Post-Game Talk: Oilers 3 Bruins 2 in shootout

[The Nuge]

That's exactly what happened last year. One of the first things Nelson did was slash Nuge's minutes to the tune of almost three a night and it had an immediate positive effect on his offense.

Ya, people love to talk about things like GF/60, and GA/60, but it's just as flawed as any stat. Like when you only play 5 minutes a night, and can't get in a rhythm, playing 20+ can negatively impact a player significantly, because of how tired you get. Nuge's conditioning is up there with anyone in the league, but he's still playing more minutes than he should. It's a very basic statement, but still one that shouldn't be overlooked

 

[McGoMcD]

Btw: Fun Nuge stats:

Played 24:52, 56% on the dot, three shots.

McLellan's got RNH's back, so sheathe your screwdrivers, kids. RNH is not going anywhere until the offseason at earliest.

Always been a huge Nuge supporter. The thing I don't get now is his coordination seems to be of. Just strangest thing, he trips and falls, can't seem to hit the puck. I really hope it goes away soon.

 

[slaman]

I certainly agree with the first part of this post, but I disagree withe the second.
Forwards should not have to do the dmans job. I think there is a fundamental disagreement among posters on this site regarding how much of the d-zone the forwards should be responsible for.

I watch the games and I see forwards who seem to be paranoid and are actually over compensating on the backcheck. Yet somehow the defense just blunders the puck away under the slightest pressure. Or makes incredibly dumb plays like ... Sekera on the Chara goal. Just brutal. Chases a man up the wall all the way to the blueline. Puts himself out of play, leaving RNH to cover his man. Pirouettes back into the picture just in time to watch Chara score. Nowhere near the ****ing net and where he should be. Thinks he's Bobby Orr or something.

For that matter look at his play on the first goal. Crashes into his own goal for no reason. Almost falls over. Nobody's even touching him, mind you. Recovers his balance and skates toward the front (as if remembering he's supposed to be covering someone) just in time to screen Nilsson perfectly on the Krug shot. Is that acceptable work from the guy who is getting paid to be a serious piece of the puzzle going forward? What amount of backchecking by the forwards is going to stop plays like that from happening?

This team has stinking stinking defense. Every year its the same story.
But hey, at least Gryba decided to hit a few people tonight. He was more useful than Sekera by a country mile.

Sekera got double teamed behind his own net and no Oiler gave him support or an outlet. Two guys just sitting there watching from in front of our net. The missed coverage on Chara is all on Pak and Purcell... It's their job to take a pinching Dman, not Sekera's.

The first goal, he was blocking the shot as he should have. If he moved out of the way, you would have called him a coward! It was an unfortunate deflection off his stick, not a screen on the goalie.

Both of Gryba's big hits resulted in penalties. I'd much rather he didn't do it, but to each his own.

 

[McGoMcD]

Sekera got double teamed behind his own net and no oiler gave him support our an outlet. Two guys just sitting there watching from in front of our net. The missed coverage on Chara is all on Pak and Purcell... It's their job to take a pinching Dman, not Sekera's.

Both of Gryba's big hits resulted in penalties. I'd much rather he didn't do it, but to each his own.

Not a fan of Gryba's game. He gave the puck away, took penalties. Ya hit, but don't elbow them when you do.

 

[ZJuice]

Always been a huge Nuge supporter. The thing I don't get now is his coordination seems to be of. Just strangest thing, he trips and falls, can't seem to hit the puck. I really hope it goes away soon.

He's only human. I think he is in "recovery mode" from his last illness. I doubt this will last into January!

 

[Burger Baron]

Drai looked a little slow/tired tonight

Anyone else notice this?

 

[McGoMcD]

He's only human. I think he is in "recovery mode" from his last illness. I doubt this will last into January!

Ya, but he had the flu. shouldn't effect him that much. I think he will be back, but, soon I hope.

 

[Giggli G]

Ya, but he had the flu. shouldn't effect him that much. I think he will be back, but, soon I hope.

If he had real influenza, that can **** you up for weeks. There's a reason why they vaccinate for it every year. It literally kills young, old and weak people every year.

 

[Narnia]

You have to turn around quickly as an Oiler, if you turn around slowly there will be a knife in your back from the fans and the media before you can make 180.

RNH was 59% on face-offs.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Drai looked a little slow/tired tonight

Anyone else notice this?

Hall and Drai are still playing well but their production has gone Adios.

