Post-Game Talk: Drai speedruns Duck Hunt

[TB12]

This is going to sounds bad but im curious if you actually watched the game or just the highlights. I see a lot of fans who look at box scores and draw conclusions from them. If you did that's fine but I saw a goaltender who:

1. Couldn't track the puck
2. Slow to react
3. Unable to move laterally
4. Looked shakey in net
5. Had shots go past him but didn't wind up in the net.

Against a better team, I don't think Skinner is as lucky.

After playing 38 minutes of hockey, Edmonton only gave up 2 high danger scoring chances 5v5. Edmonton had 8 high danger chances during that same stretch with only 1 goal to show for it. Scoring chances were also 20-10 for the Oilers.

Skinner then let's in a goal on only the 3rd high danger shot. The shot itself shouldn't have went in. I dont get why his legs were wide open when he should be down in the butterfly. You need him to make a big save at that moment.

So despite dominating Edmonton goes into the 3rd period only up 2-1. Dostal is having a great game. Edmonton doesn't do themselves any favour's trying to pass the puck in the net and when they do have a wide open net, they goalie makes a save, they get a block or we hit the post. Our offence looks way more dangerous than anaheims but can't buy a goal to this point.

Anaheim has life heading into the 3rd period now. You just know Anaheim is going to get a break and they end up going on the powerplay. The shot is a muffin from the point. Skinner can see him even with traffic in front. From that far out you can't be getting beat. That was the only chance on the ducks PP and it goes in.

At some point we have to stop outscoring our problems and have a goaltender that can win a 2-1 game every once in a while. The Oilers rank 5th in the league in high danger chances against but still have goalies who can't make a save. Skinner ranks around 40th in goals saved above expected.

The most frustrating part was that Skinner was that Skinner was getting beat. Skinner was lucky but Anaheim could have won this game 4-2 with the way he's was playing.

Like.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Drai showed how much he matured again tonight. Had the start of a bad habit night but dug in and played the right way to get out out it. He's been our best player by a lot.

McJesus has likewise matured, but commitment to coming back deep has altered his transition play a ton. He is still magic, but is figuring out how to make it happen within the confines of winning habits imo

Everyone should be patient. McDavid's game always relied on speed during transition, and he's being forced to reinvent himself a bit. I think he hasn't looked the same for a while, because he is figuring out how to really play 5v5. The days of the filthy 1v4's and constant breakaways are over because he's recovering the puck and starting the transition more frequently, Hyman has been blowing the zone and reaping the rewards -- might be why he's on the third line.

 

[Connor McConnor]

I question how many of you guys are actually fans of the team. Jesus christ all some of you guys do is bitch and put our players down

Alcohol my friend.

 

[5 14 6 1]

This is going to sounds bad but im curious if you actually watched the game or just the highlights. I see a lot of fans who look at box scores and draw conclusions from them. If you did that's fine but I saw a goaltender who:

1. Couldn't track the puck
2. Slow to react
3. Unable to move laterally
4. Looked shakey in net
5. Had shots go past him but didn't wind up in the net.

Against a better team, I don't think Skinner is as lucky.

After playing 38 minutes of hockey, Edmonton only gave up 2 high danger scoring chances 5v5. Edmonton had 8 high danger chances during that same stretch with only 1 goal to show for it. Scoring chances were also 20-10 for the Oilers.

Skinner then let's in a goal on only the 3rd high danger shot. The shot itself shouldn't have went in. I dont get why his legs were wide open when he should be down in the butterfly. You need him to make a big save at that moment.

So despite dominating Edmonton goes into the 3rd period only up 2-1. Dostal is having a great game. Edmonton doesn't do themselves any favour's trying to pass the puck in the net and when they do have a wide open net, they goalie makes a save, they get a block or we hit the post. Our offence looks way more dangerous than anaheims but can't buy a goal to this point.

Anaheim has life heading into the 3rd period now. You just know Anaheim is going to get a break and they end up going on the powerplay. The shot is a muffin from the point. Skinner can see him even with traffic in front. From that far out you can't be getting beat. That was the only chance on the ducks PP and it goes in.

At some point we have to stop outscoring our problems and have a goaltender that can win a 2-1 game every once in a while. The Oilers rank 5th in the league in high danger chances against but still have goalies who can't make a save. Skinner ranks around 40th in goals saved above expected.

The most frustrating part was that Skinner was that Skinner was getting beat. Skinner was lucky but Anaheim could have won this game 4-2 with the way he's was playing.

Go to bed brother. You need rest

Drai showed how much he matured again tonight. Had the start of a bad habit night but dug in and played the right way to get out out it. He's been our best player by a lot.

