2.5KOilers five-on-five points-per-60, plus goalie SP
During the last two full seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22), Jesse Puljujarvi scored 17-17-34 in 1157 minutes playing with Connor McDavid five-on-five. In the 516 minutes JP played away from the captain, he scored 3-7-10 (1.16). Even though the scoring is down away from the captain, JP’s five-on-five goal share without (20-19, .51 percent) was solid. This season, he’s 1-7 goals, much of that in the early going while playing with Evan Bouchard (0-4 together) and Ryan Murray (0-2). On his current line (with Ryan McLeod and Warren Foegele), the trio has played 60 minutes (1-2 goals) with an expected goal share of 62 percent.
The goals-per-60 total for the line is just 1.00, and as you can see Puljujarvi is struggling offensively. Dylan Holloway’s fourth line has played 18 minutes and is 2-1 goals. I’ve suggested (most recently here) that Holloway should be considered for the third line, or the fourth line should take on more minutes at five-on-five. There’s a problem. There simply isn’t enough playing time left when the McDavid and Draisaitl lines get their slice of the pie. What should Jay Woodcroft do?
Stuart Skinner's comparables are strong and his early season start is rare for rookies in Oilers history. https://t.co/5vbCcfnDhI
At home to: NAS, NJD, DAL (Expected 2-1-0 ) (Actual 1-1-0)
On the road to: WAS, TBY, CAR, FLA (Expected 1-2-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
At home to: LAK, VEG (Expected 1-0-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
On the road to: NJD, NYI, NYR (Expected (1-1-1) (Actual 0-0-0)
At home to: FLA (Expected 1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
On the road to: CHI (Expected (1-0-0) (Actual 0-0-0)
November expected result: 7-4-3, 17 points in 14 games
Actual November results: 1-1-0, 2 points in 2 games
October results: 6-3-0, 12 points in 9 games
Oilers in 2022-23: 7-4-0, 14 points in 11 games
This is a big game because the road trip from hell is straight ahead. Edmonton doesn’t want to come back to town on a six-game losing streak, and it can happen in the wink of an eye. Jack Campbell starts, Stuart Skinner will chase history another day.
Q. AND A.
The Foegele-McLeod-Puljujarvi line is rocking! They are doing well in possession, and moving Holloway up (and Foegele down) might be a mistake. I think Holloway is more dynamic, and could unlock some offense for the team.
And some goals-against. Sure, that’s part of it. There’s danger in trusting another rookie in a significant role. I think Holloway is worth it I believe the goal differential could be higher.
What’s the problem with Foegele-McLeod-JP? The line has been together for about 60 minutes and has one goal. Small sample for sure, but 23 shots per 60 and one goal per 60. It’s too low.
Good God man, it’s just 60 minutes. I expect this unit gets several more games, but the fourth line is pushing too and it’s possible Shore-Holloway-Ryan increases its minutes at the expense of the third line.
Moving Holloway up is the answer? Or play the fourth line more. However, in the last four games the five-on-five time has been divided thusly: Nuge-McDavid-Hyman 10:21 (67 percent goal share); Kane-Draisaitl-Yamamoto 11:24 (60 percent goal share); Foegele-McLeod-Puljujarvi 7:30 (50 percent goal share); Shore-Holloway Ryan 4:29 (67 percent goal share).
That’s perfect! Except you have an entire line that isn’t scoring. They’re also not giving up much, so that’s good, but the reasonable expectations for those three is significant. One of them has to be a mover soon.
What were the RE’s? Puljujarvi 19-22-41, McLeod 13-19-32 and Foegele 12-16-28. They’re all here.
So that’s 44 goals in 82 games. Those three men would need to have scored six goals by now. How many do they have? They have four, three from McLeod and one from Puljujarvi.
Why are you on about this? These are not horrible numbers! They’re good! You’re such a tit! Two reasons. I thought Jesse Puljujarvi could push the river on a line where he’s the best player, and the GA60 is the best on the team. However, the offense is shy. The line may have scored four goals individually, but just one together. I think Holloway-McLeod-Puljujarvi might be more dynamic.
What’s the other reason? Holloway. You have to play him more.
Any other options? I mentioned this when talking to Jason Gregor on Friday, but maybe the Holloway line plays more at five-on-five. Instead of the current split, maybe the 12 minutes are divided evenly.
