Post-Game Talk: *Wet Fart Noises* - Oilers lose 4-0, COL leads series 2-0

[BlackDogg]

Who will win the Ref-Smyth award this year?

 

[bone]

That’s fair. Looks like nothing for Kadri for either ripping off Smiths mask or glove, and nothing for Landeskog.

No issue at all with Kassian getting hit for that. Probably deserves a suspension really as you really need to discourage players that are on the bench physically engaging with players on the ice.

 

[CrazyJoeDavola]

I just don't think we're going anywhere with this dcore. It's not physical, nor can it actually defend a cycle. And you would think, with those faults, we'd be mobile and better offensively, but we aren't. Our d is slow, soft, terrible defensively, and are some of the worst offensive-minded dmen in the league (outside of Bouch, but he's also still very slow).

I don't know what we're going to do, but when we see us getting outskilled by every single one of COL's d-core, it really sheds a light as to how much work this team really needs against the best of the best

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Some solid analysis of Oil ancient 'Battlers' technical game by an elite Olympic tender. Not earth shattering but a good review of some of the tendencies that often leave Mike Smith scrambling to make saves...

 

[Drivesaitl]

Was just taking a quick look at the stats for the first two games. PPs we’re 7-2 last night.. were they really 2-2 in game 1? I guess I am a total homer because if I had to guess I would have said 4-5.

Edmonton had a too many men call that was obvious, Drai slashing the wrist hard which was obvious, Kassian punking somebody from the bench which is always called, and Darnell Nurse losing his mind Lucic style with 15secs left in the only physical action he's taken all series. The Oilers deserved the calls they got.

Far as Yams were better off without him in the lineup in this series. He's being belted silly. Teams just wait for him to get the puck and take him off it with a hit. If anything Yams being out means Dry line can't happen anymore. Small blessings.

No issue at all with Kassian getting hit for that. Probably deserves a suspension really as you really need to discourage players that are on the bench physically engaging with players on the ice.

it was a dumb play but I could see a Calgary Flame like Ratmus or Ratchuk doing this any time and not getting called. Could go either way. But that they called matching penalties on the ice was a joke. AV's should have had the PP on that, not an even up. Gee, the AV player got a penalty for being belted into the opposition bench and then being put in a headlock. lol. I mean the whole time h'es in the box he's going what did I do. Was a lol even up call. Maybe refs feeling guilty about something.

 

[Drivesaitl]

We won 2 rounds, eliminated the heavy favorites Calgary in 5 and you're giving us shit because it took us 7 games to eliminate LA ?

You're obviously missing the big picture here.

meh. The big picture in a year in which Vegas were crap and missed the playoffs altogether is that the Pacific was weak and our window was clear. Then the doughty season ending injury occurred. The difference this season is we got to play Pacific Division squads in the playoffs. If we're playing Central division any of Colorado, Minny, Blues, even Dallas with their outstanding D would give us some trouble.

Oilers are a good team, but we're not a top 4 team either. Still, we had a golden chance here and the Habs, with far less of a lineup took advantage of an opportunity and went all the way to the SC last season. The Oil look just satisfied. The pushback last night was MIA.

The Oilers had an opportunity as well to get by the first two rounds clean, and in minimal games played. Instead they took hard route against LA spotting them some games.

 

[Oilhawks]

Outside of Edmonton, I do not think anyone considers the Oilers actual contenders. They got taken to game 7 vs the rebuilding Kings, and were on the brink of elimination for 2 games in round 1. That series should not be remembered fondly, it is should have been an alarm

Flames series is a bit different, they beat the Flames handily in 4 straight. But its not like we beat a team playing at 95% of their ability. Markstom had a disaster series and the team was operating at 75% of their ability because he was dragging them down so much

Winning either series doesnt indiciate long term viable success. It indicates we need a ton of help to win, and true contenders dont need those type of crutches to win

Lmao, go back to CP. They did their best and failed. Got outclassed and exposed by the Oilers. Buying into the woo woo bullshit hype that the Flames were a legit top team because of a Cinderella season with 0 adversity is a big mistake

 

[K1984]

I felt that until Nurse imploded in the second we were doing an ok job weathering the storm and I thought we had some good things happen after we killed off the 5 on 3 in the first. Overall I think you could say the first was a good "road period" in the sense that we came out even, overcame some brutal officiating and weathered the storm of them coming out hot again.

