Post-Game Talk: Oilers win by the Skin of their teeth

[iCanada]

It was a near perfect shot, but dear god Skinner's movement was men's rec league-esque.

He's struggling to stay square up to shots. It was the same on the GTG, where he's in the butterfly but is only covering a quarter of the net as his entire body is facing the corner.

Idk man, I'm pretty sure @tardigrade81 gets a blocker on that...

 

[nexttothemoon]

We all knew the goaltending was going to be average/mediocre at best and the team would have to outscore the issues in net.

I felt that the D would be decent because I thought Emberson+Stecher was no worse than Ceci/Desharnais/Broberg going out. Maybe I somewhat undervalued Broberg because it looks like he's doing pretty well on the Blues. Overall though the Oilers D is the least of the concerns this season.

Offense I figured would take a down step with the goals moving out of the roster and not a lot moving in and likely regression from players like Hyman (and Henrique playing in the bottom 6 wouldn't produce a lot).

So far it looks like a tougher year offensively BUT some solid signs lately that the Oilers might be developing some goal scoring ability... 11 in the last 2 games is a good sign at least.

Can't really afford to have the PK and the goalies as weak links though... especially with the PP still mediocre... but if the 5 on 5 goals start coming with more regularity... that's at least some positivity for this team going forward.

 

[iCanada]

Huh...that looks to me like it's not the lack of demi-god PKers McLeod, Ceci, Broberg et al

What could it be? I wonder...

Must be that we're missing Desharnais. Couldn't be our save percentage that starts with a .6

 

[Soundwave]

The very first highlight is Nurse scoring on a nothing shot from the point, lmao.

He then killed us in that game. That was an eye opener, I'm not surprised he is breaking out, we had a look at it two years ago and probably could've had him for peanuts a year ago, of course our management is never smart enough to do something like that in net.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

He then killed us in that game. That was an eye opener, I'm not surprised he is breaking out, we had a look at it two years ago and probably could've had him for peanuts a year ago, of course our management is never smart enough to do something like that in net.

Some goalies play better in different environments. Bring him here and he will be Dust-al.

 

[Gordy Elbows]

Skinner's numbers after the Oilers started 2-9-1 last year:

View attachment 930002

his numbers from Nov 11th until the end of the season:

View attachment 930003

hopefully he can recover like last year

Definitely better numbers but I think it also speaks to the improvement in the defensive play of the team, especially after December last year.
While we would all love to have those numbers regularly, our tenders are too inconsistent during a season to deliver like that.
It truly is a case of needing to outscore the opposition.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

He then killed us in that game. That was an eye opener, I'm not surprised he is breaking out, we had a look at it two years ago and probably could've had him for peanuts a year ago, of course our management is never smart enough to do something like that in net.

But even if we got him, he'd get Schwartz'ed.

 

[CupofOil]

No we seemed like the better team with the worse goalie most of the time.

You don’t need a number 1 goalie to get better than 70th in the league goaltending.

Skinner outdueled Oettinger and the Oilers couldn't score for shit in the Florida losses so I disagree with your assessment.

Regardless, if you have a clear upgrade on Skinner that the Oilers can bring in at a reasonable cost I'm all ears because I'm not seeing any.

 

[rboomercat90]

This one?

View attachment 929993

lol, I could watch this stupid thing for hours.

 

[Soundwave]

Some goalies play better in different environments. Bring him here and he will be Dust-al.

Or we're the laziest team in the NHL for looking for/developing goalies.

In the McDavid era the best goalie we had was one Glen Sather gifted to us for nothing as a favor.

They then looked at some doofus in the KHL that no one else in the NHL wanted and decided he was the answer. Then they hired Tippett so why not just bring along the 38 year old goalie Tippett is best buds with because they didn't want to bother trading Koskinen and needed someone dirt cheap.

Stolarz they had but they didn't give him a chance, had he been born in Edmonton with a fun mustache he probably would've gotten 83434839489 starts here, but nope, cya.