What will Woodcroft do? The first pressure point is probably Yamamoto. JP has one goal away from McDavid and Yamamoto has all three of his points with Draisaitl. I expect we’ll see a shift here, maybe Kane-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi and Yamamoto joining the third line.
You can’t demote Yamamoto! Ass hat! Actually, it’s getting close. Today is Game 12, if he can’t unlock some offense between now and Game 20 I expect he’ll move down the depth chart. Could happen on the road trip.
In this conversation, you’ve talked about moving the fourth line ahead of the McLeod line and demoting Yamamoto. The lines are working! Among the group of players we’re discussing, I think Holloway may be the most dynamic offensively and Puljujarvi the most effective in turning over pucks and keeping danger from Edmonton’s door step. Why not combine those two things? I don’t think it’s crazy.
What happens if Yamamoto ends the season 11-16-27 and Puljujarvi 9-15-22? It would mean they both flip flopped inside the top six and neither of them were successful as scorers. I have too much faith in them to believe it, but it might mean an acquisition at the deadline to upgrade No. 2 RW.
What about Xavier Bourgault? He’s having a great start to the year, love his game, but I don’t think he’s going to play more than a few NHL games this season, if any.
So the key is Holloway? “A” key is Holloway. He’s more dynamic than Foegele. I think it’s a natural move to switch them. If he can’t move the needle with McLeod and Puljujarvi, then try something else.
What’s most likely? Probably an injury.
Because? Because Oilers.
I don’t like this. Why can’t you just be happy. Maybe Puljujarvi pots two and Yamamoto two today and this issue goes away. The Oilers are outscoring opponents 23-21 so far this year at five-on-five. I just look at what Holloway is doing with Shore and Ryan and wonder what he could do up the depth chart.
I thought that Friday of long weekends was mail it in work day
hunter1909
November 5, 2022 10:57 pm
I’m pretty sure this team will figure out its issues by playoff time and have no doubt that they stand a cats chance to miss the playoffs.
What appears evident is too much reliance on the superstars outside RNH Kane and Hyman who are still doing their jobs properly. The rest of the lineup sans defence can get bag skated.
€√¥£€^$
November 5, 2022 10:56 pm
That goal really looked like it went through the glove and when we saw that zoom in on the glove there was that larger gap with black on the white webbing all around it.
I am actually very shocked to see that webbing in an NHL goaltender’s glove looks like that, I thought it was built more like a ball glove.
A quieter night with no one putting up multipoints.
Petrov notched his 8th goal of the season, while Lachance tallied on the PP. And proving he’s not quite dead (as a prospect, anyway), Mazura picked up an assist.
Määttä, Brind’Amour, Chiasson, and Schaefer were held off the scoresheet. Münzenberger and Wanner were not in their teams’ lineups.
I didn’t think they were awful, but it certainly felt like a sleepy afternoon game complemented by a very poor goaltending performance.
They clearly need to go back to Skinner, who, despite having maybe his worst game of the season, at least stopped enough pucks to put up a save percentage north of 90% against a team off to a good start.
Gotta hope and pray that at least one goaltender can hold it together over the next month, because they’re not scoring 6 goals a game to cover their mistakes… and it means the mistakes cut much more deeply.
This would be a really convenient time for Broberg to emerge as a legitimate NHL defenceman. It’s too bad hockeydb has him as having played exactly one game so far this season.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 10:24 pm
Kemp with a nice play at the defensive blue on the boards to stop and attack and start a 3 on 1 the other way – Griffith to Tulio, shot stopped, Kemp bangs home the rebound for his second of the night.
Munny 2.0
November 5, 2022 9:28 pm
Second period ends in Seattle. This is one of the middle games in a four game series against Portland and it has resulted in a penalty-filled affair. I don’t think there were two straight minutes of EV time in that period.
Regardless of all the special teams, this was one of the worst periods I’ve ever seen Schaefer play. He ends the period with his THIRD penalty of the stanza, all undisciplined, this one for throwing the Hawks stick into the netting while on the PP. Second time he ended a PP with a penalty.
He did take some shots, none dangerous, but plenty of sorties were dying on his stick and two from him falling just due to footwork.
Hopefully he takes the intermission to screw his head on straight for the 3rd.
That was actually the fourth penalty of the period for Schaefer that’s how bad the parade to the box was, I missed one lol (there were multiple 5 on 3s for both teams). Plus the droppng the gloves incident had earned him a double minor… AND he took a penalty early in the first before I started watching.
