Post-Game Talk: Oilers get ducked:

[Keggatron]

To be honest, I thought they outplayed them for a large portion of the game. Scoring is a serious problem though, second only to tending. The first GA probably should have been a penalty, the guy lost his stick and draped his arms around Drai causing the turnover. Ana scored on every opportunity they had, I wish we could say the same about our bums. But there's something seriously wrong with our secondary scoring and has been like this throughout the McDrai era. Guys come in and shit their pants go elsewhere and get back to how they were. We'd probably be bitching about matching Holloway at this point. It's like everyone just sits back and gives the reins to McDrai. Hopefully they can pull it together like they have at points in the season, but Jesus.

Janmark, Henrique and Brown need to be sent to the minors as well, good lord. Plays just die with them. Brown is beyond useless again.

 

[McFlash97]

He can take his great leadership and defence elsewhere, if that's the case.

Bro, all these clowns needed to do was what the entire fanbase was clamouring for.
Dump Kane and Perry, Henrique, McLeod and Ceci

Resign Foegle, Holloway and Broberg

Find a number 1 goaltender

Add at the deadline and be a machine.

Thats all it took

 

[Oilhawks]

To be honest, I thought they outplayed them for a large portion of the game. Scoring is a serious problem though, second only to tending. The first GA probably should have been a penalty, the guy lost his stick and draped his arms around Drai causing the turnover. Ana scored on every opportunity they had, I wish we could say the same about our bums. But there's something seriously wrong with our secondary scoring and has been like this throughout the McDrai era. Guys come in and shit their pants go elsewhere and get back to how they were. We'd probably be bitching about matching Holloway at this point. It's like everyone just sits back and gives the reins to McDrai. Hopefully they can pull it together like they have at points in the season, but Jesus.

Janmark, Henrique and Brown need to be sent to the minors as well, good lord. Plays just die with them. Brown is beyond useless again.

Yup. The bolded is infuriating, and puzzling. I bet almost every player that's struggling would do better elsewhere.

 

[McFlyingV]

It’s almost insulting how much Edmonton media tries to tell us goaltending isn’t an issue when every possible way of measuring a goaltenders performance says it is.

Lowetide will be on the radio tomorrow arguing that GSAA isn't a good stat and that some people much smarter than him told him that 5v5 sv% is all that matters.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

How does no one go after Gudas after a pretty questionable hit to the head on Hyman. It’s a blowout. A popular teammate takes a dirty shot. And nothing.

They’re a team full of labia majoras.

 

[Oilhawks]

Lowetide will be on the radio tomorrow arguing that GSAA isn't a good stat and that some people much smarter than him told him that 5v5 sv% is all that matters.

Lowetide is as bad as the actual media guys nowadays.

 

[MessierThanThou]

They won’t get out of the first round.

Missing the playoffs is actually possible.

 

[iCanada]

To be honest, I thought they outplayed them for a large portion of the game. Scoring is a serious problem though, second only to tending. The first GA probably should have been a penalty, the guy lost his stick and draped his arms around Drai causing the turnover. Ana scored on every opportunity they had, I wish we could say the same about our bums. But there's something seriously wrong with our secondary scoring and has been like this throughout the McDrai era. Guys come in and shit their pants go elsewhere and get back to how they were. We'd probably be bitching about matching Holloway at this point. It's like everyone just sits back and gives the reins to McDrai. Hopefully they can pull it together like they have at points in the season, but Jesus.

Janmark, Henrique and Brown need to be sent to the minors as well, good lord. Plays just die with them. Brown is beyond useless again.

I still maintain fixing the goaltending fixes a lot of our ailments.

The way consistent bad goals against affect the psyche is impossible to over state. You lose confidence, you second guess yourself, you panic, you don't take offensive chances, you over chase and lose your structure.

I did an analysis on basically every major goaltending trade in the last 10 years, every single team gets better in terms of not just goaltending, but also in terms of offense generated and chances allowed.

The AVS this year improved by basically 0.7 xGoals per game both offensively and defensively after upgrading to Blackwood for example.

