Post-Game Talk: Self destruct sequence activated

[rboomercat90]

I’ve never seen it where they take both guys off using something that happened like 30 seconds before like that. Those even ups were just outrageous.

Four penalties called last night that were evened up. None of them were for an infraction and an embellishment. When was the last time you saw that in a game?

 

[iCanada]

Four penalties called last night that were evened up. None of them were for an infraction and an embellishment. When was the last time you saw that in a game?

Like, 1985?

 

[K1984]

One thing I've noticed as a theme in our blown leads is we pretty much never change our style of play when we're up multiple goals. Forwards still blow the zone and we still deploy stretch pass offense. There never appears to be any sort of effort to play 5 guys on the right side of the puck and avoid making plays to the middle of the ice high in the zones.

Probably a combo of bad coaching and immature play, but it needs to stop.

 

[FlameChampion]

Your crystal is pretty good. I’m not suggesting skinner hasn’t played his way into most starts. But the coach needs to get Campbell going.

I think Campbell is pretty much done for the year. He needs to regroup in the Summer.

 

[FlameChampion]

One thing I've noticed as a theme in our blown leads is we pretty much never change our style of play when we're up multiple goals. Forwards still blow the zone and we still deploy stretch pass offense. There never appears to be any sort of effort to play 5 guys on the right side of the puck and avoid making plays to the middle of the ice high in the zones.

Probably a combo of bad coaching and immature play, but it needs to stop.

Been like this all year long pretty much. The team is somewhat resilient coming back in a game when they are down early.

But when they have a lead and another team comes back ... they fold pretty easily. Team defense has been lacking all year long pretty much.

Team just feels like its disinterested at times. I think they have a hard time getting emotionally invested in games. Will be interesting to see if this team can flick a switch in the playoffs or not.

 

[K1984]

Been like this all year long pretty much. The team is somewhat resilient coming back in a game when they are down early.

But when they have a lead and another team comes back ... they fold pretty easily. Team defense has been lacking all year long pretty much.

Team just feels like its disinterested at times. I think they have a hard time getting emotionally invested in games. Will be interesting to see if this team can flick a switch in the playoffs or not.

I think the personnel on the team still struggles to identify how to play in which situation. When up 3-1 on the road half way through the second I feel like their mentality is geared more towards "let's try and spring ourselves for one more" rather than "we need to focus on being on the right side of the puck and not make mistakes."

There's nothing wrong with trying to score the 4th goal (at times), but they have a hard time reading the room. Going for the 4th is great if you're winning possession time and driving the play, but we weren't. The Leafs had us in our end for a good portion of the period and were pressuring hard. That's when you dial it back not dial it up.

 

[Forgot About Drai]

Darnell Nurse is year 8 of being a full time NHLER, and he’s still costing us games

His errors are still so egregious at this point.

I was told on this board that he makes the same level of mistakes as anyone playing his TOI in the NHL...

 

[FlameChampion]

I think the personnel on the team still struggles to identify how to play in which situation. When up 3-1 on the road half way through the second I feel like their mentality is geared more towards "let's try and spring ourselves for one more" rather than "we need to focus on being on the right side of the puck and not make mistakes."

There's nothing wrong with trying to score the 4th goal (at times), but they have a hard time reading the room. Going for the 4th is great if you're winning possession time and driving the play, but we weren't. The Leafs had us in our end for a good portion of the period and were pressuring hard. That's when you dial it back not dial it up.

Biggest problem I saw in the Leafs game was that they really just struggled to get the puck out of their zone. Leafs had them hemmed up a lot. I think they really just struggled with battling for the puck and supporting the puck out of the zone. They would rather fly the zone than support one another.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Yeah he's the backup, the teams 1B and unfortunately he's gotta play. Or should we just play Skinner 70 games like Talbot and have him completely unprepared for the playoffs.

Even If Skinner played literally every remaining game he would only be at 54 games which won’t even be top 10 for goalies this year. I think Campbell gets 4 more starts at least on 2 of the back to backs and then maybe the San Jose games to end the year.

 

[ZJuice]

I was told on this board that he makes the same level of mistakes as anyone playing his TOI in the NHL...

It’s denial. Nurse makes the same types of mistakes over and over again. He is a tremendous athlete but he is no student of the game..

That being said I don’t like ripping on Nurse for signing that contract. I blame Holland for offering it! “B-b-but the top UFA defenseman signed for 8.25mill average the past two seasons plus the Edmonton factor” I DONT CARE. 1 mill is an extra contract to help the team. And the Edmonton factor should be a wash when we have friggin Connor McDavid. Holland hates hurting feelings I think

I’m also hoping I eat crow for this opinion but it hasn’t happened yet..

 

[GrumpyKoala]

I think Campbell is pretty much done for the year. He needs to regroup in the Summer.

Soup best stretch was when Skinner was away.
I think he the kind of goalie that have a hard time getting good result with a once a week game schedule.