McJesus has likewise matured, but commitment to coming back deep has altered his transition play a ton. He is still magic, but is figuring out how to make it happen within the confines of winning habits imo

Everyone should be patient. McDavid's game always relied on speed during transition, and he's being forced to reinvent himself a bit. I think he hasn't looked the same for a while, because he is figuring out how to really play 5v5. The days of the filthy 1v4's and constant breakaways are over because he's recovering the puck and starting the transition more frequently, Hyman has been blowing the zone and reaping the rewards -- might be why he's on the third line.

His interview showed an insane amount of maturity. I was very impressed and continue to be wowed by him this season..he's taken his game to the next level

 

[Sanderson]

3 breakaways, 3 shots past Skinner. Saved by shot going wide 1-2 inches off the outside of the post twice, thank goodness. That would have been so bad to lose to the Ducks twice like this in a week.

Should not have been this close. Played with fire tonight and got lucky. Get back to having some killer instinct.

A goalie's job is to stop the puck from entering the net. A goalie, by definition, cannot be beaten by a shot that misses the net, because his job isn't to prevent pucks from missing the net. There is a reason why hitting the posts don't count as shots on goal. The point is to force shooters into having to place the puck perfectly, which is why they pick corners or areas close to the posts, as those are most likely the open spots available. If they do that and miss the net, the goalie did his job, because he forced the player to target a specific spot which he then failed to hit. It's a game of percentages. The goalie tries to force the shooter into a situation in which it is most unlikely for him to hit the net. Whether that is by firing into the goalie himself, or by missing the net, is entirely irrelevant. Otherwise you might as well claim that if someone dumps the puck into the corner while being on a breakaway, he also "beat the goalie".
Just like if a goalie has his glove right next to the post, and the shooter hits the post, the shooter didn't beat the goalie, because his goal was to put the puck in the net, and for that he would have needed to put it on net, which here would have resulted in shooting into the glove.

Though I guess the next time an Oiler goes on a breakaway and misses the net, you won't complain about him missing a big chance, but instead praise him for beating the goalie.


I really don't get why this lie about the Oilers' management never trying to fix the goalie situation gets repeated again and gain. It simply has nothing to do with reality. Over the last few years they traded for a possible starter (Talbot), tried to sign (Markström) and signed (Campbell) some of the best options the market had to offer. They picked up a veteran starter (Smith), they tried the star-goalie from overseas option (Koskinen) as well as testing what they had in the system (Skinner). Quite a bit of that didn't work out. At times they foolishly put themselves into a bind for no reason (e.g. Koskinen's new contract). One most definately can criticise the outcome, but pretending they didn't try things, is just plain false.

NHL-teams don't operate in a vacuum. They can't force a player to sign with them, or another team to trade them the goalies they want. Fact is, there are a ton of teams out there who have issues in net, some of them for years on end, and there aren't nearly enough good goalies around to fix all these issues. Which puts a premium on the price of the good goalies. Ottawa, after years of struggle in net, just got the one actually high-level starter that came onto the market. It cost them quite a bit, he's very expensive, and while his performances so far have been very good, he still had a slow start and is injured for the second time already.

What the market actually has to offer, is a bunch of question marks. Could one of those turn out to be just what you need? Sure. He could also just as easily turn out to work out as well as Campbell did. For every example of a player surprisingly working out well, you can find a whole bunch who didn't.
Could it hurt to look if something shakes out? No. Could management have been more pro-active at times? Possibly, no one really knows what they tried to do. Saying you have confidence in your goalies doesn't mean you don't look, it just means you don't want to ruin the confidence of your goalies without having another option ready. Though I guess after years of performances that have been all over the place, one could try different options in coaching as well.

Is Skinner a great goalie? No, he isn't. Is he among the worst in the league? No, he isn't. He is a goalie on a cheap contract who is delivering average performances. Or more precisely: he is extremely inconsistent. When he is on his game, he is very good, when he is off his game, he is woeful. Does such a goalie allow back-breaking goals now and then? Sure they do. Look around the league and you will find 2/3s of the fanbases complain about their goalie doing that. Just like they will complain about needing another top 4 defenseman, needing a top 6 forward, lacking depth, and generally being mistreated by refs.

 

[FlameChampion]

Missed this one. Just watched the hi lights.

Few things that stuck out
1) This team can’t hold a lead. They have to make everything as difficult as possible.
2) Leon is clutch
3) Skinner looks so awkward in net. Guess its his lack of mobility and/or athleticism. Hes just big and sometimes the puck hits him and sometimes it doesn’t.
4) Don’t think I saw one hi light from McDavid

 

[FlameChampion]

How it looked, Nurse playing like a top pair defenseman right now is just so damned massive.

