Post-Game Talk: We'll never get a power play again. Oilers lose 2-1.

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I don't know what to tell you man. Bad reffing isn't exclusive to the Oilers is all I'm saying. Go to other boards during the game and their fanbases will complain about reffing, Panthers fans were in an uproar about the officials 2 night ago.

Unless you're absolutely floating through a game you should always get at least one power play and they didn't float through this game or against Philly.

 

[McFlyingV]

I don't know what to tell you man. Bad reffing isn't exclusive to the Oilers is all I'm saying. Go to other boards during the game and their fanbases will complain about reffing, Panthers fans were in an uproar about the officials 2 night ago.

Which is true. But 0pps in a game where many offenses were committed is inexcusable

 

[CupofOil]

That's ridiculous. Oilers are one of the better rush teams in the league and a substantially better cycle team (which also draws a ton of penalties). I know you love to play devil's advocate on this but the oilers have deserved much better on the penalty front the last 5 games and they played quite well tonight.

The Oilers have a lot of average to below average skaters up front and on the blueline. They have one rush line and really only 2 rush players on that line.

The Oilers did play quite well tonight and deserves a few PPs but again, bad calls happen both ways. The Oilers got the short end of it tonight, they beneffited from it against the Panthers. These things balance out as bad calls happen both ways all the time.

 

[kurtcobang]

Anyone know if the zero pp's was brought up in the post game presser?

 

[Glass Eyes]

I know Todd loves Drai on McD line but they need to be seperated.

You can't have your bottom six be

Caggiula-Letestu-Kassian
Hendricks-Khaira-Pakarinen

Those are two borderline 4th lines imo. I don't think Caggiula/Hendricks/Pakarinen belong in the NHL. That's a bottom six of Oilers past and they need help by Wednesday.

 

[McFlyingV]

The Oilers have a lot of average to below average skaters up front and on the blueline. They have one rush line and really only 2 rush players on that line.

The Oilers did play quite well tonight and deserves a few PPs but again, bad calls happen both ways. The Oilers got the short end of it tonight, they beneffited from it against the Panthers. These things balance out as bad calls happen both ways all the time.

Wrong the oilers have more than one line. Nuge, eberle, caggiula, Pak, kass, are all above avg skaters and so are pitlick and pouliot when healthy.

0 penalties is unacceptable. Panthers game is a poor comparison where both teams got away with a lot. Oilers also dominated that game. PPs meant nothing. I'm more upset with the missed pick on the game winner tonight than us having no PPs. When we scored on a missed call against florida they instantly got a PP chance to tie it up. We got none of that tonight

 

[ujju2]

I know Todd loves Drai on McD line but they need to be seperated.

You can't have your bottom six be

Caggiula-Letestu-Kassian
Hendricks-Khaira-Pakarinen

Those are two borderline 4th lines imo. I don't think Caggiula/Hendricks/Pakarinen belong in the NHL. That's a bottom six of Oilers past.

I disagree, because IMO RNH shouldn't be in your bottom 6 either. So separating Drai and McDavid would force RNH into the bottom 6, unless one of them plays with Nuge, in which case the bottom 6 doesn't change. We need to trade for an actual 3C. And get Slepyshev in for Caggiula. And get Pouliot playing decently when he returns from injury. That's 3 players who aren't in the lineup right now. A third line. And next season, we have Puljujarvi and Pitlick returns.

 

[CupofOil]

Wrong the oilers have more than one line. Nuge, eberle, caggiula, Pak, kass, are all above avg skaters and so are pitlick and pouliot when healthy.

0 penalties is unacceptable. Panthers game is a poor comparison where both teams got away with a lot. Oilers also dominated that game. PPs meant nothing. I'm more upset with the missed pick on the game winner tonight than us having no PPs. When we scored on a missed call against florida they instantly got a PP chance to tie it up. We got none of that tonight

Nuge and Eberle don't play fast anymore. I have yet to see Pakarinen show much speed. Cagguila and Kassian only play fast in brief spurts. The Oilers are not a fast team. They are a good team but they aren't a fast team overall. They are good because of one really good line, a very solid defense, they play physical and they have a very good goalie, not because they are fast.