Last year Kosko was pretty good when Smith was out and face planted as soon Smith came back.

It not something unusual, confidence play a huge role. lots of goalie are like that.



Catch 22, you need to get good result to play on regular basis.

 

[Stoneman89]

If McLeod is fragile enough that getting scratched once would ruin his confidence, how much of a future does he really have? This is the time of year guys have to start getting locked in mentally and limiting mistakes as games tighten up, nothing wrong with keeping everyone in the bottom 6 on their toes and fighting to stay in the lineup. For the record, I'm not advocating McLeod getting scratched next game, but I do think it would be justifiable. Kostin is in the press box, so it's not like there aren't any options to rotate in.

A little different with Kostin though. He was in there because everyone else was playing really well, not because he screwed up on a play. I noticed the Canes Calvin De Haan had a terrible giveaway to Jack Hughes yesterday right beside his net and Hughes scored the goal that opened up the floodgates. Same afternoon, David Pasternack gave one away to Moritz Seider and Seider sent the Wings on their way to a big win. No mention of scratches for either of the perpetrators as they've both been playing well up to that point.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Soup best stretch was when Skinner was away.
I think he the kind of goalie that have a hard time getting good result with a once a week game schedule.

Last year Kosko was pretty good when Smith was out and face planted as soon Smith came back.

It not something unusual, confidence play a huge role. lots of goalie are like that.



Catch 22, you need to get good result to play on regular basis.

The issue with Campbell is he is playing worse than a rusty goalie. His confidence is for sure shot but Woodcroft even tosses him easy games against offensively inept teams and he bungles it. Eventually the team comes before him and that’s the point we are at now.

 

[Stoneman89]

Let leaf fans have this. The regular season is their Stanley Cup.

Detroit beat the Bruins yesterday. It's their turn for the cup. We had ours on Monday, the Leafs Thursday and now, the Wings turn.

 

[CupofOil]

Been like this all year long pretty much. The team is somewhat resilient coming back in a game when they are down early.

But when they have a lead and another team comes back ... they fold pretty easily. Team defense has been lacking all year long pretty much.

Team just feels like its disinterested at times. I think they have a hard time getting emotionally invested in games. Will be interesting to see if this team can flick a switch in the playoffs or not.

The Leafs collapse had nothing to do with disinterest, it had to do with poor puck management and mostly from inexperienced players or Nurse who plays like an inexperienced player too regularly.

I do think the team plays disinterested at times against "lesser" opponents but puck management/positioning are the two biggest issues, it's a group that appears disjointed at times. Some of that is on coaching and some of it is on players that don't have a very high Hockey IQ.

With that said, lets not overreact to one really bad period as this happens to even the very best teams (Carolina hasn't scored a goal in forever, for example). The team is playing good hockey overall but is still a work in progress.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

The issue with Campbell is he is playing worse than a rusty goalie. His confidence is for sure shot but Woodcroft even tosses him easy games against offensively inept teams and he bungles it. Eventually the team comes before him and that’s the point we are at now.

I do agree with that : team come before individual.

I must object to the team quality.
There is still a huge disparity in competition Skinner and Campbell faced this year.

Take all the virtually out of playoff team

Campbell started 8\30 games against those for 26.6%
Skinner 16\37 for 43.2%

I did the same comparative 2 week ago, setting the threshold at playoff vs non playoff team, at the time the games where played, and it was even more skewed. something close to skinner starting 1\3 against playoff team vs 2\3 for Campbell. (Its tedious to do, I am not redoing that)


Now it doesn't excuse anything, we play down to the competition all the time. But if we are completely honest, Despite a bad season, the strict quality of opposition both goalie faced so far was not exactly equal.

 

[SaltNPeca]

One thing I've noticed as a theme in our blown leads is we pretty much never change our style of play when we're up multiple goals. Forwards still blow the zone and we still deploy stretch pass offense. There never appears to be any sort of effort to play 5 guys on the right side of the puck and avoid making plays to the middle of the ice high in the zones.

Probably a combo of bad coaching and immature play, but it needs to stop.

Boards/Glass and out? Nahhh, it's not in the high octane something something giveaway machine playbook.

It was pretty F@#t up for mee seeing Connor on the bench watching the game slip away because the entire roster plays this style regardless of the score and personnel on ice.

This has nothing to do with "team defense".

 

[K1984]

Boards/Glass and out? Nahhh, it's not in the high octane something something giveaway machine playbook.

It was pretty F@#t up for mee seeing Connor on the bench watching the game slip away because the entire roster plays this style regardless of the score and personnel on ice.

This has nothing to do with "team defense".

100% this. The actual defending isn't often that bad. It's the air head puck management that kills us more so that actual defensive structure or ability.

Three of the goals Saturday are 100% on dumb puck decisions solely.

Goal 1 - rather than actually get the puck, or pin the puck on the wall, Leon pokes the puck backwards into our own corner with no Oilers present.