Hopefully it happens in the playoffs. Would be massive for this team.

 

[FlameChampion]

This is going to sounds bad but im curious if you actually watched the game or just the highlights. I see a lot of fans who look at box scores and draw conclusions from them. If you did that's fine but I saw a goaltender who:

1. Couldn't track the puck
2. Slow to react
3. Unable to move laterally
4. Looked shakey in net
5. Had shots go past him but didn't wind up in the net.

Against a better team, I don't think Skinner is as lucky.

After playing 38 minutes of hockey, Edmonton only gave up 2 high danger scoring chances 5v5. Edmonton had 8 high danger chances during that same stretch with only 1 goal to show for it. Scoring chances were also 20-10 for the Oilers.

Skinner then let's in a goal on only the 3rd high danger shot. The shot itself shouldn't have went in. I dont get why his legs were wide open when he should be down in the butterfly. You need him to make a big save at that moment.

So despite dominating Edmonton goes into the 3rd period only up 2-1. Dostal is having a great game. Edmonton doesn't do themselves any favour's trying to pass the puck in the net and when they do have a wide open net, they goalie makes a save, they get a block or we hit the post. Our offence looks way more dangerous than anaheims but can't buy a goal to this point.

Anaheim has life heading into the 3rd period now. You just know Anaheim is going to get a break and they end up going on the powerplay. The shot is a muffin from the point. Skinner can see him even with traffic in front. From that far out you can't be getting beat. That was the only chance on the ducks PP and it goes in.

At some point we have to stop outscoring our problems and have a goaltender that can win a 2-1 game every once in a while. The Oilers rank 5th in the league in high danger chances against but still have goalies who can't make a save. Skinner ranks around 40th in goals saved above expected.

The most frustrating part was that Skinner was that Skinner was getting beat. Skinner was lucky but Anaheim could have won this game 4-2 with the way he's was playing.

Honestly you can just watch the hilights and see that Skinner looks awkward in net. He doesn’t move well. He doesn’t have any mobility. He doesn’t challenge shooters. At one point in the hilights he turns around the wrong way when he’s scrambling, hoping the puck hits his ass while hes looking into the net. He honestly big. That’s it.

 

[Fishy McScales]

True fans of the team don't think goaltending is fine and dandy. The hardcore ones who want to see a cup

I want a better goalie too, but this is just stupid man.

 

[WhiskeyEE]

I thought the Oilers just didn't convert enough of their opportunities to run away with the game, especially in the 2nd. I didn't watch the 3rd, but it wasn't a bad game from what I watched. Just some lack of execution and/or some bad luck.

Ducks beat the Devils and Jets after beating the Oilers recently so they aren't necessarily playing like a bottom team atm. A win is a win I guess.

 

[Messrules11]

I know we won last night and that’s the main thing but we only had 3 hits. Three. That makes me sick. Not a fan of this no hit hockey at all.

 

[tardigrade81]

Alcohol my friend.

I quite enjoy booze

And oilers !

 

[Fourier]

I know we won last night and that’s the main thing but we only had 3 hits. Three. That makes me sick. Not a fan of this no hit hockey at all.

And yet the Oilers dominated that game physically. They won almost all the key board battles and ran havoc vs the Ducks in the offensive zone.

 

[tardigrade81]

Seattle tonight hey.

 

[fuswald]

So Skinner is excellent except he sucks at breakaways.
How about stop giving up breakaways and Skinner will be excellent.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

I question how many of you guys are actually fans of the team. Jesus christ all some of you guys do is bitch and put our players down

How about those who only post when we lose or things are bad? Never see them when we win. Trolls

Drai is easily our best player. 97 seems off to me afraid to shoot again

 

[McDrai]

He's gonna be a hell of a player in Europe next year

Or St.Louis (just kidding, they can’t offer sheet him for awhile)

 

[Fishy McScales]

Imagine comparing Hasek to Stuart Skinner, hahahaha. @Drivesaitl are we drunk? What is happening in this forum tonight???

Strawman.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

The forward combos are still a bit worrisome, not a lot of chemistry. Arvidsson immediately scored when put with McDavid, we should try to give that a go, try some different things at least.

Podkolzin McDavid Arvidsson
Henrique Draisaitl Kapanen
Skinner RNH Hyman
Perry Janmark Brown

I'd don't really mind the idea of using Hyman as a catalyst for line 3 at least temporarily.

I would let Savoie cook a bit longer in the AHL, let his confidence grow, maybe bring up Philp.

