Wild 4 Oilers 3

[Jumptheshark]

Real frustrating 3rd period.

Break downs just killing this team.

Even though they're obviously much better than they were last year, they are getting dangerously close to "out of it by Halloween" territory.

3-7 in the first 10. Ugh.

Need some defensemen.

Our record is almost where i predicted it would be and most of us knew we still had trouble on the back end

 

[Jumptheshark]

We always need to find excuses. But the hockey world hates us wont fly

 

[I am the Liquor]

Can someone up top make a trade for some real ****ing defense? Or are we stuck with nothing but Nikitins, Grybas and Davidsons forever?


Time to take a risk I think.

Gryba has been our best dman. Open your eyes.

 

[CorpseFX]

I can't believe how many sticks broke.

i hate new sticks so much. guess you gotta just live with it but theyre atrocious.

like seeing them break on passes, or other clown town stuff is so cringe worthy.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

RNH and Gryba cost us the game tonight. No excuse for RNH leaving Suter unchecked that close to the net. Gryba clearly has no confidence in Davidson based on that attempted hard around. He must've looked Davidson off 3-4 times before trying to hammer it around the boards.

On a positive note, Nurse scored, Pakarinen had a very nice goal and Hall had maybe his best game of the season overall.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

i hate new sticks so much. guess you gotta just live with it but theyre atrocious.

like seeing them break on passes, or other clown town stuff is so cringe worthy.

How many sticks broke tonight? I missed half of the 1st and there still literally seemed like 8-10 sticks were broken. It was a joke, hell even Remenda IIRC joked if someone took a saw to both teams sticks.

 

[Gambl0r83*]

Time to call up Lelaggia
Drai and top D prospect for Seth Jones

 

[Gambl0r83*]

Gryba has been our best dman. Open your eyes.

I second this

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

How many sticks broke tonight? I missed half of the 1st and there still literally seemed like 8-10 sticks were broken. It was a joke, hell even Remenda IIRC joked if someone took a saw to both teams sticks.

I remember when composite sticks first came in it seemed like they were breaking all the time, but I haven't seen that many sticks break in a single game in an extremely long time. It was really bizarre.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

Time to call up Lelaggia
Drai and top D prospect for Seth Jones

I assume you are not saying Drai and Nurse for Jones cause he isn't worth that. Drai and any d prospect not named Nurse I would be fine with.

 

[harpoon]

Oilers would need to be around 46 W and 26 L for the rest of the reason to make the playoffs.

So totally doable then ...

I don't give a damn how many "little things" Lander does right, when he does all of the big things wrong.

For our anointed 3rd line center with a fresh contract, 10-0-0-0 to start the season should make him feel humiliated.

Where were all those little things when his man beat him clean to the net for the game winning goal?

Normally I like Lander, but right now he's stealing money from his employer. He shouldn't be feeling comfortable with what he's contributed to this team.

Holy cow. Stealing money from his employer? Too harsh by far.

By that criteria, could you name me the guys who haven't been stealing from their employer over the past six seasons? And regarding that employer ... aren't we just talking about money he has been stealing from the fans since 2008 anyway? Even if you don't subscribe to the idea that Katz directed the tank, the product was what it was - crap that nobody should be conned into paying for. So I don't feel terribly sorry for him when he has to bury $10 million in the AHL, or makes another awful signing. Lander's contract is peanuts compared to the money Katz happily ate when the Oilers tried to end Souray's career, as an example. Sucks as a fan because that would all be money better spent on guys who know how to play hockey, but as for the personal hit Katz takes, as an employer, I laugh and laugh and laugh.

Re the bold, I have to ask, was Nuge stealing money from his employer when he watched his man go unmolested to the net and score the game tying goal?
Lander is learning from the best.

 

[ScrillaVilla]

Or maybe there just hasnt been enough time to change the culture.

Thats where my money is.

Culture? That's a bunch of nonsense that guys on sportsnet preach about **** teams when they don't have any answers, which as it happens is almost all the time. What, good teams have good cultures until they start to loose and then the culture goes to ****?

Either get players who already do the things that win hockey games or get someone who can teach the ones we have. I dont care if the teams "culture" revolves around Satan worship as long we win hockey games.

 

[T-Funk]

If these guys aren't going to score goals, they better hit the bodies. Wtf is wrong with them.

 

[harpoon]

but Purcell is everything I hate about oilers hockey right now.

Sam Gagner. Addition by subtraction. All the biggest windbags said so.

How patient do you think a guy like Talbot is going to be?

Not very. He looked to be shaking his head in disbelief at the comedy of errors around him as his fished the tying goal out of the net.

A post? Nothing a little time in the AHL won't fix.