 

[Drivesaitl]

To be honest, I thought they outplayed them for a large portion of the game. Scoring is a serious problem though, second only to tending. The first GA probably should have been a penalty, the guy lost his stick and draped his arms around Drai causing the turnover. Ana scored on every opportunity they had, I wish we could say the same about our bums. But there's something seriously wrong with our secondary scoring and has been like this throughout the McDrai era. Guys come in and shit their pants go elsewhere and get back to how they were. We'd probably be bitching about matching Holloway at this point. It's like everyone just sits back and gives the reins to McDrai. Hopefully they can pull it together like they have at points in the season, but Jesus.

Janmark, Henrique and Brown need to be sent to the minors as well, good lord. Plays just die with them. Brown is beyond useless again.

Brown didn't even resemble an NHL player tonight. Can see what he's doing out there. Not putting himself on the line for anything, gi ving pucks over easy, not working boards. Just a guy trying to look busy and like he's doing something. The only time EV you notice the dog f***er is later in games wheres he's trying fervently to milk a goal or point with the game already decided and opponent just walking the game home.

There is no way in hell this player is leaving it out there. He's trying not to get injured. But somehow figures he's of such value he can play this tentatively. Complete passenger. One of the worst Oilers I've seen in years. This is not a game that got him into the NHL. It couldn't be. He should sit again. Not that it'll wake him up anyway. Guy not even playing for a next contract.

 

[iCanada]

Lowetide will be on the radio tomorrow arguing that GSAA isn't a good stat and that some people much smarter than him told him that 5v5 sv% is all that matters.

Great.

5v5 sv% says we need a new goaltender.

 

[guymez]

Well the first period of this game was a microcosm of the issues with this team. These are issues which were evident in the first 4 weeks of the season and the last 6 weeks of the season.
Thats 2 and a half months of this season where its the same issues over and over and goaltending is only part of that.
In the first period the Oilers outshot the Ducks 14-9.
Of those 9 shots the Ducks had 6...thats right...6...uncontested 10 bell chances.
That is a joke. One of many examples illustrating why stats alone DO NOT tell enough of the story.
The Oilers puck management and D zone coverage was brutal.

It was great that Draisaitl scored (and gave the Oilers a 1 - 0 lead) but he was directly responsible for 2 uncontested 10 bell scoring chances against.
The first one was a turnover just inside the Ducks bluline which resulted in a breakaway....Pickard made a great save on that chance. The 2nd turnover was behind his own net...put the puck right onto the stick of a Ducks player alone (of course) in front of Pickard. No chance for Pickard. Game tied 1 - 1.

The 4th Ducks goal by Mactavish was a statement goal for just how bad this team is defensively.
MacTavish was completely alone out in front of Pickard for a full 5 seconds...not an Oilers player in sight.
How ridiculous.
Poor Pickard.
Brutal puck management...brutal D zone coverage and absolutely no attention to detail at all from this team in the first period. Pickard gets the hook but his teammates are the ones who should be embarrassed.

The 2nd period...more of the same. Anaheim making the Oilers work for their chances...the Oilers gifting chances to the Ducks which is again evident on the 5th Ducks goal.
Strome with a wide open chance in tight.
5-1 Ducks after 2 periods.

No change in the 3rd either...more of the same. The Ducks creating turnovers in the Oilers zone with their forecheck and the Oilers sleepwalking their way through the game.

This team is SO easy to play against that a non playoff team like the Ducks can come into Edmontons barn and kick their ass.

I have said this a 1000 times by now. A new goaltender will NOT solve these problems.
He will at best only temporarily mask them.
Its the players in front of the goalie thats the primary problem.

The Oilers had more puck possession and lots of perimeter shots but that obviously isnt going to get the job done offensively when they are so spectacularily leaky in their own zone.
This team needs a long look in the mirror because right now they just dont care enough to play with structure and a commitment to winning.
Its gut check time because as of right now this team is not a contender....its a pretender.

 

[LevelingSolo]

Bro, all these clowns needed to do was what the entire fanbase was clamouring for.
Dump Kane and Perry, Henrique, McLeod and Ceci

Resign Foegle, Holloway and Broberg

Find a number 1 goaltender

Add at the deadline and be a machine.

