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

[Thomas Tatar]

 

[Cloned]

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

The most impressive thing about it this year is he’s not scoring as many PP goals.

 

[Oilhawks]

View attachment 930013

 

[Cloned]

Imma need sum context

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

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.

He did amazing against Dallas for sure. We also almost lost to the Canucks because he was getting outplayed by a 3rd stringer.

You can disagree all you want but a 901 sv% isn’t good. (And that was light years better than his performance the year before) When’s the last time a team won the cup with goaltending like that? I guess the Avs did with Kuemper. That team was unbelievable though.

I doubt we go that far with below average goaltending again. It just rarely happens.

As for goalies. Look at the 69 goalies currently playing better than him.

 

[Thomas Tatar]

Imma need sum context

He failed me miserably.

 

[JordanGalhanth]

I honestly feel for Skinner and want to like him. The "hometown kid goes far" angle would've been such a fantastic storyline for last year.

But this year, the weak goals - combined with lashing out at the end of the Vancouver game - are making it downright impossible to trust him.

 

[Cloned]

He failed me miserably.

lol, I was referring to the gif itself.

 

[foshizzle]

He did amazing against Dallas for sure. We also almost lost to the Canucks because he was getting outplayed by a 3rd stringer.

You can disagree all you want but a 901 sv% isn’t good. (And that was light years better than his performance the year before) When’s the last time a team won the cup with goaltending like that?

I doubt we go that far with below average goaltending again. It just rarely happens.

As for goalies. Look at the 69 goalies currently playing better than him.

If you look at his cumulative playoff last year- he is still amongst the worst goalies ever (if not dead last) to play atleast 20 playoff games. If it wasn’t for Pickard- Oilers would have been out in the second game.

Skinner has the worst lateral movement I have ever witnessed in a goalie. He also has horrendous anticipation. He overcommits and has no clue where the danger areas are.

 

[Cloned]

I honestly feel for Skinner and want to like him. The "hometown kid goes far" angle would've been such a fantastic storyline for last year.

But this year, the weak goals - combined with lashing out at the end of the Vancouver game - are making it downright impossible to trust him.

It’s bad.

Basically on any play that requires agility or quick movement you expect a goal against and it’s a shock if he actually makes the save.

It’s why a career AHLer like Pickard actually looks athletic in comparison.

 

[foshizzle]

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.

You didn’t underestimate Broberg- the ice is tilted in the oppositions favour when he is on the ice. The Oilers defence has actually been very good.

I agree with you on the offence. I still don’t like Draisaitl playing with 2 wingers who have a combined 2 goals (with Podz having 0) while Draisaitl has 12. Signing J Skinner to play him on the 4th line and losing Holloway who could play up and down the lineup just seems incredibly stupid right now

 

[Spawn]

It’s bad.

Basically on any play that requires agility or quick movement you expect a goal against and it’s a shock if he actually makes the save.

He's also the antithesis of clutch.

Oilers go up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go. Oilers limit the Islanders to 3 shots the rest of the game. Two of them are goals against.

 

[Cloned]

He's also the antithesis of clutch.

Oilers go up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go. Oilers limit the Islanders to 3 shots the rest of the game. Two of them are goals against.

That 3rd shot that didn’t go in directly led to a goal against too.

 

[Soundwave]

You didn’t underestimate Broberg- the ice is tilted in the oppositions favour when he is on the ice. The Oilers defence has actually been very good.

I agree with you on the offence. I still don’t like Draisaitl playing with 2 wingers who have a combined 2 goals (with Podz having 0) while Draisaitl has 12. Signing J Skinner to play him on the 4th line and losing Holloway who could play up and down the lineup just seems incredibly stupid right now

Obviously in hindsight now, signing Broberg should have been priority one, the second his camp offered 1.8, you take that and run and then you lock up Holloway for about 1.5.

Henrique was probably another "nice to have, but not really a must have" add. It was more a sugar rush of "look at all these signings!".

Ceci out, Emberson in for 1/3 the cost has been a good move.

 

[Spawn]

That 3rd shot that didn’t go in directly led to a goal against too.

Yep. Kicked out a weak rebound right to the Islander player who scored the goal.

 

[CrazyJoeDavola]

Awesome ot! Drai #12!

Skins is a below average backup!

Let's get a legit starting goaltender please!

He's behind in all of the reads this year. Slow to react, puck watching and not scanning the ice for off puck threats. It's crazy. If you look at all these goals, you can see his brain is scrambled and two steps behind

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He's also the antithesis of clutch.

