Post-Game Talk: Smiling Stu Shutouts x 2!

[MessierThanThou]

Stu is an enigma wrapped in a riddle. Never seen anything like it in my life. Just crazy.

Same! Just when I thought his time with the Oilers was over, he becomes a brick f***ing wall and earns serious and deserving comparisons to CUJO. I have no clue how a goalie can be THIS good after playing THAT bad, other than maybe he's very positively reactive to a tight defensive game and chaos will get him rattled? But then I realize his ridiculously impressive record in Games 4 to 7 and it tells me it has to all be mental. He even moves faster.

One game you can call a fluke, but two consecutive games where he's allowed zero goals on over twenty shots can't be argued. Like I said before, if he can be hypnotized into thinking every Game is a Game 4 to 7, he'll be invincible!

 

[Drivesaitl]

Don't know why the NHL doesn't promote the Oilers more. You have NBA legends like Barkley and Shaq rooting for us. Fands love superstars and there's none bigger in hockey than Mcdavid. Instead they want to focus on sunbelt teams, Matthews and Bedard.

Think CBC, Rogers, and Toronto, in no particular order. One has to understand the zeitgeist of Canada to understand.

Nothing good EVER comes out of the prairies, nothing. Thats the view and if you go down East you get to feel and experience that view first hand. We're just hicks up here that should take the crumbs we get and shut up.

So that even the Gretzky/Mess/Coffey/Kurri/Anderson/Fuhr Oilers were looked off. Only a few like Bob Cole, Dick Irwin, and Howie Meeker gave that club its regard. All of Eastern Canada would be talking about the Leafs or Habs.

The other aspect is that the NHL has always had contempt for the WHA merger clubs and one can argue it never really went away. The NHL always irked by any success of any of the Former WHA squads. To the NHL's view they did everything possible at merger entry draft to make the WHA clubs look far worse than any NHL club and they didn't succeed. That fomented such disgust they even moved 3 of those clubs and wanted the 4th, the Edmonton Oilers, moved as well. The NHL had wanted to erase ANY trace of the former WHA that they hated.

A lot of younger posters wouldn't know all the back history.

Harold Ballard: "That Wayne Gretzky kid won't survive one year in the NHL" He actually said that and on it went. The NHL so disgusted in Wayne owning the league they refused him Rookie of the year award AND gave the Hart Trophy to Marcel Dionne instead of Wayne. They HATE us!.

 

[K1984]

Not just the main forum. The media are just as ignorant. Dallas will be “ deeper” just watch if they advance . Most are clueless honestly

At this point I'm pretty sure that every single team we have played in the playoffs has been purportedly "deeper" than the Oilers and those nice looking names on the 4th line are the reason the other team will win. Yet we're 8-3 in series since 2022. It's just utter nonsense.

Just like almost every series, it is won or lost based on:

- Which team's best players win the inevitable matchup against the other team's best players

- Which team wins on special teams

- Which team gets the saves when they really need it

"Jason Robertson is on the 3rd line!" or "Jamie Benn is on the 4th line" is completely irrelevant. For such a deep team it is odd that they only have really had one player driving offence for them since the playoffs started.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not so sure about the assessment of Vegas not battling. Game last night went to OT, and every inch of ice was hotly contested.

Still glad we knocked their sorry ass out!

Battling is usually associated with scoring. Almost everybody in the Oilers lineup dug down deep and got to goals. Goals in playoffs usually requiring that degree of extra effort, of better plays, of determination.

Vegas failed to even score a goal in the last 7periods leading to their elimination. They whimpered and died. The OT is a bit of illusion as the Oilers just played the tidy road game because they knew eventually if they did they would bag the winner. Somebody would. Not scoring for 7periods in a row is inept. YOur top 5 goal scorers all regular season not have even ONE goal among them in the series is utterly inept. Its laughable.

This was basically similar to Oilers going down to Winnipeg in the Covid season. But THAT club had the excuse of youth and still not knowing completely how hard playoffs can be. The Vegas club have no such excuse. With respect to Karlsson and Smith they can't be your best players in a series, if they are the others should look in the mirror.

The Knights earned contempt, again, in that series.

 

[CornKicker]

13F and 3 d have scored in 11 games, no one can say the oilers dont have any depth

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Vegas was a good team. I don’t like this narrative forming that they were some Minnesota Wild-esque patsy.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not just the main forum. The media are just as ignorant. Dallas will be “ deeper” just watch if they advance . Most are clueless honestly

Sure. We know it will occur and be stated.

But theres something else, and there is with any team that goes on SC rolls. Its the buy in. You can have any roster you like but if the room, the whole room, isn't buying in it doesn't get there, it doesn't ever get there, and I can Cite Maple Leafs basically anytime, any version for near 60yrs.

The belief is the biggest ingredient. Players like McD and Drai sell that belief. You see it in all the players eyes how much they want it. You see the fire. I wasn't a fan of Connor Brown but his eyes are glowing redhot on the bench. This group wants this so so bad, and they want it for themselves but for the greatest players in hockey, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl and they take a particular disregard to the press naysayers.

