Post-Game Talk: Oilers Win An Afternoon Game 4-0 The End Is Nigh

[booyakasha]

THE Shift

 

[Oilers in NS]

Yeah, I really hope that the boys down in Bakersfield can experience some real postseason success this year and give an injection of confidence and swagger (along with skill) to this team once they start finding their way up onto the Oilers.

Never thought I would see a properly developed farm. Things are looking up and the Oilers are much more enjoyable to watch

 

[Sanchez]

THE Shift

Truly impressive that was.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Never understood why we bi**h and complain about his contract because its what, $900K too much? He is worth every penny when you consider the intangibles he brings.
Yes he is a very inconsistent player. But people have to realize that if he wasn't, his salary would certainly be above $2M.
Zack Kassian is an asset here.

He is our Tom Wilson

 

[Stoneman89]

Was skeptical about Sekera making it back and playing at a level he needs to play to make an impact, but I'll admit, he looks way better than I even imagined. If he can avoid any letdowns, his game speed should get even better. He's making a big difference, something that this team really could have used last year and the start of this year.

Drai was an absolute beast this game, not that he hasn't been really good the last while. I think having McDavid out has really been a blessing in disguise and he's taken his game to the next level. When he decides to move his feet, he is a tough man to stop.

 

[McYoungGuns]

You've stated "Damn Drai makes a lot of dumb plays" just recently and in a game in which he had 3 pts and the best Oiler in the game. The only time I ever notice you is some random comment about Drai during a game.

These are two of your recent gems regarding Drai;


"Drai is drunk"

"Drai sure makes bonehead plays"

Your posts are often knee jerks, one of the reasons most people completely ignore GDT's.

In anycase you missed the whole point of the reply. Drai has not just turned it on. It just apparently took you several months to even notice. You said he turned it on in "last half" He turned it on around 2 weeks into the season. Hasn't look back since.


ps "Diluted" ?!?

​

while i agree with you that Drai has played well, you simply cant take any criticism of Drai... no matter what. You know he does make mistakes as well, right ??? No one is above being called out when they do something that deserves to be called out, and Drai has.\

But lets talk about this game. He was good, plain and simple. He was Dominate

 

[McYoungGuns]

It's almost like they're a better team with 2 of their top 3 D men on the ice.

Yup, it does help that we can limit Nurse's playing time. Guy is a 4th and nothing more

 

[Spawn]

Yup, it does help that we can limit Nurse's playing time. Guy is a 4th and nothing more

Nurse isn’t really having his minutes limited even with a fully healthy d core.

Sekera came back and has played well. But he’s playing like 16 minutes a game.

 

[lakai17]

Koskinen shutout for all you koskinen doubters

 

[RegDunlop]

He is our Tom Wilson

Yes i believe so!

 

[MaxR11]

That's such a preposterous level to set lol. If Drai can consistently play at this level he'd put up 70 goals a year. Drai has consistently been the 2nd best player on this team for 3 years running. He's been a top 10 player in the league all season long.

i repeat. stop basing everything on points. heck if he played the way he has very recently, i wouldn't care if he only put up 7 pts in 7 games. i'm interested in seeing him be engaged, moving his feet and creating plays, backchecking and play solid d and being solid all over the ice. for much of this season he was getting a lot of points playing with mcdavid and at times looked very disinterested, playing very irresponsibly, cheating, not back checking leaving his man wide open, not moving his feet and whipping blind hope pass pizzas all over the ice for opponents to steal. he was only a "top 10 player" based on points and NOT play.

i like what i see from him recently and a lot has to do with him moving his feet and engaging both physically and mentally. almost like he's saying "to he&& with this i'm gonna dominate". i like that side of him.

 

[MaxR11]

Something at that All Star Game lit him in fire. Maybe confidence from realizing he’s just as good as those guys, maybe barely making the All Star cut made him want to prove he belongs. But yeh I agree with your assessment, he’s been on another level since lately, and I’d pinpoint it to right after he came back from the break.

for me it's been maybe the last two weeks he's picked it up. i agree there was some extra mojo after the break but he still had those really ugly games where he looked completely disengaed...kane blowing by him, and leaving men open , not moving his feet type games.

him getting a lot of points is great but i glaze over stats and look more importantly at HOW he's playing. i think usually there;s more of a correlation between players like him playing very well (regardlesss of points) and the team playing much better and winning more. when you see a leader like him raise his game it pumps everyone else up.

 

[RegDunlop]

He is - and has always been - a beast.
He is also human therefore susceptible to shade when deserved.
Does not mean anyone loves him less.
No player is above his team or sport.

He is simply progressing and showing all of us who knew he had it in him what he is capable of. Love it!

 

[Louis Cypher]

Mcdavid will help him get to 50.