Six penalties on the night for the young redhead.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 9:26 pm
Holy hell, Bourgault to Malone to Bourgault and absolutely robbed by LB – almost 5-1 there.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 9:25 pm
I think it was Griffith with a beauty cross-ice pass to Demers in the o-zone, boards to almost boards, Demers walks in, great move, stopped – Savoie bangs home the rebound for his second pro goal in 3 minutes.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 9:21 pm
Griffith wins the o-zone draw back to Kemp who one-times a bomb past LB for the 3-1 lead.
I think that was Griffith on the draw (the camera zoomed out) and, if it was, that’s his 3rd point.
hunter1909
November 5, 2022 9:18 pm
Before the New jersey game I got panned for saying it was a must win game.
Now that they are on a losing streak, it turns out I was right. They have gone from elite to mediocre, run of the mill, going nowhere particularly in the blink of 2 games.
Now of course they can figure out this mess. They have almost an entire season to do so but with 31 other teams competing there is always going to be a very small level of error allowed.
It was a must win for any team with aspirations of elite status. Does that answer your question?
Now with their 7-5 record, you’re 100% right! It’s not going to be a must win because win or lose that game they will still have a mediocre record. Go Oilers lol
Savoie cuts off a passing lane in the D zone and forces a bad pass that springs he and Griffith on a 2 on 1 – Griffith with a space over to Savoie who buries his first pro goal and give the Condors the lead back (they got scored against defending ANOTHER long 5 on 3 – with the two top forward 5/3 guys in the box – Espo and Hamblin).
Munny 2.0
November 5, 2022 8:47 pm
Schaeffer gets baited into dropping his gloves and gets sent off without throwing a punch.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 8:32 pm
Dominating shift for Espo/McKegg/Griffith and Griffith – Esposito – Griffith with a beautiful back and forth for the goal.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 8:29 pm
It took Janmark a couple games to get back up to game fitness but now he’s rolling (points in 3) creating scoring chances at will tonight (just set up Philp all alone).
This is a legit every day NHL player – but cap….
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 8:09 pm
The Condors all-time most winning goalie is starting in their game tonight – for the Knights – L. Brossoit!
top 4 in SA this year;
top 12 last year;
top 11 2020-2021
top 12 2019-2020.
Yes, I understand every shot is not a high scoring chance, but goalies still need to exert effort to make the save and control the rebound. I feel like Oilers need to tighten this up.
Bling
November 5, 2022 7:36 pm
Another guy who was awful today was Kane. Selfish penalty when the game was still kind of in each (4-2). Also had numerous plays die with him. Nice pass to JP for the secondary apple, but good grief, if him and KY play like that the second line is dead.
Kane is not a leader. He is a complimentary player. By definition you don’t go running to blame the complimentary players – save that for the so called leaders.
ps: If you still want to blame someone look no further than the bottom 6 and/ or allegedly top 6 players Yamamoto/Puljujarvi – both of whom are playing as ineffective as shite.
That’s because you can’t see past the superficial, the obvious, the soft soap.
Kane is a good solid player and I like him on the team bigtime. But if leading is what you think you have seen from Kane this year. I’d love to see your evidence.
One player too tiny to thrive unless he has excellent health and the spirit to continue to play NHL hockey at his size. So far the jury is still out, although I see him doing ok aside from the fact he isn’t producing points for shite. You know, like a top 6 forward?
Puljujarvi is that endless head case Joni Pitkanen style player. He has shown glimpses of ability but eventually you run out of…runway in life and he’s headed that way unless you are related to him or something.
Why don’t you try looking at the team’s lack of defensive structure, mediocre defence core, god awful pk, and then get back to me.
SayItAin'tSo, Gretz, SayItAin'tSo!
November 5, 2022 7:25 pm
Two losses and HH has outposted OP today. Shocking lol.
The Soup signing and the love of Kenny zeroing in on him was my big worry from this offseason. Very small track record to give a guy a five year deal. Lots and lots of time left but he nailed his own play today it’s been effing pathetic.
That said guys should step off the ledge this afternoon. Too much negativity, too much doomsdaying and way to much love for Oiler opponents.
For crying out loud the good guys have a better record than all the opponents coming up save for Carolina who’ll never win squat cause they’re softer than butter lol.
I’m of the belief that a road trip will be a good thing even if it’s not a banger on the W/L.
Too much time at home makes folks comfortable then lazy and then angry and confused.
