Post-Game Talk: The Sieve We Know

[oobga]

I would say I’m more of a Bouchard fan than a hater. He does a lot of good things on the ice. But his play this year has been disappointing to say the least.

Whenever I hear the organization (Knoblauch, Bowman etc) talk about him, its always sunshine and butterflies. There’s literally no accountability for anything he does. Its hard to blame Bouchard, when hes always getting a free pass. I just find it baffling honestly. Its also not good for his game long term.

Its kinda the same thing with Skinner. I don’t want to compare him to Bouchard because Bouchard at least his good moments outweigh his bad moments.

But like is our group so fragile that no one is allowed to be criticized?

Is it possible we've had a "just go out there and have fun making plays like I used to back in the day" defensive coach too long for our D group?

 

[McAsuno]

"your"

Again, way too soon for you to turn heel again.



I mean how many people expected him to shit the bed like this? Half the board? More? Sounds like he's becoming pretty consistent...

You and I both warned major red flags regarding our goaltending especially Skinner. Months and months went by, and people started to realize how bad Skinner is. It's just an utter f***ing shame the organization refused to look and trade for an upgrade and settled on sink or swim with Skinner in another year of prime McDrai in the playoffs. Absolutely despicable to watch as a fan. How many more games do we have to suffer watching Stuart move laterally dial up internet style post to post or give up a GWG stinker before we say enough is enough with this guy.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I would say I’m more of a Bouchard fan than a hater. He does a lot of good things on the ice. But his play this year has been disappointing to say the least.

Whenever I hear the organization (Knoblauch, Bowman etc) talk about him, its always sunshine and butterflies. There’s literally no accountability for anything he does. Its hard to blame Bouchard, when hes always getting a free pass. I just find it baffling honestly. Its also not good for his game long term.

Its kinda the same thing with Skinner. I don’t want to compare him to Bouchard because Bouchard at least his good moments outweigh his bad moments.

But like is our group so fragile that no one is allowed to be criticized?

Sure. But in fairness Booch is longterm missing his best D partner, a guy that completes him. The whole team misses Ekholm.

Most of the mistakes I saw Booch make last night were under intense heat, and also playing with a goalie that is horrible at puck play and passes the puck anywhere. Nurse survives this because he just owns ice and is a physical specimen and will mop up pucks everywhere and along boards. Even Kulak, physically stronger than Booch. Bouchard is less physical a d, less strong, those aren't his key attributes. His key attributes are puck outs, supporting offense, making goals grow. Those are some pretty good assets but they need to be paired properly.

 

[K1984]

Some game notes. Corey Perry was +4 in this game. Think about that. You couldn't be higher than that. Drai was +3.

A player people keep screaming to give more minutes to, Jeff Skinner, was -2 in the game and was -3 in the first 25mins of the game on around 7mins of action. Kings scored 3EV goals with Skinner on ice in staking out their 4-0 lead. Thats as bad a statline as its possible to have as their other goal was a PP goal.

Of note J Skinner several times in game failed to get puck out of own zone or keep pucks in offensive zone.

Think about J Skinners contribution. One meager assist despite being elevated to McD line for nearly half the game. This is his first playoff game ever and all we see is him losing pucks and being worked off pucks. He ends with a sorry 11mins but along with Arvid and Pods were the worst Oilers forwards on the ice. Not too coincidentally they are the 3 forwards the Oilers obtained in offseason.

Don't want to write him off completely yet, but Jeff Skinner appears to be a player that can't compete when the pace picks up a tier. A lot of the reason he stinks in his own end is he's clinically incapable of making a quick play with the puck and has slow boots. So he gets it, then looks around to see who's there, then it's already turned over.

Perry was effective because he simply knows how to play. He can't play at that pace or level for a long time, but when he's needed he can step up and wind back the clock a bit.

 

[CROTT]

He didn't he made a couple all game, and absolutely CANNOT allow goals 2 and 6, he fundamentally cannot, but here we are.

