Post-Game Talk: Tipped Off | Oilers lose series 3-1

[iCanada]

Hmm, I didn’t think anything about it was over the top. Pretty much any team that lost a mate would have done the same and dedicated the playoffs to him. Would have been disappointed if they hadn’t done it. What part did you think was overdone?

I really didn't like how the organization more or less martyred him and used him as motivation. Makes it feel very fake and two faced, and frankly lets be real... all of these professional athletes are playing for themselves.

"We Skate for Colby" is tone deaf, classless. Something like "Remembering Colby" would be fine. "We Skate for Colby" is very... self aggrandizing, and insincere. It sounds like some haughty brag about how good the Oilers are for remembering Colby.

But I guess thats just like my opinion man.

 

[BudBundy]

Absolutely. Now we all saw the vid where Connor supposedly said "f*** off kass" for being a bit of a chicken or just not knowing the angles and was way off on a shot block attempt that led to a goal against. How can your captain and leader demand better play from his players when he himself is not playing up to standards as far as consistent effort/urgency level and responsible play?

Now I'm going to speculate as well. This general poor leadership and culture we've had for a decade now speaks partly to the players obviously but also to the higher ups who allow it to fester. The likes of Katz and Lowe etc have been a constant here. I think there's a culture of those guys who run the show and have been here for a long time to protect and pamper and allow too long a leash for their superstars or star players (ie connor, leon etc) and there is certainly a double standard. They keep doing so until it's too late. They basically want to make these stars feel good /comfortable and to want to stay in Edmonton. Understandable but what happens is you actually allow these players to potentially not be complete players who have good habits and are winners. We hear about other orgs who are very hard and demanding on their top players even when they put up great numbers. There's just that extra/higher level of standards that transcends point production. Leadership and effort level and attention to details/defence is equally as important for those organizations and they don't give a cr** who they have to call out.

It really seems like this org is very adverse to calling out drai and connor and you can bet there have been many games where they really really needed to be called out for complete cr** efforts. Even when tippett does do it, it's very meek and vague and will always end with excuses for them. I get it, they're your horses and they carry the offence but at some point in time there needs to be way more from them as far as overall game and showing up with urgency as leaders.

I understand we dont know what happens behind closed doors and maybe they do get called out there... but if they do, they really don't seem to be learning all that quickly. It's always the same spiel after games. We just didn't come out ready, our urgency wasn't there, we weren't engaged or intense enough etc etc.

I spoke to 3 people today who aren't really hockey fans and don't watch much. All of them said almost exactly the same thing about the bits of the play in games they saw. "Oilers don't seem to try very hard. The hawks have so much space while Oilers just gliding around. I thought Connor and Leon were supposed to be really good?"

Well, well. Your “character” knife was out for Taylor Hall and now you’re after Connor and Leon. So predictable.

 

[LTIR]

I really didn't like how the organization more or less martyred him and used him as motivation. Makes it feel very fake and two faced, and frankly lets be real... all of these professional athletes are playing for themselves.

"We Skate for Colby" is tone deaf, classless. Something like "Remembering Colby" would be fine. "We Skate for Colby" is very... self aggrandizing, and insincere. It sounds like some haughty brag about how good the Oilers are for remembering Colby.

But I guess thats just like my opinion man.

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They just followed what NHL throws.

I saw a lot of we skate for X on the jumbotron during other games as well. Oilers just chose to use Colby instead of equality or whatever.

 

[Little Fury]

Absolutely. Now we all saw the vid where Connor supposedly said "f*** off kass" for being a bit of a chicken or just not knowing the angles and was way off on a shot block attempt that led to a goal against. How can your captain and leader demand better play from his players when he himself is not playing up to standards as far as consistent effort/urgency level and responsible play?

Now I'm going to speculate as well. This general poor leadership and culture we've had for a decade now speaks partly to the players obviously but also to the higher ups who allow it to fester. The likes of Katz and Lowe etc have been a constant here. I think there's a culture of those guys who run the show and have been here for a long time to protect and pamper and allow too long a leash for their superstars or star players (ie connor, leon etc) and there is certainly a double standard. They keep doing so until it's too late. They basically want to make these stars feel good /comfortable and to want to stay in Edmonton. Understandable but what happens is you actually allow these players to potentially not be complete players who have good habits and are winners. We hear about other orgs who are very hard and demanding on their top players even when they put up great numbers. There's just that extra/higher level of standards that transcends point production. Leadership and effort level and attention to details/defence is equally as important for those organizations and they don't give a cr** who they have to call out.

It really seems like this org is very adverse to calling out drai and connor and you can bet there have been many games where they really really needed to be called out for complete cr** efforts. Even when tippett does do it, it's very meek and vague and will always end with excuses for them. I get it, they're your horses and they carry the offence but at some point in time there needs to be way more from them as far as overall game and showing up with urgency as leaders.

I understand we dont know what happens behind closed doors and maybe they do get called out there... but if they do, they really don't seem to be learning all that quickly. It's always the same spiel after games. We just didn't come out ready, our urgency wasn't there, we weren't engaged or intense enough etc etc.