Then they "tried real hard" and bet their piggy bank on ... Jack Campbell, probably largely in part because he's Zack Hyman's buddy.

When that blew up in their face they turned and anointed Stuart Skinner the next Grant Fuhr because he's from the Edmonton area and has a mustache.

This front office doesn't even try when it comes to helping McDavid out in net.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Idk man, I'm pretty sure @tardigrade81 gets a blocker on that...

He prob does the splits and deflects that puck with a Teen burger in his right hand.

 

[McDrai]

Bit of an odd game. The big boys did most of the heavy lifting with McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard and Ekholm outshooting the whole Islanders team 24-22. This should have been a comfortable win as we had full control with a 3-1 lead half way through the third but Skinner had other plans.

I think most of us can agree that we really need a starting goalie THIS season. Skinner is not going to cut it. Where do we get this starting goalie from will be the difficult question. All I know is that we can’t continue going on like this, trying to win in spite of our goalie. It is massively deflating when the forwards and defense know that they can’t make ANY mistakes as every mistake will end up in the back of the net.

 

[TKB21]

Look how long it took him to move loolllll.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1856559578378575962

I legit stand by what I’ve been saying, my 13 year old moves faster with his lateral movements then Stu the sloth Skinner.

 

[Ibanez]

He’s just a solid player. Very simple game doesn’t do anything flashy just plays strong, hard nosed D.

I really loved on the second goal when the whole team was puck watching he was yelling at them trying to direct traffic. Hopefully as the season goes on they start listening to him more.

There was one zone exit tonight that was really good. Took it with confidence and used his speed to beat a player and get it out of harms way. That shows a player evolving to use the skills they have. Don’t try and be who you aren’t

 

[Stoneman89]

I’ll just leave this here

View attachment 930000

How does Hill look so great against us every time we play them and yet, that save % means he sucks against the rest of the league. Baffling.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

I legit stand by what I’ve been saying, my 13 year old moves faster with his lateral movements then the Stu the sloth Skinner.

What boggles my mind there, is that STU movies TOWARDS the shooter. He does not move laterally to his right post

He moves to 2 o clock first and then to 5 o clock lol

His first move is actually to face the passer even more..It's mindboggling when you watch it even slower. He then gets stuck.

 

[Stoneman89]

Because some teams can draft and develop goalies while others rely on the goalie coach from their nearby WHL team.

It certainly helps when said goalie coach has some in with the owner , or so I've heard.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

I also didn't even realize Leon is tied with Reinhart for 12 goals and the league lead

 

[Ibanez]

I also didn't even realize Leon is tied with Reinhart for 12 goals and the league lead

Hopefully MvP season incoming.

I think the Stanley cup loss really stung. The man is on a mission

 

[Tarus]

I think our D is at least as good as last season. Stecher can play and Emberson is rounding into form and establishing himself with some hitting and low event play.

We're seeing stupendous play from Ekholm, Kulak, Stecher going forward, Booch starting to get untracked,

I don't think the D is the problem. The problem is obvious and has been for a long time. Even in an excellent shot suppression chance suppression game Skinner gives up 3 and is luckly on posts and crossbar. On 22shots. Ridiculous goalie.

It's not really that the D is a problem, but more a season long outlook about where this team is going.

Kulak is playing top 4 minutes, a role he's only ever been able to be effective at for short burst, and Stecher is playing 13 mins a night on the bottom pairing, which is about the most you can ask for from a rather flawed player. They're fine where they are right now and aren't causing problems, but I'm not really ready to check them off as "good enough" to take a run at the cup in their current roles when the games get tough. When you get into the playoffs and start playing against closely matched opponents, weak links(Bear a few years ago, the hitch in Woodcroft's system a couple of years ago) become exploitable liabilities that make the difference in 7 game series. Having another guy in the top 4 to push everyone into their idealized lineup role would make this team better, even accounting for the fact that the Oilers are already looking like they have morphed into one of the elite defensive teams in the NHL under Knoblauch.