Some very bizarre play the last two games top to bottom. McD to McLeod.
Need to get on the road, get to new places and get “the hustle” back. The Comp should be fun too. The Oilers play all these teams well despite LT and HH’s doomsdaying 😉
Focus. HH posting after a loss is as predictable as him not posting after a win. Don’t feed the troll. It’s a long season. Didn’t like how they played one bit today but the sun will come up tomorrow.
Ranford.85
November 5, 2022 7:21 pm
Again, waiting for a few losses to show your face, but you’re nowhere to be seen when they’re winning, unless you’re commenting about another team altogether.
People who prey on the frustration and disappointment of others is the lowest of the lows. Worse then a telemarketing scammer.
Material Elvis
November 5, 2022 6:58 pm
You likely just set the Oilers up for a great result. Thanks!
I think McLeod is getting off too easy, imo he was ECHL quality, I was screaming at Jay to sit him starting at the end of the first but clearly it’s difficult hearing some idiot shouting at his TV in Stockholm when you’re coaching a hockey game in Edmonton because he kept putting him out there. There were a lot of crappy performances but McLeod was playing completely out of synch with whoever he was lining up with and overall just playing real dumb dumb hockey from minute one.
Now I’m not as high as most on McLeod, for a #3C I don’t think he distributes the puck well enough, but he’s certainly a lot better than whatever that was.
But there was a lot of bad in this, with a few exceptions this was a full team meltdown. Outside of a stretch in the second period against the Devils the passing game has gone down the drain the last two games and in this one it took the overall structure with it. Just a total mess.
The knock on McLeod has always been that he doesn’t go to hard areas often enough. He’s gotten better in that regard, but the hesitancy to shoot and the inability to distribute the puck well (as SP mentioned) is troubling.
“It was kind of like it’s gone all year for me personally. I just haven’t brought my best. Frankly, it’s just been pathetic the way I’ve been playing. I owe it to this team to bring my A-game, and they haven’t seen it yet.”
One of the things I remember hearing about Campbell is that his confidence is fragile (not judging him for this as a person) and when it dips, it usually isn’t pretty.
It sounds like it dipped, from this quote. Hopefully the locker room can prevent this from becoming an issue.
Both JP and Holloway were elevated on merit and continued to help create when elevated
flea
November 5, 2022 5:00 pm
Officially Campbell is off to a bad start with the Oilers. I still think it’s fair to give him a few more games, but he’s got to have a good one here, eventually.
Goaltending is always a shit show until right around this time, then it starts to level out. Jack needs to find his game now, or this team is in some trouble. Skinner goes again next game.
1 – He’s terrible in October, so maybe it’ll be good times rolling from now on.
2 – Good EV save pct but not very good on PK, career-wise, IIRC. I remember thinking he would perhaps thrive under a better PK unit in Edmonton. So far that has not happened.
3 – Slight concern in that he was weak in the second half for the Leafs and that has carried through to this year. I think he’ll bounce back, but boy does he look uncomfortable right now.
No urgency in that game. Did they read the press clipping about how great they were and just expect other teams to quiver and just give us the game?
last game was a comedy of errors. This game was mailed in.
Is it soupy’s bad netminding that has them not playing hard? Do they not like the guy so don’t play for him?
I dunno but this game was crap. I hope to never see an effort like this again.
Soupy’s gonna sit for a few games.
You force the pass early, especially if the carrier doesn’t have solid possession (Benn had just picked it up and was vulnerable). Kulak gets that puck greater than 50% if he forces at blue.
After that you take the pass while maintaining angle on the shooter, then as soon as Benn readies, you take the shooter immediately.
Kulak did none of the above. Completely textbook wrong. Never let the carrier have the easy shot. Ever.
Kulak didn’t play that one well, he didn’t take away either option but I’ve never heard that a d-man should allow the pass and take the shot (except for when you post it on this site). Always heard the opposite, at every level of hockey, and NHL goalies say the same. Sure, maybe, forcing an early pass may be a thing but this is NHL hockey and that’s not always a viable option and, as the attackers approach the scoring area, not chance a d-man is supposed to allow a cross-crease pass.
OriginalPouzar
November 5, 2022 4:14 pm
PP wasn’t bad actually – great puck retrieval but no finish and forcing bad passes. McDavid made four poor pass decisions in those 4 minutes.