The deployment of Nurse is what cost us any opportunity to get a possible result out of that game. Woodcroft needs to wake the f*** up and either scratch him or manage his minutes in a 6th/7th d man role. The decision to throw the 4th line in combination with Nurse after the first GA was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen quite frankly. Especially when he has been burned throwing that shitty line out after a GA several times in this playoff already.

Woodcroft is good in almost every area. Who he chooses to throw out to start periods and after goals against is flat out stupid. There is no logical argument for it. It's ridiculous.

After they went up 3-0 the Avalanche basically played their centre as a third defenseman and any hope of breaking through for a comeback was gone. Strangely I still think we have an outside shot at at least scaring them a bit in this series, but the coaching staff needs to stop getting in their own f***ing way.

 

[Oilhawks]

Some solid analysis of Oil ancient 'Battlers' technical game by an elite Olympic tender. Not earth shattering but a good review of some of the tendencies that often leave Mike Smith scrambling to make saves...

Shannon Szabados would be a massive upgrade for Sportsnet, so it won’t happen. Too smart and talented for most of them. Thanks for the link to her analysis

 

[Drivesaitl]

I felt that until Nurse imploded in the second we were doing an ok job weathering the storm and I thought we had some good things happen after we killed off the 5 on 3 in the first. Overall I think you could say the first was a good "road period" in the sense that we came out even, overcame some brutal officiating and weathered the storm of them coming out hot again.

The deployment of Nurse is what cost us any opportunity to get a possible result out of that game. Woodcroft needs to wake the f*** up and either scratch him or manage his minutes in a 6th/7th d man role. The decision to throw the 4th line in combination with Nurse after the first GA was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen quite frankly. Especially when he has been burned throwing that shitty line out after a GA several times in this playoff already.

Woodcroft is good in almost every area. Who he chooses to throw out to start periods and after goals against is flat out stupid. There is no logical argument for it. It's ridiculous.

After they went up 3-0 the Avalanche basically played their centre as a third defenseman and any hope of breaking through for a comeback was gone. Strangely I still think we have an outside shot at at least scaring them a bit in this series, but the coaching staff needs to stop getting in their own f***ing way.

"Weathered the Storm" against Colorado and then an avalanche comes.

The key is that its the wrong approach. The Oilers didn't get to brass tacks, didn't make AV's defend, and let the game come to them, which inevitably it will with Colorado.

Its really simple. AV's are a far better team in offensive, than defensive end. This should be clear by now. The trouble is we're the same. So that whichever team is able to grab some ozone impetus is going to start bending their opponent over.

An interesting thing to recognize is that the Oilers have been outscored 10-3 in this series in the first half of games continuing a trend of substandard starts. That scoreline would be worse except AV's called off the dogs in first game. They got overconfident at 7-3.

I like that the team got some confidence and moxy getting past first two rounds. But I don't want the same team showing up in this series looking as bad as Nashville did.

 

[mcdingdong]

Anybody have video of Kassian "hit" on Makar? I don't recall SN ever showing a replay after the penalty call but on first viewing I don't know if Kass even hit his head? If he didn't we can lump that tidy little display of embellishment in with the mountain of dives and head snaps from the first couple games.

 

[bucks_oil]

Some solid analysis of Oil ancient 'Battlers' technical game by an elite Olympic tender. Not earth shattering but a good review of some of the tendencies that often leave Mike Smith scrambling to make saves...

So much this...

As a 5'9 goalie that has to hyper analyze my position constantly... Smith's technique is SO bad it's criminal.

And I'm older than him, so failing to adapt with age is not an excuse.

Given all of that "athleticism", he has no excuse not to make some use of his size. He doesn't have to play at the top of the paint like us shorties do, but at least mid-way out would eliminate a lot of holes and allow him to be much more composed.

 

[Raucherhusten]

Anybody have video of Kassian "hit" on Makar? I don't recall SN ever showing a replay after the penalty call but on first viewing I don't know if Kass even hit his head? If he didn't we can lump that tidy little display of embellishment in with the mountain of dives and head snaps from the first couple games.

Wasn't Kassian, was Kane. And he connected pretty well.

 

[bone]

Anybody have video of Kassian "hit" on Makar? I don't recall SN ever showing a replay after the penalty call but on first viewing I don't know if Kass even hit his head? If he didn't we can lump that tidy little display of embellishment in with the mountain of dives and head snaps from the first couple games.

Wasn't it Kane? Anyways they didn't show a reply because they didn't want to show how much a p***y Makar is for literally crying after the hit.