Rantanen and MacKinnon had an insanely hot start to the year. Just for fun I decided to compare the goals/points of their duo with ours:

October 2018
Rantanen 5G 21P
MacKinnon 9G 18P
McDavid 9G 18P
Draisaitl 7G 13P

November 2018
MacKinnon 9G 23P
Rantanen 5G 21P
McDavid 4G 16P
Draisaitl 6G 15P

December 2018
McDavid 8G 22P
Draisaitl 6G 19P
Rantanen 6G 18P
MacKinnon 5G 17P

January 2019
McDavid 8G 15P
Rantanen 6G 12P
Draisaitl 6G 12P
MacKinnon 3G 12P

February 2019
Draisaitl 12G 16P
McDavid 3G 13P
MacKinnon 6G 10P
Rantanen 4G 7P

Through the first 2 months of the season Rantanen had already racked up 42 points. Just ridiculous numbers. Meanwhile Draisaitl had a somewhat slow start in October, and is 14 points behind Rantanen.

December is fairly even across the board except for McDavid being McDavid of course. Production from Draisaitl and Rantanen is only separated by 1 point.

January is another December. Though this time Rantanen and Draisaitl mirror each other's numbers.

And here we are witnessing Draisaitl going supernova in February. Landing him right on Rantanen's doorstep. Rantanen's drop in production does help lol.

What's most impressive to me is Draisaitl transforming into a goal scoring machine even when the team was falling down the standings. Scoring 3 goals when McDavid was suspended to boot. Edit: meant 2 goals 1 assist here

I think he's going to pot 45-47 goals. I'm more than happy with 40.

 

[guymez]

I think it was the ass chewing and veiled public call out by Hitchcock after the Sharks game. His game has turned to dominant setting since then.

I completely agree.
Drais level of awareness and his commitment to playing without the puck changed right after Hitch dressed him down.
It was exactly the right way to reach Leon and he has been a better player since that happened.

Some people on here seem to think that their favorite players should be immune from criticism. Its a ridiculous notion to be sure. No one should ever be above justifiable criticism....including Connor and Leon.
As great as Connor is offensively he has much room for improvement in other aspects of the game.
Leon is older than Connor and to see him raise his level of commitment (to being a complete player) has to have an effect on Connor as well. My hope is that Leon can move forward with this high level of commitment because not only will it affect Connor but it will trickle down through the entire team.

Its what myself and others have been talking about for well over a year now...in lieu of any high level skilled veteran players Leon and Connor ARE the true leaders of this team. Their immaturity as players will be reflected in the team as a whole. It will reveal itself primarily as inconsistency...maddening inconsistency.
As Leon and Connor mature and grow their games the rest of the team will follow that example.

Here's hoping we are witnessing the beginning of that maturation process. If so then it wont take as many pieces as we think before this team becomes a legit perennial playoff team and division contender.

 

[McYoungGuns]

Nurse isn’t really having his minutes limited even with a fully healthy d core.

Sekera came back and has played well. But he’s playing like 16 minutes a game.

Sek hasnt played healthy for what seems like 2 years, in all honesty, if it was nurse that had gotten hurt and not Klef, we would be in a playoff spot today

 

[missinthejets]

Sek hasnt played healthy for what seems like 2 years, in all honesty, if it was nurse that had gotten hurt and not Klef, we would be in a playoff spot today

I don't buy it because the problem with the Oilers D is that it doesn't have the high end guys to carry the entire unit nor the depth to be missing guys. With everyone healthy it works OK because you have 3 solid pairs, you start missing one or two guys though and suddenly you're down to one, maybe 2 reliable pairs and then a tire fire pairing or two. That's what throws it all out of whack.

 

[McYoungGuns]

I don't buy it because the problem with the Oilers D is that it doesn't have the high end guys to carry the entire unit nor the depth to be missing guys. With everyone healthy it works OK because you have 3 solid pairs, you start missing one or two guys though and suddenly you're down to one, maybe 2 reliable pairs and then a tire fire pairing or two. That's what throws it all out of whack.

go ahead and compare the two.

Nurse : Darnell Nurse

Klef: Oscar Klefbom

before Klefs injury, nurse mins stayed around 20 mins, with some outliers. Lower when we played good teams to limit the dumb mistakes from him. After his injury we had to play Nurse upwards to around 30mins some nights, nowhere to hide his mistakes. Klef can handle those mins, nurse cannot

 

[missinthejets]

go ahead and compare the two.

Nurse : Darnell Nurse

Klef: Oscar Klefbom

before Klefs injury, nurse mins stayed around 20 mins, with some outliers. Lower when we played good teams to limit the dumb mistakes from him. After his injury we had to play Nurse upwards to around 30mins some nights, nowhere to hide his mistakes. Klef can handle those mins, nurse cannot

What I am saying is missing sekera and either nurse or klefbom is going to make the team worse. Klefbom can't carry the entire thing. This team needs defense by committee and missing 2 of the guys hurts that. Means you have at least one pairing you can't trust and maybe 2.