HE, Stuart Skinner, was not good enough. The team wasn't perfect, but you can f*** right off if you're not going to lay alot of this at Stu's feet.

The team wasn’t perfect? They were f&&king terrible for the first 40 minutes + couldn’t generate anything.

 

[McAsuno]

ahh shut up

 

[oobga]

ahh shut up

"everyone but me needs to be better in our zone"?

 

[Drivesaitl]

Don't want to write him off completely yet, but Jeff Skinner appears to be a player that can't compete when the pace picks up a tier. A lot of the reason he stinks in his own end is he's clinically incapable of making a quick play with the puck and has slow boots. So he gets it, then looks around to see who's there, then it's already turned over.

Perry was effective because he simply knows how to play. He can't play at that pace or level for a long time, but when he's needed he can step up and wind back the clock a bit.

Perry does so many little things, smart things with the puck. Our best scoring chance in first 30mins Perry just sifts puck to net, making sure it gets there, it does, and it creates chaos around the Kings cage. Such a savvy smart player and it seems to come out in him on the biggest playoff stage.

J Skinner was an unknown headed into playoffs. But what I did note, and you might remember me saying it, when teams were playing us hard Skinner wasn't getting much. He's not as strong a player as his playing weight would suggest. He's not a guy that has been on a contender team that has had to find every way to become a more complete player.

Skinner and Pods were two forwards that were having some trouble with the pace of a playoff game. Its fair though as neither has had much experience.

 

[Canovin]

ahh shut up

"McDavid needs to put up 7 points a game and not 4 like my jersey # and we might have a chance"

 

[MessierThanThou]

You and I both warned major red flags regarding our goaltending especially Skinner. Months and months went by, and people started to realize how bad Skinner is. It's just an utter f***ing shame the organization refused to look and trade for an upgrade and settled on sink or swim with Skinner in another year of prime McDrai in the playoffs. Absolutely despicable to watch as a fan. How many more games do we have to suffer watching Stuart move laterally dial up internet style post to post or give up a GWG stinker before we say enough is enough with this guy.

I really hate being right about the guy. I take no pleasure in seeing him choke, especially after a performance like THAT from McDrai.

On the bright side, a lot of the idiots who were defending him during last year's playoffs and the trade deadline are gone...or just lurking, waiting for his next good game to say "SEE!"

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The team wasn’t perfect? They were f&&king terrible for the first 40 minutes + couldn’t generate anything.

No the team wasn't, but that team came back, and was let down by their substandard goaltender AGAIN. Stu was NOT good enough last night, only a person lying to themselves about reality would think otherwise.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I personally don't hate Stu. He was nice enough to stop driving from leaving Rogers Place for a quick picture with my fiance's grandma (who knows nothing about hockey or who Skinner was). But I have no more patience watching him in net potentially wasting another year of prime McDrai because he couldn't save a beachball if he tried.

Run with Pickard the rest of the way and figure out the goaltending during the offseason whether that involves Skinner as a 1A/1B or not. I'm done watching him and especially done having to hear his post game loss yapping.

Stu's probably a nice guy. But you missed why I stated that. His ability to work people is what got him here. In every field you have people like that, practicing beyond competence, because they were charmers. I know how Skinner got here and I deep dived on what people in AHL and Junior were saying about him. I understand what he does. Trouble is eventually charlatans get exposed.

 

[Canovin]

If the refs didn't call a penalty on the Oilers 5 mins in, the Oilers would have control the game from there. I think they played it safe for a little too long because of the refs

 

[Zerotonine]

Knob has no idea either. Rishaug touched on this las night- there is no chemistry and players who haven't played with each other have no clue who is going to cover off who in the D zone.

This is pretty valid point. Every one talks about the forwards nothing coming back enough. What you bring up has more legs then people will like to admit.