Its become the DNA of the club: Connor McDAvid: "Everybody counts us out except the guys in the room"

 

[CornKicker]

Vegas was a good team. I don’t like this narrative forming that they were some Minnesota Wild-esque patsy.

slapping a underdogish label on the best team in the playoffs is an abject failure of everyone saying it imo. unless its trolling cause then i get it

 

[Oilslick941611]

Skinner just saved his NHL career there. Great job from him to give the team exactly what they needed and more.

 

[K1984]

Vegas was a good team. I don’t like this narrative forming that they were some Minnesota Wild-esque patsy.

Can set a clock to it, just like the "deeper" narrative for every team the Oilers play no matter who they are.

Every team we play is a purported juggernaught until the Oilers beat them, then at that point they aren't good anymore. A lot of people really struggle to admit the Oilers are actually good.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

Vegas was a good team. I don’t like this narrative forming that they were some Minnesota Wild-esque patsy.

It’s just haters saying this to downplay the oilers

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

Think CBC, Rogers, and Toronto, in no particular order. One has to understand the zeitgeist of Canada to understand.

Nothing good EVER comes out of the prairies, nothing. Thats the view and if you go down East you get to feel and experience that view first hand. We're just hicks up here that should take the crumbs we get and shut up.

So that even the Gretzky/Mess/Coffey/Kurri/Anderson/Fuhr Oilers were looked off. Only a few like Bob Cole, Dick Irwin, and Howie Meeker gave that club its regard. All of Eastern Canada would be talking about the Leafs or Habs.

The other aspect is that the NHL has always had contempt for the WHA merger clubs and one can argue it never really went away. The NHL always irked by any success of any of the Former WHA squads. To the NHL's view they did everything possible at merger entry draft to make the WHA clubs look far worse than any NHL club and they didn't succeed. That fomented such disgust they even moved 3 of those clubs and wanted the 4th, the Edmonton Oilers, moved as well. The NHL had wanted to erase ANY trace of the former WHA that they hated.

A lot of younger posters wouldn't know all the back history.

Harold Ballard: "That Wayne Gretzky kid won't survive one year in the NHL" He actually said that and on it went. The NHL so disgusted in Wayne owning the league they refused him Rookie of the year award AND gave the Hart Trophy to Marcel Dionne instead of Wayne. They HATE us!.

It's nice to be hated.

After the Oilers swept the Canadiens We exited the old coliseum through one of those back enclosed staircases and saw Danny Galivan crying as he went down to ice level. Unbelievable and unforgettable.

 

[bucks_oil]

Same! Just when I thought his time with the Oilers was over, he becomes a brick f***ing wall and earns serious and deserving comparisons to CUJO. I have no clue how a goalie can be THIS good after playing THAT bad, other than maybe he's very positively reactive to a tight defensive game and chaos will get him rattled? But then I realize his ridiculously impressive record in Games 4 to 7 and it tells me it has to all be mental. He even moves faster.

One game you can call a fluke, but two consecutive games where he's allowed zero goals on over twenty shots can't be argued. Like I said before, if he can be hypnotized into thinking every Game is a Game 4 to 7, he'll be invincible!

Exactly.... Back when talking about Skinner's game would get people shouted down around here as "Skinner defenders" or "relatives", I argued exactly that.

When the Oilers play low-event hockey, Skinner is solid, composed and it suits his game perfectly by not exposing his weaknesses. He is a structured goalie who excels in a structured game. A 2-1 victory is a Skinner calling card (well except for that important one last year that went the other way).

Pickard on the other hand is the guy you want in net if the game is going to turn into fire wagon hockey. He's more agile, better anticipation/improvisation and a battler. He's the guy you want if it's gonna be a 6-5 game with our talent coming out on top.

It's great to have two such different profiles. (I still secretly wish Campbell hadn't washed out, very similar to Pickard, but a bit more big-save talented)

 

[frag2]

Haha I wonder if this was legit the live feed

 

[NegativeNelly]

Only thing I got right was Oil winning in OT. I fully expected Stu to shit the bed, but he repeated his previous games performance with another SO and series win. Kapanen with the OT winner? Didn't nor would have bet on that. This team is on a mission.

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

Can set a clock to it, just like the "deeper" narrative for every team the Oilers play no matter who they are.

Every team we play is a purported juggernaught until the Oilers beat them, then at that point they aren't good anymore. A lot of people really struggle to admit the Oilers are actually good.

The Calgary Puck playbook.

 

[OILFAN FOREVER]

Still so pumped that we won. I was in Vegas in the early part of the series. My sister and her husband were at the game last night and they got passes and met the team on the ice after the game. She got pictures with Kane and Nurse.

Super proud of how they have played the last few games. They are playing so sound defensively. Put on a clinic in game 5 in the LA series and games 4 and 5 of this series. Everybody is buying in.

Big props to Skinner for bouncing back with back to back shutouts and to Kapanen for the OT winner and being effective. When Arvidsson was sent to the press box I was wondering if J. Skinner should be put into the lineup for more offense but I love the way Kapanen has came in and been physical and his energy. It's nice to have 14-15 forwards who can play any night. It would be nice for the other series to go another game or two so we can rest and potentially Ekholm gets another week of rest.

