Post-Game Talk: Skinner just had his Grant Fuhr moment

[Drivesaitl]

I don’t know why but I just couldn’t bring myself to watch the whole game last night. So much anxiety around the results. Decided to score watch for the first two periods to see how we were doing. Tuned in for the third for the great finish.

What’s a shut down period. I’ve been hard on Vinny as of late, but that guy was elite last night. Love seeing him elevate his game.

Now let’s get this done on Wed and have some rest.

I’m curious what LA team we will see. I sort of wonder if the 1-0 loss is actually Harder to swallow than the higher scoring ones

One can never understand reactions but I was more nervous when LA scored in game 3 to make it 3-1 or was it 4-1. Just because in that one I could see the Oilers being complacent with lead. But Kings kept taking penalties and self destructing but they were really pushing for awhile.

Last night as much as we were being outshot I was for some reason calm. Even after 2nd period I posted up we were fine and the team was playing with impeccable focus. One thing that doesn't get commented on a lot is that the Kings just have nobody going. This was a problem for them during season and Kempe and Doughty have scored half their goals. In 4 games all the rest of the forwards only have a combined 4 goals. All stone cold. More of an indictment if you're always on the Kings first line or first unit PP.

Last night I wasn't even nervous. Entertained, yeah.

 

[5 14 6 1]

I didn’t watch the game. Were the Oilers as outplayed as the shot clock seemed to indicate?

LA played good, didn't really make any mistakes, but that may have been the best all defensive performance we've had in the playoff McDavid era. Almost everything kept to the outside and one and done at most. The Oil barely forechecked in the third and allowed one shot in the final 11 minutes.

It was like playing NHL and dialing your settings to "protect the lead" lol.

The commenter saying we were outhustled im not sure I agree, the D and wingers were winning battles in our own zone and making strong zone exits all night. We just werent pressing the issue as usual on the forecheck. I can count on one hand how many times a D pinched low. It was really the perfect counter to how LA came out and played. They wanted to take advantage of our agression and we didn't play into that at all.

Full marks to LA though, as they made basically zero mistakes for our D to transition with.

 

[Draiskull]

The league has been doing this since the Philly Flyers bringing the brotherly love and the STL Blues having the Barclay bros trying to murder guys on ice.

Even before that in the 50's the riots were on the ice and in the stands. In the 60's nothing changed. You'd get slashed in the face every game. No player had all their teeth. Blood on ice was expected. The Broadstreet bullies would commit 5o infractions a game and get 5 penalties if that. Their opponents would get 4, mostly for retaliating at vicious indiscretions.

The League has always had a problem with this and always wanted this. DOPS is just a name thats designed as artifice. Maybe something they had to agree to for the NHLPA but with no intent ever on actually addressing player safety seriously. The blood sells too, even in 2024. Don't kid yourself. The buildings are full and paying 10X more than they used to to watch the circus.

We can complain about it I guess but the paying fans are asking for this.


Hitting a post and multiple other shot deflections skimming just wide is "never came close to scoring". Actually they did come close. Skinner also made several good stops and so did Rittich.

LA had a grand total of 1 shot on goal in the last 11 mins of the game.. and it included a PP. Oilers also just had a shot in last 10mins

 

[5 14 6 1]

One can never understand reactions but I was more nervous when LA scored in game 3 to make it 3-1 or was it 4-1. Just because in that one I could see the Oilers being complacent with lead. But Kings kept taking penalties and self destructing but they were really pushing for awhile.

Last night as much as we were being outshot I was for some reason calm. Even after 2nd period I posted up we were fine and the team was playing with impeccable focus. One thing that doesn't get commented on a lot is that the Kings just have nobody going. This was a problem for them during season and Kempe and Doughty have scored half their goals. In 4 games all the rest of the forwards only have a combined 4 goals. All stone cold. More of an indictment if you're always on the Kings first line or first unit PP.

Last night I wasn't even nervous. Entertained, yeah.

Felt the exact same.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I like your outhustled comment, that definitely felt true. But were they outworked, not overly. Were they outsmarted, not at all. Were they outplayed, probably. Did the better overall team win a game they maybe shouldn’t have won, likely. Is that unusual, not really.

In playoffs the teams with the superstar players generally find a way. To wit the goal came from Bouchard, assisted by Draisaitl, and McDavid. For all LA fight and there was a lot of it, they don't have that forward complement.

Dallas are fighting with precisely same problem that LA is. A team that can play a relatively good game but in tight checking the scoring just disappears. The Kings have failed to generate even a PP scoring chance in two of the games. In one of these games they had 4 PP's with not even a HDSC.

