Post-Game Talk: Oilers lose 5-4

[CantHaveTkachev]

A few thoughts on the game.

First, Calgary outplayed us. Really simple, they were the hungrier more desperate team and it showed in the hits and shots.

Second, the refereeing sucked not only on the non-goal but they called numerous penalties that were brutal. I'm not sure that any of the first three power plays we received should have been penalties at all. Anybody who believes that the league and/or the refs hate the Oilers and are biased against us need to rethink that position. It's not reality.

Third, Talbot was hot garbage and has been letting in a bad goal in every game since the first couple of games. His sub .900 save percentage is no better than Scrivens. Maybe we shouldn't have run Dubnyk out of town after he had a bad first half of the season.

Fourth, the non-stop Ference hate continues unabated. Clearly some posters have made up their minds about him and are so biased that no matter what he does it is bad. Last night he was on the ice for three goals against, but if you believe the posts in this thread they were all directly caused by him. I re-watched the goals and could find no real fault on two of them. First goal he was in correct position and took his man. Bolleg was standing next to Ference's man and was left unattended by Lander. Second goal came after a very poor clearing attempt by Ference, blame definitely goes to him. Third goal, penalty killing unit was running around and a long point shot beat Talbot. Didn't see anything on the NHL.com replay that was a mistake on Ference. I'm not defending Ference a player, he is not NHL caliber at this stage in his career. But the overt hatred for him is unnecessary and, frankly, disturbing. Many posters on here are completely blinded in their assessment of his play by their hatred.

Unfortunately I don't think the Oilers are any better than they were last year. We can't move the puck up the ice as our defensemen are statues, our goaltending is far below average, and our forwards can't score enough to offset our other weaknesses. Recently the press has been going on about there being more structure in our game. In my mind this is false. To me we look exactly the same as last year.

We are coming up on our long road trip and unless something dramatic happens with this team we are likely to be out the playoff hunt in the next couple of weeks.

people need to to adjust their expectations of the club...this team was never going to be in the playoff hunt this year...
there's so many holes in this line-up I can't even begin to name them

it's been clear since day 1 that this is a .500 team at best and this year was a year to evaluate and burn off some of MacT poor contracts

but coming out last night against a dog-tired without any fire is embarrassing and tells us all we need to know about the make-up of this team

 

[Originally Posted By*]

It's not untrue that Hall turns the puck over a lot. It's just that he keeps hustling and getting it again and again. If Hall could one day stop making all those plays where he's giving the puck away too easily, he seriously could be a contender for the Art Ross.

So true, I can totally see him battling for an Art Ross if he cleans that aspect of his game! I think I read on TSN he's tied for 7th in scoring in the league

 

[booyakasha]

I love Hall but that's simply not true.

http://youtu.be/eDBXbUO5YSk

Leading goal scorer for Canada at World Championship in Goals as well.

7 goals in 48 Playoff games.....proof's in the pudding.

and actually not one of his goals were difference makers in the WHC.

4Seguin has always been a mutt when it matters..the bigger the game, the smaller the player.
it is what it is.

 

[Husker Du]

I'm not saying that I would necessarily take Tyler over Taylor, but Tyler has 7 more playoff goals than Taylor.

 

[Mr McV]

At least ping it off the glass already. Everytime same stupid thing boards boards boards.

You don't think he might flip it over the glass, and sit in the box for 2 minutes or less?

 

[Replacement*]

Last night was a critical game. A must win. The team allowed themselfes as usual to feel their way into a game at home ice and once again were trailing after the first, on home ice. Because for some reason players on this team felt they played a great game against Montreal.

This is why I was furious after the Montreal game. Because I knew damn well what it meant. The return of reinforced bad habits entering in.

The whole team played a stupid game against Calgary and we were making mistakes all over the ice. System play was hardly even recognizable. We were turning pucks over in all areas of the ice.

Execution, puck possession, puck support were all poor. On Home ice, in BOA, and on HNIC.

What excuses?

Every night we're wasting some players having good games because we have a lot of passengers on this club. We have a lot of indifferent play on this club.

Calgary played a more concerted and focused game than we did and won. They didn't make anywhere close to as many mistakes as the Oilers

 

[Originally Posted By*]

7 goals in 48 Playoff games.....proof's in the pudding.

and actually not one of his goals were difference makers in the WHC.

4Seguin has always been a mutt when it matters..the bigger the game, the smaller the player.
it is what it is.

