Post-Game Talk: Literally shooting yourself in the foot

[rboomercat90]

One thing last night showed everyone: Skinner isn't going to come in and save the day or lead this team to a cup. Either this team wins with Pickard, or they're getting ready for next year. Simple as that.

Nobody believes this more than the players themselves do. That was just as obvious last night as what you said.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The problem is that Rodrigue has been training with Schwartz since Bakos season ended. I still trust him more than Stu though.

I mean I guess, he was trained up by his dad, who works with Florida now, and I'm pretty sure Bako has their own goalie coach.

Sincerely, I believe anyone achieving anything in this team is doing it by ignoring everything Dustin Schwartz says about anything goaltending

 

[crowfish]

Why is Draisaitl trying to put a stick there? Shouldn't he know the guy won't hit the open net?

 

[Gopper]

If Skinner just plays to the post, like all goalies are taught to do, the game goes into overtime.

Oilers won't win with Skinner in net and if they do, it will be in spite of him not because of him

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

View attachment 1033729

Why is Draisaitl trying to put a stick there? Shouldn't he know the guy won't hit the open net?

Like Stu just tackle him if your going to just wander

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

If Skinner just plays to the post, like all goalies are taught to do, the game goes into overtime.

Oilers won't win with Skinner in net and if they do, it will be in spite of him not because of him

If the team trusts Stu to be able to stop a puck, both McDavid and Nurse don't drop to block the shot and defend is sensibly. He is why they lost.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Nobody believes this more than the players themselves do. That was just as obvious last night as what you said.

Goal 1 goes in, an absolute abomination of mess and the game literally changed. The Oilers sphincters tightened up and for the next 35 minutes we went into prevent mode vs initiating the play the way they came out and played for 13 minutes they were dominating the Golden Girls.

Look at McDavids reaction after the 2nd goal where Skinner opened up a 5 hole that a Mack truck could pass through. 58 seconds after the first goal that wasn’t even a scoring chance.

The team has to play far better than it did in front of Skinner but 2 of the 4 goals weren’t even serious scoring chances, the 3rd goal was a routine save that went through him.

With Skinner in net you need to play a stifling defensive game that suppresses shots, something that isn’t in this teams wheelhouse.

With Picard in net the team plays free because he battles and wins far more often than loses.

The team has visually lost confidence in Smilin’ Stu.

 

[Mr Positive]

Not with Stu in goal.

We disagree. First off, goaltending is a factor in a series when there is an imbalance. Hill has been quite bad this series. Better than Stu, sure, the gap isn't that large. I'm thinking of the goals Hill let in this series, and basically he's the reason Vegas lost game 2.

Second, Stu is a flake. That is an insult from me, but it's better than being outright bad. He is either on or off. So, we just need him to be on for a couple of games. It has happened a lot before.

Third, can we give at least give a little grace for him coming in cold?

I refuse to just assume we are doomed. I'm going to watch the next games with an open mind, and I do not need to live a lie to do so. There's solid reasons to be optimistic

 

[Frank Drebin]

The only ones saying that are the Americans , thinking we will put him in net against them.

skinner still has a lot of supporters. None of them are oilers fans

 

[M Ace]

Unfortunately Rodrigue was complete ass all season in the AHL, if anyone thinks he could come in and be our saviour I’ve got ocean side property to sell them in Saskatchewan.

I know, but can he be worse than Skinner?
The whole team is like a nerve wreck in front of Skinner, that psychological won't be better. EVER?
Rodrigue at least can earn the trust from the other players....
Skinner is done in Edmonton....

 

[Frank Drebin]

View attachment 1033729

Why is Draisaitl trying to put a stick there? Shouldn't he know the guy won't hit the open net?

Probably trying to block the pass to karlsson who you can see in the peripheral.

Why didn’t drai know he was covered/not in a position to score in that split second?

Why didn’t drai know that he could just let it go as there was only .4 seconds left on the clock?

Why was he so desperately trying to cover a wide open crease when that’s the goalies job?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

skinner still has a lot of supporters. None of them are oilers fans

They must not watch his games then

 

[BlackDogg]

Have we all had time to think rationally about this debacle?

 

[M Ace]

Goal 1 goes in, an absolute abomination of mess and the game literally changed. The Oilers sphincters tightened up and for the next 35 minutes we went into prevent mode vs initiating the play the way they came out and played for 13 minutes they were dominating the Golden Girls.

Look at McDavids reaction after the 2nd goal where Skinner opened up a 5 hole that a Mack truck could pass through. 58 seconds after the first goal that wasn’t even a scoring chance.

The team has to play far better than it did in front of Skinner but 2 of the 4 goals weren’t even serious scoring chances, the 3rd goal was a routine save that went through him.

