Post-Game Talk: Slow starts, soft goals and poor 5on5 play doom the Oilers

[The Moose]

We bleed way too many goals. D and G need serious improvement.

 

[Snipes45]

I crunched the even strength goal numbers game by game, didn't include 6-on-5 or ENGs...

The Oilers are sawing off at even strength after tonight. That's.... not good.

vs. Van Even
vs. Cgy +1
vs. Ana -1
@ Ari +2
@ VGK Even
vs. Phi -2
@ Van Even (1 6-on-5 goal scored)
Vs. Sea +2
vs. Nsh +3
vs. NYR -1
@ Det -1
@ Bos +2
@ Buf -3
@ STL +1
@ WPG -3

We have been middle of the pack. When you have some trash goaltending as well, it will catch up to you.

 

[Rengorlex]

Will we ever get an actually elite team in the McDrai era? A team that rolls over it's opponents. A team that dominates 5vs5 and doesn't overrely on PP and scoring talent. 16-17 Oilers are still easily the best team we've had.

 

[Oilhawks]

P.U., what a stinky game. Same team as last year, nothing has changed. What do you expect, we still have the same shitty coach, shitty goalies, and have just shuffled the deck chairs. That might've worked had we upgraded to someone competent behind the bench, but Tipp has proven all he knows how to do is put McDrai together and pray for a PP.

Again, the Jets look like Cup champs against the Oilers (Tipp Vs. Maurice), but will be beaten easily by teams that actually have someone who can coach behind their bench. Such is the frustrating life of an Oiler fan.

And yet some posters here will act like Tippett is not even part of the problem

 

[McTonyBrar]

Koskinen has been like this for 4 years.


Stuart Skinner all the way for me. Mikko can get bent

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

We have been middle of the pack. When you have some trash goaltending as well, it will catch up to you.

This team lives and dies on its power play. It's not going to be 40%+ forever. They really aren't good at all at even strength.

 

[CycloneSweep]

We are a 0.500 team propped up by an elite pp. we have currently have a +11goal differential. If our PP was sitting at a normal high of 25 % that drops us down 9 goals to a +2 which would have us fighting for a wildcard spot.

Our defensive system is bad
Keith is showing his warts after a fine spot
Koekkoek and Russell are not NHL players at this point
Our 4th line is horrible
Foegele had a good 4 games and has been a net negative since
Nurse looks like an average 2nd pairing defender at best right now.
Bouchard looks average right now which is fine but we need him to be more.
Arguably Ceci has been our best/most consistent defender
Both Skinner and Koskinen have individually cost us games.

 

[Soundwave]

I'm so sick of Koskinen. I can't believe so many people are not done with this guy. HOW many bad goals has he allowed consistently now? How many times has he allowed the first goal in a game on the first 1-5 shots?

Pretty sure that's 8 or 9 stinker goals he's let in now in 11 games or whatever he's played.

But yeah some people on this board think he'd be fine in a playoff series, LAUGH OUT LOUD.

 

[McTonyBrar]

Losing Larsson is a bigger loss than most people think

Lol losing Larsson is the reason we've allowed more 5 v 5 goals? It's the goof in net. This team misses Smith AKA mature, safe goaltending

 

[McDNicks17]

Tokarski just stopped 45 of 46.

1st+?

 

[Shanahanigans]

It should absolutely infuriate our entire fanbase that we have the best 2 players in the world in their prime, and this is the defense and goaltending Holland decided to surround them with.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

We are a 0.500 team propped up by an elite pp. we have currently have a +11goal differential. If our PP was sitting at a normal high of 25 % that drops us down 9 goals to a +2 which would have us fighting for a wildcard spot.

Our defensive system is bad
Keith is showing his warts after a fine spot
Koekkoek and Russell are not NHL players at this point
Our 4th line is horrible
Foegele had a good 4 games and has been a net negative since
Nurse looks like an average 2nd pairing defender at best right now.
Bouchard looks average right now which is fine but we need him to be more.
Arguably Ceci has been our best/most consistent defender
Both Skinner and Koskinen have individually cost us games.

So in other words, basically the same as last year.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It should absolutely infuriate our entire fanbase that we have the best 2 players in the world in their prime, and this is the defense and goaltending Holland decided to surround them with.

Questioning management's decision to ice this defense/goaltending is verboten for whatever reason.

 

[McDNicks17]

So in other words, basically the same as last year.

The same, but also worse.

 

[McTonyBrar]

He would actually be extremely useful on the third pairing right now.

KK Bear?

HELL NO. Neither can win a board battle

 

[CycloneSweep]

I'm so sick of Koskinen. I can't believe so many people are not done with this guy. HOW many bad goals has he allowed consistently now? How many times has he allowed the first goal in a game on the first 1-5 shots?

Our other option is just as bad or worse is really all there is too it

 

[BoldNewLettuce]

i think im actually ok with it if this is what they are doing.

"call more penalties and we will win"

"give Tampa 20million in cap space and they will win"

 

[McTonyBrar]

Yes, exactly. Holland was stuck in the dark ages and thought that Keith would be as durable and effective as Chris Chelios. He was enamored by prime Keith without realizing that Keith is a shadow of his former self. He's more of a bottom pair dman at this point in his career which is fine. However, it is not fine when you pay actual assets to take on such a high cap hit.

Lol I can't believe Keith is the reason for this loss and not Koskinen lmfao

 

[CycloneSweep]

So in other words, basically the same as last year.

Nurse was good last year though

 

[Rengorlex]

It should absolutely infuriate our entire fanbase that we have the best 2 players in the world in their prime, and this is the defense and goaltending Holland decided to surround them with.

Next year Ken Holland will have tied 18 million of our cap space on Keith, Barrie and Nurse.

How he handled the defence has been a catastrophic failure.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Lol I can't believe Keith is the reason for this loss and not Koskinen lmfao

More than one player can be at fault

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Nurse was good last year though

One of these years we'll stop getting fooled by career years.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Lol losing Larsson is the reason we've allowed more 5 v 5 goals? It's the goof in net. This team misses Smith AKA mature, safe goaltending

Defensively, this team has been downgraded
Larsson was a nasty defender that punished opposing players
Like Dillon or Pionk for the Jets

 

[KlefDown]

Will keep saying this again and again and again.

can’t blame Koskinen. Blame Holland.

 

[Old Boys Club]

We are a 0.500 team propped up by an elite pp. we have currently have a +11goal differential. If our PP was sitting at a normal high of 25 % that drops us down 9 goals to a +2 which would have us fighting for a wildcard spot.

Our defensive system is bad
Keith is showing his warts after a fine spot
Koekkoek and Russell are not NHL players at this point
Our 4th line is horrible
Foegele had a good 4 games and has been a net negative since
Nurse looks like an average 2nd pairing defender at best right now.
Bouchard looks average right now which is fine but we need him to be more.
Arguably Ceci has been our best/most consistent defender
Both Skinner and Koskinen have individually cost us games.

The Oilers as a whole are not even close to being better than the sum of it's parts. This is a team (poorly) designed around McDrai. Instead, the team should be designed in spite of them. They should just be the placeholders in the #1 and #2C spots on the whiteboard. The rest of the team should be strong, then drop in McDrai and boom you have a team that is great. Instead, what we have is a team concocted to attempt to waste time until McDavid or Draisaitl (normally both because Tippett is a dummy) can be back on the ice. If the Oilers were a strong defensive team, this would not be as much of an issue. Alas, the Oilers are terrible defensively so now we reap the rewards of the poorly designed roster.