No disagreement on S.Skinner though, he's been bad all year. If he was even playing at a mediocre level, a bunch of the games the Oilers played this year wouldn't have even been close, yet they're dominating and still barely scraping out wins if not outright losing.

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

Skinner outdueled Oettinger and the Oilers couldn't score for shit in the Florida losses so I disagree with your assessment.

Regardless, if you have a clear upgrade on Skinner that the Oilers can bring in at a reasonable cost I'm all ears because I'm not seeing any.

The Oilers scored 23 goals against Florida and had 18 goals scored against. Florida also had games where they had problems scoring and they were playing against Skinner. The missing whistles in the final game had a lot to do with the 2-1 loss. We probably got Skinnered in the game three loss when it mattered.

I agree that it will be difficult getting an established replacement for Skinner.

 

[syz]

We all knew the goaltending was going to be average/mediocre at best and the team would have to outscore the issues in net.

I felt that the D would be decent because I thought Emberson+Stecher was no worse than Ceci/Desharnais/Broberg going out. Maybe I somewhat undervalued Broberg because it looks like he's doing pretty well on the Blues. Overall though the Oilers D is the least of the concerns this season.

Offense I figured would take a down step with the goals moving out of the roster and not a lot moving in and likely regression from players like Hyman (and Henrique playing in the bottom 6 wouldn't produce a lot).

So far it looks like a tougher year offensively BUT some solid signs lately that the Oilers might be developing some goal scoring ability... 11 in the last 2 games is a good sign at least.

Can't really afford to have the PK and the goalies as weak links though... especially with the PP still mediocre... but if the 5 on 5 goals start coming with more regularity... that's at least some positivity for this team going forward.

Broberg has a 1.052 PDO that he most definitely would not have playing in front of Skinner.

 

[Soundwave]

There was one zone exit tonight that was really good. Took it with confidence and used his speed to beat a player and get it out of harms way. That shows a player evolving to use the skills they have. Don’t try and be who you aren’t

Emberson is a fair replacement for Ceci at 1/3 the cost. Desharnais sucks, people are just getting a sober view of that now.

Signing Skinner and Henrique over taking care of the RFA guys in the summer will probably remain the far bigger issue.

It's not really that the D is a problem, but more a season long outlook about where this team is going.

Kulak is playing top 4 minutes, a role he's only ever been able to be effective at for short burst, and Stecher is playing 13 mins a night on the bottom pairing, which is about the most you can ask for from a rather flawed player. They're fine where they are right now and aren't causing problems, but I'm not really ready to check them off as "good enough" to take a run at the cup in their current roles when the games get tough. When you get into the playoffs and start playing against closely matched opponents, weak links(Bear a few years ago, the hitch in Woodcroft's system a couple of years ago) become exploitable liabilities that make the difference in 7 game series. Having another guy in the top 4 to push everyone into their idealized lineup role would make this team better, even accounting for the fact that the Oilers are already looking like they have morphed into one of the elite defensive teams in the NHL under Knoblauch.

No disagreement on S.Skinner though, he's been bad all year. If he was even playing at a mediocre level, a bunch of the games the Oilers played this year wouldn't have even been close, yet they're dominating and still barely scraping out wins if not outright losing.

Knoublaugh/Coffey are the defensive upgrade.

People thinking it was actually because Ceci and Desharnais .... give your head a shake.

 

[Spawn]

Skinner outdueled Oettinger and the Oilers couldn't score for shit in the Florida losses so I disagree with your assessment.

Regardless, if you have a clear upgrade on Skinner that the Oilers can bring in at a reasonable cost I'm all ears because I'm not seeing any.

There are about ~50 goalies in the league who would be a clear upgrade on Skinner.

 

[Cloned]

He’s just a solid player. Very simple game doesn’t do anything flashy just plays strong, hard nosed D.

I really loved on the second goal when the whole team was puck watching he was yelling at them trying to direct traffic. Hopefully as the season goes on they start listening to him more.

You know who he’s starting to remind me of?

Prime Steve Staios.