Post-Game Talk: Welcome to the Skinner Circus

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Very entertaining game. To walk among the true elites, Oil have to eliminate big mistakes and improve ability to lock down leads in the third period.

Bouchard's game has had wobbles all season with defensive zone decisions but also in establishing consistency with his elite offensive zone game. Too many shots blocked, missing the net, and getting caught up ice with turnovers. The PP I think will start to hum again once Bouchard's game stabilizes a bit. Skinner is the other notable with poor decision making getting caught indecisive on the long breakaway goal. He's not giving this team anywhere good enough consistent goaltending or ability to bail this team out of their tendency for big mistakes Oil tilt the ice against opponents but the few quality high danger chances against are usually dooseys.

Oil coaching have talked about their PP being the response to physical penalties/intimidation against. The blatant Reaves cheap shot on Nurse offered up the scenario and the Oilers failed to produce on the five minute PP. A critical turning point in this game

PK looks to getting some kills finally. Emberson with a solid game including a non-available Nurse team high PK ice time of 4:41 toi. Draisaitl is playing great hockey. McDavid starting to heat up.

Big mistakes cost this team And goaltending isn't good enough to give them the stops to mitigate . Take the point and get out of dodge. Hope Nurse is okay Keep grinding to find greater consistency throughout the lineup and still largely in all facets

 

[BlackDogg]

The Oilers have been cursed with bad goalies for even longer than Oak Island has been on.

 

[Heavy Dee]

For all of you Skinner supporters

https://x.com/i/web/status/1858195591282700485

 

[CanadasTeam99]

For all of you Skinner supporters

https://x.com/i/web/status/1858195591282700485

Call Sj Stan. Blackwood has been hovering just under 10th in the metrics. He is at least a middle goalie

 

[AM]

You guys should remember all the elite goalies fans have forced out of town.

 

[Zguy370]

For all of you Skinner supporters

https://x.com/i/web/status/1858195591282700485

Shocking!! Never expected that with a tag team of Skinner-Pickard again, managed by Schwartz it would of been this bad

 

[McDrai]

Reach out to Dubnyk to come on in a goalie coach capacity. Guy had his career rebound under the best in the business.

Wouldn’t it be nice to actually have a goalie coach who has played pro and also understands what it takes to mentally prepare for games as a starting goalie in this league? What a dream that would be.

 

[CupofOil]

Bouchard and Skinner both to blame for the choke job.

Bouch could have at least pretended to skate back after the abysmal turnover. Skinner could have at least attempted to move laterally with some effort.

If management pays Bouchard like he’s some two-way specimen, then we are ****ed…

Bouchard was vastly improved defensively last season and playoffs and by "vastly improved" I mean up to average which with his offensive prowess is near top 10 Dman in the league level so a bit of revisionist history here and too many people ready to throw him in the trash after a rough start to the season.

With that said, the pass to nowhere and the complete lack of effort on the backtrack on the go ahead goal are absolutely unacceptable. The coach needs to hold players accountable for the lack of effort especially, just not acceptable at any point in the game nevermind in such a pivotal moment in that case.

 

[CupofOil]

Of all goals on Skinner MAYBE the 2nd goal was stoppable...maybe.
Still Bouchard just cant be that stupid with the puck. He wears the goat horns on this night.

On to Montreal.

I'm a Skinner defender generally but that Marner goal in OT from that angle cannot go in on a serious goalie. His positioning was terrible, he didn't even move. I'd argue that the Knies goal was stoppable as well. When your team is giving up virtually nothing the entire game, you need to make at least one tough save to bail them out when the few breakdowns do occur.

You just can't defend a goalie when a team scored on literally half of their high danger chances, that must be really deflating for a team knowing that they can't afford to give up anything without worry of it ending up in the back of the net.

 

[foshizzle]

Lmao now we are blaming Skinner for Nurse’s injury. Skinner is also responsible for inflation too.


You’re taught not to pass up the middle in junior. Anyone defending that play is a moron. Dubnyk won’t throw shade on the Oilers org of course, spineless pansy.