Prepared to cut Gryba some slack on that winning goal. Its very obvious whats going on there. Gryba playing with Davidson who has had just an absolutely horrendous game and Davidson is the outlet. Clearly Gryba on that play doesn't trust Davidson and doesn't want to give him the puck. That's a problem, but that Davidson is even getting toi at that point in the game is more the question and frankly he should have been benched. Davidson was complete garbage throughout this game and has done nothing to even resemble being an NHLer his whole time here. Which we all know. Gryba is playing with that guy which is like playing alone.

Sadly I think there's some truth to this. Davidson had some good showings with the Oil last season and has looked NHL ready at various points in the AHL ... but you're right that he has looked awful the last few games.

Its a graveyard of defenders in Edmonton. Look what happened to Smid. Guy was perfectly serviceable fifteen minute a night player and the Oilers just broke him. N Schultz. Decent rep around the league. Comes here, plays well enough at first, fans praise him on hfoil. Turns into a dumpster fire we consider ourselves lucky to unload. Still playing in the league for better teams than ours. Fayne. Same story almost word for word. And that's not even mentioning all the tweeners like Davidson and Peckham etc this team chewed up and spit out. We'll never know what that whole pack of players might have amounted to had they had even a semblance of leadership, structure, proper pairings, correct side pairings, coaching, breakout plays etc etc etc.

Remember when people on this site wanted to run Petry out of town cause he was a no good pylon. You really can't make this **** up.

 

[AJGass4]

I feel the same way. So bizarre to be positive as usually I'm swearing and pissed off.

Me too!

I don't know why everyone thinks we suck and haven't improved. We have and it's a learning process.

Lay off Nuge, he is playing very well even if the points are not there.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Time to call up Lelaggia
Drai and top D prospect for Seth Jones

Preds fans suggest it would cost hall and be one for one

 

[Oilfan2]

Me too!

I don't know why everyone thinks we suck and haven't improved. We have and it's a learning process.

Lay off Nuge, he is playing very well even if the points are not there.

We do suck and haven't improved one iota.

Nuge is just as guilty as the rest of the soft, junior mined, shinny players that make up the majority of this team..both forward and defence. Outside Hendi, Klink and, now, Slepy(who still needs time..perhaps in the AHL), none know how to play hockey. They play shinny and/or junior hockey but that doesn't work in the NHL.
Did you not see the skilled players of the Wild or the other teams we've played? Everyone on those teams either finished their checks, drove to the net, checked players, pinned players, stepped in front of them...and so on..It part of a winning team and the Oil don't have it. Did Hall even touch a Wild player last night..besides buzzing around the ice like MPS, accomplishing nothing? They have a team of soft, skilled, junior type players that skate but nothing else. That 'heaviness' that Chia spoke of..they don't have it and never will. Time to change 'em up or should we wait another 5 years until McD needs to be traded?

The defense sucks because it doesn't have a top pairing but would be adequate if they had the correct mix.

This team will continue to go no where with the makeup as is. Some of us have been saying it for years but the majority just don't seem to get it.

Adding another skilled player in McD won't help this team be winners. As great as he is and is going to be, the team is completely made up with the wrong components and the majority need to be changed out. Keep a couple of the highly skilled forwards and a couple of the D and change the rest.

Having a great goalie is nice but, at the end of the day, nothing will change until the 'crew' has been changed out.

Trade Hall, RNH, Eberle, Schultz, Klefbom(did he even check one player last night?), Purcel, Lander and a few more.

It good to have skill in the lineup but when it comes with little else in the way of hockey play, it becomes useless..may as well be Anson Carter, Schremp, whatever...

 

[dssource]

Gryba's play on the 4th goal was brutal. Not sure what he was thinking. He usually pretty good at sheltering the puck and moving out from behind the net before moving it. Why didn't he do that last night? He had all the time in the world and just sat there waiting for Minny to set up. Gotta blame the forwards on that one as well though since they didn't exactly leave him someone to pass to.

All that being said, we could easily have won that game last night and should have. Very surprised we didn't. Yes the record stinks right now but it will improve. This definitely isn't the same team we've seen in the past, they are much better and much more entertaining to watch. Even against Minny, the game wasn't as boring as it was in the past.

Next time McDavid has that chance, end of the game or not, he's got to lift it over the pad. Enough trying to go around it.

I still believe we will be challenging for a playoff spot. Our division is pretty bad and there is a chance we can steal one of the top three. Wild cards will both go to the other division.

 

[Oilfan2]

Gryba's play on the 4th goal was brutal. Not sure what he was thinking. He usually pretty good at sheltering the puck and moving out from behind the net before moving it. Why didn't he do that last night? He had all the time in the world and just sat there waiting for Minny to set up. Gotta blame the forwards on that one as well though since they didn't exactly leave him someone to pass to.