Goal 2 - McLeod

Goal 3 - Desharnais

All any of these three players had to do was not do something dumb with the puck, but it isn't in their DNA. As a team we struggle bad with quick puck decisions. There is no instinct for safety.

 

[Harry Curry]

Even If Skinner played literally every remaining game he would only be at 54 games which won’t even be top 10 for goalies this year. I think Campbell gets 4 more starts at least on 2 of the back to backs and then maybe the San Jose games to end the year.

I wouldn't be surprised if Campbell gets the start tomorrow night. Skinner has played in 9 of the last 10 Oiler games, starting 8 of them. The Senators looked really bad against Calgary.

Definitely want to start a fresh Skinner against Dallas and Seattle.

Nobody loves the idea of playing Campbell, but you gotta give Skinner a break every now and again.

 

[Stoneman89]

The Leafs collapse had nothing to do with disinterest, it had to do with poor puck management and mostly from inexperienced players or Nurse who plays like an inexperienced player too regularly.

I do think the team plays disinterested at times against "lesser" opponents but puck management/positioning are the two biggest issues, it's a group that appears disjointed at times. Some of that is on coaching and some of it is on players that don't have a very high Hockey IQ.

With that said, lets not overreact to one really bad period as this happens to even the very best teams (Carolina hasn't scored a goal in forever, for example). The team is playing good hockey overall but is still a work in progress.

I really don't think the Oilers should be compared to the truly elite teams like Carolina or Boston having some bad periods or stretches. These are teams that consistently, year after year, finish with well over 100 points and are usually playoff bound and secured by January. Sure they have the odd bump, but clearly, they are very far and few between based on their records. We have a team that is struggling to keep in the playoff hunt and are in 4th place in a weakend division. Really not a good comparison. The reason we are where we are this year (and for many of the last years as well) is way too many bad periods and games, or at the very least, far more than the top teams.

 

[FlameChampion]

The Leafs collapse had nothing to do with disinterest, it had to do with poor puck management and mostly from inexperienced players or Nurse who plays like an inexperienced player too regularly.

I do think the team plays disinterested at times against "lesser" opponents but puck management/positioning are the two biggest issues, it's a group that appears disjointed at times. Some of that is on coaching and some of it is on players that don't have a very high Hockey IQ.

With that said, lets not overreact to one really bad period as this happens to even the very best teams (Carolina hasn't scored a goal in forever, for example). The team is playing good hockey overall but is still a work in progress.

My disinterested comment was more generally speaking. Agreed its more against lesser quality teams. My fault, I wasn’t clear.

 

[CupofOil]

I really don't think the Oilers should be compared to the truly elite teams like Carolina or Boston having some bad periods or stretches. These are teams that consistently, year after year, finish with well over 100 points and are usually playoff bound and secured by January. Sure they have the odd bump, but clearly, they are very far and few between based on their records. We have a team that is struggling to keep in the playoff hunt and are in 4th place in a weakend division. Really not a good comparison. The reason we are where we are this year (and for many of the last years as well) is way too many bad periods and games, or at the very least, far more than the top teams.

I'm not comparing the Oilers to those teams, I'm saying to not overreact to a really bad period against the Leafs as the team is generally playing good hockey. If we look at the entirety of this stretch particularly since Ekholm was acquired, they dominated the Leafs and Jets, were a victim of Campbell in the second Jets game (although it wasn't their best game overall), pulled out wins at Buffalo and Boston and then the second Leafs game which was a lack of concentration for 5 minutes when every mistake ended up in the back of their net. The team is on a good trajectory.

Also want to add that the Oilers are where they are because Campbell has been a complete sieve outside of a 10 or so stretch when he was playing quality hockey. Not that they haven't been mistake prone at times but even average goaltending from Campbell and they're likely leading the division.

 

[tardigrade81]

I hate the leafs

That is all.

 

[gordonhught]

I hate the leafs

That is all.

I hate them as well. Worse than Calgary (At least for now).

 

[Stoneman89]

I'm not comparing the Oilers to those teams, I'm saying to not overreact to a really bad period against the Leafs as the team is generally playing good hockey. If we look at the entirety of this stretch particularly since Ekholm was acquired, they dominated the Leafs and Jets, were a victim of Campbell in the second Jets game (although it wasn't their best game overall), pulled out wins at Buffalo and Boston and then the second Leafs game which was a lack of concentration for 5 minutes when every mistake ended up in the back of their net. The team is on a good trajectory.

Also want to add that the Oilers are where they are because Campbell has been a complete sieve outside of a 10 or so stretch when he was playing quality hockey. Not that they haven't been mistake prone at times but even average goaltending from Campbell and they're likely leading the division.

No disagreement that they've been playing a lot better, and the additions have helped, but until they get to another level I don't give them the same comparison or slack compared to the consistent elites in the league.

I hate the leafs

That is all.

This may be hard to understand, but I think I hate them more than the Flamers. Their fans are the most delusional and insufferable in the league, year after year.