You do know the Oilers 3rd goal against Florida was because of a missed pick call, right? Hendricks was clearly holding the stick on that ensuing PP, try to be objective. I said that the Oilers got the short end of the stick and some nights they get the benefit of the calls. The reffing around the league is poor and getting worse every year seemingly.

 

[Glass Eyes]

I disagree, because IMO RNH shouldn't be in your bottom 6 either. So separating Drai and McDavid would force RNH into the bottom 6, unless one of them plays with Nuge, in which case the bottom 6 doesn't change. We need to trade for an actual 3C. And get Slepyshev in for Caggiula. And get Pouliot playing decently when he returns from injury. That's 3 players who aren't in the lineup right now. A third line. And next season, we have Puljujarvi and Pitlick returns.

Why not acquire better wingers so the third line isn't terrible?

The third line looks a lot better if it's RNH/Drai with a Pouliot/Vrbata/Parenteau. I know people hate Pouliot but he was a great third line winger for the Rangers. The problem is when you saddle RNH with Caggiula and Kassian. Neither are top-9 players.

 

[Jumptheshark]

second line scoring should be Eberel, nuge and Lucic--


obviously that needs to be addressed in the off season

 

[ujju2]

Why not acquire better wingers so the third line isn't terrible?

The third line looks a lot better if it's RNH/Drai with a Pouliot/Vrbata/Parenteau. I know people hate Pouliot but he was a great third line winger for the Rangers. The problem is when you saddle RNH with Caggiula and Kassian. Neither are top-9 players.

Good point, I guess better 3rd line wingers would be nice, but either way, the Nuge line will inevitably become a defensive line, and I want to see RNH in a more prominent offensive role. That's mainly why I want him in the top 6 as a winger.

 

[Blue Line Turnover]

Wow, so many missed calls tonight. I personally counted 3 potential ones against Eberle alone.

 

[Glass Eyes]

Good point, I guess better 3rd line wingers would be nice, but either way, the Nuge line will inevitably become a defensive line, and I want to see RNH in a more prominent offensive role. That's mainly why I want him in the top 6 as a winger.

I don't disagree, I've been annoyed at them not trying him as a winger with McD or Leon, but I don't get why they don't want to acquire wingers to run all three C's. They'll get their ice time, the 4th line doens't need to play as much as it does.

Looking at top teams' 3rd lines, you see how much better they are than the Oilers. I'm just going in the team's past GDT and finding their third line or checking Daily Faceoff.

Pittburgh: Wilson-Cullen-Hornqvist.
Washington: Connolly-Eller-Sanford
Chicago: Kero-Hinostroza-Hartman
San Jose: Goldobin-Hertl-Ward
NYR: Grabner-Hayes-JT Miller
St. Louis: Barbashev-Lehtera-Perron

The Oilers third line of Caggiual-Letestu-Kassian/Slepyshev just doesn't cut it. That's not a playoff caliber third line. One key thing about most of these lines is there is usually only one rookie or lesser player on the line. The Oilers can't have both Caggiula/Kassian/Slepyshev taking both wings, and Letestu needs to be the fourth-line center.

 

[McMozesmadness]

Hard to be mad at the team after that effort. Very well played game.

Refs can suck my ****ing ass, **** off you ****ing ****s.

If the Nuge line plays like that the rest of the year and we add two depth pieces we can win the Cup this year, I swear to god.

The only thing separating us from the caps is depth up front.

 

[McFlyingV]

Nuge and Eberle don't play fast anymore. I have yet to see Pakarinen show much speed. Cagguila and Kassian only play fast in brief spurts. The Oilers are not a fast team. They are a good team but they aren't a fast team overall. They are good because of one really good line, a very solid defense, they play physical and they have a very good goalie, not because they are fast.

You do know the Oilers 3rd goal against Florida was because of a missed pick call, right? Hendricks was clearly holding the stick on that ensuing PP, try to be objective. I said that the Oilers got the short end of the stick and some nights they get the benefit of the calls. The reffing around the league is poor and getting worse every year seemingly.

Not the one view clearly showed Hendricks fell on the stick and it got caught in his glove. I understand they missed a call against us on Nuges goal in Florida, but that was an obvious makeup call. If they're going to make a ******** make up call then the Oilers deserved at least one after the Cap's second goal which was an obvious interference call missed. Even if you are of the belief Hendricks deserved a penalty on that makeup call, you can't honestly tell me the power play opportunities should have been 2-0 Washington tonight in a game that we were at least even if not better in puck possession and control. That game easily should have broke even on penalty calls.