Thats all it took

I mean Perry might be the second best forward this year

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Seriously though where the hell was the defense on GA#4? MacTavish could've done a pirouette with his stick out and not hit anyone. That was a classic "This guy scored" goal.

 

[McDrai]

There is something off about this team. Every time we bring in a new coach we get some pretty darn good results for about a year before the team tunes the coach out and plays terribly. Then we bring in a new coach and we go on a tear. Rinse and Repeat. It certainly looks like the players have tuned out the coaching staff at this point. I haven’t seen them look this bad since the start of the 2023/2024 season with Woodcroft at the helm.

 

[iCanada]

The big thing for me - do the trade the goaltender test on every game this year - what happens to our record?

You have to be lying to yourself if you don't emphatically say it skyrockets.

Even tonight - if you swap Dostal with Pickard & Skinner - is the game ever in doubt? Forget about losing, we likely are up 3-0 before the ducks even get a f***ing shot.

 

[Soundwave]

Well the first period of this game was a microcosm of the issues with this team. These are issues which were evident in the first 4 weeks of the season and the last 6 weeks of the season.
Thats 2 and a half months of this season where its the same issues over and over and goaltending is only part of that.
In the first period the Oilers outshot the Ducks 14-9.
Of those 9 shots the Ducks had 6...thats right...6...uncontested 10 bell chances.
That is a joke. One of many examples illustrating why stats alone DO NOT tell enough of the story.
The Oilers puck management and D zone coverage was brutal.

It was great that Draisaitl scored (and gave the Oilers a 1 - 0 lead) but he was directly responsible for 2 uncontested 10 bell scoring chances against.
The first one was a turnover just inside the Ducks bluline which resulted in a breakaway....Pickard made a great save on that chance. The 2nd turnover was behind his own net...put the puck right onto the stick of a Ducks player alone (of course) in front of Pickard. No chance for Pickard. Game tied 1 - 1.

The 4th Ducks goal by Mactavish was a statement goal for just how bad this team is defensively.
MacTavish was completely alone out in front of Pickard for a full 5 seconds...not an Oilers player in sight.
How ridiculous.
Poor Pickard.
Brutal puck management...brutal D zone coverage and absolutely no attention to detail at all from this team in the first period. Pickard gets the hook but his teammates are the ones who should be embarrassed.

The 2nd period...more of the same. Anaheim making the Oilers work for their chances...the Oilers gifting chances to the Ducks which is again evident on the 5th Ducks goal.
Strome with a wide open chance in tight.
5-1 Ducks after 2 periods.

No change in the 3rd either...more of the same. The Ducks creating turnovers in the Oilers zone with their forecheck and the Oilers sleepwalking their way through the game.

This team is SO easy to play against that a non playoff team like the Ducks can come into Edmontons barn and kick their ass.

I have siad this a 1000 times by now. A new goaltender will NOT solve these problems.
He will at best only temporarily mask them.
Its the players in front of the goalie thats the primary problem.

This team needs a long look in the mirror because right now they just dont care enough to play with structure and a commitment to winning.
Its gut check time because as of right now this team is not a contender....its a pretender.

The script is actually the same in many of these games ... it's 1-1 or a tie game and then the goalie for the Oilers lets in a stinker and the team folds.

They are tired ... people underestimate how much a Finals run takes out of you.

The team just doesn't have it to fight back from bad goals any more. Tonight, Pickard let in a stinker on the 2nd and then the 3rd goal was a flukey one, the game was really over right there.

The team was 6th best in GA not that long ago, top 10 defensive team ... riding these goalies has finally hit the "f*** around and find out" stage ... the Oilers front office deserves this. They wanted to see how far they can push it with cheapo goaltending ... well congrats. You cratered the team's confidence and now they are out of sync and don't have any belief or confidence. I hope the front office is happy with themselves.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

To be honest, I thought they outplayed them for a large portion of the game. Scoring is a serious problem though, second only to tending. The first GA probably should have been a penalty, the guy lost his stick and draped his arms around Drai causing the turnover. Ana scored on every opportunity they had, I wish we could say the same about our bums. But there's something seriously wrong with our secondary scoring and has been like this throughout the McDrai era. Guys come in and shit their pants go elsewhere and get back to how they were. We'd probably be bitching about matching Holloway at this point. It's like everyone just sits back and gives the reins to McDrai. Hopefully they can pull it together like they have at points in the season, but Jesus.

