2021-22 Game 30: Oilers at Blues

by Lowetide

Lots of nervous Oilers fans right now, the team has a bunch of valuable talent (Darnell Nurse, Jesse Puljujarvi) in Covid protocol and there’s a chance two rookie defensemen will dress tonight. The opponent, St. Louis Blues, are a veteran group who have as many as six forwards tracking for 20+ goals this season.

St. Louis is 6-2-2 in its last 10 games, lost the last outing. Edmonton is 4-6-0 in the last 10, won the last game and we’ll see about tonight.

THE ATHLETIC!

WHAT TO EXPECT IN DECEMBER

  • At home to: PIT (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
  • On the road to: SEA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-1-0)
  • At home to: LAK, MIN, BOS, CAR, TOR, CBJ (Expected 3-3-0) (Actual 1-5-0)
  • On the road to: SEA (Expected 0-1-0) (Actual 1-0-0)
  • On the road to: STL, NJD (Expected 1-1-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
  • Overall expected result: 5-6-0, 10 points in 11 games
  • Actual December results: 3-6-0, 6 points in 9 games
  • Oilers in 2021-22: 18-11-0, 36 points in 29 games

Edmonton lost three California games that will need to be rescheduled and a BOA, so the expected record goes from 8-7-0 to 5-6-0 and the Oilers have to win both games in order to make the nut. Those last two wins before the break loom large.

Edmonton can send down Stuart Skinner, Dmitri Samorukov, Evan Bouchard or Ryan McLeod today in order to make room for Mike Smith. The Broberg moves has me expecting it to happen, my guess is Skinner.

THE REST OF THE SEASON

I read a lot of opinins daily, from my emails and posts here and comments to the TSN1260 inbox. It’s hundreds a week. In my opinion, Oilers fans fall into five main groups:

  • Fans who want to watch the world burn
  • Fans who genuinely want to see the team succeed but have lost faith in management and or coaching
  • Fans who genuinely feel this team has a chance, with one or two tweaks
  • Fans who are convinced this team has what it takes
  • Fans who watch because they love the game and can enjoy it on that level

There are no “better” or “worse” fan groups, although there are louder and more aggressive ones. Oilers anger online has gotten so bad embellishment packed up and left and hyperbole has given notice.

There are Oilers fans you can’t talk to anymore, and that’s a shame. I expect we’ll all get back together after the McDavid era but the frustration of mismanagement has made it impossible for them to watch the day-to-day with anything but outrage. I get it, but don’t consider myself part of the group.

There are Oilers fans who feel this team needs just one or two pieces, says Mike Smith healthy and an emerging Dmitri Samorukov, to make the team whole. I understand the sentiment, and do think the Oilers now have seven ‘quality or higher’ players on the roster, but holes or uncertainty in several areas have me outside this group.

I remain fascinated by the current course laid out by Ken Holland. There are moves that he can make, but he’s keeping his powder dry. My question is how much goes at the deadline and how much does he try to do in the summer?

He’ll have $5.3 million in cap room in the summer, plus needs to sign Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto and several RFA’s who shouldn’t go over the minimum on new deals. If Holland buys out Kassian, saving $2.5 million, he should be able to get both wingers signed for less than $7.8 million.

Comes the question, what can he do to improve the team in summer? Well, there are some promising players coming up, we’ve seen several this season and all should be better (plus Holloway) in the fall.

I think at least one productive player in the $3+ million category has to be dealt over the summer. That list includes Tyson Barrie, Cody Ceci, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Darnell Nurse. I don’t think Holland will even entertain deals for Nurse or Nuge, so we’re talking Barrie or Ceci.

What does Edmonton need? The easiest fix is a reliable starting goaltender. After that, a second pairing LH defenseman, a No. 3 center and a scoring right-winger are roster areas that could use some help.

Internal options are Mike Smith, Duncan Keith, Derek Ryan and Kailer Yamamoto. Youngsters pushing are Stuart Skinner, Philip Broberg, Ryan McLeod and nobody, so there are areas of promise internally and areas that do need to be addressed.

I keep wondering if Holland picks a cold January morning and grabs Braden Holtby and Evander Kane, moves Zach Hyman to right wing and runs with it. Then again, the cap is so addled you need the jaws of life to get Mike Smith back on the roster, so no movement is more likely.

LOWDOWN WITH LOWETIDE

A busy morning with fun guests, we get started at 10, TSN1260. Scott Wheeler from The Athletic pops in at 10:20 to talk World Juniors on a big day, Bruce McCurdy from the Cult of Hockey at the Edmonton Journal will help preview Oilers-Blues, and we’re booking guests on the double as we speak. 10-1260 text, @Lowetide on twitter. See you on the radio!

