Post-Game Talk: Nurse Skinned the Oilers

[K1984]

Would love to see how well Tanev and Walker would do paired with Nurse.
Ceci isnt the problem.

The problem is Nurse needs a babysitter a la Ekholm with Bouchard to not be a total mess. I think he might actually be pretty good if he had adult supervision on his pair.

Problem is he makes $9M so it isn't possible to acquire a babysitter for him. At that pay grade he should have no problem playing with a Ceci and producing. He can't though.

 

[McDNicks17]

Nurse was (once again) in no mans land watching the puck go directly to an uncovered player right beside the net.
Inexcusable.
WTF was he thinking?

He's probably thinking like every NHL defensemen would there and expecting his goalie to actually seal the post instead of giving a guy behind the goal line a wide open net.

 

[Frank the Tank]

The problem is Nurse needs a babysitter a la Ekholm with Bouchard to not be a total mess. I think he might actually be pretty good if he had adult supervision on his pair.

Problem is he makes $9M so it isn't possible to acquire a babysitter for him. At that pay grade he should have no problem playing with a Ceci and producing. He can't though.

In hindsight that answer should have been to pay the extra price to acquire Tanev from Calgary. Even if it meant dumping Ceci somewhere else because Conroy didn't want to take back his contract.

 

[guymez]

He's probably thinking like every NHL defensemen would there and expecting his goalie to actually seal the post instead of giving a guy behind the goal line a wide open net.

No.
A dman simply does not leave an oppostion player uncovered right beside the net while he covers no one in front of the net.
That is just dumb defending.

 

[ManByng]

What pi$$es me off is that they finally had a chance to get the Canuck monkey off their backs and they just couldn’t do it !!

 

[Ibanez]

If Knoblauch had balls he'd play Stecher and Broberg next game

One has to have a pulse to have balls. I’m not sure Knob has either.

We will see!!

 

[McDNicks17]

No.
A dman simply does not leave an oppostion player uncovered right beside the net while he covers no one in front of the net.
That is just dumb defending.

It was a late read, a poor push and an awful reaction by Skinner.

You can try as hard as you want to blame Nurse, but if a goalie gives a goal from a guy who is literally behind the goal line and it was into a wide open net because the goalie doesn't even come close to sealing the post, it's blatantly obvious that it's the goalie's fault.

That's Hockey 101 type stuff.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Would love to see how well Tanev and Walker would do paired with Nurse.
Ceci isnt the problem.


Nurse was (once again) in no mans land watching the puck go directly to an uncovered player right beside the net.
Inexcusable.
WTF was he thinking?

Also on the 3rd goal Nurse had the failed clear. Get the puck out of the GOD DAMN ZONE

Turnovers are killers.

 

[VainGretzky]

How bad Nurse and Ceci were, Joshua line owned us that line match up was bad

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It was a late read, a poor push and an awful reaction by Skinner.

You can try as hard as you want to blame Nurse, but if a goalie gives a goal from a guy who is literally behind the goal line and it was into a wide open net because the goalie doesn't even come close to sealing the post, it's blatantly obvious that it's the goalie's fault.

That's Hockey 101 type stuff.

Nurse could've also not given the puck away.

But sure, try to absolve him.

 

[guymez]

It was a late read, a poor push and an awful reaction by Skinner.

You can try as hard as you want to blame Nurse, but if a goalie gives a goal from a guy who is literally behind the goal line and it was into a wide open net because the goalie doesn't even come close to sealing the post, it's blatantly obvious that it's the goalie's fault.

That's Hockey 101 type stuff.

Yeah...Nurse (and his dumb decision making) wasnt at fault at all.

 

[Oilhawks]

r/hockey might be worst hockey related message board/forum out there

I am glad this place exists

I accidentally stumbled on the Coffey topic last night when I came across the r/Oilers PGT (where I posted the part about fans being harassed and their property vandalized in Vancouver). It was...something, that's for sure. Almost made the mains look sane.

 

[guymez]

Also on the 3rd goal Nurse had the failed clear. Get the puck out of the GOD DAMN ZONE

Turnovers are killers.

Yup.
Although that was proabaly all Skinners fault too.

 

[iCanada]

Hardly anybody else even mentioned the inane penalty Skinner took. Lets also recap that play that happened just moments after he shit the bed on the first goal. Skinner attempts to stop up puck, but due to having edge skating difficulty that frequently occurs in his game he stumbles and falls down. I mean this is routine, no impedence, nobody around, he falls down. That this happens regularly is a level of inept we shouldn't even be seeing commonly in an NHL starter. The crowd immediately (and rightly) starts jeering Skinner, laughing at him. Perhaps embarassed he's now rattled, shoves the puck a bit, not enough and then shoves it again outside the trapezoid. With Ekholm basically there watching the whole thing. SkinnerL I didn't play the puck outside the trapezoid did I. Yeah you did. Skinner didn't even know. ffs.

Last night I was having visions of Skinners move across where he twirls across spinning in a circle hsi move across is so bad. Trust me you're not seeing this type of poor edges and poor moves across from the Other goalies.