So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is a spineless pansy? Bouchard made a bad pass up the middle. It happens to the best of them. Relax

 

[AM]

So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is a spineless pansy? Bouchard made a bad pass up the middle. It happens to the best of them. Relax

I seem to remember caughup doing similar things. He turned out ok.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

So anyone who doesn’t agree with you is a spineless pansy? Bouchard made a bad pass up the middle. It happens to the best of them. Relax

It's a stupid play that most NHL defensemen would never even attempt.

As for Dubnyk, he should know how pitiful the org is at developing goalies. But he's not going to mention that.

 

[TB12]

The Oilers have been cursed with bad goalies for even longer than Oak Island has been on.

That's a bobby dazzler!

 

[McTedi]

Again. Not true. If you're gonna do a play evaluation atleast try to be honest.

Bouchard 100% skated to get back. He pumped the breaks when he saw Ekholm had the closer track.

Obviously ppl see what they want to see based on some of these responses to the play

I was honest in my appraisal of Bouchard, I like the offense he brings but he lacks defensive awareness/effort/skill. Bouchard's effort getting to a puck that was 100% closer to him at one point was laughable. And why exactly was it necessary to pump brakes lol.

 

[bobbythebrain]

I was honest in my appraisal of Bouchard, I like the offense he brings but he lacks defensive awareness/effort/skill. Bouchard's effort getting to a puck that was 100% closer to him at one point was laughable. And why exactly was it necessary to pump brakes lol.

Not saying it was the right play, but it makes total sense why he let up. He saw Ek was on the guy, so he slowed down to cover the front of the net for a rebound. I fully get the thought process there.

I can 100% guarantee he doesn't stop hustling if Ek wasn't there. He would have lost the race no doubt, but he still would have skated.

He 100% hustled from before center to the blueline, then he stopped

 

[McTedi]

I dunno. Booch and Ekholm had reasonable position on the breakaway that occurred. The reason it resulted in a breakaway is world class speed. Not like they weren't trying to get back, just that somebody that is fast as McD blew their doors off. It wasn't because they weren't trying. Its because Bobby McMann is a freaking rocket.

Bouchard stopped skating once McMann was already gone. The only thing he could've done there is try to haul him down and in that case would be pretty risky as probably only get a bit of McMann who would then conceivably have the breakaway and a penalty shot....

Now consider if this was a penalty shot. Would anybody be defending Skinners approach and form on the breakaway? Goalies are there to make saves. Not to let 3 scoring chances in a row all go in.

Definitely not excusing Skinner on any of those late goals, he needs to have a save there on any of those. The OT goal was seriously weak, just f***ing play the shooter.

 

[McTedi]

Not saying it was the right play, but it makes total sense why he let up. He saw Ek was on the guy, so he slowed down to cover the front of the net for a rebound. I fully get the thought process there.

I can 100% guarantee he doesn't stop hustling if Ek wasn't there. He would have lost the race no doubt, but he still would have skated.

He 100% hustled from before center to the blueline, then he stopped

I question his hustle and his awareness. I don't disagree that he may not have caught him but bad optics considering he wore the goat horns on the goal previous. Just my take man, I want Bouchard to play better and have no disingenuous intent with my comments.

 

[Stoneman89]

Very entertaining game. To walk among the true elites, Oil have to eliminate big mistakes and improve ability to lock down leads in the third period.

Bouchard's game has had wobbles all season with defensive zone decisions but also in establishing consistency with his elite offensive zone game. Too many shots blocked, missing the net, and getting caught up ice with turnovers. The PP I think will start to hum again once Bouchard's game stabilizes a bit. Skinner is the other notable with poor decision making getting caught indecisive on the long breakaway goal. He's not giving this team anywhere good enough consistent goaltending or ability to bail this team out of their tendency for big mistakes Oil tilt the ice against opponents but the few quality high danger chances against are usually dooseys.

Oil coaching have talked about their PP being the response to physical penalties/intimidation against. The blatant Reaves cheap shot on Nurse offered up the scenario and the Oilers failed to produce on the five minute PP. A critical turning point in this game

PK looks to getting some kills finally. Emberson with a solid game including a non-available Nurse team high PK ice time of 4:41 toi. Draisaitl is playing great hockey. McDavid starting to heat up.

