Post-Game Talk: Oilers lose Duck Hunt

[KCC]

Solid effort but this team has struggled to score with McDrai in the line up all season so there was no way this line up was cranking out more than a couple again. The game where Nuge went off was an anomaly. Rodrigue also was not great either despite barely facing 20 shots. That third goal was a back breaker. Some real Skinner type stuff where the team needed a save and they didn't get it. But it was his first start so it's fine. Tough to win when you can't score.

 

[dssource]

Just finished the game.

How many games did Gudas get for that clear hit to the head?

And how many games did the refs get? Or did they just get fired like they should have been?

Can we forfeit the last 5 games please?

 

[foshizzle]

I think Kapanens over after that play uphigh leading to the breakaway and the winning goal. That play can't happen to a guy that hasn't scored in months. He can't be beat on that play last man back. If anything take the penalty, haul him down, ducks have a shit PP anyway. We probably get more chances to score on Ducks PP. But to lose puck there, get worked clean, and the guy gets a breakaway and scores. Its all on Kapanen.

I wanted this player to work but its done. This sealed it.

Don’t be surprised if you see him in the top 6 next game again

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Don’t be surprised if you see him in the top 6 next game again

Skinner needs to be taught a lesson for what he did.

 

[Juxta Position]

Personally I don’t need to see the same opinion from the same person(s) repeated dozens of times per day ad nauseam. Say it once or twice - fine. Derail every single thread with the same opinion posted a bazillion times every day - that’s a block.

That’s not a message board. That’s one or two guys shouting above everyone else and that’s why God made the block button.

Fair enough.

 

[bucks_oil]

The team is not as good as last year, full stop. both GF and GA are worse than last year. Their PP and PK are also statistically worse than last year.

There's also that tiny matter between the pipes which you didn't seem to address for some reason.

I want to win the Stanley Cup. McDavid deserves at least one. Hopefully they deliver it.

We all want a cup. We just aren't all complaining about it not happening until, you know... it doesn't actually happen.

Your first sentence above is 100% accurate. But it's also true that we HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO ICE OUR BEST LINEUP ONCE. Our roster is greatly improved vs last year, but injuries haven't allowed us to utilize it yet. This is not "glass half full" it's simply fact.

You ignoring that (you didn't address it at all) is a self-inflicted cognitive bias.

All of these things are true:
Walman >= Broberg and >> Ceci
Emberson > Desharnais
Skinner << Holloway
Arvidsson >> McLeod
Frederic >> Foegele
Kane back >> no Kane at all

There has been some regression, as you note, our goaltending has not been as strong even though the personnel is the same... but the majority of our changes to the roster have been good ones. If you want to be objective, and maybe you don't, but if you want to be objective it's tough to look at the above and say we are worse off than last year.

You used the word hope above... and it's a good one. We are resting our stars right now (I'm not convinced these injuries would be unplayable in normal circumstances) and our role players are sawing off competition. All of this bodes well for the playoffs... the only season that matters.

 

[bucks_oil]

Solid effort but this team has struggled to score with McDrai in the line up all season so there was no way this line up was cranking out more than a couple again. The game where Nuge went off was an anomaly. Rodrigue also was not great either despite barely facing 20 shots. That third goal was a back breaker. Some real Skinner type stuff where the team needed a save and they didn't get it. But it was his first start so it's fine. Tough to win when you can't score.

The top corner snipe on the breakaway? That's your "backbreaker"? Good grief!

Also this "team needed a save" is loser mentality, I've never played on a good team that actually thought that way. Is the goalie permitted to be mentally deflated when his team misses an assignment? No... then why does the team get to fold when the goalie misses a breakaway (which traditionally are 50:50 by the way... and that includes times when the player doesn't complete their A move, or flubs their spot... which clearly McTavish didn't)

Monday (one good one-timer, two well executed breakaways) is a perfect example why you can't judge SPCT on a game-by-game basis... its classic tyranny of small numbers. In a twenty shot game, one event skews the numbers too much... it's the difference between 0.850 and 0.900. Sometimes that one event is a mistake by the goalie and you could pass judgment and other times it's a perfectly placed, unstoppable shot.

Thus you are far better off actually judging the events themselves, there were only three to look at. You could maybe assign partial blame to Rodrigue on the first goal... his rebound led to a (far worse) bad clearing attempt, which led to the well-executed one timer.

Also... why aren't we talking about Kapanen's horrendous giveaway which actually led to that breakaway... you can't do that in a tie game.

 

[bucks_oil]

I think Kapanens over after that play uphigh leading to the breakaway and the winning goal. That play can't happen to a guy that hasn't scored in months. He can't be beat on that play last man back. If anything take the penalty, haul him down, ducks have a shit PP anyway. We probably get more chances to score on Ducks PP. But to lose puck there, get worked clean, and the guy gets a breakaway and scores. Its all on Kapanen.

I wanted this player to work but its done. This sealed it.

Oh!

I see we ARE talking about that play.

100% agree. 0-self awareness on that play. Kapanen, you are NOT skilled enough to attempt to dangle two guys, last man back.... leave that to the guys who have the talent to occasionally succeed on that type of risky play (and even they need to pick their spots).

 

[K1984]

Oh!

I see we ARE talking about that play.

100% agree. 0-self awareness on that play. Kapanen, you are NOT skilled enough to attempt to dangle two guys, last man back.... leave that to the guys who have the talent to occasionally succeed on that type of risky play (and even they need to pick their spots).