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elgruntus

something to keep in mind when discussing Tipp’s use of Sammy. In the post game presser, Tipp said, in response to this very question , “Jimmy decided to go down to 5”. Sounds to me like it was Playfair’s decision to staple him, not Tippet’s.

godot10

It is still Tippett’s decision even if he delegated the authority to make it. He retains the ability to override it.

Accountibility for the decision cannot be delegated.

dessert1111

I’m generally for letting young guys play through mistakes, be given opportunities etc but Samourukov had what, 3 shifts, and on each of them he looked below AHL caliber.

He has enough of a track record for us to know he’s better than that, but I don’t know what Tippett can do in that situation. He put him right back out there twice after getting walked only to do it two more times.

He needs a reset, he will be better next time.

Bling

Tipp plays Darnell Nurse 30 minutes a game.

If Tipp was around when Nurse was a rookie, he would’ve nailed him to the bench for the mistakes he was making.

Ergo, the Nurse that Tipp loves could never have developed under Tipp

OriginalPouzar

Come on….. dessert1111’s description of Sammy’s three shifts is bang one – 3 shifts, directly culpable for a HD scoring chance against on each shift – 2 leading to goals against.

All d-men make mistakes but Sammy was unplayable.

I would have given him some shifts in the 2nd, etc. but not paying him is definitely defendable.

JimmyV1965

I honestly don’t know if benching Sami the entire game was a good idea, but this take is ridiculous.

Yegfoundation

You can classify it as negative or wanting to watch the world burn blah blah blah. The Oilers need a coach who be patient with young dmen because paying Barrie and Keith a combined 10 mill a year is getting you nowhere.

OriginalPouzar

Barrie has been playing very well for a while now, defensively.

In the last 10 games, his GA/60 is 2.18 – not that the stat is the be all and end all.

jp

And he’s tied with Bouchard in goal differential (among regulars). This despite playing through the losing streak and when all the LD were out.

Last season he was 2nd on the team in 5v5 goal differential as well.

JimmyV1965

Maybe pairing Sami with Bouchard was not such a great idea. Two rookies together. Bouchard was the primary goat on goal one IMO.

OriginalPouzar

Remember that 5 point game for Lavoie a while ago? Well, his next game was tonight…… he just sniped a beauty from the top of the circles to give the Condors a 3-2 lead with 12 to go in the 3rd. Reign tied it up seconds later.

€√¥£€^$

Condors win in OT (Griffith) and are now 0.500; Skinner is the winner and his back-up was Evan Buitenhuis, the Wichita starter. I am not aware of where Rodrigue is, perhaps Wichita?
FYI, they beat #2 Ontario and with all the talk here about forward depth, Bakersfield is the 2nd lowest scoring team in the Division. It sure is nice to see te only active and legit NHL forward prospect score tonight, Lavoie also had 5 shots tonight.

OriginalPouzar

They delayed the start of the game by a good 20 minutes as Skinner ran in to the arena and got his equipment on.

Richard Roma

Not a good look for Old Dutch killing off two prime McDavid years with the Keith contract.

jimmyneutron

All that for the same cap hit as Phillip Danault!

PokeCheck

And don’t forget that the cap space that freed led to Jones’ ridiculous contract, which in turn significantly drove up the asking price for Nurse, hurting us twice.

rickithebear

No child should be a victim of Adults
That is why I have up my parks Canada Job
So the good First Nation staffing is There

Richard Roma

Can we get on with firing Tippett and hire Woodcroft?

Richard Roma

I feel like we paid two points to kick the rust off Smyth.

Samorukov found Grebeshkov’s stash of acid.

Another kick in the pants for Oilers fans.

Tippett looks older than my great grandma. I think he’s finished.

Bling

The continuing Kyle Turris experiment is now so befuddling that it has become fascinating.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Tipp wants to keep playing Turris to see what he has with this player.

Richard Roma

Holland prefers to give two year pacts to oilers that are done.

Scungilli Slushy

He does something important, that their stats say is good, that they value

Tragically it has little to do with winning NHL games n 2021

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

It’s not likely to work in 2022, either.

Victoria Oil

Oilers with zero shots on goal in the last 10 minutes including 3+ minutes with an extra attacker.

Scungilli Slushy

But the defence, no empty netter!!!!!

OriginalPouzar
Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Unfortunately, he scored them with the Condors, not the Oilers. Too many studs in EDM blocking him.

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

I have laughed out loud at your last few comments. They are all on point. Well done!

