Post-Game Talk: Refs Appreciation Thread

[Oilers Propagandist]

I know it´s only a snapshot but lean back and look at this beauty:

View attachment 263275

I’m not one to reign on anyone’s parade so to speak, and don’t get me wrong I’m happy about the start. But its 4 games in.

 

[Oilers in NS]

I’m not one to reign on anyone’s parade so to speak, and don’t get me wrong I’m hapoy FITB the start. But its 4 games in.

better then last years 4. At least Chicken Little is not here yet

 

[PinSeeker]

I will say this, I do not like Neal one bit playing in 3v3 OT. Does not have the footspeed. Leave him off the ice Tippett.

 

[Aerchon]

I don’t know the exact wording, but there’s apparently a new rule that the refs can change their mind about a whistled play that ends with the puck in the net, if they realize that the whistle shouldn’t have occurred and the whistle didn’t change the outcome of the play. Apparently that’s what happened with McDavid’s goal.

I’m on the “good teams find ways to win bad games” train. Yes it’s early, but there are a lot of things going right. Power play and PK are strong, tied for second GF, middle of the puck GA (which isn’t surprising, our goalie situation is not the best), getting scoring from more than two players, yet those two players are remaining dominant even in less-than-stellar games, our defence has been one of the big surprises of the year, with Bear and Persson already playing excellent hockey, Nurse showing his potential to be a top pairing dman, all while having lost a stable top 4 guy in Larsson, which allows Russell and Benning to stay sheltered on the bottom line. Yes, we’ve played behind the more than we’ve played ahead, which is concerning, but what Oiler team in the last ten years would have been able to come out on top in all of these games that we’ve trailed in? Also to keep in mind, we have had a lot of player turnover this off-season, as well as a new coach, so likely players are still adjusting to each other and the system, so if they’re already bought in so early, imagine what they could be doing a couple months in to a big change like this? If Smith didn’t make those two huge mistakes, we could be looking at two close wins and two blowouts instead. There’s a tenacity to this team that we haven’t seen in a loooong time. There’s a stat that states we haven’t gone ten minutes or so without scoring a counter goal to the one our opponents score. We are able to bounce back extremely quickly right now and I really hope this trend continues, because if we can halt the momentum of the opposing team that quickly, it can really put a damper on their morale.

And then there are the storylines that are making me smile, like Matthews’ getting high praise for his start, yet Neal not getting the same respect, but outscoring the player some TO fans wouldn’t trade for McDavid (lol). Neal vs Lucic is amazing and although a bit petty, many flames fans deserve to have their noses rubbed in it. The trade was won as soon as it was made official by removing Milan “have to protect in an expansion draft” Lucic. Imagine having to lose one of our best players in the expansion because we couldn’t unload Lucic to anyone!

Going into this season, my hopeful expectations were improvement and push for a wild card spot down the stretch, maybe make it, maybe miss. Holland stayed his goal was to remain competitive while building the future and many people scoffed at that. He’s showing that can be attainable very early. We will fall back down to earth at some point, but barring a major catastrophe (which is not out of the question, injuries can always happen, goalies could struggle, poised young D could get into ruts, etc) but I can’t see a total collapse of this team at this point. Too many players are doing the right things the majority of the time.

Going to be the Debbie downer after reading this.

We have a great start. Against some mediocre teams at best. We have 2 rookies in our top 4. We have gotten some luck...

We absolutely could see a total collapse. Getting off to a good start is huge in the nhl. It will hopefully go a long ways. Our schedule is incredibly easy relatively speaking so I hope our success stretches right through November. But I'm not even sure we will get to see how good our team really is until December. When our schedule is full of playoff teams rather than bottom 5 and bubble teams.

4 games out of 82 is such a tiny sample size.

I run drafted hockey pools every year for the last 15 years. I takes a full month or two before the standings regulate. Guys like Zibanejad bad fade away and guys like McDavid pull away.

4 wins against weaker opponents is hardly an indication of how good the Oil actually are.

But it is a great start and that really helps build confidence for when the going does get tough.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

A nice juxtaposition last night... Draisatl won the game for the Oilers and he basically acts like "Okay, we won one we maybe shouldn't have, let's go and win the next game."

Johnny wins the game for the Flames and he acts like they clinched a playoff spot.

 

[PinSeeker]

Tippett calling a spade a spade:
“Our players were talking about it after the second period,” Tippett said. “‘We don’t feel like we’ve got our A-game, but that’s not an excuse for not winning. Let’s find a way to win a game.’
“They can’t all be masterpieces. We’ll take the win, and move on.”

Playoff teams have an off night and find a way to grind points out. That is what we did.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

better then last years 4. At least Chicken Little is not here yet

I understand, better start since 2008 actually. Let’s just enjoy it. I’m happy, my family is happy we’re all happy on here, it’s just perspective. I don’t want to get too high so quick only to get shat on soon after lol.