Fact of the matter is on winning goal Garland pump fakes from what should be a harmless angle because he knows it will work on Skinner. I give him credit. He's done his homework. I've said all along more shooters from wing that are moving should pump fake on Skinner. It completely fries him.

Yeah idk.

The penalty in and of itself is ridiculous and unacceptable. There's a reason no one even knows the last time they saw it.

 

[CornKicker]

Yeah idk.

The penalty in and of itself is ridiculous and unacceptable. There's a reason no one even knows the last time they saw it.

i forgot it was a rule lol

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

It was a late read, a poor push and an awful reaction by Skinner.

You can try as hard as you want to blame Nurse, but if a goalie gives a goal from a guy who is literally behind the goal line and it was into a wide open net because the goalie doesn't even come close to sealing the post, it's blatantly obvious that it's the goalie's fault.

That's Hockey 101 type stuff.

Actually Hockey 101 is don't turn the puck over. It's constant with Nurse.

He's an athlete, but doesn't have a brain for the game.

 

[guymez]

Actually Hockey 101 is don't turn the puck over. It's constant with Nurse.

He's an athlete, but doesn't have a brain for the game.

Very true.
Just watch his decision making when it comes to defensive coverage as well. Its brutal.
He more often than not makes the wrong read and Ceci more often than not has to scramble to cover.
Nurse is an absolute shit show in his own zone far too often.

 

[McDNicks17]

Nurse could've also not given the puck away.

But sure, try to absolve him.

It has nothing to do with absolving. If your goalie has peewee level fundamentals on a goal against, who cares what happened 20 seconds earlier?

 

[K1984]

It has nothing to do with absolving. If your goalie has peewee level fundamentals on a goal against, who cares what happened 20 seconds earlier?

It matters when pewee level fundamentals from our $9M d man created the look in the first place.

That’s something you actually learn to not do around pewee, so that’s about where Nurse is at as well.

Goalie sucks, but I didn’t see many players picking pucks out of their net not named Nurse or Ceci. After a while that stops being a coincidence.

 

[harpoon]

Expect an Edmonton Oilers juggernaut on Friday.

I’m sure we will see it … for ten minutes. Do they know how to maintain juggernaut pace for three periods? Are they even capable of that?

 

[iCanada]

Actually Hockey 101 is don't turn the puck over. It's constant with Nurse.

He's an athlete, but doesn't have a brain for the game.

You'll notice though every defenseman that plays with Ceci turns the puck over a lot.

Why?

Ceci is usually doing his best Taylor Hall blow the zone impression instead of providing a safe outlet. Teams know this and key on it. Just watch.

 

[Spawn]

It has nothing to do with absolving. If your goalie has peewee level fundamentals on a goal against, who cares what happened 20 seconds earlier?

It begs the question, what is a goalie for if not to stop shots?

The Oilers as a team wasn’t playing very well and still spotted Skinner a 4-1 lead with ~25 minutes to go.

Once again, the team doesn’t even need Skinner to play well. They just need him to not be awful. Routine saves from our #1 goalie. That would have gotten the Oilers to an easy win last night. Instead Skinner somehow managed to out suck another teams 3rd string goalie who also laid a stinker of a performance.

 

[Broberg Speed]

In hindsight that answer should have been to pay the extra price to acquire Tanev from Calgary. Even if it meant dumping Ceci somewhere else because Conroy didn't want to take back his contract.

shit should have been taken care of in the f***ing offseason like a number of us on this board demanded

 

[CupofOil]

It's getting to the point where I'm going to stop telling myself that if Nurse and Skinner play just dead average hockey it will be enough to win.

They can't even get to that level. Just being mediocre doesn't seem to be achievable for them.

I would say that Nurse is what he is but he's not even what he used to be, he's getting worse and worse. Believe it or not, Ceci hasn't actually been that bad, it's Nurse bringing down that pairing the freaking $9.25m anchor. Skinner was garbage last night but Skinner has at least brought more good than bad this season and he's still young so there's still room for growth. Nurse has been more bad than good and the bad is getting worse all the time. This is a vet who should be in his prime still.

I used to be a defender of Nurse a few years ago and accepted him for what he is even through the occasional mistake but he's not even "he is what he is", anymore, he just sucks now. Even Nurse's biggest defenders have accepted this now and there's nothing that can be done about it so he's going to here for a long time, an aging player on an enormous contract whose mediocre skills will be eroding year after year.

The worst of it is that he doesn't even seem to put in the effort now. Physicality is almost completely gone, he hardly skates the puck out of trouble anymore, body language is that of a guy going through the motions just collecting fat stacks. It's a shame because he's a player I used to really respect even though he wasn't the most skilled or intelligent, I don't even recognize this player anymore.

 

[Spawn]

In hindsight that answer should have been to pay the extra price to acquire Tanev from Calgary. Even if it meant dumping Ceci somewhere else because Conroy didn't want to take back his contract.

Just a minor note. It doesn’t take hindsight to know this is what the team should have done.

It’s been abundantly clear for 3 playoffs now that Nurse-Ceci pairing can’t get it done.