The fact that that play is even possible at this point is mind blowing in the sense that it shouldn't be possible that stupid, preventable errors like that can still occur with this frequency after this many months of it.

The stupid east/west plays high in the offensive zone in one goal games just will not stop with this group. Wack a mole on who the culprit is too.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Bolded is where I'm at.

Ditto. I'll just copy somebody elses answer.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I was merely pointing out how a large contingent of posters on this board want nothing more than to bitch and complain and it seems like they are almost happy when the team is struggling so they can revel in their own misery, and try to pass that misery off to others. Because the second the team is rolling along, those same people disappear. It's exhausting, and they need to be called out on it.

I liked your other post more. Its just reactions, and for me its often enough just venting. The team sometimes frustrates me and talking about is a release valve. Can't speak for others but how I get a bad Oilers game out of my system is talking about it.

We also never know what other posters might be having to deal with in their own lives at any one moment and we know that right now its not just hockey thats a concern. April has been an extremely bad month for most people, for a number of reasons.

So with that if anybody is having a particularly emotional or pronounced reaction thats actually OK. As long as that reaction isn't flaming other posters here. If its talking about the team, the players, its all OK to me.

 

[Kelevra]

We all want a cup. We just aren't all complaining about it not happening until, you know... it doesn't actually happen.

Your first sentence above is 100% accurate. But it's also true that we HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO ICE OUR BEST LINEUP ONCE. Our roster is greatly improved vs last year, but injuries haven't allowed us to utilize it yet. This is not "glass half full" it's simply fact.

You ignoring that (you didn't address it at all) is a self-inflicted cognitive bias.

All of these things are true:
Walman >= Broberg and >> Ceci
Emberson > Desharnais
Skinner << Holloway
Arvidsson >> McLeod
Frederic >> Foegele
Kane back >> no Kane at all

There has been some regression, as you note, our goaltending has not been as strong even though the personnel is the same... but the majority of our changes to the roster have been good ones. If you want to be objective, and maybe you don't, but if you want to be objective it's tough to look at the above and say we are worse off than last year.

You used the word hope above... and it's a good one. We are resting our stars right now (I'm not convinced these injuries would be unplayable in normal circumstances) and our role players are sawing off competition. All of this bodes well for the playoffs... the only season that matters.

This years version of Skinner is better than last years version of Holloway. The main thing is health. Is Ekholm healthy enough to be as good as last year? Is Mcd?

That and can we get above 900 tending. If not everything else doesn't really matter.

 

[Stoneman89]

I think Kapanens over after that play uphigh leading to the breakaway and the winning goal. That play can't happen to a guy that hasn't scored in months. He can't be beat on that play last man back. If anything take the penalty, haul him down, ducks have a shit PP anyway. We probably get more chances to score on Ducks PP. But to lose puck there, get worked clean, and the guy gets a breakaway and scores. Its all on Kapanen.

I wanted this player to work but its done. This sealed it.

I never needed to see that play from him for confirmation.. I've wanted him gone for some time now, but the injuries keep piling up and the team really has no choice due to lack of proper depth and a dire cap situation. So he's a lucky guy to be in an NHL lineup at this point. I learned a while ago (and I'm sure it's the same stuff that has seduced NHL scouts and orgs), that while he has above average skill, shot and skating, he has a 10 cent hockey brain, and not a whole lot of compete to maximize those skills. I really think he'll be in a Euro league next year to finish out his career.

 

[Stoneman89]

This years version of Skinner is better than last years version of Holloway. The main thing is health. Is Ekholm healthy enough to be as good as last year? Is Mcd?

That and can we get above 900 tending. If not everything else doesn't really matter.

I'd add Kulak in there as well. He played extremely well last playoffs and sucked up some important minutes. He's been a shell of that for a while now, and they really need him to pick up his game again, if he's able.

 

[K1984]

I'd add Kulak in there as well. He played extremely well last playoffs and sucked up some important minutes. He's been a shell of that for a while now, and they really need him to pick up his game again, if he's able.

Kulak is another victim of the 4 Nations.

Playing the best hockey of his career leading up, then cratered after with no return yet to similar form. Emberson is right there with him to an even greater degree, so I'm not certain if he's victim of Emberson going south, Emberson is a victim of Kulak going south, or if its a combo of both. Just unfortunate no matter which way you slice it.

 

[bucks_oil]

The fact that that play is even possible at this point is mind blowing in the sense that it shouldn't be possible that stupid, preventable errors like that can still occur with this frequency after this many months of it.

The stupid east/west plays high in the offensive zone in one goal games just will not stop with this group. Wack a mole on who the culprit is too.

100% agreed and it is exhibit A why our goalies might not be quite as bad as their SPCT indicates.

I am in no way excusing our goalies, they haven't been great... we've all seen that.

But they also are playing behind a high possession team, that shot suppresses very well... until they completely brain-fart and give up a breakaway or 2-1. That's a recipe for a poor SPCT even if you are playing well (again, they aren't... but the point still stands).

 

[bucks_oil]

This years version of Skinner is better than last years version of Holloway. The main thing is health. Is Ekholm healthy enough to be as good as last year? Is Mcd?

That and can we get above 900 tending. If not everything else doesn't really matter.

Good points.

 

[harpoon]

Arvidsson >> McLeod
Frederic >> Foegele

These two are certainly debatable.