 

[KahunWOW]

Both Drai and McDavid were fighting the puck a lot imo.

I am following Drai since his junior years in Germany and it is still weird to see how he looks so fast and determined one game and the next he looks not dynamic at all. Usually you can tell after like 5 minutes what kind of game he is going to have.

 

[alphahelix]

Going to be the Debbie downer after reading this.

We had a great start. Against some mediocre teams at best. We have 2 rookies in our top 4. We have gotten some luck...

We absolutely could see a total collapse. Getting off to a good start is huge in the nhl. It will hopefully go a long ways. Our schedule is incredibly easy relatively speaking so I hope our success stretches right through November. But I'm not even sure we will get to see how good our team really is until December. When our schedule is full of playoff teams rather than bottom 5 and bubble teams.

4 games out of 82 is such a tiny sample size.

I run drafted hockey pools every year for the last 15 years. I takes a full month or two before the standings regulate. Guys like Zibanejad bad fade away and guys like McDavid pull away.

4 wins against weaker opponents is hardly an indication of how good the Oil actually are.

But it is a great start and that really helps build confidence for when the going does get tough.

It’s also just a point cushion. The longer this streak is, the more losing we can afford later without falling out of contention. We are going to have our struggles. I hope we can add a few more points before we normalize because they could be the 2 points that get us in, or at least make us think about the trade deadline differently when the time comes.

If we go .500 the rest of the way we probably miss by a hair. Let’s just get a couple more W’s and buy ourselves some breathing room.

 

[ElysiumAB]

The call on the ice was most definitely not a goal, ref knew he screwed up and corrected it. That’s exactly how it should be

I thought the whistle went first, but I don't believe the ref made any waive off motion at all.

I thought FOR SURE the call on the ice would be no goal, either from the blown whistle or the intent to blow it (which I get) and the call would be upheld.

Pretty shocking that counted.

 

[ElysiumAB]

The 3rd was the first period of hockey I've seen in 3 years. This may bend me to watch another period or 237 at some point. Fun team to watch again.

Can that be the last time you make me do math?

 

[PinSeeker]

Both Drai and McDavid were fighting the puck a lot imo.

It was more obvious in the shootout where both Nuge and Hughes I think lost the puck - but the ice looked atrocious.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Ethan Bear played 22 minutes 5 on 5.

2 minutes more than anyone else on the oilers.

Tippett REALLY trusts him and he's showing why he's earned that trust.

 

[FlameChampion]

Meh... I think that Koskinen came up big when it counted, in OT and the SO. You could feel that goal in the last 5 minutes coming from a mile away, that was after at least 2 solid minutes of being hemmed in our zone.

I didnt like him on the third goal. He bit hard and his attempt to recover was really poor.

But he played hard, made some nice saves and was better than NJ's goalie. When that happens, you have a chance to win. Too many times in the last 2 years, the other teams goalie has simply been better. Smith was better than Markstrom in game 1. Koskinen was better than Blackwood in game 4. We should probably be 2-2 but its nice to see our goalies helping us winning games rather than losing us games like in the past 2 years.

 

[Oilers in NS]

I understand, better start since 2008 actually. Let’s just enjoy it. I’m happy, my family is happy we’re all happy on here, it’s just perspective. I don’t want to get too high so quick only to get shat on soon after lol.

I hear ya. Everything is better now. Sex is even better with the wife now. I think I grew an extra couple of Centimeters

 

[Dorian2]

Can that be the last time you make me do math?

I knew I'd get someone.

 

[KahunWOW]

I'm a huge Draisaitl fan and he has been playing beastly at both ends of the ice this year... For the most part. McDavid... a lil less so but obviously great. In this game in particular their warts were showing tho. Some of that probably because they were also playing from behind.

But you got to ask yourself. How the heck do a 116p/41g & 105p/50g guy end up only +3 & +2 5v5 respectively. The answer is basic math and simple eye test. They were on the ice for 80! Goals against 5v5. 80! McDrai gets paid almost a third of the cap and can barely even keep their teams head above water when they are on the ice. They are both guilty of flying the zone. Both of sloppy play. Both of substandard 2 way play. That was on display a bit this last game. Right now we are winning because of good goaltending and a red hot PP as much as anything else. McDavid and Draisaitl are absolutely subject to their share of criticism because if they each get 200 points this year and are only +1 we most likely miss the playoffs again. They need to be better than they were last year. Offense is not everything.

I think it is a mix of

a) not backchecking hard enough (looks better this season so far, I agree!)
b) sub-par goaltending and defense
c) playing a lot of games with an empty net when behind

Is there actually a stat somewhere how a single player is doing with an empty net?

