Post-Game Talk: Oilers sing the Blues

[jeffff]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

I barely remover our top unit not scoring on the rush either.

 

[Oilhawks]

Sure, but they are playing one of the worst teams in the league and the effort was terrible.

I don't think Nurse is a good fit for the power play, he just seems so awkward out there and doesn't seem to run the point very well.

I’m sure the Hawks and Canucks hated losing to us when they were perennial cup contenders and we were the league’s doormat. No, I’m not saying this team is a cup contender, but they really are looking like a WC team at least.

The last two games are a comedy of errors that include the following: relentless schedule the past month, being down 3 of 6 NHL D, garbage special teams due to no time to practice or implement meaningful changes, and a little bit of “playing down” to the competition (credit to Canucks and Blues for taking advantage of this).

 

[PULSATING]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

Bouchard got one earlier in the year I think.

When PP1 is out there they look a discombobulated, when PP2 is out there it looks like an even-strength 4th line shift lol.

 

[Stoneman89]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

Hard to do much when you are left with scraps of 15 seconds of time.

 

[Stoneman89]

Sorry but there are no must wins before Christmas.

The way things are for this team, nearly every game is must win, things are so tight. What you do before Christmas can make things a lot easier after. They need to think that way.

 

[Jepprey]

The lefty Dman isn't the biggest problem, it's the Nuge spot. Not Nuge himself but they need a right handed shoot first player in that spot.
It's no coincidence that the Oilers PP was top 5 with Letestu catching fire and has been junk ever since.

They have the same personnel now except no righty in the one time zone. Get any semblance of shooting skill in that spot and the PP will take off. How many times does McDavid pass cross ice and Nuge either has to adjust position, dust it off and shoot a wrister or just pass it back? They need somebody who will just shoot the pill.

There are multiple problems. Simply putting a RHS at the left half boards does not fix it. Did you forget that RHS Letestu was there almost all season last year and it was last place. The evolution of our PP since 2016, was an overload setup with Eberle, a RHS, at the left half boards. It was bottom of the league, because Todd/Jay thought the same Overload cycle play in the right corner would be successful as it was in San Jose. Wrong. It only took off when they switched it to a few months into the season when it went from Overload to 1-3-1. Switched Eberle out for Letestu. It was a strong powerplay afterwards because Sekera knew how to move the puck efficiently. Even with Sekera being the king of shin pad assassins, he was twice the player Klefbom is on the PP until the end of the season when Klef finally took that spot from him.

Fast forward to 2017-2018 season. No Sekera, but Klefbom at the point. Continued the 1-3-1 with Test Tube at the left half boards. This power play was ranked LAST place with something ridiculously crazy like 14 percent.. This power play is very static. Test Tube never roamed the left side and stood in one spot. Drai stopped getting those tipped passes in the slot. Klef highly inaccurate with his shot. A few months later, Todd turns it into a 5L setup and it seeped into this season, which makes it even more ridiculous if the setup is coming from the right side.

It's easy to cheat against the Oilers PP, because they are static and have no one time option. Even if McDavid is able to get it off to Nuge or Klef, they like to dust it off and by then the PKers get into the lane. Can this PP survive with a LHS Point? Im sure of it, Sekera proved that. Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait until Bouchard/Bear/Persson graduate to actually get a real one time threat on the point..

 

[bone]

Lost in all this is of course the poolparty goal that should not have counted. I don't even understand what Debrusk was trying to explain about it.

Yeah, I was a little confused.

A couple years ago a goal was disallowed due to offside when something similar happened with Eberle changing. As I remember it the puck was shot in while Eberle was offside, but he went to change and the player that came on was behind the line. The Oilers went in and scored but it was disallowed. The explanation as I remember it was that Eberle had to tag up before changing and because he changed he could never tag up and as such the play would be offside up until the other team cleared the puck. I thought it was nonsense at the time, but here we are today, and it was legal now. So either the rule changed or the NHL got it wrong in one instance or the other.

Does anyone remember which game that was?

 

[bone]

10 GP last 18 days, last games without Russell and Klefbom (who are much more important than I think some realise). Not surprising result tbh.

It'll hopefully be great for the team with some rest now with only 1 GP in the next 7 days. Hopefully Russell is back by the end of the Christmas break.

That 10 games in 18 days is further compounded by the fact that only once were two consecutive games played in the same rink.

Dec. 1 - Edmonton
Dec. 3 - Dallas
Dec. 5 - St. Louis
Dec. 7 - Edmonton
Dec. 9 - Edmonton
Dec. 11 - Colorado
Dec. 13 - Winnipeg
Dec. 14 - Edmonton
Dec. 16 - Vancouver
Dec. 18 - Edmonton

Despite have 5 home games in that stretch they've been on a plane 8 times in those 18 days. They essentially had a 8 game long road trip and last night was the first night back. I'm ashamed of their performance last night, but can sort of understand them running out of gas.

