Pre-Game Talk: Final Game 4. Stu needs to come thru. Unlimited Pole responses.

[avocadosmoothie]

He's beyond reproach with the local media and a certain number of fans for reasons beyond me. Where as you and I call it as we see it, the usual suspects on here will almost always excuse his poor performances as "the whole team being bad" and deflect as much blame as possible.

When Skinner was shitting the bed and every other individual stat of his was at or near rock bottom in the whole playoffs, well, "the stats are misleading." Then Pickard comes in, goes unbeaten, and these same people are positively giddy to point out Pickard's weaker save percentage, and will look for anything in his game to pick apart.

surely it has to be a directive from the powers that be, the Eastern outlets never have any problem calling it like it is

 

[avocadosmoothie]

I am not one to excuse his poor performance. I think he's horrible, to be honest. I made this post back in March that says if the Oil win a cup, they pretty much got lucky.

However, what bothers me about the constant Skinner blaming is zero mention of the other elements of poor play. I mean with how bad the team played last night, the fact that Skinner is 90%~ of the criticism is pretty crazy.

Nurse and Klingberg were HORRENDOUS last game. I think they got outchanced something stupid like 7-1. Pointing the finger at Skinner lets a lot of guys off the hook, and it's just a very easy cop out whereas if one where to objectively look at the game, it's just a colossal failure in almost every aspect, goaltending included.

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we had a lot more problems than Skinner last night, but defending him on the OT goal after game 2 was nuts

 

[iCanada]

Be curious to actually know what is breakaway save % is. I'm surprised the NHL does not track this stat. Seems so easy to do so.

Average shootout attempt scoring rate in 2023 was 33%; so I'd hazard that breakaway scoring rate is lower than that given shootout attempts are biased towards those that are great at scoring on breakaways.

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Depending on the analytics model - a breakaway attempt is typically 10 to 20% of an expected goal, with the lower models giving extra credit of ~5% for time from turnover, north-south speed of skater, and if there are no back checkers in range.

Contextually - I think it would be fair to assume breakaway conversation rate is in the 15 to 20% range. Call it 17.5%.

 

[TB12]

For the reader this is saying different things. You're saying different goalie wouldn't make a difference. We actually would win game 1, and 2 in regulation with even adequate goaltending.

Last night its arguable goaltending made the difference. May not look like it on scoreboard but both teams were getting chances and Bobo was stoning.

Fact of the matter is Skinner influenced the game irreparably being totally lost on the first goal, and clearing himself from the net. By comments he didn't even know where the puck was. So the game unfolds that way, with the Oilers behind only 57secs into the match on first shot and chance Florida had. If thats Talbot in net most of the board are saying he's solely at fault. Why different for Skinner?

Local.
Moustache.

All it takes to be a Teflon Don 'round these parts.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I am not one to excuse his poor performance. I think he's horrible, to be honest. I made this post back in March that says if the Oil win a cup, they pretty much got lucky.

However, what bothers me about the constant Skinner blaming is zero mention of the other elements of poor play. I mean with how bad the team played last night, the fact that Skinner is 90%~ of the criticism is pretty crazy.

Nurse and Klingberg were HORRENDOUS last game. I think they got outchanced something stupid like 7-1. Pointing the finger at Skinner lets a lot of guys off the hook.

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I mean we had a guy in this thread claiming that none of the goals last night were on him. Another guy trying to convince me that Pickard sucks because he has more games under .900 than over, while somehow excusing Skinner's performance last night. And a few others putting almost zero blame on Skinner for the loss. Skinner seems to be unfairly excused and defended far more than he's being unfairly blamed here. He had an objectively terrible performance and too many posters are trying to "sound objective" and failing miserably by denying that cold, harsh reality.

 

[TB12]

I mean we had a guy in this thread claiming that none of the goals last night were on him. Another guy trying to convince me that Pickard sucks because he has more games under .900 than over, while somehow excusing Skinner's performance last night. And a few others putting almost zero blame on Skinner for the loss. Skinner seems to be unfairly excused and defended far more than he's being unfairly blamed here. He had an objectively terrible performance and too many posters are trying to "sound objective" and failing miserably by denying that cold, harsh reality.

He had another one of those trying to move laterally attempts where he actually went forward towards the point first, then pushes off and doesn't even get halfway across his net. If it wasn't so f***ing depressing I would have laughed. His movement is beyond terrible.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

He had another one of those trying to move laterally attempts where he actually went forward towards the point first, then pushes off and doesn't even get halfway across his net. If it wasn't so f***ing depressing I would have laughed. His movement is beyond terrible.

He read that play so poorly, why was he even pushing out of his crease there to defend a point shot when the puck was going east west.