I spoke to 3 people today who aren't really hockey fans and don't watch much. All of them said almost exactly the same thing about the bits of the play in games they saw. "Oilers don't seem to try very hard. The hawks have so much space while Oilers just gliding around. I thought Connor and Leon were supposed to be really good?"

Huh HK97 thinks the best players on the team are the problem, what a g-d shock.

 

[bellagiobob]

I really didn't like how the organization more or less martyred him and used him as motivation. Makes it feel very fake and two faced, and frankly lets be real... all of these professional athletes are playing for themselves.

"We Skate for Colby" is tone deaf, classless. Something like "Remembering Colby" would be fine. "We Skate for Colby" is very... self aggrandizing, and insincere. It sounds like some haughty brag about how good the Oilers are for remembering Colby.

But I guess thats just like my opinion man.

No worries. No right or wrong, just a difference of opinion.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

No worries. No right or wrong, just a difference of opinion.

True, I don't think anything like this has ever been posted on HF. Such respect for the one's differing opinion. It's more like" Your opinion is wrong and boneheaded !! " or " Did you even watch the game?" on here.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

No worries. No right or wrong, just a difference of opinion.

Nice to see an open minded individual and not another bigot.

Far too many bigots in society these days.

 

[McDNicks17]

When every mistake ends up in the back of the net.

 

[bellagiobob]

This isn't far off the truth. Maybe the Oilers did Albertans a favor by losing out early. Don't think we could have afforded another couple months of these growing 50/50's.

 

[McJadeddog]

When every mistake ends up in the back of the net.

Again, I can't stress enough how unlucky the Oilers were in these games. This is more quantifiable proof than "the eye test" that we were all using, but it's not surprising that it aligned to what we were all saying. Hockey is a weird sport sometimes.

It isn't surprising to see Pittsburgh up in the "unlucky" quadrant with us either.

Again, this isn't exactly rocket science, its just showing what anybody who watched the 2 series already knew (apparently except Spector, but he is a class A idiot).

Check the out the top 2 and bottom 2 teams here for difference in real vs expected goals.

 

[Oilhawks]

Again, I can't stress enough how unlucky the Oilers were in these games. This is more quantifiable proof than "the eye test" that we were all using, but it's not surprising that it aligned to what we were all saying. Hockey is a weird sport sometimes.

Especially in a 5 game series. It should have been 7 or nothing. At least it normalizes luck a little better.

 

[Cloned]

Again, I can't stress enough how unlucky the Oilers were in these games. This is more quantifiable proof than "the eye test" that we were all using, but it's not surprising that it aligned to what we were all saying. Hockey is a weird sport sometimes.

Perfect storm of factors leads to a loss. But you know what? We weren't going far anyways. Hopefully we win Laf.

 

[yukoner88]

Just woke up as I had a few more drinks last night than I usually have at the local pub, this still sucks.

It feels like such a tease doesn't it

 

[yukoner88]

I thought the whole play for Colby thing was bound to blow up in their face the way they made it a slogan. One, classless as hell, to use someone elses tragedy as your motivational motto. Two... as the 5th seed going in we already had the most pressure going in along with the pens. Why bother ramping up that pressure when the other team no one expects to win is already playing loose with house money? Three... when it does go wrong, suddenly it becomes a barometer for how much the team cares about Colby's death.

I thought the whole play for Colby thing was a bad look straight from day 1. Emily seemed to not mind the attention, but I think a lot of people would have been utterly horrified by the way the Oilers put on a big show like that. The memorial was great, but the marketing and the slogan i thought were tone deaf as hell.

Especially with the effort put forth after that. You gotta back it up with giving it everything and the energy just wasn't there.

 

[MaxR11]

When every mistake ends up in the back of the net.

That's why you have to show up for 60 mins every game. Can't let your foot off the pedal for stretches in games. When you dominate and smother your opponent and not give you opponents space to breathe as often as possible you reduce the likelihood that luck will work against you. When you allow them time and space and you play with inconsistent urgency you're inviting the opportunity for luck to work against you. Forecheck hard... keep pucks in the hawks end as much as possible... play hard and aggressive on d and regain control of the puck or clear as quickly as possible in d zone. You then take away more and more opportunities for hawks to sift pucks at the net. We were too passive. Did not hound and hassle the hawks puck carriers hard enough, did not closely and tightly cover the hawks other 4 players tightly enough.

Hawks were more engaged and tighter/smothering on their defence than us more consistently (not that they were great... just better than us overall). When you do that the "luck" more often than not goes your way.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

That's why you have to show up for 60 mins every game. Can't let your foot off the pedal for stretches in games. When you dominate and smother your opponent and not give you opponents space to breathe as often as possible you reduce the likelihood that luck will work against you. When you allow them time and space and you play with inconsistent urgency you're inviting the opportunity for luck to work against you. Forecheck hard... keep pucks in the hawks end as much as possible... play hard and aggressive on d and regain control of the puck or clear as quickly as possible in d zone. You then take away more and more opportunities for hawks to sift pucks at the net. We were too passive. Did not hound and hassle the hawks puck carriers hard enough, did not closely and tightly cover the hawks other 4 players tightly enough.