So if Drai actually was a +2 player last year, maybe you could add another +5 with better goaltending and another +5 with a better overall defense (that is only +1 for every 8 games which sounds realistic), as well as another +3 for not being on a terrible team that pulls the goalie every game. It adds up quickly and in a vacuum the first line is more of a +15 line instead of +2. Nobody knows for sure I guess ...

 

[Aerchon]

I thought the whistle went first, but I don't believe the ref made any waive off motion at all.

I thought FOR SURE the call on the ice would be no goal, either from the blown whistle or the intent to blow it (which I get) and the call would be upheld.

Pretty shocking that counted.

My memory of events.

Shot.

Save.

McDavid getting the loose puck.

Puck crossing the line and whistle blowing simultaneously with maybe a tiny edge to the whistle. Was extremely close.

Refer coming across and hesitantly making an awkward goal hand gesture.

Debrusk said it well. He said he was surprised it went the Oilers way because that typically goes against the Oilers but that was the right call.

Last year that even "should" be called a good goal and who knows what happens.

With the changes made this year and the sequence of events, from what I remember, that should absolutely be a goal.

Still shocked it went our way but I'm glad they got it right.

SJS got shafted in a similar situation (new rules in effect) with a case where a goal late in the Calgary game should have clearly not counted. Glad we had the refs that paid attention to the new changes.

 

[KahunWOW]

It was more obvious in the shootout where both Nuge and Hughes I think lost the puck - but the ice looked atrocious.

True, the ice was absolutely terrible. Didn´t help the skill guys for sure..

 

[Coffey]

Taylor Hall still has no finish. Never has, never will.

LOL Brought back a lot of memories when he failed to score on those two breakaways.
And I realized how much that stressed me out when he was here.

 

[ElysiumAB]

My memory of events.

Shot.

Save.

McDavid getting the loose puck.

Puck crossing the line and whistle blowing simultaneously with maybe a tiny edge to the whistle. Was extremely close.

Refer coming across and hesitantly making an awkward goal hand gesture.

Debrusk said it well. He said he was surprised it went the Oilers way because that typically goes against the Oilers but that was the right call.

Last year that even "should" be called a good goal and who knows what happens.

With the changes made this year and the sequence of events, from what I remember, that should absolutely be a goal.

Still shocked it went our way but I'm glad they got it right.

SJS got shafted in a similar situation (new rules in effect) with a case where a goal late in the Calgary game should have clearly not counted. Glad we had the refs that paid attention to the new changes.

Genuine question - what changes for this year are you referring to?

Sounds about right, I was watching the ref behind the goal and I don't think he made any hand motions whatsoever... which surprised me in real time because I thought I heard the whistle before the puck was in (though I had no idea where the puck was, so maybe I just heard the whistle before I saw celebrating).

I just think they always have that "intent to blow the whistle" reasoning, which gives them an out even if you can't hear the whistle before the puck crosses the line. I expected it to be no goal on the ice, and for the call to be upheld.

Once they said the call on the ice was a goal, I figured it was 50/50 after review.

 

[ElysiumAB]

I knew I'd get someone.

Digging the new Opeth?

I bought it in both English and Swedish. Haven't really sunk my teeth into it yet though.

 

[oXo Cube]

What I don't really get is how it got ruled a goal on the ice due to the intent to blow rule.

I think the league should shift to calls working out like they did last night being the norm(refs being allowed to admit they messed up, mostly) but by my interpretation of the rules I'm not really sure they should have let that goal stand.

 

[FlameChampion]

Thought Khaira had a decent game overall. Nothing really on the stat sheet, but he looked like he was doing something every shift.

Sure hope Granlund doesn't become Reider 2.0

Have to give props to Koskinen for last night. Made some really timely saves


Now for the negative and it's a big one. What in the **** did Sportsnet do to their coverage? It is awful, no round table, playing pre-made videos, more Gene. And for the record I have nothing against Gene, but the guy can only have so many puns in one night.

I really wonder if they are just going to try transfer or sell the rights to TSN.

I dont know, Granlund is like the lowest event player I've seen in awhile. Rieder was more noticeable imo (especially early), he just continuously shot the puck into the goalies pads/crest. Granlund creates very little nor gives up anything. If he makes the PK good, while not giving up much on 5 on 5, maybe thats ok? I dont know.

 

[Slats432]

Well, this was the formula for success. Special teams and goaltending would be the key to a good season and the start proves how much so.

Also, for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone likes Matt Benning. I hear talking heads say good things and forget analytics, the eye test says this guy is brutal. If we can get a pick for him when Larsson is back and have Lagesson as 7 then we are a better team.

I also thought it was a no goal. Sometimes a call goes your way...you take it. (You could tell by McDavid on the bench that even he thought it was a longshot to get the call.)