Janmark, Henrique and Brown need to be sent to the minors as well, good lord. Plays just die with them. Brown is beyond useless again.

Been saying it all year. We can’t score to save our life because we have no top 6 wingers

 

[AddyTheWrath]

Fix the goaltending and other issues won’t look as bad.

Everything is magnified because almost every mistake ends up in the back of the net. And even plays where there wasn’t a mistake.

You get a save on the go-ahead goal and the Oilers likely take the lead. Then the defense doesn’t have to push. Then the secondary scoring can play more and get into the game. Then the lines aren’t jumbled for the billionth time. Then Savoie gets more ice time. Then the team doesn’t have to take risks.

It all starts in goal. That’s why teams build from the net out.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Missing the playoffs is actually possible.

The Flames are on pace for 90 points. The Oilers need to win 8 out of their last 21 with a OTL mixed in to hit 91.

8 out of 21 seems like an impossibility that’s all they could muster but they’re proving to us they may not do it.

I’m pretty f***ing jaded. Not one GM in the McDrai era has taken goaltending seriously. Not one. These motherf***ers get paid millions to suck complete and full ass at their job meanwhile the vast majority of us struggle to keep our kids fed and a roof over their heads with the cost of living these days. We all knew they needed upgrades in the offseason and instead they f***ed that away. TDL is here abd they’re still saying no goalie cavalry coming.

f*** ‘em. I hope they miss the playoffs because of Jackson & Bowman’s complete ineptness. Clean house, start f***ing over for the bazillionth time but who am I kidding, they’ll f*** that up too.
/rant

 

[Tarus]

Not much to say about the goaltending that hasn't already been said. It's bad, it's not going to get better, and the Oilers have no interest in addressing it this year.

I am concerned with the rest of the team though, they've completely fallen apart since January. We keep hearing the common refrain that "the team is sick" or "that player is sick", but team was badly declining in January and it has only snowballed since. Goaltending is a major deflating issue, but they've been dealing with that bullshit for a decade and now suddenly they can't? They all get back from the break and start playing like a pack of mental midgets to the point the coach is calling them fragile in the media? Not that the coach is exempt in any of this, his questionable lineup choices and favoritism has been a drag on this team all year.

This keeps up, they might actually get another coach fired

 

[MessierThanThou]

McDavid has to be weighing his options at this point.

And the second he goes, the franchise goes with him.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Well the first period of this game was a microcosm of the issues with this team. These are issues which were evident in the first 4 weeks of the season and the last 6 weeks of the season.
Thats 2 and a half months of this season where its the same issues over and over and goaltending is only part of that.
In the first period the Oilers outshot the Ducks 14-9.
Of those 9 shots the Ducks had 6...thats right...6...uncontested 10 bell chances.
That is a joke. One of many examples illustrating why stats alone DO NOT tell enough of the story.
The Oilers puck management and D zone coverage was brutal.

It was great that Draisaitl scored (and gave the Oilers a 1 - 0 lead) but he was directly responsible for 2 uncontested 10 bell scoring chances against.
The first one was a turnover just inside the Ducks bluline which resulted in a breakaway....Pickard made a great save on that chance. The 2nd turnover was behind his own net...put the puck right onto the stick of a Ducks player alone (of course) in front of Pickard. No chance for Pickard. Game tied 1 - 1.

The 4th Ducks goal by Mactavish was a statement goal for just how bad this team is defensively.
MacTavish was completely alone out in front of Pickard for a full 5 seconds...not an Oilers player in sight.
How ridiculous.
Poor Pickard.
Brutal puck management...brutal D zone coverage and absolutely no attention to detail at all from this team in the first period. Pickard gets the hook but his teammates are the ones who should be embarrassed.