 

[BlackDogg]

If Stu is tired, you go with the 6-0 guy. Simple as that. Not the 7-6 guy.
I know Stu likely won't tell them if he is, but one more game f***ed up is too many. Its over then.

Doing the same thing over and over is insanity. Its not so much that he's terrible, its that he's terrible once he's played a few.

Picard can also help their breakout which has been non-existent maybe.

 

[TB12]

He read that play so poorly, why was he even pushing out of his crease there to defend a point shot when the puck was going east west.

I wish I knew. Was sad to see. Never a good sign when you're in the Cup Finals and the other team is legitimately laughing at your goalie. Must be so f***ing deflating to play in front of that.

 

[BlackDogg]

 

[iCanada]

Nah - they stood up for Stolarz the right way!

You know if this was Toronto they'd be lapping it up. Baby shit soft is not even finishing a check on a guy like Bennett after he purposefully injures your starting goaltender.

 

[BlackDogg]

Why a three day break between two games in the same city?

 

[Salvaged Ship]

Why the hell is everyone talking about goaltending, the games comes down to the skaters period. No goalie could have won that game yesterday. They were off from the beginning. They can't play like they did last game, they need to battle through, take all the cheap garbage and stay focused on defending and attacking when chances arise.

I think everyone realizes we lose that game regardless of the goaltending. It’s not about just that game, it’s about the games going forward and who you have the best chance with in net. Also that goal going in between his legs in game 2….. He is leaking some bad goals, against this team we simply can’t afford it.

If the Oilers get their game back they still need quality goaltending against this team to win and even then they might lose. Who gives you the best chance to win? I think most agree 6-0 is better than 7-7.

 

[Oilhawks]

Pretty sure both those guys get pegged by their wives or something, not that there’s anything wrong with that

 

[CycloneSweep]

Why a three day break between two games in the same city?

Tv. NBA finals starts Wednesday.

 

[K1984]

Did I miss something? Didn’t he just throw like 3-4 punches with his gloves on? Tkachuk does that every scrum.. Walman tries the same shit and gets ejected and fined lol

f*** you NHL

It also happened to Ekholm on the boards and Bennett sat there and fed punches to Frederic while being pinned by a linesman in the same sequence.

Those two are fine though. The difference? Those two had the good fortune of wearing Panthers sweaters. Objectively there is zero f***ing difference.

This league isn’t even hiding it anymore.

 

[TB12]

It also happened to Ekholm on the boards and Bennett sat there and fed punches to Frederic while being pinned by a linesman in the same sequence.

Those two are fine though. The difference? Those two had the good fortune of wearing Panthers sweaters. Objectively there is zero f***ing difference.

This league isn’t even hiding it anymore.

The double standard is so glaringly obvious. Must be nice have Daddy Campbell in the NHL head offices. Entire series has been a f***ing joke giving Bennett and Tkachuk the benefit of the doubt and doubling down on the Oilers when they do the exact same shit. League mandate is clear here.

 

[McBigYak]

Did I miss something? Didn’t he just throw like 3-4 punches with his gloves on? Tkachuk does that every scrum.. Walman tries the same shit and gets ejected and fined lol

f*** you NHL

You clearly missed something . Tkachuk was unable to defend himself and Walman fed him 3-4 punches right to the chops.

Obviously I am thrilled this happened and Walman likely does not give a shit about $5000, but you cannot just speed bag a guys face and not expect to get fined.

That said, the Ekholm situation should have resulted in a fine as well.

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Valiquette was saying Skin daddy is letting in high danger chances to the tune of 13 of 25....not anywhere near good enough....Bob is letting them in at a rate of one in five. I think they have him figured out. It's Picks time!

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

The blame the goalie crowd need to read these quotes from Curlock imo. He knows may more than HF

'The Oilers descended into a group of individuals trying to do it on their own or just running around looking for revenge.'

'The main issue for the Oilers over the past two games has been their unwillingness to execute simple, effective plays. It appears they’re trying to score multiple goals every shift, turning every puck possession into an aggressive attack, regardless of their position on the ice'

 

[frag2]

Why a three day break between two games in the same city?

PEDs

 

[BlackDogg]

PEDs

No game PEDnesday

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

You clearly missed something . Tkachuk was unable to defend himself and Walman fed him 3-4 punches right to the chops.

Obviously I am thrilled this happened and Walman likely does not give a shit about $5000, but you cannot just speed bag a guys face and not expect to get fined.

That said, the Ekholm situation should have resulted in a fine as well.

Yeah well maybe the refs shouldn’t allow Tkachuk to throw gloved punches between the whistles constantly. Walman naturally wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine, but that’s “retaliation” and the NHL can’t allow that.

 

[soothsayer]

PEDs

Just to be clear, this is a joke about Decablad, right?

 

[The Trash Man]

There is freedom within
There is freedom without