 

[iCanada]

One can never understand reactions but I was more nervous when LA scored in game 3 to make it 3-1 or was it 4-1. Just because in that one I could see the Oilers being complacent with lead. But Kings kept taking penalties and self destructing but they were really pushing for awhile.

Last night as much as we were being outshot I was for some reason calm. Even after 2nd period I posted up we were fine and the team was playing with impeccable focus. One thing that doesn't get commented on a lot is that the Kings just have nobody going. This was a problem for them during season and Kempe and Doughty have scored half their goals. In 4 games all the rest of the forwards only have a combined 4 goals. All stone cold. More of an indictment if you're always on the Kings first line or first unit PP.

Last night I wasn't even nervous. Entertained, yeah.

Yeah me too.

For some reason last night I had almost no anxiety. Just felt confident we'd get the result regardless.

I wonder if, as another so called Skinner hater, you picked up on how dialed in Skinner was early and that had an affect.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Felt the exact same.

It could be that in game 3 we still felt there was potential for Kings to find the net. They had done some scoring in game 2 and got some in game 1. Game 3, with only one goal, and by Doughty, a D, meant that all the Kings forwards were left pounding sand. Which only continued last night. When a team is facing really good defending and feel like they can't score they generally don't. Not sure what happens in game 5.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah me too.

For some reason last night I had almost no anxiety. Just felt confident we'd get the result regardless.

I wonder if, as another so called Skinner hater, you picked up on how dialed in Skinner was early and that had an affect.

Yeah, Skinner was really dialed in and really amped. I was looking at that and his eyes when he was doing the hype bulging eyes thing. The Vasi thing to get pumped. There was no sleepy Skinner last night, nothing close to it. I claimed Skinner had trouble elevating in playoffs. Well he did last night. He dropped only a few rebounds. He was sharp on every aspect. Still important though that the Oilers had all the passing lanes and were not letting anything go cross ice. Oilers were also excellently boxing out.

On the other end Rittich was better than Talbot at close in chances. Talbot was getting bowled over on chances. Rittich was standing firmer, he can block out some plays. for instance the Hyman bull the puck in and McD bull the puck in during game 3 maybe don't happen with Rittich. Talbot was weakest when puck was around the paint. The early stops on Hyman and Perry, Talbot wasn't making those sorts of confident stops. Rittich also got McD twice on the wraparound attempt and Kane on another. All of them more of a question with Talbot in.

LA f***ed up on who should be in playoffs as I'd stated. Before game 1 I was saying it had to be Rittich getting the start.

If I'm Kings I'm also going to throw Brant Clarke in a game on D. he has the offensive upside that other Kings defenders other than Doughty just don't. It might shake up some things for Kings as Clarke is good at stretch passes and rushing puck up ice. Kings may as well pull Englund out as he took the stupid penalty that resulted in the only goal of the game. Englund can't fight, and really no reason for him to be there in a deciding game.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

A bit disappointing today to read so much about how badly outplayed we were and how the Kings deserved to win this. How anybody who watched the game could come away with the impression that we were on our heels all night is beyond me. Shots on goal has always been one of the most misleading stats in hockey and last night was a perfect example of that.

The kings were volume shooting from the perimeter. It was desperation and yes shots can be very misleading. Oilers had more high danger chances but def not going to win many generating such low amount of chances

 

[Ibanez]

The kings were volume shooting from the perimeter. It was desperation and yes shots can be very misleading. Oilers had more high danger chances but def not going to win many generating such low amount of chances

I only saw the third but that period looked like “sutter” hockey in its prime from LA

 

[oXo Cube]

Might have already been posted in here as I haven't read the whole thread, but I'll be that guy and post the red flags from this win.

5v5 Corsi by forward Lines:

Henrique - McDavid - Hyman -4
Kane - Draisaitl - RNH -17
Foegele - McLeod Perry -1

Defense Pairings:

Ekholm - Bouchard -6
Nurse - Ceci -30
Kulak - Desharnais -2

Some combinations very clearly weren't working.

 

[syz]

The kings were volume shooting from the perimeter. It was desperation and yes shots can be very misleading. Oilers had more high danger chances but def not going to win many generating such low amount of chances

The only real potential concern is that the Kings have been doing that every game but the Oilers have still managed to put way more pucks on net than they did last night.

 

[oobga]

The kings were volume shooting from the perimeter. It was desperation and yes shots can be very misleading. Oilers had more high danger chances but def not going to win many generating such low amount of chances

I wouldn't fault the kings after the first few games, especially game 2, to think that just throwing crap from anywhere all night would give them goals. My Oilers PTSD also expects every nothing shot to turn into a double deflection into our net

Glad the Kings were totally wrong of course, and there was no luck going their way.

