off.

From the minute our young guns stepped into the league they were responsible for the majority of our offence, and when they made mistakes, the D wasn't good enough to back them up.

The idea of growing as a team is very appealing, and having all our young stars develop together, but they need/needed a better group of guys to learn from and help ease them into the league imo.

 

[plikestechno]

When things are tough you have to simplify. Not make things harder for yourself, I don't know why this team simply cant throw the puck at the net more and go chase it at the crease. And although it isn't as sexy as deking a guy out i think dumping the puck in would be a lot more effective right now.

Can we finally try gagner with hall and ebs? He needs to get those guys going. RNH is killing the confidence of that line.

This team really misses ryan jones. He always seems to score when no one else can and is willing to work for those rebounds.

Like the nordic line. Hopefully we buy out horcoff and that can be our 3rd line. I think thats the ceiling for all of them.

Maybe whitney was the problem on that third pairing after all.

I'm tired of almost blowing teams out every night and losing to teams working harder than us.

Dubnyk gets at least one goat horn tonight. I don't care what the score clock says you have to shut the door in the last two minutes. He had terrible positioning on the last two goals, was he even following the play? I also think he's starting to resent the team a little bit a la khabby which i understand is frustrating but losing close games when you're leading late is still up to the goalie.

Whatever we got a point. If we can hang in 6-11th all year i can live with the frustrations. Just dont want to bottom out again.Winning time needs to start again and guys.like.schultz, rnh and ebs need to get their confidence flowing again.

 

[JustinCider]

Just a couple of things. Smid and Petry are pretty physical. You don't need to destroy guys like Fistric does to be considered physical. Also, I think our team D is much improved but our offense is terrible. Sustained offensive pressure has been very minimal in a lot of the games and well, when you don't have the puck, you can't score and you end up defending more often than not. The Oilers can score on the PP and get some quick goals off the rush but they need that cycle game some teams have to really generate quality offensive chances.

Looking at this year's roster, I would have never thought that we would be lacking offense...again. The top line has been just an utter failure so far.

Yes Smid and Perty are physical, but neither of them scare the other team's players. You need at least one or two of those guys on your team, to keep the other teams honest. I think our team D is still brutal. These guys still get running around, chasing the puck in the D zone for extended periods of time, numerous times a game. Our PP is still solid, although it has cooled down big time, the last 3 or 4 games. As for goals off the rush, really? I haven't seen them this year. The first line has cycled the puck well, but have had very little finish. I don't think this team has put together one dominant game this season, I guess that's just me.

 

[Soundwave]

And I'm the last one to quote advances stats but it's obvious than any "sheltering" of the top line Renney did last year is over now. Krueger throws them out in every situation, against any opponent that's out there.

It's not just that, they can actually cycle this year. You can tell when they pass now they know the other guy is coming up the boards behind them and they start working that little cycle and generating time and space. Last year they would try to do that, but one would get sandwiched on the boards and the cycle would stop. This year it keeps coming and then you have Schultz causing headaches dropping down looking for that shot.

They're just not burying them. That top line should have an extra 3-4 goals this year. Easy. Eaaaaaaaaasy. I'm not even talking garbage like "well if they shot the puck more", now I'm saying the shots they are taking as is, they normally would convert more of those chances.

And then Eberle decides to play hero with 19 seconds left. Glory is great, but in this case he got egg on his face.

You do not bail on your freaking teammates who are battling in their own zone for puck possession when you have less than 20 seconds on the clock and a stacked shootout lineup. C'mon Ebs. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[McCrumb]

I'm not buying the gap between a 22 year old player and a 25 year old player. There are too many dominant (very) young stars in this league now.

Exactly. Even our defense isn't all that young outside of Schultz and he is our best at that position. Whitney, Potter and N Schultz are all around 30 and Smid, Petry and Fistric all in their mid twenties and should be entering their primes soon.

 

[Mr Forever]

Another thing: this is the first time in a long time I've seen the Oilers roll lines like they do. Everyone is contributing. I like it.

 

[JA]

I would say the 1st line can now pin other teams in their zone at will at times now, they just aren't burying chances right now, whereas they were early last year. Very rarely last year would we be able to pin lines the Thornton or Sedin line in their own zone with the kid line, but this year it's really not a big deal.

And Hemsky's been moderately better this year. Gagner is improved a bit too, but I think it's somewhat overstated. Both Hemsky and Gagner are not utilizing Yakupov properly either.

Dubnyk has not been as good as Khabby was early last year, Khabby was superhuman, Duby's let in a few softies despite facing a lot of shots.

Nail appears to play at his best when he dictates the tempo of the game. He's a player who needs to have the puck to be effective; in fact, he's much like Ovechkin in that regard. He has allowed them many opportunities to feed him the puck -- when he circles back into his own zone, it's clear he to take off with it.

In the offensive zone, he sometimes trails behind the puck carrier so that he may receive the puck and cut into the slot or establish a play. Sometimes he'll go into the high slot looking for a one timer.

In order to make the most of his abilities, Nail needs to have possession of the puck. He's that type of player. Currently, it seems there are shifts when he doesn't touch the puck at all. He can work with his linemates, but Hemsky doesn't seem appear interested in working with him at all. Nail is the type of player who I think can become the catalyst on a future NHL line. He can't even begin to reach that potential, though, without the puck.

 

[Moonlapse Vertigo]

But the team was wretched last season too... What you're saying isn't making much sense.

Heh. He understands that he and Hall have to start getting this team to the next level. Bottom five doesn't cut it anymore.

 

[Asher]

It's not just that, they can actually cycle this year. You can tell when they pass now they know the other guy is coming up the boards behind them and they start working that little cycle and generating time and space.