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Thank you, kind sir. I am afraid that I may have lost it a bit. Off to see if I can find a Snikers to get my temper back under control.

Munny 2.0

Maybe what he needed was a tiny taste…

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Hope he enjoyed it, it’s all he will likely ever get with this team.

Bling

Echoing what others have said…I feel for Samorukov. That’s a tough way to start your NHL career.

I don’t agree with playing him 2:28 but we’ve seen that sort of thing from Tipp before in the playoffs. He also didn’t play Bouchard last year so don’t despair, Samo!

Keith at 24 minutes is probably too high.

OriginalPouzar

The Oilers may win the game if Nurse is playing.

The first two goals don’t happen.

Keith doesn’t play that much (and he was good early before the minutes added up).

Etc.

Harpers Hair

An absolutely despicable way to treat a young player making his his NHL debut.

meanashell11

I would never normally agree with you but tonight, cheers!

Richard Roma

Kid was an absolute pylon.

I’m not sure why they played him.

Reja

He needed to see a couple more shifts this could really mess with his head.

Harpers Hair

Yes.

Sierra

and what if he got undressed more. How would that affect his head?

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Keith at 24 minutes is probably too high … now there’s an understatement. Also good to see Tipp in playoff form. An embarrassment behind the bench.

Last edited 2 years ago by Decidedly Skeptical Fan
Richard Roma

I once thought you were a joker, but I can agree with this.

KnightRain

I can’t believe tipp didn’t even give Dima another shift. I know he’s in the business of winning games but, man, that has to be brutal for the kids mental health. I see no reason to punish a rookie so harshly for being forced into action by covid and cap. His very first game, no less…

Scungilli Slushy

Samo is Russian he has some back bone

It is rough but better he starts hard than it being too easy because his nhl route is as a hard player not a fancy guy

If Tipp thought he was going to win he must have chicken bones behind the bench or Berube dolls

Play the kid and let him settle, he is a better player than that we know because of what he has done in the second best league

I am not seeing leadership, on any level actually at this point. This is looking a lot like floundering with a few up ticks

Reja

This team is sure missing some mustard up front when your only body checker is Leon with Foegele throwing the odd one makes for a easy peezy night for the Blues D.

northerndancer

Reja you old timey fellas remind me of the geesers in the rafters yelling ‘hit’em, hit’em, just hit’em.’!!!!! I didn’t see a whole lot of Blue shirts pounding the Oilers into the boards tonight.

Reja

The Blues top line dipsy and doodled all over the Oilers D. It’s amazing how one well placed hit deters this.

Scungilli Slushy

Or good gaps and tight checking

Yukon Jerk

That & “Shoot!!”

Scungilli Slushy

Hits Blues 16 Oilers 14

Usually the losing team wins the negative metrics ( hits blocks etc) and shoots more

Oilers out hit, out shot, out blocked, less in the blue paint

KnightRain

Disjointed effort tonight. We had some chances, though. Thought out D were decent but soft. Guys just skate around without a worry. Can’t wait til Nurse and Niems get back. We need bangers. Yamo needs off of the second line. Put Hyman there when Jessi gets back. Impressed with Ryan’s line and with Barrie’s overall game. I’ll take a 40 point Barrie if he keeps playing like this. The time of Bouch is now. Give him the bulk of PP time and watch his point totals soar!

jzed

We need to devalue Sammy before we trade him for a bag of pucks, ……. right? Did Tipp bench Keith after he watched Tarasenko go in untouched?

OriginalPouzar

Of course, that play by Keith was largely due to poor forward support and Drai coasting.

With some effort, Drai could easily have taken the middle attacker and turned the 3 on 2 in to a 2 on 2 allowing Keith to attack the puck carrier on the boards, which he started to do. He need to back off because Drai didn’t do his job.

As Playfair has said, tough to keep gap and defend the rush without the proper forward support – not provided by Drai on that play.

Munny 2.0

I read that play exactly the same. Keith had no chance on defending that play, out-numbered and forced to change assignments mid-coverage. You could see it on Drai’s face too, when the red light went off.

Scungilli Slushy

I hate it when Drai is getting gassed and starts pacing things too much and not skating through his shifts

Yes even a great player can not do that. It isn’t fair to the others and doesn’t work long run. He isn’t that good to do whatever the f/)k he wants to

Nobody is

Where is the leadership on the bench?

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

That shouldn’t even be possible against a D of Keith’s stature. Keith has HOF creds. Someone needs to remind the Blues about that.

Ryan

I get what you’re saying though if the Oilers wanted to win, why did they play him ahead of Broberg?