Nuge has been so bad on line 1. I've been a proponent of putting Nuge on line 3 for a while, but recently when he was put there he was awful.

TBH I think he's cooked to the point where if he's the 3C it will only work with Hyman on his wing. Can we afford to move Hyman off of Mcdavid's wing?

There is half a season left, but we need to start getting clarity regarding some line combos.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Yet Bouchard was better than McDavid this game, or Draisaitl until the last 90 seconds.

If Bouchard was making the passes to the ducks that Draisaitl was, you'd be losing your mind.

Holy strawman. Youre reachin dude.
Drai is having an MVP year and McD is still a difference maker. I don't rag on players for 1 bad game. To prove it did anybody see a peep from me during Darnells couple bad games???? Nope. Why would I? He's been excellent for a long stretch so why complain over a couple mistakes.

Bouchard has been ass all year and cost this team 4 losses by himself, that's 8 points down the drain cuz of him. Tonight was eerily close to #5 as I pointed out. Those were all grade A bone head plays that he got completely lucky on.

Or how about those missed nets from point blank?.

I don't mind him struggling....but giving up a 3 on 1, a late slash and a gift in the slot....all after you gave them a breakaway in a dominant game by your team that turned the momentum. That shit is inexcusable

 

[Mr Positive]

It depends on how Skinner is being framed by the descriptor.

Stats over time have him as Average.

Stats over time do not have him as the worst goalie to ever lace em up with an ugly moustache and fat ass.

I feel his stats are pretty bad compared to how good the team he's on is. I am curious as to who a worse starter in this league is. If you look at any stats site and scroll down, there's a lot of "well of course he's better than Skinner" until it gets interesting. The ones where I might say are worse than Skinner are on the worst teams in the league, so do we really know they are worse? On a team as good as ours, playing a defensive system like ours, how is anything less than a consistent .915, 2.5 GAA acceptable?

I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt but we should be trying to bring in another guy just to see if there is something about our team that does this to goalies

 

[McDrai]

Rodrigue is putting up a .921 in Bako this year, bring up him and Savoie, and give them a look.

That’s excellent for Rodrigue. I’m a bit concerned that Schwartz will turn him into a pumpkin though. As for Savoie, it’s great to see him excelling in his last few games. I’d like to see a bigger sample size before bringing him up as most of the season has been rather pedestrian for him. I don’t see the harm in letting the 2 percolate a bit longer.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

That’s excellent for Rodrigue. I’m a bit concerned that Schwartz will turn him into a pumpkin though. As for Savoie, it’s great to see him excelling in his last few games. I’d like to see a bigger sample size before bringing him up as most of the season has been rather pedestrian for him. I don’t see the harm in letting the 2 percolate a bit longer.

Geez guys, you don't pay any attention and assume it's all "small sample size" or whatever. He does everything thing with NHL speed and intensity, he has a great 5 on 5 and 2-way game. He needs a look.

And I get the concern, but they need to see if Rodrigue can show something, it the 3rd straight year of well over .900 sv% in the AHL.



Leon record hunting and I notice a name absent from the list

 

[K1984]

The way we dick around with the puck and the incredibly risky plays we are addicted to making at the offensive blue line need to stop. I really hope that Brown’s idiotic pass there is something Knoblauch can leverage to get them to stop. In a game you’re in control of late in the second there is no reason whatsoever to send even moderately risky passes east/west there, but it seemed the more we controlled that period the more we thought it was smart to start all-star gaming it.

In the playoffs last year a common theme was having a game completely under control only to do something monumentally stupid to hand one to the opposition then have to squeeze the game out in the end. They still need to figure out when and how to de-risk as a group.

Thought the team generally played pretty well in the face of laughable officiating and some good opposition goaltending. Needed way more to the net, however. I’ll give the Ducks some credit, they seem to have found some semblance of an identity as a hard working defensively competent team the last few weeks.

 

[McDrai]

Geez guys, you don't pay any attention and assume it's all "small sample size" or whatever. He does everything thing with NHL speed and intensity, he has a great 5 on 5 and 2-way game. He needs a look.

And I get the concern, but they need to see if Rodrigue can show something, it the 3rd straight year of well over .900 sv% in the AHL.



Leon record hunting and I notice a name absent from the list

If Savoie keeps it up for the next little while I could definitely see him getting a look at the beginning of February. Will give the Oilers some time to evaluate him in the show (it would be huge if Savoie impresses up here as we won’t need to bring in a forward at the deadline and can focus on defense/goaltending).

I don’t believe the Oilers will bring Rodrigue up unless if there is an injury to Pickard. Agreed that he needs a look (it would just be nice if Schwartz wasn’t there to greet him lol)