 

[CupofOil]

I think the Kings had one SOG during the last seven minutes of the game. Wasn’t perfect but it was a defensive clinic with Skinner blocking anything that got through.

The Oilers really shut it down the last 10 minutes but the Kings also looked exhausted, their energy level especially in the last 5 minutes or so was completely sapped. They emptied everything in the tank in the first 50 minutes to make this a series and I think they realize that was their chance to get back in the series.

Long story short, I think the Kings are there to be had early in Game 5 so if the Oilers have an aggressive mindset from the opening faceoff (the opposite of this game) they can run away with Game 5 fairly early. You'd think that the Kings are demoralized with their A Game lining up against the Oilers C Game and coming up with a zero.

I'll say this much, and I know everybody is happy with the win and rightfully so, but the Oilers can't play the way they did last night again going forward and expect to win. Nice that they locked it down late but that effort last night needs to be a one-off.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Imagine being a Flames fan right now. Your two most hated rivals are on the verge of advancing.

 

[Drivesaitl]

LA played good, didn't really make any mistakes, but that may have been the best all defensive performance we've had in the playoff McDavid era. Almost everything kept to the outside and one and done at most. The Oil barely forechecked in the third and allowed one shot in the final 11 minutes.

It was like playing NHL and dialing your settings to "protect the lead" lol.

The commenter saying we were outhustled im not sure I agree, the D and wingers were winning battles in our own zone and making strong zone exits all night. We just werent pressing the issue as usual on the forecheck. I can count on one hand how many times a D pinched low. It was really the perfect counter to how LA came out and played. They wanted to take advantage of our agression and we didn't play into that at all.

Full marks to LA though, as they made basically zero mistakes for our D to transition with.

Yep. The only game in the McDrai era where we defended this well was the one game in Winnipeg that went into triple OT that we ended up losing because we couldn't score. Generally the Oilers were defending well in that series. Just couldn't score and back then we didn't have the forward depth we have now. Or the weapons like Booch and Ekholm on D.

 

[Cloned]

Been reading on social media that the Oilers played a 1-3-1 yesterday and beat the Kings at their own game.

If this is true,

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yeah me too.

For some reason last night I had almost no anxiety. Just felt confident we'd get the result regardless.

I wonder if, as another so called Skinner hater, you picked up on how dialed in Skinner was early and that had an affect.

I had more anxiety watching a horror movie later. hehe. I regularly get my diet of late late night horror movies. Even better in 10feet projection. Life sized horror. hehe

Been reading on social media that the Oilers played a 1-3-1 yesterday and beat the Kings at their own game.

If this is true,

But we didn't play a diamond on pk. f*** LA coaches are stoopid. Diamond does not work without elite goaltending.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Been reading on social media that the Oilers played a 1-3-1 yesterday and beat the Kings at their own game.

If this is true,

They collapsed pretty hard to the net. Skinner also was allowed to see pucks.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

They collapsed pretty hard to the net. Skinner also was allowed to see pucks.

Big thing I saw as well, not allowing the cross zone shots in general and especially below the tops of the circles.

 

[LTIR]

Imagine being a Flames fan right now. Your two most hated rivals are on the verge of advancing.

I think they are celebrating the fact that Lindholm scored the OT winner

 

[Drivesaitl]

Big thing I saw as well, not allowing the cross zone shots in general and especially below the tops of the circles.

No odd man rushes allowed either so it means the Oilers were positionally focused and adhered to it and had men back on every situation. Attention to detail in all 3 zones.

 

[CupofOil]

I agree except...how was Skinner shaky in the first game?

Skinner defiinitely looked uncomfortable in Game 1 to my eye. Most of the L.A. goals were bad bounces but Skinner looked sloppy in that game IMO. He looks a lot more composed in Games 3 and 4 on the road.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Imagine being a Flames fan right now. Your two most hated rivals are on the verge of advancing.

Rivals assumes that the Flames are competitive with anybody. Patsies, more like it. Flames are only competing with the word obscurity.

lol that they can't even cheer for Toffoli because he's not doing anything. Or tanev, or Zadorov, or...

 

[LTIR]

Might have already been posted in here as I haven't read the whole thread, but I'll be that guy and post the red flags from this win.

5v5 Corsi by forward Lines:

Henrique - McDavid - Hyman -4
Kane - Draisaitl - RNH -17
Foegele - McLeod Perry -1

Defense Pairings:

Ekholm - Bouchard -6
Nurse - Ceci -30
Kulak - Desharnais -2

Some combinations very clearly weren't working.

Shows how little corsi means and how important it is to watch the actual game.