OriginalPouzar

They don’t have the cap space to have Broberg on the roster over Samorukov.

jp

I expect they also were hoping for better from him. As Tippett said the other day about Sammy (and young players generally), you don’t know how he’s going to react until he gets into games. Samorukov reacted badly, and was probably also unlucky to have those 2 plays happen in quick succession, plus both ending up in the net.

BTW will try to reply to our ongoing conversation tomorrow.

€√¥£€^$

Sammy was given ozone starts, but also both shifts were with the 2 top NHL scorers = The top Blues players. He needed to get his feet wet vs the bottom 6, Tippett did not do him any favours here.

jp

It was a road game so Tippett couldn’t choose the opposition if he wanted to. And are you really saying it was a bad thing to give Samorukov Ozone starts with the best Oilers players rather than giving him shifts with the 3rd/4th lines who’ve been getting caved forever?

€√¥£€^$

Yes

jp

OK. Disagree 🙂

Last edited 2 years ago by jp
OriginalPouzar

The Oilers were on the road.

Genjutsu

Couldn’t with Smith activated..cap hell.

Edit: see below lol.

Last edited 2 years ago by Genjutsu
jp

cap hell

Carrying $11.5M in cap for unavailable players will do that to you!

Last edited 2 years ago by jp
Bling

JP and Nurse missing is too big a hill for this team to climb against a good team.

Not a bad effort considering how outmanned they were.

Tarasenko and Kyrou are fun to watch. Happy to see Tarasenko back to good health.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

So, we’re what, an average or below average team? Because a good team should be able to fill a hole or two and not miss a beat. This team has repeatedly shown difficulty in dealing with adversity. An average team, maybe slightly above average, in the current iteration. Too many players with serious flaws in their games.

OriginalPouzar

The first two goals were caused directly by the organizational 8 LD playing his first NHL game. That’s not the organizational 8D, its the 8LD.

That left side wasn’t just filling a hole or two (and with the close to 5-6 players out, not including LTIR players) there wasn’t enough cap for Broberg on the team over Sammy.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Blah, blah, blah. Tell it to an organization that is actually well run. This one is not.

Scungilli Slushy

Broberg is no different than Samo

JimmyV1965

I would say Bouchard was the primary goat on the first goal.

€√¥£€^$

Turris could have been waived, but he wasn’t. Hindsight is yada yada, but there were options, someone was responsible for deciding that it was more important to play Dima and Turris over Holland’s first 1st round pick.

It likely was not Holland….

Scungilli Slushy

It’s not that guy should win, but that they should still play a good team game

They don’t. Blame the rookies sure, but it’s throughout the lineup, meaning the guys supposed to be leading the way

There can’t be two standards on one team

hags9k

Top line with extra attacker comes off winded with 2 mins left and the second wave is Yamo, Turris, Fogele, Perlini. Says it all.

OriginalPouzar

Well, presumably the top 5 forwards are out on that shift and the team has another top line forward out with Covid so, yes, bottom six players would be left.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Signature Tipp. The only missing element is Nurse, well, because he’s actually missing.

Bling

Is -2 in 2:28 TOI for Samorukov some kind of Oiler record? NHL?

fishman

Ouch. Then a trip back to Bakersfield……

jp
Bling

Eek. Hopefully they give him another chance, but probably not.

jp

He should get another chance at some point. Likely not on this stint with the club.

€√¥£€^$

This will help him grow. Now he knows what he can’t do.

I am not worried about him. I am glad his wife is there for him, at least.

northerndancer

At least when Barrie gets beat he makes it look like he was working at it.

Last edited 2 years ago by northerndancer
JimmyV1965

Very discouraging game. Dmen got walked all night long. Feel bad for Sami. Ugly first fame. Not sure what message you send benching him. Maybe it was necessary.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

It’s the way a good coach like Gallant would handle it … not.

Material Elvis

Gallant would not have played him either. He was getting massacred out there.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

You are correct. He would have watched Keith get pyloned and play him 24 minutes instead. This game was a teachable moment for a young prospect. Gallant would have risen to the occasion as he has done repeatedly in the past. Tipp pulled a Dementor tonight.

Material Elvis

So send him back out, have more goals scored against him, and improve his confidence? I don’t see the connection. There’s no coach who could have helped Samorukov tonight. He’s just not ready yet.

Munny 2.0

There’s no way of knowing from our seats what would be the best psychology to use on a particular individual. But I was surprised he never saw the ice again.

If Tipp was just too uncomfortable given the tight score… I wonder if maybe he had had more exposure in TC, and no Covid last year, the coach would be more trusting of the player he had.

jp

No way of knowing as you say, but it’s also possible the player was rattled to the point that maybe it was better they didn’t put him back out there.