3rd conference final in 4 years. Down 2-0 to LA everyone wrote them off. 8-1 since then with the only loss being with 0.4 seconds left in the 3rd. 5 regulation wins out of the 8 and contributions from everyone in the lineup. Great to see!

 

[CornKicker]

Can set a clock to it, just like the "deeper" narrative for every team the Oilers play no matter who they are.

Every team we play is a purported juggernaught until the Oilers beat them, then at that point they aren't good anymore. A lot of people really struggle to admit the Oilers are actually good.

i actually agree that other teams are deeper....its just missing the context, "Dallas is in way deeper shit than they have been in the previous 2 series" (or the jets like my man the rock says "it doesnt matter".

 

[Drivesaitl]

Vegas was a good team. I don’t like this narrative forming that they were some Minnesota Wild-esque patsy.

I honestly think the Wild would have given us more of a series. Not that one would want either because both Vegas and the Wild are dirty clubs. Difference being as well is that on the Wild the players you expect to, they were bringing it and cashing like Kaprisov.

Want me to do a rundown on the entire Vegas Core scoring wise? Its bleak, its real bleak.

Like I joked earlier their coach, Cassidy asked them if they want a 2nd SC. They all answered no. lol

 

[Fourier]

Think CBC, Rogers, and Toronto, in no particular order. One has to understand the zeitgeist of Canada to understand.

Nothing good EVER comes out of the prairies, nothing. Thats the view and if you go down East you get to feel and experience that view first hand. We're just hicks up here that should take the crumbs we get and shut up.

So that even the Gretzky/Mess/Coffey/Kurri/Anderson/Fuhr Oilers were looked off. Only a few like Bob Cole and Howie Meeker gave that club its regard. All of Eastern Canada would be talking about the Leafs or Habs.

The other aspect is that the NHL has always had contempt for the WHA merger clubs and one can argue it never really went away. The NHL always irked by any success of any of the Former WHA squads. To the NHL's view they did everything possible at merger entry draft to make the WHA clubs look far worse than any NHL club and they didn't succeed. That fomented such disgust they even moved 3 of those clubs and wanted the 4th, the Edmonton Oilers, moved as well. The NHL had wanted to erase ANY trace of the former WHA that they hated.

A lot of younger posters wouldn't know all the back history.

Harold Ballard: "That Wayne Gretzky kid won't survive one year in the NHL" He actually said that and on it went. The NHL so disgusted in Wayne owning the league they refused him Rookie of the year award AND gave the Hart Trophy to Marcel Dionne instead of Wayne. They HATE us!.

I've lived in Ontario for almost 40 years but still spend lots of time out west. I am in Edmonton right now as I write this. While there is some truth to the bolded amongst certain people, that description is not nearly so common as you might think. More accurately, the thing is that Toronto specifically sees itself as the center of Canada and does not really think much of anywhere else in the country. Frankly once you get more than 50KM from the city center people feel pretty much the same thing about TO as you suggest people out west feel. I live in a region of 640K people less that 100k from where the Leafs play that that is often completely dismissed.

What is true is that the Toronto hockey media is immensely TO focused. They are simultaneously dismissive of any other Canadian team, with the possible exception of the Habs, and also ironically often brutally critical of the Leafs once they inevitably bow out. Part of this is simply market driven. There are more people in the GTA than in all of Alberta. And almost as many in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined.

 

[Hippasus]

As a Skinner detractor, I definitely feel silly now. Still, I hope Pickard and Ekholm are healthy soon.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Can set a clock to it, just like the "deeper" narrative for every team the Oilers play no matter who they are.

Every team we play is a purported juggernaught until the Oilers beat them, then at that point they aren't good anymore. A lot of people really struggle to admit the Oilers are actually good.

100%. This is a total team buy-in for Knob's gameplan, with zero egos, and a roster full of hungry vets who want the Cup as much as McDrai and are eager to play the hero.

 

[OILFAN FOREVER]

PS.....it's so funny when other fans say "the other team had a controller disconnect or the other team layed down to the Oilers". I find it hilarious that other fan bases say LA in 5, Vegas in 5. How did that go? Beating Dallas last year and Vegas this year were series wins against solid teams. If this team commits to defense how it has in 4 of the last 7 games they have played in these playoffs, they can beat anyone.

 

[K1984]

I honestly think the Wild would have given us more of a series. Not that one would want either because both Vegas and the Wild are dirty clubs. Difference being as well is that on the Wild the players you expect to, they were bringing it and cashing like Kaprisov.

Want me to do a rundown on the entire Vegas Core scoring wise? Its bleak, its real bleak.

Like I joked earlier their coach, Cassidy asked them if they want a 2nd SC. They all answered no. lol

I agree with this completely.

Kaprizov and Boldy are both one shot scorers that can create on their own and both have killed the Oilers. Wild would have been harder to contain.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The confidence and poise is back, he looks calm and composed in these saves. Huge for the team.