True I guess I didn't think about it that way, I can't wait to see Hallsy in some big games.. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I think that's where we'll see the true dominance and 2 X Memorial Cup make a name for himself

 

[guymez]

Imagine how amazing he would be if he could get the stupid out? His biggest strength is his speed and willingness to be on top of the puck all the time. He has the puck so much, he is going to inevitably make all kinds of bad plays until he finally makes a good one. Some guys are lucky to get half the touches per night Hall gets.

One thing I really hope he can get out of his game though are the weak no look passes along the boards in the offensive zone. Or passes around the offensive blue line to people that are completely covered by the other team. Just little plays that he does far too frequently.

I agree...thats exactly what I am referring to.
You can add to this the repeated attempts to beat 2 or 3 defenders on a rush.
Hall could be even better...even more effective if he could eliminate these useless self defeating plays.

 

[I am the Liquor]

You don't think he might flip it over the glass, and sit in the box for 2 minutes or less?

We would be safer with him in the box than on the ice.

 

[booyakasha]

True I guess I didn't think about it that way, I can't wait to see Hallsy in some big games.. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I think that's where we'll see the true dominance and 2 X Memorial Cup make a name for himself

I want to see this team in the playoffs so badly, ... who separates themselves as the cream of the crop.
I have a feeling that players like McDavid and Hall would thrive in that environment, ..also Eberle.

I'm still thinking this group is good enough to make the playoffs...still optimistic.

 

[Lacaar]

the third and fourth lines are useless. Completely and utterly useless.

They get nothing accomplished. Obviously they can't score. They can't even sniff a goal.
I don't have the words to describe how useless they are offensively.

But on top of it. they don't do single thing to alter the momentum of the game.

They're useless.. completely and utterly useless.

Lander looks like a giant piece of crap.
Letestu looks like a giant piece of crap.

 

[Faelko]

the third and fourth lines are useless. Completely and utterly useless.

They get nothing accomplished. Obviously they can't score. They can't even sniff a goal.
I don't have the words to describe how useless they are offensively.

But on top of it. they don't do single thing to alter the momentum of the game.

They're useless.. completely and utterly useless.

Lander looks like a giant piece of crap.
Letestu looks like a giant piece of crap.

I fully endorse this post.

 

[Soundwave]

Last night was a critical game. A must win. The team allowed themselfes as usual to feel their way into a game at home ice and once again were trailing after the first, on home ice. Because for some reason players on this team felt they played a great game against Montreal.

This is why I was furious after the Montreal game. Because I knew damn well what it meant. The return of reinforced bad habits entering in.

The whole team played a stupid game against Calgary and we were making mistakes all over the ice. System play was hardly even recognizable. We were turning pucks over in all areas of the ice.

Execution, puck possession, puck support were all poor. On Home ice, in BOA, and on HNIC.

What excuses?

Every night we're wasting some players having good games because we have a lot of passengers on this club. We have a lot of indifferent play on this club.

Calgary played a more concerted and focused game than we did and won. They didn't make anywhere close to as many mistakes as the Oilers

Flames are crap too. Needed two flukey goals and still allowed (basically) 5 goals against us. "Best defence in the NHL" my ass.

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

Rant incoming.

We are a team with broken fundamentals, broken confidence, physically broken players, new coach and a lot of new faces.

Some players are underperforming. Some are absolutely awful and a few even look fantastic.

Statistically our goaltending looks bad but that has much more to do with the very high quality chances a few players give up that are unsavable or the goalie got completely shafted on.

We are missing Eberle, Hendricks, Korpikoski, Reinhart and Schultz. Most of those guys have been extremely good for us when they have been in.

That being said, we had some ref hate against us, a non icing call and a "goalie interference" against us and a years worth of Flames luck, and they still only won by 1 goal.

 

[Replacement*]

Flames are crap too. Needed two flukey goals and still allowed (basically) 5 goals against us. "Best defence in the NHL" my ass.

We all know the Flames are crap. That we lost against them on home ice is soul destroying. Probably is for the team as well.

This game will go down unfortunately as the turning point of the season. To lose a game like that, to a team like that? This is one of those colossal bad games. Really the Montreal game was as well its just that the comeback disguised all that.

The Oilers are playing very poor hockey right now. Goals scored aside. Its the GA that will ultimately kill us.

 

[blupye*]

I hope he never plays another game in the Oilers jersey.