NEW for The Athletic: Oilers prospects crowding AHL roster, ice time at a premium.
https://theathletic.com/3763329/2022/11/05/edmonton-oilers-prospects-november-2022/
I thought that Friday of long weekends was mail it in work day
I’m pretty sure this team will figure out its issues by playoff time and have no doubt that they stand a cats chance to miss the playoffs.
What appears evident is too much reliance on the superstars outside RNH Kane and Hyman who are still doing their jobs properly. The rest of the lineup sans defence can get bag skated.
That goal really looked like it went through the glove and when we saw that zoom in on the glove there was that larger gap with black on the white webbing all around it.
I am actually very shocked to see that webbing in an NHL goaltender’s glove looks like that, I thought it was built more like a ball glove.
https://youtu.be/VfUGzOJyxXU
Summarizing!
A quieter night with no one putting up multipoints.
Petrov notched his 8th goal of the season, while Lachance tallied on the PP. And proving he’s not quite dead (as a prospect, anyway), Mazura picked up an assist.
Määttä, Brind’Amour, Chiasson, and Schaefer were held off the scoresheet. Münzenberger and Wanner were not in their teams’ lineups.
Oh, and prospecting takes a break until Tuesday.
I didn’t think they were awful, but it certainly felt like a sleepy afternoon game complemented by a very poor goaltending performance.
They clearly need to go back to Skinner, who, despite having maybe his worst game of the season, at least stopped enough pucks to put up a save percentage north of 90% against a team off to a good start.
Gotta hope and pray that at least one goaltender can hold it together over the next month, because they’re not scoring 6 goals a game to cover their mistakes… and it means the mistakes cut much more deeply.
Actually another capable defenceman might help move the planet on this one.
This would be a really convenient time for Broberg to emerge as a legitimate NHL defenceman. It’s too bad hockeydb has him as having played exactly one game so far this season.
Kemp with a nice play at the defensive blue on the boards to stop and attack and start a 3 on 1 the other way – Griffith to Tulio, shot stopped, Kemp bangs home the rebound for his second of the night.
Second period ends in Seattle. This is one of the middle games in a four game series against Portland and it has resulted in a penalty-filled affair. I don’t think there were two straight minutes of EV time in that period.
Regardless of all the special teams, this was one of the worst periods I’ve ever seen Schaefer play. He ends the period with his THIRD penalty of the stanza, all undisciplined, this one for throwing the Hawks stick into the netting while on the PP. Second time he ended a PP with a penalty.
He did take some shots, none dangerous, but plenty of sorties were dying on his stick and two from him falling just due to footwork.
Hopefully he takes the intermission to screw his head on straight for the 3rd.
That was actually the fourth penalty of the period for Schaefer that’s how bad the parade to the box was, I missed one lol (there were multiple 5 on 3s for both teams). Plus the droppng the gloves incident had earned him a double minor… AND he took a penalty early in the first before I started watching.
Six penalties on the night for the young redhead.
Holy hell, Bourgault to Malone to Bourgault and absolutely robbed by LB – almost 5-1 there.
I think it was Griffith with a beauty cross-ice pass to Demers in the o-zone, boards to almost boards, Demers walks in, great move, stopped – Savoie bangs home the rebound for his second pro goal in 3 minutes.
Griffith wins the o-zone draw back to Kemp who one-times a bomb past LB for the 3-1 lead.
I think that was Griffith on the draw (the camera zoomed out) and, if it was, that’s his 3rd point.
Before the New jersey game I got panned for saying it was a must win game.
Now that they are on a losing streak, it turns out I was right. They have gone from elite to mediocre, run of the mill, going nowhere particularly in the blink of 2 games.
Now of course they can figure out this mess. They have almost an entire season to do so but with 31 other teams competing there is always going to be a very small level of error allowed.
It stinks.
Must win for what?
It wasn’t a must-win 48 hours ago and it still isn’t, and never will be.
This afternoon wasn’t a must-win nor is Monday.
OP you could be interested and follow the 1970 California Golden Seals game by game, player by player and still get excited about it all.
It was a must win for any team with aspirations of elite status. Does that answer your question?
Now with their 7-5 record, you’re 100% right! It’s not going to be a must win because win or lose that game they will still have a mediocre record. Go Oilers lol
No, it really wasn’t a must-win game for that.
Note, the Rangers, Leafs, Avs, Panthers, Caps, Wild – all behind the Oilers in the standings.
I seriously do not give a rats ass who is behind the Oilers in the standings.