The 2nd period...more of the same. Anaheim making the Oilers work for their chances...the Oilers gifting chances to the Ducks which is again evident on the 5th Ducks goal.
Strome with a wide open chance in tight.
5-1 Ducks after 2 periods.

No change in the 3rd either...more of the same. The Ducks creating turnovers in the Oilers zone with their forecheck and the Oilers sleepwalking their way through the game.

This team is SO easy to play against that a non playoff team like the Ducks can come into Edmontons barn and kick their ass.

I have siad this a 1000 times by now. A new goaltender will NOT solve these problems.
He will at best only temporarily mask them.
Its the players in front of the goalie thats the primary problem.

They had more puck possession and lots of perimeter shots but that onviously isnt going to get the job done offensively when they are so spectacularily leaky in their own zone.
This team needs a long look in the mirror because right now they just dont care enough to play with structure and a commitment to winning.
Its gut check time because as of right now this team is not a contender....its a pretender.

I'd say Pickard only let in 1 "bad" goal tonight....that 2-1 goal

1st goal was a brutal Drai giveaway right in the slot
3rd goal was a lucky bounce
4th goal was hilariously bad defense allowing MacTavish to stand all alone in front, without anyone giving a shit about him
5th goal was piss poor backchecking from Drai
6th goal was a breakaway (again)

 

[Drivesaitl]

I’m as angry as I’ve been at this organization in a while. A quick glance at the analytics from last playoffs showed that Janmark, Henrique and Brown were demolished in shots and chances last playoffs, but were only saved by an unsustainable shooting percentage. The team decided to get rid of all its young guys, depth and hitch its wagon to those aging, bad players. I’ve never seen an organization in pro sports ditch their up and coming 23-26 year old players to sign 30+ journeymen who came from bad teams.

This organization was wandering in the desert until it got gifted Mcdavid and Draisaitl, two of the best in the league. They spent the first part of their careers messing around with Chia gutting their ELC and post ELC years. Finally, in their late 20s the team around them slowly came together, only to be gutted by an organization that AGAIN got fooled by small sample percentages- like they did with trading Eberle, trading Strome for Spooner, signing Nurse to 9.25, signing Kassian and bridging Nurse, etc etc. Not to mention that we haven’t had a legit starter since what, 2017? For one year?

We have no prospects or young guys coming up. I don’t care about how you feel about McLeod and Foegele, they’re miles better than our current bottom 6- not to mention Holloway and Broberg. Summer of JJ will go down in infamy, and if this organization loses 97, they deserve every bit of it.

You were one of the few other posters seeing and saying this in realtime. Those of us that did got blasted from the fanbase here for outing the offseason and how awful it was. It was clown management and decisions .

Why would a team lose several of its top prospects just to load up on tired retirement guys? We're seeing the results of that.

This postseason I have a harder time believing that the two pillars of this club are just going to be busting their backs for what this roster is. From start of season I was seeing frowns from Hyman, Nuge, Wondered what that was about but I figure they saw it as a beyond monumental task this season. You can't lose the youth and speed and jam players we lost and come out of it well.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

The script is actually the same in many of these games ... it's 1-1 or a tie game and then the goalie for the Oilers lets in a stinker and the team folds.

They are tired ... people underestimate how much a Finals run takes out of you.

The team just doesn't have it to fight back from bad goals any more. Tonight, Pickard let in a stinker on the 2nd and then the 3rd goal was a flukey one, the game was really over right there.

The team was 6th best in GA not that long ago, top 10 defensive team ... riding these goalies has finally hit the "f*** around and find out" stage ... the Oilers front office deserves this. They wanted to see how far they can push it with cheapo goaltending ... well congrats. You cratered the team's confidence and now they are out of sync and don't have any belief or confidence. I hope the front office is happy with themselves.

I mean Florida went to back to back finals. Tampa went to 3 straight. I don’t buy it. I think it’s more old roster and regressing players.

A quote I really liked in late 2019/ early 2020 was from Victor Hedman.

During a Capitals vs Bolts game he said “they have what we want” it was in answer to what motivates him everyday

In 2020 regular season Tampa played with their hearts on their sleeves.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

So you try Rodrigue next game now, right? At minimum?