Hawks were more engaged and tighter/smothering on their defence than us more consistently (not that they were great... just better than us overall). When you do that the "luck" more often than not goes your way.

It's tough to do but Columbus is a perfect example of how to play 60 full minutes of hockey. No shortcuts with that team. They blew it yesterday in last few minutes though. We never played with that sense of playoff urgency coupled with being outcoached led to our series loss. There was also some bizarre bounces off the walls and players that led to goals that all went against us which were really unlucky. I can think of a few off the top of my head.

 

[MaxR11]

It's tough to do but Columbus is a perfect example of how to play 60 full minutes of hockey. No shortcuts with that team. They blew it yesterday in last few minutes though. We never played with that sense of playoff urgency coupled with being outcoached led to our series loss. There was also some bizarre bounces off the walls and players that led to goals that all went against us which was really unlucky. I can think of a few off the top of my head.

Ya but when you play smart and hard throughout you reduce the chances of bad stuff like that happening. You'll never 100% prevent it from happening but in a series if you play smart and hard enough, and if you truly are the better team, odds are you will win... or at the very least not lose the series 3-1.

There are other teams that are tough to play against throughout like isles, vegas, bruins, blues etc. We are very inconsistent from game to game and period to period with our battle/urgency level. and when the legs are n't there, you have to pay high attention to details and be mentally engaged as far as d coverage etc. We often aren't.

 

[Samus44]

When every mistake ends up in the back of the net.

Edmonton and Pittsburgh the two most unlucky teams, who'd of guessed it. This is exactly what I was talking about with a short series coming off a long break. It happens. Good post, it's nice to see I'm not on crack.

 

[PBandJ]

My heart still hurts.

 

[GretzkytoKurri9917]

My heart still hurts.

 

[Samus44]

Ya but when you play smart and hard throughout you reduce the chances of bad stuff like that happening. You'll never 100% prevent it from happening but in a series if you play smart and hard enough, and if you truly are the better team, odds are you will win... or at the very least not lose the series 3-1.

There are other teams that are tough to play against throughout like isles, vegas, bruins, blues etc. We are very inconsistent from game to game and period to period with our battle/urgency level. and when the legs are n't there, you have to pay high attention to details and be mentally engaged as far as d coverage etc. We often aren't.

You aren't wrong with your last two posts but I think you're ignoring just how difficult the task is given the context. It's hard to get in the swing of things with 1 preseason game, the Hawks have a veteran and winning core, the Hawks got more calls, and shit happens. It's not like Pens don't know how to win either. The Oilers were more likely to have these lapses than many teams just look at the core:

McDavid - U25
Draisaitl - U25, second playoffs
Hopkins - Second playoffs, I thought he was excellent
Yamamoto - Rookie
Athanasiou - Maybe a core guy going forward but he was coming from a losing team and was still adjusting. 25.

Nurse - First season being hard matched against toughs and succeeding, 25.
Bear - Rookie
Klefbom - Coming off an injury, second playoffs. Should have been better
Larsson - Got hurt, may of been hurt in the games he played. Wonky back.

Koskinen - 1st playoffs, sophmore in NHL, not a strong #1.

This is not a veteran or experienced core. They didn't get the bounces. I was disappointed but I don't think the team was all that bad nor do I think effort was an issue. Only Hopkins, Klefbom, and Larsson are in their prime. Even McDavid and Draisaitl are still learning how to become more complete players. Not to say you can't win with them already, but the Oilers don't have that veteran 2way center they can lean on instead. Draisaitl is almost there, and in all honesty took steps this playoff to being it, but he's still learning lessons and at his age that's reasonable. They got bad luck but and could have done more to help that but their best days are ahead of them still.

 

[The Panther]

Imagine if playoffs Oilers showed up for more than last 7 mins of the series

This is really it. The Oilers lost this series because they didn't show up for game one. Yeah, that was compounded by bad luck and some head-scratching decisions by Tippett, but the fact is they weren't ready to play in game one.

Why not? I have no idea. But being prepared and ready to go at puck-drop has been as issue with this club for years and years.

I don't think there is any particularly wrong with the Oilers' player-personnel. I have kind of had enough of Darnell Nurse and I wouldn't mind seeing him moved if possible, because I'm just tired of his brain-dead plays -- he seems to get worse, the bigger the situation gets, consistently. But otherwise, I'm sort of happy with their team's depth now. It's the best it's been in many, many years.

But clearly there is some kind of team / culture / leadership issue with this group. They're not ready to play half the time.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

Update, Night two:

 

[McJadeddog]

Perfect storm of factors leads to a loss. But you know what? We weren't going far anyways. Hopefully we win Laf.

My thoughts as well. I suppose having another round of experience for the guys would have been good, but that is a small thing. We weren't going past the next round, at least not without some crazy puck luck.

 

[Cloned]

Update, Night two:

View attachment 359214 View attachment 359215

I still haven't forgiven Sheahan or Tippett.