Fk he went to mcdrai in the first 5 minutes. Let the guys build some chemistry ffs

 

[CROTT]

No the team wasn't, but that team came back, and was let down by their substandard goaltender AGAIN. Stu was NOT good enough last night, only a person lying to themselves about reality would think otherwise.

lol, the first 40 minutes (30 mins with 6 shots while having a pp) barely getting any offensive zone time is terrible. Sorry it doesn’t fit your Skinner is 100% to blame for everything MO.

 

[Duke74]

Hate to break to you all....but Skinner will be given another chance tmrw...and I hate everything about it.

If so, I hope he's on the shortest of leashes.

 

[MikeS24]

Not trading for Blackwood will forever frustrate me. I mean, we had cap issues so it wouldn't have been an easy trade to make, but there had to be an option to get him. He was only making 2.35M, and even if they didn't want to dump Skinner the other way, we could have buried Pickard, taking 1M of that away. If we couldn't find 1.35M expendable cap on the books for this trade, that was a mistake by management.

These dumb imbecile human beings said at the trade deadline presser that their own analytics tell them that sieve Skinner is better than what we see.

LMAO

It's like they live in an alternate universe. Clowns. I have such a low bar for these guys, that it would not shock me if they sign Skinner to a 5 mill deal.

There/are media members on the radio this year that kept saying he will get up to 6 million.

Do these guys all take the same drugs? If they do that, you go jump ship Connor

 

[Drivesaitl]

ahh shut up

From a goalie again letting in 2GA in 6shots and 4 in the first 15shots.

The guy is too dumb to even recognize one of the reasons they have trouble with patience is the many games with him in net when you need to score 5 goals minimum to win, or have a chance in the game.

Its hilarious anybody even asking him.

"When we give up the first 2 goals we have to keep it at 1" lol math.

Hey Skinner, you were weakest link on first two goals. Or most GA.

 

[MikeS24]

Like I said last night, it was a vintage performance by Connor McDavid skewered once again by vintage Stuart Skinner. If we won that game in OT, the kings morale would've dropped even more heading into G2. Granted they're gonna be more cautious especially with 97 on the ice even further, but it just leaves such a bad taste in my mouth seeing the team make a huge comeback only for 74 to let in a weak ass knucklepuck with seconds left in the game.

But at least this shows the kings defense and Kuemper are both solvable. The team needs to start rolling immediately once puck drop starts in G2. No excuses.

Next unstoppable force getting in the way are the referees.

 

[CupofOil]

meh. If the Oilers hit paydirt and score the winning goal, and nearly did, then the whole optics change. The feeling at the time, and it was real looking at the bench, is the Kings were KTFO. They were shellshocked, They collectively shit their pants. In realtime was the right move continuing to at least put McDrai out there as they were owning and scoring in bushels. We scored 5 goals in last 21mins and 2 goals in last 2mins. We were completely clobbering the Kings at that point. Most coaches would have gone for the killshot while blood was in the water.

Yep, said that earlier. The Kings were on the ropes and Knoblauch was looking for the knockout punch, Maybe the Oilers would have won in OT anyway but the Kings were staggered big time after that tying goal and the Oilers were smelling blood so keeping the foot on the gas pedal was the right call IMO.. All in all, it was a knuckler that won the game for the Kings, a fluke combined with a goalie that put minimal effort into trying to stop the puck. I don't blame Knoblauch for his player deployment in that situation, I blame him for starting Skinner and inserting Josh Brown into the lineup who had no interest in playing anyway.

 

[VanCanFanEDM]

The team wasn’t perfect? They were f&&king terrible for the first 40 minutes + couldn’t generate anything.

Yes the team wasn't good early; but this happens to every team in the NHL.. Competition is strong, flow of play won't always go your way, sometimes you have to weather a storm.. Stu just doesn't do that very often, when the play if going against the Oilers it seems to quickly be 3-0 and now its really a up hill battle. The other team I follow is the opposite... Canucks were POOR this year, and often nothing but goaltending, from multiple guys kept them sorta relevant... If the Canucks has StuSkinner level goaltending all year they would have probably had a hammerlock on dead last and the #1 pick.