Try again.
I think a “must win game” doesn’t mean what you think it means 🙂
I don’t think “hunter1909” means what you think it means 🙂
This subthread reads like a group of people who are utterly new to hunter.
But but Yamo is trying.
Savoie cuts off a passing lane in the D zone and forces a bad pass that springs he and Griffith on a 2 on 1 – Griffith with a space over to Savoie who buries his first pro goal and give the Condors the lead back (they got scored against defending ANOTHER long 5 on 3 – with the two top forward 5/3 guys in the box – Espo and Hamblin).
Schaeffer gets baited into dropping his gloves and gets sent off without throwing a punch.
Dominating shift for Espo/McKegg/Griffith and Griffith – Esposito – Griffith with a beautiful back and forth for the goal.
It took Janmark a couple games to get back up to game fitness but now he’s rolling (points in 3) creating scoring chances at will tonight (just set up Philp all alone).
This is a legit every day NHL player – but cap….
The Condors all-time most winning goalie is starting in their game tonight – for the Knights – L. Brossoit!
Quinton Byfield – not an NHL player.
Nvm.
Another game where the shots against were well over 30.
Understandable this wasn’t Campbells best work, but are Oilers at the bottom of the league every year for SA’s?
top 4 in SA this year;
top 12 last year;
top 11 2020-2021
top 12 2019-2020.
Yes, I understand every shot is not a high scoring chance, but goalies still need to exert effort to make the save and control the rebound. I feel like Oilers need to tighten this up.
Another guy who was awful today was Kane. Selfish penalty when the game was still kind of in each (4-2). Also had numerous plays die with him. Nice pass to JP for the secondary apple, but good grief, if him and KY play like that the second line is dead.
In Kane’s defence, he has skated for a week (except in games) and, from accounts, is quite ill…..
It’s the penalties.
Some have been talking about this for a bit now.
I get it to a certain extent, ( it is a feature, not a bug to his game) but our PK is not built for some of these Kane penalties
Kane is not a leader. He is a complimentary player. By definition you don’t go running to blame the complimentary players – save that for the so called leaders.
ps: If you still want to blame someone look no further than the bottom 6 and/ or allegedly top 6 players Yamamoto/Puljujarvi – both of whom are playing as ineffective as shite.
From everything we’ve seen and heard, Evander Kane has risen to a leader on this team
That’s because you can’t see past the superficial, the obvious, the soft soap.
Kane is a good solid player and I like him on the team bigtime. But if leading is what you think you have seen from Kane this year. I’d love to see your evidence.
The are much greater issues on this team than Yamamoto and Puljujärvi.
Such as?
One player too tiny to thrive unless he has excellent health and the spirit to continue to play NHL hockey at his size. So far the jury is still out, although I see him doing ok aside from the fact he isn’t producing points for shite. You know, like a top 6 forward?
Puljujarvi is that endless head case Joni Pitkanen style player. He has shown glimpses of ability but eventually you run out of…runway in life and he’s headed that way unless you are related to him or something.
Why don’t you try looking at the team’s lack of defensive structure, mediocre defence core, god awful pk, and then get back to me.
Two losses and HH has outposted OP today. Shocking lol.
The Soup signing and the love of Kenny zeroing in on him was my big worry from this offseason. Very small track record to give a guy a five year deal. Lots and lots of time left but he nailed his own play today it’s been effing pathetic.
That said guys should step off the ledge this afternoon. Too much negativity, too much doomsdaying and way to much love for Oiler opponents.
For crying out loud the good guys have a better record than all the opponents coming up save for Carolina who’ll never win squat cause they’re softer than butter lol.
Miles of season to go folks miles and miles 🥃
Yeah, but in which direction?
I’m of the belief that a road trip will be a good thing even if it’s not a banger on the W/L.
Too much time at home makes folks comfortable then lazy and then angry and confused.
Some very bizarre play the last two games top to bottom. McD to McLeod.
Need to get on the road, get to new places and get “the hustle” back. The Comp should be fun too. The Oilers play all these teams well despite LT and HH’s doomsdaying 😉
Well said.
Focus. HH posting after a loss is as predictable as him not posting after a win. Don’t feed the troll. It’s a long season. Didn’t like how they played one bit today but the sun will come up tomorrow.
Again, waiting for a few losses to show your face, but you’re nowhere to be seen when they’re winning, unless you’re commenting about another team altogether.