Big mistakes cost this team And goaltending isn't good enough to give them the stops to mitigate . Take the point and get out of dodge. Hope Nurse is okay Keep grinding to find greater consistency throughout the lineup and still largely in all facets

Agree with you about Bouch being the biggest issue on the PP, but also with Nuge to a lesser extent. But once Bouch starts hitting the net with regularity, the goals and rebound chaos will be back, and that's where Hyman thrives.

As for Skinner (the one that's paid to stop pucks), there are really too many holes in his game right now, that who knows where to start to do a repair. I think Pickard needs to play a string so they can work with Skinner and get his fundamentals and confidence back. Not sure if Schwartz is the guy to count on for that though.

 

[TheNumber4]

Not saying it was the right play, but it makes total sense why he let up. He saw Ek was on the guy, so he slowed down to cover the front of the net for a rebound. I fully get the thought process there.

I can 100% guarantee he doesn't stop hustling if Ek wasn't there. He would have lost the race no doubt, but he still would have skated.

He 100% hustled from before center to the blueline, then he stopped

You gotta chase that guy anyways. What if he goes backhand forehand and you can get a stick on the forehand. What if a rebound spits out and that gives you the time to disrupt his attempt on that rebound.

It was a bad play.

That said, Bouch was complete trash to start last year too and became a complete stud come playoffs time, both offensively and defensively. All this belly aching about Bouchard will be wasted, he’ll come around and the Bouch bombs will be flying again.

 

[TheNumber4]

Definitely not excusing Skinner on any of those late goals, he needs to have a save there on any of those. The OT goal was seriously weak, just f***ing play the shooter.

He looked confused on that one. He was sposed to challenge the shooter. But just previous to that he challenged a breakway and left a wide open cage. He’s getting his signals crossed. No confidence in his game. Probably also reading the bad press clippings about his lateral movement, and he’s overcompensating. There’s a version of Stu where he’s calm and plays to his fundamentals and positioning to make up for his lack of athleticism. He’s lost that right now. Looks jittery and confused in net. Needs a huge mental reset to get back to average.

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

Skinner is too slow for the NHL level; his reflexes aren't there. He is too slow tracking pucks.

Hands down the worst lateral movement of any goalie in the league, combined with horrible balance and agility. The guy trips over his own feet regularly and ends up swimming in his crease.

 

[McShogun99]

Wouldn’t it be nice to actually have a goalie coach who has played pro and also understands what it takes to mentally prepare for games as a starting goalie in this league? What a dream that would be.

That’s one thing I never understood with Teflon Schwartz. You look at teams that constantly have good goaltending and the goalie couch is a former NHL player. Schwartz doesn’t have the credentials or the results to last as long as he has.

Definitely not excusing Skinner on any of those late goals, he needs to have a save there on any of those. The OT goal was seriously weak, just f***ing play the shooter.

Skinner never seems to play the shooter as seen on the Cup winning goal and many others. That’s probably due to his horrible lateral movement so he tries to cheat if the pass goes thru.

 

[guymez]

I'm a Skinner defender generally but that Marner goal in OT from that angle cannot go in on a serious goalie. His positioning was terrible, he didn't even move. I'd argue that the Knies goal was stoppable as well. When your team is giving up virtually nothing the entire game, you need to make at least one tough save to bail them out when the few breakdowns do occur.

You just can't defend a goalie when a team scored on literally half of their high danger chances, that must be really deflating for a team knowing that they can't afford to give up anything without worry of it ending up in the back of the net.

I am not defending Skinner. I am just trying to look at things objectively which isnt easy to do around these parts.

I have already enaged with a few posters on the O/T goal and I dont think its definitive that Skinner absolutely should have had that goal. An argument could be made that he could have played it better (I agree with that) but at the end of the day it was a shot off the inside of the post.

There have been a lot of other goals that were definitive in terms of whether or not Skinner should have had it but I wouldnt count that (or the 2nd Leafs goal) as one of them.