Oilers go up 3-1 with 10 minutes to go. Oilers limit the Islanders to 3 shots the rest of the game. Two of them are goals against.

They hit the bar too, not sure if it was in the last 10 minutes or not but I'm pretty sure it was in the 3rd period. We should be hunting for a goaltending upgrade. We need a goalie that can get hot and shut teams out from standing on his head periodically.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

He's behind in all of the reads this year. Slow to react, puck watching and not scanning the ice for off puck threats. It's crazy. If you look at all these goals, you can see his brain is scrambled and two steps behind

His puck handling has also been worse than I recall.

 

[iCanada]

That 3rd shot that didn’t go in directly led to a goal against too.

And you know... the Islanders only actually got to have possession of the puck for that third shot he kicked out directly for a rebound into a goal because he failed to retrieve the dump in and his defenseman backed off assuming he'd get it.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Too close for comfort. no business going to OT.

Islanders have a NHL starter
Oilers have a guy with a cool mustache.

We are so f***ed with him in net. Forget upgrading the D. Goalie should be #1 priority.

 

[McFlyingV]

I've said it before and I'll say it again Kulak-Emberson is a championship winning bottom pair if this team can get more consistent goaltending and a quality partner for Nurse. Kulak has been awesome like he always is during the playoffs, and its really starting to become apparent why Emberson's defensive metrics were so good. He doesn't create a lot offensively atm, but can make a clean breakout pass. However, he suppresses high danger chances extremely well. I could see glimpses of it in the preseason his defensive hockey IQ, but he had a sloppy preseason and start to the year. Well the rust is off and he's playing excellent low event shutdown hockey and brings some physicality to boot.

Another shoutout to Perry who is providing excellent 4th line minutes. His hands have looked great around the net this year creating a lot of chances out of nothing. He brings a pest aspect. He doesn't look nearly as slow as he did last year. He keeps this up and our 4th line just might make an impact this year especially if Philp can push his way in there later in the year.

Some other pluses from the past 2 games is Draisaitl is back to just being automatic with his shot, and McDavid is back looking dangerous all over the ice. I never questioned these two, but I know a lot of people on here did.

And then the bad. I hate to be negative about it after a win, but I just really don't think Skinner's the guy. The inconsistency and the way he gets exposed on east-west plays is starting to become too much of a problem to ignore. I think you have to seriously consider looking for a rental goalie at the deadline. A top 4D and a good veteran goalie at the deadline and I would be extremely content. Forward group doesn't need anything. Janmark, Brown and Henrique have all started to find their legs again. Arvidsson has been great lately. Hyman and Nuge are starting to snap out of their funk. Skinner is in a bit of a funk recently after a great start, but will eventually find a permanent role. With Kane back it bumps a guy down the lineup. The forward group should be firing on all cylinders by playoff time and there might not even been enough roster spots for Janmark, Perry, Podkolzin, Philp, and Ryan on the 4th line which is a great problem to have.

 

[Drivesaitl]

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.

Understood. Proviso with this kind of goaltending team isn't getting out of division. People will say a lot that the team got to cup with Skinner but very clearly for the most part they got that far despite him. The only argument for Skinner could be made in Dallas series but Stars are a strange club that way. They go cold on their own sometimes. Agreed that Kulak and Stecher probably can't have these roles indefinitely. I see the Oilers as a 2nd round team. Probably going out in 2nd round. Unless we get some goaltending.

But theres other roster problems here and the offseason really didn't address any of them. Thats becoming more clear now but it was my view all along. J Skinner, Arviddson, players like that may be good enough for also rans. But their players that add very little in tight checking games and Skinner has never been in playoffs. From a forward Pov team is a bit easier to play against. Thing is what you said about the D applies to a lot of our grizzled support vets. When we need them most they may be tiring. All of Janmark, Brown etc have been giving the team more this season but how long can they do that?

Man, without a dozen goals by Drai, and 4 game winners were in a world of hurt.

 

[Oilhawks]

Imma need sum context

Don't ask me, I found it in a Google search

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Don't ask me, I found it in a Google search

That is most definitely going on my tombstone.

 

[Drivesaitl]

20% of season is done and RNH is running Janmark production. The only difference is 5X the pay and Nuge being on first unit PP and first line mostly and Janmark getting all his pts without any PP time or topsix time. Really its embarrassing how nothing RNH has been. He's not even being 200ft solid and he's taken some bad penalties.

The reality is Janmark has been much better than Nuge this season. How can that even happen?

Henrique really struggling. Nothing going for him. So many of our forwards really having off years. Sure more will come but we're significantly into season now and only two forwards that have more than 3 goals. Just abysmal.