People who prey on the frustration and disappointment of others is the lowest of the lows. Worse then a telemarketing scammer.
You likely just set the Oilers up for a great result. Thanks!
I do not…despite many exhortations…control the outcome of games.
If I were a betting man…and I am…I would put the Oilers record in the upcoming road trip at 1-3.
But do you pay out on your losses? 🙂 I have them 1-2-1.
I remember hearing about this rubber road coming last year and the year before – it never came.
What was it, 7 times last season the Oilers demise was predicted based off of strength of schedule? never came.
lol
Washington or Hershey?
Injured:
Backstrom, TJ Oshie, Carl Hagelin, Tom Wilson, Connor Brown and now John Carlson.
Very tough schedule but I think the team needs to get on the road.
I am assuming a win against Hershey to start us off…hoping for 2-2
Washington indeed decimated by injury but still 3-1-1 at home.
Trap game ?
Warren Foegele and Kailer Yamamoto….completely agree with the COH grades. Wow.
We are 12 games in now.
1 point for Warren.
Yamo was not strong. Foegele brought a lot of effort and had a couple chances (granted he whiffed on one).
You are not wrong on Foegele…but at some point you just have to produce. Something.
Anything
I think McLeod is getting off too easy, imo he was ECHL quality, I was screaming at Jay to sit him starting at the end of the first but clearly it’s difficult hearing some idiot shouting at his TV in Stockholm when you’re coaching a hockey game in Edmonton because he kept putting him out there. There were a lot of crappy performances but McLeod was playing completely out of synch with whoever he was lining up with and overall just playing real dumb dumb hockey from minute one.
Now I’m not as high as most on McLeod, for a #3C I don’t think he distributes the puck well enough, but he’s certainly a lot better than whatever that was.
But there was a lot of bad in this, with a few exceptions this was a full team meltdown. Outside of a stretch in the second period against the Devils the passing game has gone down the drain the last two games and in this one it took the overall structure with it. Just a total mess.
Incredible post! Well done!
This is a great take. McLeod was quite bad.
The knock on McLeod has always been that he doesn’t go to hard areas often enough. He’s gotten better in that regard, but the hesitancy to shoot and the inability to distribute the puck well (as SP mentioned) is troubling.
MPS redux.
I am confused. You said that McLeod is not an NHL player. Now you say “MPS redux”.
MPS played 467 games and averaged 21 pts/ 82 games. That is a decent 3rd/4th liner.
Please help me understand?
MPS rode his high draft status to multiple chances in the NHL but was always found wanting.
21 points in 82 games for a former high 1st round pick is pathetic.
Apologies. I did not realize we were talking about what constitutes pathetic production from former first-round picks.
Vasili Podkolzin has averaged 25pts/82 games. Is 25 points in 82 games pathetic? Or maybe 10th overall is not a high first round pick?
Please help me understand?
Good points ….
Petrov’s heater continues with his 4th goal of the weekend and 8th of the season:
https://mobile.twitter.com/OHLBattalion/status/1589035244761780225?cxt=HHwWgsDQudrIsY0sAAAA
Missed the game. Had to work.
What did I miss?
I will see myself out.
From DNB:
One of the things I remember hearing about Campbell is that his confidence is fragile (not judging him for this as a person) and when it dips, it usually isn’t pretty.
It sounds like it dipped, from this quote. Hopefully the locker room can prevent this from becoming an issue.
The thing with confidence it, it takes one game (shit, can take one play for skaters) to get it back.
Definitely agree he’s lost it now, as he should, be he’ll get it back at some point – hopefully some point soon.
http://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20222023&game=20177
Top 6 (the one that started the game) got caved. Well deserved loss.
JP 80% Fenwick. Barrie, Nurse, Ryan, Holloway, Niemelainen, Foegele all over 50%; everyone else under 50%. Yamo and McLeod at the bottom of the heap.
That kinda matches how I saw the game, forwards-wise.
JP, Holloway excellent; Ryan, Foegele, Hyman good; others big woof.
Both JP and Holloway were elevated on merit and continued to help create when elevated
Officially Campbell is off to a bad start with the Oilers. I still think it’s fair to give him a few more games, but he’s got to have a good one here, eventually.
Goaltending is always a shit show until right around this time, then it starts to level out. Jack needs to find his game now, or this team is in some trouble. Skinner goes again next game.
Three things with Campbell:
1 – He’s terrible in October, so maybe it’ll be good times rolling from now on.