OriginalPouzar

Will sure be nice to have Nurse and Puljujarvi for next game!

Reja

The goof Refs call 3 borderline calls in a row on the road team that’s losing then don’t call the obvious to many men on the Oilers.

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Connor twice within a whisker from the short side in tight.

rickithebear

Children do not deserve being victims of scum bag parents
DNR these bad parents

OriginalPouzar

What?

Material Elvis

Covid fever dream.

OriginalPouzar

I didn’t see his previous post before seeing (and commenting on) this one.

Ryan

That was an unusual behind the play call against Bouchard.

jzed

Bouchard with 2 for looking so good

flyfish1168

Time to play Sammy. No use having him sit on the bench.

flyfish1168

Some pretty cheap calls

Reja

Garbage call Ref thinks he’s the star of the game.

Material Elvis

Pathetic reffing.

rickithebear

Today I was transferred from 11 days of tubes to keep me alive in Red deer Hosp to my Hanna hospital.
A Special noted transfer with Delta Variant Herd Imunity
Grateful for those that kept me alive & made use of my Cultures

Almost Dief of Cancer & Now Covid
Ever grateful

Material Elvis

You are more Cat than Bear.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Can’t keep a good bear down … not for long anyway. Here’s hoping that 2022 treats you a bit better.

hags9k

All the best Ricki, get well.

northerndancer

Hang in there Riki. Get that honey pot back on your nose.

Fuhrious

Shit, somebody better start writing a get well card to SARS-CoV2, it never stood a chance against RTB.

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

Keith’s inability to skate makes it very difficult for him to defend.

We definitely found out who is a step too slow, it is Keith.

Still a great passer.

Bling

That chip behind his own net and backhand pass on the outlet at around the 10 minute mark was nice.

jp

AAA chance for Barrie there too.

Material Elvis

Barrie robbed by Binnington. Nice pass by Foegele.

hags9k

I’ve been pretty grumpy watching this crap but that backhand pass from Drai made me say wow.

Reja

To bad his wingers have stone hands.

Slapshot

too

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

Tip needs to do something with the 2nd line. They have been ice cold for months now and bleeding chances 5v5. It is not working.

jp

Lordy what a save by Binnington.

I like the load-up line here. Neither McDavid or Draisaitl’s lines have looked great tonight (though they have both goals).

BornInAGretzkyJersey

If only Foegele had hands…

Munny 2.0

Only Miss Fortune kept that puck out

Material Elvis

Bitch.

OriginalPouzar

How did Foegele not score there and, my goodness, that’s one of the best backhanded passes by Drai I’ve ever seen.

Tarkus

Didn’t dig in enough.

Fuhrious

Not enough shooter mentality.

Material Elvis

He doesn’t have a shooter’s mentality.

Fuhrious

JINX!!!!

Scungilli Slushy

Worth a top 4 RD straight up for sure

OriginalPouzar

He wasn’t traded for a top 4 D any more than he is a 1st liner.

Material Elvis

What a chance for Foegele. Argh!

flyfish1168

Benson was taken a few picks ahead of Kyrou. I would like a do-over

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

Wouldn’t matter. We still would have Ryan, Perlini, Turris, Shore and Scevior slotted ahead of him.

jp

Yeah Kyrou is excellent.

Scungilli Slushy

Cailliou is not from Edmonton

Brogan Rafferty's Uncle Steve

I wonder where the Oilers team sv% sits after tonight’s game?

jp

Crap call.

KnightRain

Blues are dictating the game, now. We need a spark to get back into it.

KnightRain

Damn. Not what I had in mind..,

Munny 2.0

Smart zone entry there by the McLeod squad after some dithering in the DZone

Material Elvis

Turris is playing tonight? Huh.

Decidedly Skeptical Fan

He has to play. Otherwise, coach would be forced to use Benson. Can’t have that.

OriginalPouzar

The Oilers “even up the PPs” PP will likely come, with what, 4 or 5 minutes left?

BornInAGretzkyJersey

Well then.

OriginalPouzar

I thought Keith was very good early, in particular in the 1st period and early in the 2nd.

His play declined as the game went on (although Drai put him in a VERY tough spot on the 3rd goal).

I wonder if playing so many minutes is a big contributor to declining play through the night.

Not playing Sammy could be a contributing factor to this so that’s on the coaching staff, I guess, but, at the same time, what are they supposed to do.

I think having 5 LD out is the main factor here.

Paulie

Keith having tough night on defensive side of the game