All that being said, we could easily have won that game last night and should have. Very surprised we didn't. Yes the record stinks right now but it will improve. This definitely isn't the same team we've seen in the past, they are much better and much more entertaining to watch. Even against Minny, the game wasn't as boring as it was in the past.

Next time McDavid has that chance, end of the game or not, he's got to lift it over the pad. Enough trying to go around it.

I still believe we will be challenging for a playoff spot. Our division is pretty bad and there is a chance we can steal one of the top three. Wild cards will both go to the other division.

Terrific that you're positive but no, this team will not be challenging for the playoffs and will be out by Xmas..again..barring any good personnel changes.

 

[joestevens29]

Considering we played with 11 forwards and Davidson/Nurse/Pakrienen were in the lineup I'm quite shocked we had the game that close.

 

[Dorian2]

Anyway, we need to see a solid 60 min effort from this team without these periods of ill timed (and fated), mistakes from players. Yesterday was especially frustrating for me because some of these "boo boo's" were made by players that are usually bailing others out, like Nuge and Gryba. These seemingly small mistakes are taken advantage by the other teams, as they should be. That is why they are such good teams. At least the mistakes are fewer than the last few years, but it is still not enough. Half the 2nd and half the 3rd looked like the Wild had extended 12 minute Power Plays. That cannot happen in this league. It's a game killer.

 

[Frank the Tank]

The entire Central Division, except Colorado, is a buzz saw this year. Being in competitive games against any of those teams is an achievement. To be clear, I expect the team to win a few against them as the year progresses, and yet without an improved defensive unit the team will be in tough to contain the fire power that exists in that division.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

Preds fans suggest it would cost hall and be one for one

Preds Fans were saying that it would take a Number 1 Centerman for Jones.


Hall wouldn't get it done.

 

[gwiz999]

RNH and Hall do not work well together. RNH needs to carry the puck-he's solid with the dump and chase (most times) whereas Hall just tries to barrel through a couple defenders along the boards.

Didn't Hall and Lander develop chemistry together last season when Hall came back from injury and the BP/RNH/JE line was clicking?

Maybe TM should try Hall and Lander together when Eberle gets back.

 

[CupofOil]

We do suck and haven't improved one iota.

Nuge is just as guilty as the rest of the soft, junior mined, shinny players that make up the majority of this team..both forward and defence. Outside Hendi, Klink and, now, Slepy(who still needs time..perhaps in the AHL), none know how to play hockey. They play shinny and/or junior hockey but that doesn't work in the NHL.
Did you not see the skilled players of the Wild or the other teams we've played? Everyone on those teams either finished their checks, drove to the net, checked players, pinned players, stepped in front of them...and so on..It part of a winning team and the Oil don't have it. Did Hall even touch a Wild player last night..besides buzzing around the ice like MPS, accomplishing nothing? They have a team of soft, skilled, junior type players that skate but nothing else. That 'heaviness' that Chia spoke of..they don't have it and never will. Time to change 'em up or should we wait another 5 years until McD needs to be traded?

The defense sucks because it doesn't have a top pairing but would be adequate if they had the correct mix.

This team will continue to go no where with the makeup as is. Some of us have been saying it for years but the majority just don't seem to get it.

Adding another skilled player in McD won't help this team be winners. As great as he is and is going to be, the team is completely made up with the wrong components and the majority need to be changed out. Keep a couple of the highly skilled forwards and a couple of the D and change the rest.

Having a great goalie is nice but, at the end of the day, nothing will change until the 'crew' has been changed out.

Trade Hall, RNH, Eberle, Schultz, Klefbom(did he even check one player last night?), Purcel, Lander and a few more.

It good to have skill in the lineup but when it comes with little else in the way of hockey play, it becomes useless..may as well be Anson Carter, Schremp, whatever...

Sorry but that's nonsense.

Yes, the team still isn't good but if you don't see improvements in structure and compete level then I don't know what to tell you.

It's a team that dresses a 2nd pairing Dman (Sekera), three 3rd pairing Dmen (Fayne, Gryba, Schultz), two rookies (Klefbom, Nurse - I don't count a season under Eakins as NHL experience) and AHL filler to go along with dead weight like Purcell and as much as I hate to say it, Lander along with AHLers and grinders playing on the top line nightly yet they are going to toe to toe with top west teams.

I get the frustration and I too refused to acknowledge any improvement early in the season but there is clear progress being made after looking at a larger sample size now. It's not as fast as a lot of us would like it to be but there is definitely some progress being made. It would be nice to see some wins on this homestand though.