 

[bone]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

Yes. When Bouchard scored his goal earlier this year it was with a second unit that also had KY, Toby, Strome and Chia's Son. The 4-Righty setup. Garrison also scored one with the same group but with Puljujarvi in KYs place.

But I think that is it.

 

[Bluesguru]

Wideman has been a legit no.4 D as recently as like a year ago, I think we have to work him into the lineup. Garrison just doesn't have it.

He's never been a top 4 d-man. Maybe a handful of games at most due to injuries but in general, he was a protected 3rd pairing guy.

 

[TB12]

Saw Nuge and Jujhar Christmas shopping today. You guys need to let these losses go like the players do.

On to the next.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah, I'll take where we are at now, vs where we are at when Hitch took over. All I really wanted was for the team to be in the playoff run at Christmas break. Which they are.

Shit, I only saw Stephen Mandel out shopping. No big thrill there.

 

[nexttothemoon]

The team has statistically had the #4/#5 toughest schedule so far based on 2 separate ratings...

SOS (strength of schedule)
2018-19 NHL Summary | Hockey-Reference.com

Schedule Difficulty:
NHL Sagarin - NHL Hockey - USA TODAY

Honestly though their schedule feels like it's been even tougher with the back and forth road trips, short home stands and the start of the season overseas.

I know every team goes though tough stretches in the schedule and it roughly evens out in the long run (somewhat)... but I do think there is some truth to the need for them to slow the pace and recuperate over the next week.

They play only 1 game over the 8 days following last night's game... and then they are back to the grind again with 14 games over 27 days.

 

[Shaquille Oatmeal]

Does anyone actually remember a goal being scored by our so called second power play unit? and I don't mean off the rush. Actually set up, with zone time, resulting in a goal.

I do believe there was one this year. I can't remember who they were playing or who scored it.

 

[CupofOil]

There are multiple problems. Simply putting a RHS at the left half boards does not fix it. Did you forget that RHS Letestu was there almost all season last year and it was last place. The evolution of our PP since 2016, was an overload setup with Eberle, a RHS, at the left half boards. It was bottom of the league, because Todd/Jay thought the same Overload cycle play in the right corner would be successful as it was in San Jose. Wrong. It only took off when they switched it to a few months into the season when it went from Overload to 1-3-1. Switched Eberle out for Letestu. It was a strong powerplay afterwards because Sekera knew how to move the puck efficiently. Even with Sekera being the king of shin pad assassins, he was twice the player Klefbom is on the PP until the end of the season when Klef finally took that spot from him.

Fast forward to 2017-2018 season. No Sekera, but Klefbom at the point. Continued the 1-3-1 with Test Tube at the left half boards. This power play was ranked LAST place with something ridiculously crazy like 14 percent.. This power play is very static. Test Tube never roamed the left side and stood in one spot. Drai stopped getting those tipped passes in the slot. Klef highly inaccurate with his shot. A few months later, Todd turns it into a 5L setup and it seeped into this season, which makes it even more ridiculous if the setup is coming from the right side.

It's easy to cheat against the Oilers PP, because they are static and have no one time option. Even if McDavid is able to get it off to Nuge or Klef, they like to dust it off and by then the PKers get into the lane. Can this PP survive with a LHS Point? Im sure of it, Sekera proved that. Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait until Bouchard/Bear/Persson graduate to actually get a real one time threat on the point..

The Letestu experiment didn't last because he was a 4th liner who caught lightning in a bottle. It didn't work with Eberle because he doesn't one time pucks, much like RNH.

My point is that the PP worked in '16-'17 because they had the one time shot opposite of McDavid. That year they still had the same Dman QB that they've had since. The difference is that the one time option down below disappeared. It doesn't have to even be a RHS, it could be a LHS goal scorer as long as they move McDavid to the left side wall so the LHS can receive the pass in the shooting zone. I have no idea why they are continuing with McDavid on the right side passing over to Nuge's backhand side, it defies all logic.

In any event, I don't think Bouchard will make a huge difference if McDavid, Nuge and Drai continue to play hot potato with the puck and nobody is willing to shoot. Teams will start to telegraph Bouchard's shot eventually with no other go to options to threaten them. They need both really, a threat from the point and down low, but the need for a one shot scorer opposite of McDavid is greater. Try Pulju, Zykov, Rattie or any right shot in that spot and let Nuge QB the 2nd unit.

 

[oljimmy]

Watching the highlights, I really don't like Nurse on the PP.

He's good at moving the puck forward with his skating and also walking the line, but his passing just isn't accurate enough. Far too often it seems guys are having to reach or dig passes out of their skates. Nor does his shot scare anyone.

