Post-Game Talk: The more things change…

[Da McBomb]

Who would've guessed that Kulak has 2 more goals than Hyman 5 games in lol. It will come for Zach soon though... He's been getting chances all around

 

[MoontoScott]

I know Pickard’s career has been hanging by a thread for the last number of years, compared to Skinner being a fairly high-end young goalie, but Pickard’s athleticism and lateral mobility just make me feel way more confident when he’s in net. It’s not even close between the two in those aspects.

Same- Picard isn't a great goalie by it seems to me that he is always more relaxed in terms of making the routine saves and has the better lateral mobility. In contrast, Skinner is always a high event player.

 

[Porkleaker]

Not gonna lie, pretty impressive.

 

[VainGretzky]

Every Oiler Center is above 50% in the dot that is a good sign early

 

[Dynamic]

That one save by Picard with under two mins made me excited.

 

[LeonDraisaitl29]

Feels good man

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I am celebrating the victory with a Glencairn of Blanton’s finest.

 

[Spawn]

There were 5 or 6 minutes where they were on their heals in the first, otherwise I thought the team played excellent for the first 40. Didn’t see the third, glad they pulled it out.

 

[Jarvi]

I have to disagree with you there. McDavid looked dangerous all night, and was almost back to his old self imo.

Perry and skinner were excellent again in this one. 5v5 the team was solid top to bottom imo. Best effort of the season pretty easily.

The PP needs to get in gear tho. Might be time to consider a personnel swap or two to try and get that engine going a bit, at least in the short term.

Knob did throw the first unit out with Nurse instead of Nuge I believe. I wanna say it was on a faceoff in the preds end w 45+ seconds left in the PP that the now revised top unit nearly finished off. Maybe that was him acknowledging Nurses good play in the last couple, and a preview of potential shake up for the top unit if things don't improve.

Not that I think Nurse would take that spot if they do make a change, it would have to be Skinner or Rico in for Nuge/Hyman in my mind. But in a close game Nurse was the right call in case the puck moved the other way, and it let's the top unit know that passengers aren't guaranteed a ride.

Imo, we should be playing the second unit as a whole more. All those guys have been playing really well, and they have the pieces to make it work imo.

Perry-Rico-Skinner
Nurse-Ekholm

That's a unit that is safe, can maintain possession, and score in a variety of ways. Skinner has shown he can damn near drive a line imo. Also, it's basically filled with guys who HF (myself included) slammed before the season in Skinner, Nurse and Perry.

 

[guymez]

That was much better.
Still some work to do (especially on the PP) but that looked more like the team I expected to see this season.

Nice to see Nurse step up and take on McCarron.
Thats an element of Nurses game that has to be there.

A tougher test happens on Saturday against Dallas so hopefully they can build on this effort tonight.

 

[guymez]

There is something that needs to be mentioned about the broadcast tonight.

The Nurse fight highlighted exactly why I dont care for the Jack and Louie storytime show.
The reason for that fight was never even discussed by those clowns. They were so busy with their mindless banter that they didnt even acknowledge the reason that fight even happened.
That fight happened because of the hit that McCarron dished out on Stecher right in front of the benches. Right at centre ice.
They just chatted away about crap no one cares about while Stecher got hammered and didnt even bother to mention it after the fact. That was a very important part of the game that wasnt even acknowleged. They didnt even appear to be aware that it had happened because it was never mentioned at all.
That is a joke and it is a perfect example of how these clowns ruin hockey games with their endless storytime chatter.
Call the f**king play and keep the storytime for between whistles.
Idiots.

/rant

Edit: rewatched the play and it appears that McCarron hit Stecher

 

[sepHF]

Still no wins for the Preds.

Maybe they'll stink bad the whole season and will be willing to trade Carrier to us at the deadline.

They need to schedule and cancel another U2 show

 

[Dieseloil]

McDavid would have 8 points by now if Hyman and Bouchard would pull their craniums out of their posteriors. Bouchard has fired it into bodies or sticks or shot it wide about 90% of the time. Hyman I can’t figure out what’s wrong, other than his shot seems baby shit soft.

 

[Dieseloil]

I have to disagree with you there. McDavid looked dangerous all night, and was almost back to his old self imo.

Perry and skinner were excellent again in this one. 5v5 the team was solid top to bottom imo. Best effort of the season pretty easily.

The PP needs to get in gear tho. Might be time to consider a personnel swap or two to try and get that engine going a bit, at least in the short term.

They need to break up the Nuge, Hyman combo on the left side on the PP, just way too predictable. They have a couple other guys like Skinner, Henrique or Arvidsson as options. Do it,

 

[LemmyUlanov55]

Solid W on the road, Pickard looked pretty good and Kulak found his inner Draisaitl tonight.
Might take a few games more but they'll turn into a well oiled machine, shoutout to Stecher & Skinner, both doing quite well early on.

10pm game for me against the Stars, yay!