2 – Good EV save pct but not very good on PK, career-wise, IIRC. I remember thinking he would perhaps thrive under a better PK unit in Edmonton. So far that has not happened.
3 – Slight concern in that he was weak in the second half for the Leafs and that has carried through to this year. I think he’ll bounce back, but boy does he look uncomfortable right now.
In reference to point 1- today is November 5th and he was terrible
Campbell has a .918 last October and .959 last November….
I was just teasing Bling….
No urgency in that game. Did they read the press clipping about how great they were and just expect other teams to quiver and just give us the game?
last game was a comedy of errors. This game was mailed in.
Is it soupy’s bad netminding that has them not playing hard? Do they not like the guy so don’t play for him?
I dunno but this game was crap. I hope to never see an effort like this again.
Soupy’s gonna sit for a few games.
They definitely seem to be reading their press clippings.
Unfortunately so do the opposition – and prepare themselves accordingly.
…..or, they had a poor game and their goalie not only didn’t bail them out, he exacerbated it.
3rd place them in the league this season had a 9 day stretch where they:
lost to Oilers
lost to flames
beat Cancuks by one
lost to Isles by 4 goals
lost to Philly
My goodness the catastrophizing of Oilers fans.
Flush it.
Houston, we have a problem.
The only way for the Oilers to salvage anything out of this is for Woodcroft to drop the ‘we sucked the hind banana’ quote after the game.
This team had better get its goals against, shots against, and pk sorted out and fast.
Yep.
McDavid and Drai overcome a lot.
Even during our winning streak, this has been a theme all season.
The highlight of this game is Jack Michaels calling the kid who got hit by the puck Leatherface.
Lol.
Wedgewood has been pretty good tonight on the 5 bell chances.
That will do it. Out goalied for sure. Generally outplayed and did not deserve to win. Lack of depth forward scoring is a big problem once again.
Better get a haircut, soupy. Your gonna be watching games from the best seat in the house the next while…
If you’d like to know exactly how not to play a 2-on-1 – clip that goal and what Kulak did.
Awful. Just damn awful.
Kulak took the free man, nothing wrong with that.
That’s not how a 2-on-1 is played.
You force the pass early, especially if the carrier doesn’t have solid possession (Benn had just picked it up and was vulnerable). Kulak gets that puck greater than 50% if he forces at blue.
After that you take the pass while maintaining angle on the shooter, then as soon as Benn readies, you take the shooter immediately.
Kulak did none of the above. Completely textbook wrong. Never let the carrier have the easy shot. Ever.
Kulak didn’t take anybody. He stayed in no man’s land, meaning Campbell had to worry about both the shoot AND the pass option.
The defenseman should eliminate one of the options for the goaltender
And the pass is the harder stop because of movement which opens holes
An NHL goalie unscreened and in position should usually make a save
A pass fails more often than not.
An elite shooter given time and space with a goalie having to consider both options will light you up.
Given both options yes
I have never heard anyone say before the D takes the shooter
Always take the pass and try to interfere with the shot as you said
According to Clear Sight Analytics cross seam is the first thing to stop because it gets the goalie moving and odds of scoring go up
The story of the Oiler’s woes
Kulak didn’t play that one well, he didn’t take away either option but I’ve never heard that a d-man should allow the pass and take the shot (except for when you post it on this site). Always heard the opposite, at every level of hockey, and NHL goalies say the same. Sure, maybe, forcing an early pass may be a thing but this is NHL hockey and that’s not always a viable option and, as the attackers approach the scoring area, not chance a d-man is supposed to allow a cross-crease pass.
PP wasn’t bad actually – great puck retrieval but no finish and forcing bad passes. McDavid made four poor pass decisions in those 4 minutes.
Agree, bizarre decision making from 97. We don’t see that very often.
Figured they weren’t gonna call that…
Its Dallas’s night tonight
PK formation awful on that.
That was just a bad break.
No, it’s Nurse’s fault because he couldn’t cover two guys next to the net by himself…
Imagine if he would have left Pavelski in front to cover the guy out wide……
Geez. They could call that all game…smh…
BOOM!!! Nurse top corner!!! Break pass by Jesse! He’s perfecting that lil touch pass.
Nurse is great again!!
Great passes by both Kane and Jesse – nice snipe for Nurse.
Wonder what the stats are on D getting their shots blocked? We gotta be leading the league…