I think at least 18 other contributors agree with me on this, namely,

HeavyMcHitter97
Philly 85
Asuno
Rafters
Syz
Mr Positive
Pablo Aimar
Oobga
Mcnofool6110
Johnny McBravo
jebs
spawn
Matt19Oilers
Mr Deepika
Shizuka
Natepollock92
McJadeddog
Hynh

and me, Vincent1999

Hopefully the coach and the management are seeing the same thing, and do the right thing for this team starting NOW

Add Blupye to the list as well. Ferrence would not make my oldtimers team. He has to go. We were ripping Davidson apart last week but he is head and shoulders above Ferrence

 

[McDeathbyCheerios*]

We all know the Flames are crap. That we lost against them on home ice is soul destroying. Probably is for the team as well.

This game will go down unfortunately as the turning point of the season. To lose a game like that, to a team like that? This is one of those colossal bad games. Really the Montreal game was as well its just that the comeback disguised all that.

The Oilers are playing very poor hockey right now. Goals scored aside. Its the GA that will ultimately kill us.

It's our depth that is killing us. 2 injuries to the d and it looks god awful.

Which makes me laugh more cause it used to be Gryba was a good surprise and Davidson was garbage. Now Davidson actually looks suited to bottom pairing with some power play time. Amazing what a few games does.

 

[Crabapple]

Didn't catch the game but looking at the highlights it was a dud. Saw Leon got 3 points last night, good for him. He's already more than halfway to his point total of last year in 35 less games haha

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Rant incoming.

We are a team with broken fundamentals, broken confidence, physically broken players, new coach and a lot of new faces.

Some players are underperforming. Some are absolutely awful and a few even look fantastic.

Statistically our goaltending looks bad but that has much more to do with the very high quality chances a few players give up that are unsavable or the goalie got completely shafted on.

We are missing Eberle, Hendricks, Korpikoski, Reinhart and Schultz. Most of those guys have been extremely good for us when they have been in.

That being said, we had some ref hate against us, a non icing call and a "goalie interference" against us and a years worth of Flames luck, and they still only won by 1 goal.

Not to mention.........why wasn't there a goalie interference penalty on that flamer disallowed goal. He bulled over the goalie for **** sakes that's not incidental.

I hate to see officiating blamed game in game out but it is to the point that it can't be random or some sort of incompetence. I heard an interview on the radio(in calgary) a couple years back where they were talking to a well known linesman and he made it pretty clear the young oilers weren't well respected by the officials. I'm not sure of the exact reason. I can speculate that it is partly due to whining after the whistle and as much as fans will deny it the incident against LA a few years ago where we embarrassed the officials didn't help at all. You would hope they would be more professional but it doesn't appear that way.

 

[Bandwagon In Flames*]

7 goals in 48 Playoff games.....proof's in the pudding.

and actually not one of his goals were difference makers in the WHC.

4Seguin has always been a mutt when it matters..the bigger the game, the smaller the player.
it is what it is.

Taylor Hall: 0 goals in 0 Playoff games

Sorry, I had to do it.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Lets wait till everyone is healthy before talking like it's the apocalypse

 

[Kepler 186f]

we're now up to 20 contributors who hate Ference's play with the addition of:

MrTrash Boat
oil leaks

You need to read other threads from the season.

I have stated numerous times that his career has obviously fallen off the cliff and it is time for him to hang them up. And I have seen many other posters note something similar.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

There's going to be at least one bad team from this division in the playoffs. Would be great if it was us but oh well. Guess Vancouver will have to suffice.

 

[Replacement*]

Lets wait till everyone is healthy before talking like it's the apocalypse

It is for this season. Its over.

The oilers would need around 88pts in 70 remaining games to even be in the running for a playoff spot in the WC. Look at the schedule and tell me its even possible for this team to be .500 by Xmas. Realizing that even .500 isn't close to making playoffs.

This team is also ran, and this was confirmed again last night. The only question at this point is if its yet another lottery year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It is for this season. Its over.

The oilers would need around 88pts in 70 remaining games to even be in the running for a playoff spot in the WC. Look at the schedule and tell me its even possible for this team to be .500 by Xmas. Realizing that even .500 isn't close to making playoffs.

This team is also ran, and this was confirmed again last night. The only question at this point is if its yet another lottery year.

I said the team would be bottom 5. This team really can't beat anyone.