 

[joestevens29]

Who would've guessed that Kulak has 2 more goals than Hyman 5 games in lol. It will come for Zach soon though... He's been getting chances all around

I mean there is weird shit like this every year to start.

Checking stats this early in the year is meaningless. Reminds me of the guy at work that is logging into our hockey pool everyday and updating us on the standings

 

[The Panther]

Just watched this one. Good game. My takes:

-- Key to this win is that our top-D (Eckholm) was better than their top-D (Josi). We must not undervalue the staggering importance of the bearded Viking.

-- Nice to see Kulak, of all people, with the first 2-goal game of his career.

-- McDavid and Drai were fine.

-- Hyman couldn't score... again. He looked good in this game though, so I predict he will score in the next one. Not concerned yet, but his hands have been kind of failing him thus far.

-- Nuge finally seemed quite engaged. Took some hits, controlled some puck.

-- I thought Derek Ryan was done after last year and was surprised they contracted him. To give him his due, he was really good in this game.

-- Cal Pickard wasn't great, but he was good enough. Obviously the key was keeping the shots against way down (until late in the third).

-- In general, Nashville (at 0 - 4 now on the season) does not look good. Man, they suck at pressuring the opposition puck carriers. Very easy for Edmonton to gain the zone.

 

[tardigrade81]

The undefeated Stars tomorrow hey….

 

[Fourier]

Another impressive game for Jeff Skinner. He's showing why a player should not be judged in the preseason. He's been very good around the net.

I think a lot of people think of him as a perimeter guy. But he is not. This is where he made hay as a Junior here in Kitchener and he carried this over to the NHL> He's certainly not a power forward but he is strong enough on his feet to go to the net and not get pushed around. But the big thing is that with his hands he can take advantage of even a tiny opening. Let's hope he keeps it up.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

The undefeated Stars tomorrow hey….

They lost in Washington last night.

 

[popo]

I get the Stamkos signing for Nashville. They had cap space; had their stars secured (Josi, Saros, Forsberg) and didn't want to take a step back after underachieving last year.
Watching them in the playoffs last year their Power Play wasn't good and it cost them a few times the opportunity to win games over Vancouver. Stamkos was brought in as a PP specialist to solve that for them.
Hasn't worked out so far for them. But our PP1 unit has also started out bad.

 

[Canovin]

I cancelled my cable with Shaw so I haven't been following. I'm considering paying for the Sportsnet+.

How's Arvid doing?

 

[russ99]

Just watched this one. Good game. My takes:

-- Key to this win is that our top-D (Eckholm) was better than their top-D (Josi). We must not undervalue the staggering importance of the bearded Viking.

-- Nice to see Kulak, of all people, with the first 2-goal game of his career.

-- McDavid and Drai were fine.

-- Hyman couldn't score... again. He looked good in this game though, so I predict he will score in the next one. Not concerned yet, but his hands have been kind of failing him thus far.

-- Nuge finally seemed quite engaged. Took some hits, controlled some puck.

-- I thought Derek Ryan was done after last year and was surprised they contracted him. To give him his due, he was really good in this game.

-- Cal Pickard wasn't great, but he was good enough. Obviously the key was keeping the shots against way down (until late in the third).

-- In general, Nashville (at 0 - 4 now on the season) does not look good. Man, they suck at pressuring the opposition puck carriers. Very easy for Edmonton to gain the zone.

Stetcher was quietly decent on the second pair. Man if that bandaid can stay on until February, we're way ahead.

 

[OiledUp]

Just watched this one. Good game. My takes:

-- Key to this win is that our top-D (Eckholm) was better than their top-D (Josi). We must not undervalue the staggering importance of the bearded Viking.

-- Nice to see Kulak, of all people, with the first 2-goal game of his career.

-- McDavid and Drai were fine.

-- Hyman couldn't score... again. He looked good in this game though, so I predict he will score in the next one. Not concerned yet, but his hands have been kind of failing him thus far.

-- Nuge finally seemed quite engaged. Took some hits, controlled some puck.

-- I thought Derek Ryan was done after last year and was surprised they contracted him. To give him his due, he was really good in this game.

-- Cal Pickard wasn't great, but he was good enough. Obviously the key was keeping the shots against way down (until late in the third).

-- In general, Nashville (at 0 - 4 now on the season) does not look good. Man, they suck at pressuring the opposition puck carriers. Very easy for Edmonton to gain the zone.

Think both the glue factory guys, Perry and Ryan, have been pretty good so far into the season. They should be ascessed as fourth liners and while lacking in speed and energy they're more skilled than your average 4th liner and it shows in their ability to control play. We'll see what happens when the season gets fully going and the pace goes up but so far they've been alright.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I cancelled my cable with Shaw so I haven't been following. I'm considering paying for the Sportsnet+.

How's Arvid doing?

He's doing well, getting chances and being hard on opponents and on the forecheck. It really feels, as someone mentioned earlier, that it's going to come for him soon.