 

[Stoneman89]

I’m an Avs fan. You take your opponent as you find them. Injuries are part of the game. You could argue Doughty was missing for LA and Binnington was missing for the Blues. I don’t buy into the if game.

The SC POs should and usually does reveal structural weaknessses of the different contenders. Oilers D corps isn’t as deep as the Avs. What else is new?

Still don’t underestimate the fact the Oilers made it to the POs and then advanced to the WCF. So I tip my hat to the Oilers. That was a hell of an accomplishment considering where they were back in January. They are legit contenders even if I think and hope my Avs defeat them.

I disagree on the last point. I don't believe we have the depth yet to be a bonafide contender. Colorado could have played with a junior B goalie last night and still won. They are that much farther ahead of the Oilers in terms of the number of quality players in the "goldilocks stage", guys around 23-29. They've been banging on the door for at least 2 years now. Bowen Byram is still a youngster and the way he plays makes him look like a future #1 dman on most teams, but the Avs already have 2 guys in that position ahead of him. Nazim Kadri would be a #1 centre on most teams. Nikishkin was literally taken off the scrap heap, and he's a 25-30 goal scorer with the Avs now and a constant threat. Sam Girard (who isn't even playing in this series, could easily be our PP guy (a la Barrie). The Avs just have a bunch of large, rangy, skilled guys throughout the lineup. Again, I have no idea how Sakic has managed to acquire all this talent and stay under the cap (legally), but I think he's brilliant, in the Steve Yzerman mold.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Wasn't it Kane? Anyways they didn't show a reply because they didn't want to show how much a p***y Makar is for literally crying after the hit.

Should play for Belgium or Holland.

 

[mcdingdong]

Wasn't Kassian, was Kane. And he connected pretty well.

Thanks, misremembered. Must've been thinking of Kassian's 2 other bonehead penalties (the too many men and bench headlock maneuvers).

 

[Magnum23]

Just win the next one and I like our chances to even this up at home!

 

[Drivesaitl]

I disagree on the last point. I don't believe we have the depth yet to be a bonafide contender. Colorado could have played with a junior B goalie last night and still won. They are that much farther ahead of the Oilers in terms of the number of quality players in the "goldilocks stage", guys around 23-29. They've been banging on the door for at least 2 years now. Bowen Byram is still a youngster and the way he plays makes him look like a future #1 dman on most teams, but the Avs already have 2 guys in that position ahead of him. Nazim Kadri would be a #1 centre on most teams. Nikishkin was literally taken off the scrap heap, and he's a 25-30 goal scorer with the Avs now and a constant threat. Sam Girard (who isn't even playing in this series, could easily be our PP guy (a la Barrie). The Avs just have a bunch of large, rangy, skilled guys throughout the lineup. Again, I have no idea how Sakic has managed to acquire all this talent and stay under the cap (legally), but I think he's brilliant, in the Steve Yzerman mold.

Seconded.

Colorado have added players like Cogliano, Kubel, Helm, Lehkonen and their forward depth was already better than us. These are solid players that will play hard, play the right way, and add the goal here and there. They won't be outscored like our bottomsix junk. AV's have bolstered D to the degree that even Curtis Macdermid isn't playing, or he'd be belting us into the boards and taking runs at Kane and Kassian.

The AV's have fleshed out the problems they had for a roster and are better this year. Adding Kadri of course a big move. Pretty hard to defend against team now but I feel AV's also have much more options on D, on depth.

The AV's has to be said are the Lightning of the WC. Just adding all the talent and depth. The irony of Cogliano beating us silly in bottomsix is kind of a tale of two orgs. One didn't care about its players. Other supreme orgs benefit from every orgs mistakes and castoffs.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

So much this...

As a 5'9 goalie that has to hyper analyze my position constantly... Smith's technique is SO bad it's criminal.

And I'm older than him, so failing to adapt with age is not an excuse.

Given all of that "athleticism", he has no excuse not to make some use of his size. He doesn't have to play at the top of the paint like us shorties do, but at least mid-way out would eliminate a lot of holes and allow him to be much more composed.

Smith's athleticism is a strength but also a weakness at this 'end of life' phase of his career. His choice to stay deep in the crease forces a reliance on athleticism over technique/ aka physics as Szabos discusses in her thread. I also have to wonder if his tendency to dive forward to make stops also hurts his puck tracking ability with all that movement. So many literal moving parts to Smith's games that it shouldn't be that surprising that he can go from elite to beer leaguer game to game. Best comparison I can think of is a pitcher in baseball who loses his throwing mechanics. Without a consistent release point they are all over the place.