2 points combined in their last 6.

 

[CupofOil]

I certainly agree with the first part of this post, but I disagree withe the second.
Forwards should not have to do the dmans job. I think there is a fundamental disagreement among posters on this site regarding how much of the d-zone the forwards should be responsible for.

I watch the games and I see forwards who seem to be paranoid and are actually over compensating on the backcheck. Yet somehow the defense just blunders the puck away under the slightest pressure. Or makes incredibly dumb plays like ... Sekera on the Chara goal. Just brutal. Chases a man up the wall all the way to the blueline. Puts himself out of play, leaving RNH to cover his man. Pirouettes back into the picture just in time to watch Chara score. Nowhere near the ****ing net and where he should be. Thinks he's Bobby Orr or something.

For that matter look at his play on the first goal. Crashes into his own goal for no reason. Almost falls over. Nobody's even touching him, mind you. Recovers his balance and skates toward the front (as if remembering he's supposed to be covering someone) just in time to screen Nilsson perfectly on the Krug shot. Is that acceptable work from the guy who is getting paid to be a serious piece of the puzzle going forward? What amount of backchecking by the forwards is going to stop plays like that from happening?

This team has stinking stinking defense. Every year its the same story.
But hey, at least Gryba decided to hit a few people tonight. He was more useful than Sekera by a country mile.

Sekera is an odd case. He makes a lot of good plays during the game that top pairing Dmen usually make with his ability to handle the puck under pressure and skate it out of trouble but he has those few brain farts that make you wonder what he was thinking. There was one instance during the game when he could have reversed the puck to Nurse without pressure then immediately panicked and threw right to a Bruins Dman at the point which led to a long hemmed in shift and as you say, was in no mans' land on the 1st Bruins goal.
I don't really blame him for the 2nd goal. One of the forwards needed to cover the slot there, Pakarinen I believe it was? Completely missed the assignment on Chara.

 

[Narnia]

Btw: Fun Nuge stats:

Played 24:52, 56% on the dot, three shots.

McLellan's got RNH's back, so sheathe your screwdrivers, kids. RNH is not going anywhere until the offseason at earliest.

I thought it was 59% and just read it and it is 56%.

 

[McDynasty]

That was a good game, it had everything, overtime, shootout, 4 on 3 in OT.

I knew we would win once we got to the shootout.

 

[Aerchon]

Sekera got double teamed behind his own net and no Oiler gave him support or an outlet. Two guys just sitting there watching from in front of our net. The missed coverage on Chara is all on Pak and Purcell... It's their job to take a pinching Dman, not Sekera's.

The first goal, he was blocking the shot as he should have. If he moved out of the way, you would have called him a coward! It was an unfortunate deflection off his stick, not a screen on the goalie.

Both of Gryba's big hits resulted in penalties. I'd much rather he didn't do it, but to each his own.

I dont know how anyone could put blame on Sekara tonight. Seen it similiar to how you did.

Nurse really dropped the soap and got caught very flatfooted. It was his job to pick up at least one of those guys on the second goal. Purcell should have had Charas stick... But really I give him a little more leeway... Stopping Chara from anything is tough.

 

[Burger Baron]

Hall and Drai are still playing well but their production has gone Adios.

2 points combined in their last 6.

I agree. Especially Hall, he's been great.

But i think Drai has lost a step/some battle/jam in the corners...what ever you want to call it.

Could just be an off game or two. Or could it be too much skating from the center position? He always looked fast playing RW with Hall/Nuge

 

[KarmaPolice]

I don't think it's a case of RNH fighting the flu. I think it's him playing too much minutes and it's affecting his game to play more defensively and conservatively instead of offensively and in short burst. Changing him minutes will definitely change his game I bet you.

Or it could be both. Getting over the flu and having 100% of your energy back sometimes can drag a bit. I'm willing to bet a bit of a lingering flu has at least something to do with how off he looks. When you're spent energy wise, you're not thinking clearly and making as good decisions as you would otherwise. With just how off he looks, I think it almost has to be lingering flu symptoms. I guess we'll know in time. If he turns it around within a week or so, and starts to look much better, then that will have almost certainly been the culprit. I hope it's as simple as that for both him and the team.

 

[booyakasha]

I certainly agree with the first part of this post, but I disagree withe the second.
Forwards should not have to do the dmans job. I think there is a fundamental disagreement among posters on this site regarding how much of the d-zone the forwards should be responsible for.