Yeah, boy, was I wrong about him on the PP. I thought he could handle the three simple jobs Klef has on that unit: rotate puck to the open side, cover the boards on clearing attempts, wire a slapshot in when there's an opportunity. What disappoints me is that these are not elite tasks for a D-man, while they are difficult, they simply involve making quick accurate reads and passes. We're not asking him to be Burns or Karlsson on the point. It's literally a PP designed for a low-skill guy on defense. And pucks are just going *nowhere* with this guy back there.

I hate to say it, but Hitch can't coach the team out of this problem; either they find another way to score goals, trade valuable assets for someone who can run the PP... or Klef's absence for the next 6 weeks likely knocks them out of playoff contention.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah, boy, was I wrong about him on the PP. I thought he could handle the three simple jobs Klef has on that unit: rotate puck to the open side, cover the boards on clearing attempts, wire a slapshot in when there's an opportunity. What disappoints me is that these are not elite tasks for a D-man, while they are difficult, they simply involve making quick accurate reads and passes. We're not asking him to be Burns or Karlsson on the point. It's literally a PP designed for a low-skill guy on defense. And pucks are just going *nowhere* with this guy back there.

I hate to say it, but Hitch can't coach the team out of this problem; either they find another way to score goals, trade valuable assets for someone who can run the PP... or Klef's absence for the next 6 weeks likely knocks them out of playoff contention.

The recent lack of success on the PP has imo less to do with Nurse being on it then our top players, McD, Drai, Nuge being exhausted and unable to create scoring chances even with man advantage. Tired to the extent that they've recently appeared to use PP's as rest times. No physical engagement on the PP, very little movement. Players passing the puck around peripherally and lasting out their too many minutes.

We also have too much redundancy in first unit PP and have stacked too much of our player resource there. Obviously McDrai should be there but Nuge is not required on first unit, lets spread out the wealth a bit. Additionally our first unit is increasingly out there for 90secs and sometimes even the full 2mins of a pp. Formerly 1minute was thought to be enough. You get no value in having a PP unit out there for longer than a minute. we're doing that routinely, almost every PP. So with that in mind the players are seemingly pacing out their energy on a PP knowing they will be out there for a long loang shift.

Hitch needs to make a lot of adjustments on the PP

 

[AM]

hopefully they got some practice in, and a reminder that they are still being paid to play hockey.

 

[PSfan]

Yeah, I was a little confused.

A couple years ago a goal was disallowed due to offside when something similar happened with Eberle changing. As I remember it the puck was shot in while Eberle was offside, but he went to change and the player that came on was behind the line. The Oilers went in and scored but it was disallowed. The explanation as I remember it was that Eberle had to tag up before changing and because he changed he could never tag up and as such the play would be offside up until the other team cleared the puck. I thought it was nonsense at the time, but here we are today, and it was legal now. So either the rule changed or the NHL got it wrong in one instance or the other.

Does anyone remember which game that was?

It was during one of the back to back games against the Canucks to end the 16/17 season, and of course the refs got that one wrong. during the GDT someone posted a link to article from the NHL Officials Association web page on the subject. The link in the thread is dead now, but thanks waybackmachine you can read it here:

https://web.archive.org/web/2017071...rule-situation-of-the-week-series-magic-doors

What bugs me more then having a meaningless goal, in a meaningless game called back because the oppositions coach managed to convince the Refs of something that is wrong (I'll never forget Willie telling the refs to watch Eberle's foot) The worst part was, that ignorance of the rules presented in that article came back and bit us during the Ducks series maybe 3 weeks later.

Quote from the article:

The same tactic is also used sometimes to hide a player from the defending players. For example, on a face-off just outside the blue line on the penalty box side, some teams have tried to place a defenseman on the other side of the ice (basically right at the door of their bench along the wall, inside their defending’s zone) and then as soon as the puck is dropped by the linesman, that defenseman enters his bench from the door inside the zone and that his replacement is sent on the ice from the door in the neutral zone (close to the red line and sometimes behind the attacking defensemen positions) in an attempt to sneak a player behind the defensemen and to go for a breakaway pass. This is also an illegal tactic and would also be penalized when a competitive advantage has been gained.

While it was a ducks forward I believe raced off the ice for the line change, his replacement did come on the ice behind our defense, received a breakaway pass and scored (thus obviously gained a competitive advantage) how different would the outcome of that game have been if instead of down 1-0 50 secs in, we had a power play and the ducks desperation exposed?

 

[RegDunlop]

Yeah, I'll take where we are at now, vs where we are at when Hitch took over. All I really wanted was for the team to be in the playoff run at Christmas break. Which they are.

****, I only saw Stephen Mandel out shopping. No big thrill there.

No big thrill?
We don't know that yet - he hasn't been tried on Conners right!