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) with Mike Smith as a fully developed tender. He's not going to completely rebuild his game at this state. This organization has chosen to live and die with good and bad Mike Smith.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Smith's athleticism is a strength but also a weakness at this 'end of life' phase of his career. His choice to stay deep in the crease forces a reliance on athleticism over technique/ aka physics as Szabos discusses in her thread. I also have to wonder if his tendency to dive forward to make stops also hurts his puck tracking ability with all that movement. So many literal moving parts to Smith's games that it shouldn't be that surprising that he can go from elite to beer leaguer game to game. Best comparison I can think of is a pitcher in baseball who loses his throwing mechanics. Without a consistent release point they are all over the place.

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) with Mike Smith as a fully developed tender. He's not going to completely rebuild his game at this state. This organization has chosen to live and die with good and bad Mike Smith.

You guys are more knowledgeable on the goalie theme but doesn't it strike either of you that Smith form has become superstitious? That he does a lot of what he does, the way he does, because his brain tells him thats how he makes the stops. Goaltending really selects for such superstition and form fall off and going rogue with styles. It really is a zoo position that way and complete with radical arcs in success and failure for most goalies. Times where they are on form and then get into some really uninformed play.

Good baseball comparison. Another is Tennis serve. for people with weirder serve mechanics it can really be hard on them, and coaches, for them to get back on form with serve and really struggle with that. So that a player that is pulling aces one tournament can't even survive their serve the next.

That said I'm unorthodox, lol, in probably just about everything I do. So take comment with grain of salt. heh

Knowing what I'm like I just refused to have anything to do with Golf. I knew myself enough not to even try to get into such a form regulated game.

 

[Mez]

Ironic that the department of player safety is more concerned about a helmet being taken off than a blindside headshot.

 

[WaitingForUser]

Ironic that the department of player safety is more concerned about a helmet being taken off than a blindside headshot.

Not ironic at all DOPS is an fn joke. Don’t give 2 shits about players safety. They suspend nurse for head but in the LA series but completely ignore intent to injure Drai in a scrum with Durzi and only mention the 5 attempts on his ankle by the flames in game 3 saying we are aware and will closely monitor it. Disregard the DDT on Nuge don’t even review the clear head shot on yams but that play by Kassian holding the guy for two seconds on the bench can’t over look that one I guess. It’s the same shit every year nothing will change until a player is killed with the recklessness that is allowed to continue by Department of don’t care about players safety.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

You guys are more knowledgeable on the goalie theme but doesn't it strike either of you that Smith form has become superstitious? That he does a lot of what he does, the way he does, because his brain tells him thats how he makes the stops. Goaltending really selects for such superstition and form fall off and going rogue with styles. It really is a zoo position that way and complete with radical arcs in success and failure for most goalies. Times where they are on form and then get into some really uninformed play.

Good baseball comparison. Another is Tennis serve. for people with weirder serve mechanics it can really be hard on them, and coaches, for them to get back on form with serve and really struggle with that. So that a player that is pulling aces one tournament can't even survive their serve the next.

That said I'm unorthodox, lol, in probably just about everything I do. So take comment with grain of salt. heh

Knowing what I'm like I just refused to have anything to do with Golf. I knew myself enough not to even try to get into such a form regulated game.

Absolutely instinct and reaction are a huge part of goaltending (and game broadly). You've got split seconds to react to a 90 MPH black object coming at you with often multiple moving objects in front of you (unlike baseball). Economy of motion is an important skill to play the position especially at an elite level. Hockey is a high-speed, chaotic with a ton of random imbedded within it. What makes it highly unique and super fun to watch. Smith has had a very solid long career in this game's most challenging position. Lots to admire. However a 40 year old tender reliant heavily on reflex versus form has always been a high risk gamble for this organization.

I believe in pedigree goaltending and that the draft and development of it is critical. Sweet spot is mid-first round and high second round picks prove out by averages quite well compared to other positional players.

Trust me I love unorthodox (and non conformity too). Probably not my first choice though to backstop the game's most important position though.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Ironic that the department of player safety is more concerned about a helmet being taken off than a blindside headshot.

And they completely ignored Kadri's pull on Smith's helmet/mask in game 1 ......and they ingnored Kadri doing the same to Nurse during the regular season. Fined Kassian $2500 today for pulliing the helmet off of the AVs player.
League, it's officiating, DOPS, and Kadri can F*** Right OFF.