The one issue, that I see as the biggest reason to get away from #74 is the players in front of him don't believe in him. I think this has been evident at many times during this year... And I think Stu knows it and his psyche has to be in the toilet. Its getting hard to watch him play on a human level, every questionable goal his head is down, hes looking around trying to figure out what happened... The guarantee you the guys on the bench have seen enough...

Just my opinion...

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

lol, the first 40 minutes (30 mins with 6 shots while having a pp) barely getting any offensive zone time is terrible. Sorry it doesn’t fit your Skinner is 100% to blame for everything MO.

Goals 2 and 6 CANNOT go in at this level. This is the Stanley Cup playoffs, this is not good enough. They STILL bailed him out and he responded by just failing as hard as possible in the key moment.

Again, I don't care why you need to die on this hill, but you don't get to change reality because it doesn't suit this hill.

 

[McAsuno]

lol, the first 40 minutes (30 mins with 6 shots while having a pp) barely getting any offensive zone time is terrible. Sorry it doesn’t fit your Skinner is 100% to blame for everything MO.

Whatever you say Dustin Schwartz!

 

[MessierThanThou]

I personally don't hate Stu. He was nice enough to stop driving from leaving Rogers Place for a quick picture with my fiance's grandma (who knows nothing about hockey or who Skinner was). But I have no more patience watching him in net potentially wasting another year of prime McDrai because he couldn't save a beachball if he tried.

Stu's probably a nice guy. But you missed why I stated that. His ability to work people is what got him here. In every field you have people like that, practicing beyond competence, because they were charmers. I know how Skinner got here and I deep dived on what people in AHL and Junior were saying about him. I understand what he does. Trouble is eventually charlatans get exposed.

Exactly. Nobody with even basic intelligence thinks anyone on here personally hates Skinner. I cheered for him at a game on the same night I bashed him on this board. And I'll probably do it again. But I want this team to win and Skinner has repeatedly confirmed my doubts about him having the ability to take this team all the way. I don't think he's an NHL starter, and some nights I don't even think he's an NHL goalie.

But like you said, there are plenty of Stuart Skinners in this world: incompetent nice guys who charm their way into positions they can't handle. Of course it has to be our management that's naive enough to fall for it.

Also, I feel like he plays just well enough to keep his job, but not well enough to be good at it. Like he'll have three or four stinkers and then stand on his head against the Rangers and boost his GSAx, but on a per game basis, he's disappointing more often than not.

Or almost single-handedly cost us a series against Vancouver (yes, even in Game 7), and then turn around and steal the Dallas series, then go right back to shitting the bed when his job has been secured.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yep, said that earlier. The Kings were on the ropes and Knoblauch was looking for the knockout punch, Maybe the Oilers would have won in OT anyway but the Kings were staggered big time after that tying goal and the Oilers were smelling blood so keeping the foot on the gas pedal was the right call IMO.. All in all, it was a knuckler that won the game for the Kings, a fluke combined with a goalie that put minimal effort into trying to stop the puck. I don't blame Knoblauch for his player deployment in that situation, I blame him for starting Skinner and inserting Josh Brown into the lineup who had no interest in playing anyway.

Yeah. was my suspicion though Kings would find a way to get a quick one on Skinner in OT. Turned out it happened quicker than that. It was the right move for the Oilers to go all in while the Kings were rocked.

It was a fluke goal as stated so I don't know we can arrive at a logical deduction that it was a bad move because of a fluke goal that Skinner should play better.

What I blame KK more for now is saying he's still not sure who he will start in game 2. If its Skinner he's lost the plot.

That said Pickard is going to have some problems too but theres some of the saves he'd be making.