I watch the games and I see forwards who seem to be paranoid and are actually over compensating on the backcheck. Yet somehow the defense just blunders the puck away under the slightest pressure. Or makes incredibly dumb plays like ... Sekera on the Chara goal. Just brutal. Chases a man up the wall all the way to the blueline. Puts himself out of play, leaving RNH to cover his man. Pirouettes back into the picture just in time to watch Chara score. Nowhere near the ****ing net and where he should be. Thinks he's Bobby Orr or something.

For that matter look at his play on the first goal. Crashes into his own goal for no reason. Almost falls over. Nobody's even touching him, mind you. Recovers his balance and skates toward the front (as if remembering he's supposed to be covering someone) just in time to screen Nilsson perfectly on the Krug shot. Is that acceptable work from the guy who is getting paid to be a serious piece of the puzzle going forward? What amount of backchecking by the forwards is going to stop plays like that from happening?

This team has stinking stinking defense. Every year its the same story.
But hey, at least Gryba decided to hit a few people tonight. He was more useful than Sekera by a country mile.

This is the truth.
I was expecting so much more from sekera,..he's a slight step up from jultz.
at least with Gryba, i'm seeing what I expected..and the hits were great to see...too bad the refs used him as their scapegoat for"even up" calls.

 

[Senor Catface]

Ya, but he had the flu. shouldn't effect him that much. I think he will be back, but, soon I hope.

I think I disagree on the "just the flu" thing. I'm not saying that's what is his problem, but even for healthy people it can be devastating for the body.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Sekera is an odd case. He makes a lot of good plays during the game that top pairing Dmen usually make with his ability to handle the puck under pressure and skate it out of trouble but he has those few brain farts that make you wonder what he was thinking. There was one instance during the game when he could have reversed the puck to Nurse without pressure then immediately panicked and threw right to a Bruins Dman at the point which led to a long hemmed in shift and as you say, was in no mans' land on the 1st Bruins goal.
I don't really blame him for the 2nd goal. One of the forwards needed to cover the slot there, Pakarinen I believe it was? Completely missed the assignment on Chara.

Thing is, that's pretty much par for the course with him, which is why he's in ideal circumstances he's a #3 Dman. If he were on the Habs, for example, he'd most certainly be on the 2nd pairing with Petry, behind Subban and Markov. That's part of what makes MTL as good as they are: that legit #1 and #2 Dmen, and something with we unfortunately don't have the luxury of playing ahead of him.

I like him for what he is, but I also keep my expectations to what I believe are reasonable and correct for him. I think we'd certainly be a worse team without him, and our thin D would pretty much be in complete tatters if you took him out.

 

[NuxFan09]

Congrats on a solid, solid win guys.

I'm not even an Oilers fan and I'm sick of watching them lose. Hopefully they can build on this.

Cheers.

 

[Paralyzer008]

The Oilers should fire Drew Remenda and campaign to have Sportsnet re-assign Mark Spector too.

Terrible.

 

[TKB21]

Congrats on a solid, solid win guys.

I'm not even an Oilers fan and I'm sick of watching them lose. Hopefully they can build on this.

Cheers.

And yet they still have the same amount of wins as your Casucks do.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Congrats on a solid, solid win guys.

I'm not even an Oilers fan and I'm sick of watching them lose. Hopefully they can build on this.

Cheers.

You just don't want us to get Matthews/Chychrun... Admit it.

I think that would be too embarrassing even for most of us. I want to see them be competitive like this (but better) all season. Should improve when McDavid gets back and Nuge is healthy. The D is another matter. Nurse and Klefbom gonna need to continue to make big strides. We'll see.

 

[ZJuice]

I think I disagree on the "just the flu" thing. I'm not saying that's what is his problem, but even for healthy people it can be devastating for the body.

I agree. It's hard for people that haven't witnessed it firsthand to understand how devastating the flu can be.

I was sick for two months this year, got it after a rough week(hard workouts, not enough sleep due to life). At one point my testes were so swollen from the virus that I couldn't wear boxer briefs or jeans for a week! Who knew your testes could get sick too?

 

[McAsuno]

The Oilers should fire Drew Remenda and campaign to have Sportsnet re-assign Mark Spector too.

Terrible.

I thought Remenda was going to be a good guy to listen to since I heard praises from shark fans concerning him. I thought wrong. Remenda should go join Michaels.

And yet they still have the same amount of wins as your Casucks do.

I lol'd.