They're just not burying them. That top line should have an extra 3-4 goals this year. Easy. Eaaaaaaaaasy. I'm not even talking garbage like "well if they shot the puck more", now I'm saying the shots they are taking as is, they normally would convert more of those chances.

And then Eberle decides to play hero with 19 seconds left. Glory is great, but in this case he got egg on his face.

You do not bail on your freaking teammates who are battling in their own zone for puck possession when you have less than 20 seconds on the clock and a stacked shootout lineup. C'mon Ebs. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh yeah, for sure. If it wasn't on a rush they couldn't score a goal to save their lives last year. And they're playing better defensively this year as well. As for the offense, Nuge is the only one that troubles me, as he's not even creating much out there. Hopefully, it's not an injury. It could very well just be a sophomore slump.

 

[nabob]

I feel like our younger guys don't have the benefits a lot of these young stars have, and that is playing on a team with some offensive talent to learn from, and to take some of the pressure off.

From the minute our young guns stepped into the league they were responsible for the majority of our offence, and when they made mistakes, the D wasn't good enough to back them up.

The idea of growing as a team is very appealing, and having all our young stars develop together, but they need/needed a better group of guys to learn from and help ease them into the league imo.

Chicken dinner!

You can't just throw a bunch of kids on the ice with Potters and Strudwicks behind them and expired players like Smyth and Horcoff and expect to win.

Tambellini should be hearing footsteps this summer.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Chicken dinner!

You can't just throw a bunch of kids on the ice with Potters and Strudwicks behind them and expired players like Smyth and Horcoff and expect to win.

Tambellini should be hearing footsteps this summer.

I'm really curious who we are supposed to get...

I guess we could've signed Hudler or Wideman...

 

[Moonlapse Vertigo]

It's not just that, they can actually cycle this year. You can tell when they pass now they know the other guy is coming up the boards behind them and they start working that little cycle and generating time and space. Last year they would try to do that, but one would get sandwiched on the boards and the cycle would stop. This year it keeps coming and then you have Schultz causing headaches dropping down looking for that shot.

They're just not burying them. That top line should have an extra 3-4 goals this year. Easy. Eaaaaaaaaasy. I'm not even talking garbage like "well if they shot the puck more", now I'm saying the shots they are taking as is, they normally would convert more of those chances.

And then Eberle decides to play hero with 19 seconds left. Glory is great, but in this case he got egg on his face.

You do not bail on your freaking teammates who are battling in their own zone for puck possession when you have less than 20 seconds on the clock and a stacked shootout lineup. C'mon Ebs. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Hey, I hope you're right and we're not talking about RNH still being goalless and Eberle being on a multigame pointless streak by the end of the week. We'll see if it evens out. The clock is ticking on this shortened season already.

 

[Soundwave]

I love Hall and Ebs, but I basically think they made silly mistakes that cost of us the last two games.

Hall missed a blatantly wide open Justin Schultz in the slot in the Colorado game that could've iced that game. Really that game turned there IMO.

And Eberle decides to prematurely put on the Superman cape and fly the zone with 19 seconds left, costs us a point IMO tonight too, because we would've taken them in a shootout.

Oh well. Growing pains. The kids will learn from this, that I'm not as worried about because they're good kids. We need to start utilizing Yakupov's shot more.

 

[AK Dandyman]

Encouraging game for Hemsky. Gave a good effort defensively. Even used his body to bump someone off and clear the puck on that PK.

It'll be great if Krueger can work some magic on Hemsky and get him to play like that every game.

 

[YogiCanucks]

Hate to say it, but we didn't deserve to win that game.

I say this will all due respect to the Oilers and the Canucks but NEITHER team really deserved ANY points.

 

[JA]

Oh well. Growing pains. The kids will learn from this, that I'm not as worried about because they're good kids. We need to start utilizing Yakupov's shot more.

He also has his skating ability, which hasn't been put to good use at all. There's a reason he's always circling back. He wants to take the puck up the ice and generate a chance with speed. He hasn't shot the puck enough nor has he had the chance to make moves with his speed. His linemates don't give him the opportunity to make use of his greatest attributes.

 

[Hopelesslucicfan]

I'd really like to see hall and yakupov switch lines.

RNH and Eberle really need someone ready to pull that trigger all the time, because god knows neither of them want to.

Hemsky hall and gagner have meshed in the past, i don't see why its not worth a shot.

I know people will say that yakupov needs time to get used to his linemates, but they don't seem to be able/willing to utilize him at all as it is. Hemsky and yakupov play a similar game in that they are always moving around, turning back to get the perfect pass, weaving from wing to wing throwing the other guy off, etc, they just really seem to clash to me.

Gagner and hemsky need someone who can get dirty and with enough confidence to take the puck on his stick sometimes, and RNH and Eberle need someone who can and will pull the trigger from anywhere, and if anyone can find yakupov and get his confidence going, its these 2.

 

[Spawn]

I'm really curious who we are supposed to get...

I guess we could've signed Hudler or Wideman...

We could get a competent GM who knows how to make smart trades and good UFA signings.

It's put up or shut up time for the Oilers. This was supposed to be a 5 year rebuild. We are getting to the point that tangible results need to be shown. If the team isn't getting better, than people who put this plan in place need to be shown the door.

A 5 year plan is not finishing bottom 5 each if the first 4 years and then magically making the playoffs. Doesn't work that way.

 

[McDeepika]

Encouraging game for Hemsky. Gave a good effort defensively. Even used his body to bump someone off and clear the puck on that PK.

It'll be great if Krueger can work some magic on Hemsky and get him to play like that every game.

Hemsky has been pretty good since that PHX game. He's really been skating well and has been playing solid defense. He had an very lazy 3 game stretch but seems to be coming out of it.