With Skinner in net you need to play a stifling defensive game that suppresses shots, something that isn’t in this teams wheelhouse.

With Picard in net the team plays free because he battles and wins far more often than loses.

The team has visually lost confidence in Smilin’ Stu.

Good post!

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

View attachment 1033729

Why is Draisaitl trying to put a stick there? Shouldn't he know the guy won't hit the open net?

You’re not serious are you? How’s he supposed to know that?

Stu is at the trapezoid swimming so there is a wide open cage and a Vegas player is open netside. Sticks in lanes is what is grilled into players.

If Stu is playing goal vs doing his warm up exercises 8 feet away from the net there is no scoring chance.

 

[Fishy McScales]

Have we all had time to think rationally about this debacle?

Play pond hockey up 2-0, goalie can't bail them out, team deflates.

Also, I have never seen an Oilers team losing as many board battles as these guys. Three against one and the opponent will routinely come out with the puck on his stick and make a play.

It's my biggest pet peeve with their game. It's infuriating.

 

[TheMustardTiger]

We win with Pickard in net, easily. Skinner is completely done. If Pix is out again, we lose again. Like everyone else, I'd rather see Orod than Skinner in the net. At least he has some mobility

In no way am I supporting Skinner but this is a copout response. We knew Vegas was going to come out strong this game and we didn't match their intensity. We got the early lead and then we let them play their game. They pressured our D hard and our forwards did a poor job supporting them. We really needed to tighten up but we kept playing loose. The amount of giveaways by us this game was atrocious! We really deserved to lose that game!
The last goal was a comedy of errors on all our players on the ice. Why would Drai make that play on Karlsson with so little time on the clock, just clog up the neutral zone and he probably dumps the puck. We easily let Karlsson skate in and have 4 guys just puck watching and no one looking for an extra man coming in. Nurse does his sleeping man and takes himself out of the play. McDavid tries to copy Nurse. Skinner does what Skinner does and Drai decides to put the cherry on top of all that.
People seem to forget that we are playing against Vegas's version of Skinner. Hill isn't that good and we should be scoring on him more than we are, just get more shots on him! Hopefully this is a wake up call for our team and they come out strong next game and play a full 60 minutes. No reason we can't go up 3-1 after Monday night

 

[LTIR]

You’re not serious are you? How’s he supposed to know that?

Stu is at the trapezoid swimming so there is a wide open cage and a Vegas player is open netside. Sticks in lanes is what is grilled into players.

If Stu is playing goal vs doing his warm up exercises 8 feet away from the net there is no scoring chance.

Pretty sure the person you posted was being sarcastic.

 

[LTIR]

In no way am I supporting Skinner but this is a copout response. We knew Vegas was going to come out strong this game and we didn't match their intensity. We got the early lead and then we let them play their game. They pressured our D hard and our forwards did a poor job supporting them. We really needed to tighten up but we kept playing loose. The amount of giveaways by us this game was atrocious! We really deserved to lose that game!
The last goal was a comedy of errors on all our players on the ice. Why would Drai make that play on Karlsson with so little time on the clock, just clog up the neutral zone and he probably dumps the puck. We easily let Karlsson skate in and have 4 guys just puck watching and no one looking for an extra man coming in. Nurse does his sleeping man and takes himself out of the play. McDavid tries to copy Nurse. Skinner does what Skinner does and Drai decides to put the cherry on top of all that.
People seem to forget that we are playing against Vegas's version of Skinner. Hill isn't that good and we should be scoring on him more than we are, just get more shots on him! Hopefully this is a wake up call for our team and they come out strong next game and play a full 60 minutes. No reason we can't go up 3-1 after Monday night

Not really a cop out. Skinner didnt stop the shots that should've been stopped. Just because Hill isn't good doesn't change the claim that we would've won if Pickard was in our net.

 

[InTheBox]

In no way am I supporting Skinner but this is a copout response. We knew Vegas was going to come out strong this game and we didn't match their intensity. We got the early lead and then we let them play their game. They pressured our D hard and our forwards did a poor job supporting them. We really needed to tighten up but we kept playing loose. The amount of giveaways by us this game was atrocious! We really deserved to lose that game!
The last goal was a comedy of errors on all our players on the ice. Why would Drai make that play on Karlsson with so little time on the clock, just clog up the neutral zone and he probably dumps the puck. We easily let Karlsson skate in and have 4 guys just puck watching and no one looking for an extra man coming in. Nurse does his sleeping man and takes himself out of the play. McDavid tries to copy Nurse. Skinner does what Skinner does and Drai decides to put the cherry on top of all that.
People seem to forget that we are playing against Vegas's version of Skinner. Hill isn't that good and we should be scoring on him more than we are, just get more shots on him! Hopefully this is a wake up call for our team and they come out strong next game and play a full 60 minutes. No reason we can't go up 3-1 after Monday night

You can't tell me Pickard wouldn't have stopped at least one of those easy goals Skinner gave up.

