They are still second in the league in shots per game. I don't think it is the lack of shots that has been the issue. It's been more about finish. The good news is that shooting percentage tends to even out over time.
Jase, I’m being totally legit.
Sure, but it's not the Oilers' fault is the Pens suck and they beat them into the ground, they didn't eek it out.
I appreciate the post. Though the majority of video shows The Stack Five with their elite processing and skating speed. They tilt the ice among the league's elite. The clip of Emerson's great stretch pass to Draisaitl is solid and the Podkolzen wide drive to net front shows his skating speed (but more importantly net drive in traffic).
When the game was 4-0 they were still playing fundamentally sound hockey and trying to get Hyman’s monkey off his back. No issue with that. When the game was 0-0 and even 2-0 they were both playing 100% just to win.
he's been the 2nd best Oilers Dman this year after Ekholm.
The bolded is a massive upgrade on last season and it's still early days for guys like Emberson who is still a developing young D. If this team didn't start the year forgetting how to bury their chances and didn't have a bunch of miserable goaltending performances we wouldn't hear a peep (outside of the usual suspects) about how their offseason moves were bad. They will very much dominate once they start finishing their chances again and start getting more consistency in net.
I appreciate posts like this.
Bang. Beating an AHL caliber club really tells us nothing at all. The Pens are no measuring stick. They're an argument for relegation. Oilers have played 5 games with teams I expect will be out of playoffs. With Detroit and Columbus on tap this continues. At some point we play harder schedule and the Oilers have lost to every decent club.
So sorry to read this man. Was there a couple years ago when my dad passed suddenly. I had my brothers to lean on, know that you’ve got brothers here if you need to talk.
The game against Carolina was a great game with two very good teams, with a single good bounce the Oil could have won it.
This is a very good point. I don't know that I've ever actually considered the Oilers a fast skating team, but one thing I have always noticed is that when they're on their game they whip the puck around as good as any team in the league and it sure makes them look fast. They didn't do much of that the first half of the games this season, but they're starting to pick up the speed at which they think at and make plays at. It's nice to have speed on the forecheck to create turnovers, but when the pucks in your possession you really don't need to skate fast to be a consistently fast and dangerous team.
This wasn’t a ‘barely squeak out’ win. The Oilers beat the piss out of the Pens last night. If we are supposed to be a good team, that is the kind of result we need against bad teams.
The Oil needed this game to breakout finishing results and confidence. That said the Penguins generated under ten shots for a chunk of this game. Skinner made big saves when the coverage broke down and had help with strong, disciplined forward support as well.
Kulak-Emberson pairing shouldn't ever be broken up. Nurse is fine with Stetcher for the season until an upgrade can be added through accrued cap and salary retention. Nurse has looked best when paired with Stetcher which gives them a good outline of the type of D they need for Nurse. A puck mover who can skate and who ideally plays a strong defensive game.