And to add, Eberle and Nuge are clearly still rush players. Their inability to score on their odd man rushes doesn't change that. How many 2 on 1's has Eberle missed on this year? I can guarantee its over 30.

 

[McAsuno]

Have to give props on the team for the effort tonight against the Caps.
But seriously, I don't get the officiating. Maroon got high sticked twice, Eberle got tripped, Benning got held, interfered, and boarded by two caps player at once including Ovy. You seriously can't tell me that the refs didn't see any of them. Yet they called a weak one on Gryba. Good ol refs dictating a game.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I thought Caggiula was our poorest forward tonight. And it looks like he could use some confidence building in the AHL soon here.

Drai had some rough passes today.
McDavid I thought was actually shying away from contact a bit. Was not effective.

Good effort overall though. Best team in the league by far and we didn't look out of place.

I was just thinking the same thing about Caggiula, seems like he has hit that rookie wall, I'm sure he can play through it and that would be the normal tactic for this team, but I'm comfortable giving his minutes to one of Slepy, Pakarinen, or Khaira. Hopefully we get a center at the deadline and make it even easier to make that decision.

Drai was playing like he had his head in the clouds, really careless with the puck tonight.

 

[kurtcobang]

Just noticed the Flames are 6 points back of us. I have zero interest in leaving this comfortably in the playoffs feeling for a nail biting stretch run
We better sort our depth issues out asap... just sayin

 

[Del Preston]

Just noticed the Flames are 6 points back of us. I have zero interest in leaving this comfortably in the playoffs feeling for a nail biting stretch run
We better sort our depth issues out asap... just sayin

Still 12 up on the 9th placed team (LA), though. If the Oilers play like tonight they'll win more often than not.

 

[McMozesmadness]

Just noticed the Flames are 6 points back of us. I have zero interest in leaving this comfortably in the playoffs feeling for a nail biting stretch run
We better sort our depth issues out asap... just sayin

If you want to feel better go look at our March schedule.

We'll be fine even without adds, however I would like us to make a few adds.

 

[kurtcobang]

Still 12 up on the 9th placed team (LA), though. If the Oilers play like tonight they'll win more often than not.

True true but to be passed by Calgary would be a shame
I was just shocked they closed the gap to 6! We have a very favorable March coming up so let's not let that happen

 

[McFlyingV]

Still 12 up on the 9th placed team (LA), though. If the Oilers play like tonight they'll win more often than not.

Agree. They'll be fine and their schedule is semi-comfortable the rest of the way. With Nurse and Larsson back soon they should be firing on all cylinders. They could have easily won't tonight if they cashed on some of their chances and Talbot stopped 2 saveable shots. They easily played well enough to win against one of the best teams in the league.

Lou basically handed Calgary that win tonight as well. Chad Johnson stopped 3 or 4 breakaways and few more point blank chances. Lou let in about 2 or 3 he should have had.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

we kept the Caps under 5 goals! moral victory!

great effort, Caps are just too good

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

True true but to be passed by Calgary would be a shame
I was just shocked they closed the gap to 6! We have a very favorable March coming up so let's not let that happen

they're hot and we're not...that's the difference

the tables will turn and our March is a favorable schedule while Calgary's is slightly harder

the important thing is that the Kings are 12 points back

 

[Staghorn]

I was just thinking the same thing about Caggiula, seems like he has hit that rookie wall, I'm sure he can play through it and that would be the normal tactic for this team, but I'm comfortable giving his minutes to one of Slepy, Pakarinen, or Khaira. Hopefully we get a center at the deadline and make it even easier to make that decision.

Drai was playing like he had his head in the clouds, really careless with the puck tonight.

I'm not saying anything about the refs.... Hoping for PPs still doesn't excuse 1 goal for. One.

Trade a 3rd for Burrows, and with Pouliot back you add those two in, send Caggulia to the AHL, sit / waive Hendricks, move RNH to the 3C, get Slepy back in, and now you have a whole new balance. Also add Nurse and Larsson back in and voila, you win 6 straight with that lineup... So easy!