 

[BlackDogg]

 

[Echodek]

I’m still seething. All he needed to do was stay in his net!

 

[bucks_oil]

Goal 1 goes in, an absolute abomination of mess and the game literally changed. The Oilers sphincters tightened up and for the next 35 minutes we went into prevent mode vs initiating the play the way they came out and played for 13 minutes they were dominating the Golden Girls.

Look at McDavids reaction after the 2nd goal where Skinner opened up a 5 hole that a Mack truck could pass through. 58 seconds after the first goal that wasn’t even a scoring chance.

The team has to play far better than it did in front of Skinner but 2 of the 4 goals weren’t even serious scoring chances, the 3rd goal was a routine save that went through him.

With Skinner in net you need to play a stifling defensive game that suppresses shots, something that isn’t in this teams wheelhouse.

With Picard in net the team plays free because he battles and wins far more often than loses.

The team has visually lost confidence in Smilin’ Stu.

This is true.

However, it’s the first two goals where we should be laying blame. Those were entirely on Skinner.

Goal 1: he pushes across completely off balance, gives up a bad rebound and of course is unable to save the 2nd shot… just bad mechanics and athleticism. Perfect example of: “he’s just not capable at this level”. This was also a routine belly-save for Pickard.

Goal 2: he’s down covering near post, stick side (which is an advantage). From there you have two choices when the guy cuts across: 1) stretch the far side leg, 2) push with near side leg… stretching is always faster but should be saved for last resort, given time you ALWAYS push first, stretch if necessary, especially when you are stick side since the only downside to pushing is you have to lift your pushing knee… but he’s got his stick there, so that’s low risk.

Of course Stu stretches, a bad decision, in part because he’s just not that mobile or athletic. That opens the 5-hole… goal is on him. Pickard would have had this routinely.

3) the give and go with Karlsson… I mean Pickard probably saves that 7/10 times. It doesn’t look like much, but gaps open when you have to push center and then come back where you came from. Stu saves those maybe 5/10 times, he’s got a faulty 7-hole. This is a goal that happens on everyone to varying degree… you like it back, but not one to crucify about.

4) I actually disagree that the last goal is entirely on him. In fact I think all of the other three were worse… this just happened to be last. He pushed out well, he needed to cut that angle. He’s still moving out when the shot-fake comes, because he’d been on the goal line when the puck was behind. McD and Nurse both bite hard on the fake shot… so does Skinner. A relatively minor mistake which is magnified because he’s still moving out, so his butterfly slides him further out. Now he has no choice but to challenge that shooter and force him to run out of options. I actually like that play… and it almost worked… the puck was sliding wide which is good goaltending when you are in desperation mode (which he was). Pickard almost certainly plays this one the same way, he’s way more of a gambler than Skinner and he’s smaller, so he’d be way out cutting that angle too… maybe he doesn’t go down on the fake shot, maybe he does…. Sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn’t. Perhaps he’d have been even closer to Roy and actually stop the shot/pass attempt.

 

[TheMustardTiger]

You can't tell me Pickard wouldn't have stopped at least one of those easy goals Skinner gave up.

I can't tell you that and neither can you. All you can do is assume. You can assume Pickard makes one of those saves but who's to say he doesn't let in one of the ones Skinner did save?

In no way am saying I want Skinner in net over Pickard and if you want to put the entirety of this loss on Skinner to make yourself feel better, go for it. The bottom line is as a team we need to play better than this no matter who is in nets to advance, plain and simple.

Chances are, even if Pickard is ok and can play Monday and we do manage to get by Vegas and move on, Skinner is going to probably be in net at some point again. Pickard has been a career backup and isn't use to playing the amount of games we want and need him to play. He may need a rest and when that time comes and Skinner is back in the team needs to play even harder in front of him. These are professional athletes and should be playing their top game in the playoffs no matter who is in nets.

 

[VanCanFanEDM]

Play pond hockey up 2-0, goalie can't bail them out, team deflates.

Also, I have never seen an Oilers team losing as many board battles as these guys. Three against one and the opponent will routinely come out with the puck on his stick and make a play.

It's my biggest pet peeve with their game. It's infuriating.

They did this multiple times vs the Kings.. Get a two goal lead and instantly it feels like a meaningless regular season game and guys start cheating for offence, looking for points.

The team has lost all faith in Skinner... I said this earlier in the year.. The frantic, over playing everything in front of Skinner was on full display again in those final few seconds last night.. If McDavid and Nurse have any faith in their goaltender they don't make those awful plays in the final seconds.. With Skinner in the net the team plays a frantic game... Zero calmness.. zero faith... Have to over play everything in what looks like total desperation.