EDMONTON 3
VS.
NASHVILLE 5
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I think I just watched the worst NHL effort I've seen in the time I've had season tickets. Despite the shot totals and the "close" game, that was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.
I didn't even watch 10 minutes of the third period as I was having an important work conversation in the concourse and couldn't see reason to leave it as I would every other time.
Watching Sheldon Souray essentially stand there as 4 Nashville goals were scored on him was just too sad to believe. I've never seen such an intense individual put forth such a weak and unfocused effort. He was bad and he didn't care.
But then again, all of them spent the game gliding around, sticks on hips, wallowing in their own self pity. If you watched at home I'm not sure you could see it, but no one looked ready, focused, or like they gave half a crap as they were skating to take the next shift. It was so evident from the first drop of the puck. There were not 2 seconds in this game where the Oilers looked as if they were going to win.
Usually I'd try to find some positives, but I don't see value in that with reference to tonight. They supposedly went off and refocused, then worked on some things and were coming back with a fresh mindset.
Unless their approach involved incredibly weak down low defence and no effort whatsoever, I don't see how anything stuck. That's very unfortunate in terms of looking forward for the team improving eventually. Usually there's some kind of bump after an event like this recent break. Not for us.
Our defence down low has been an achilles heel all season long. I'm not exactly sure why everyone can beat us there, but the ALL do. Watch the games closely and see how many goals come from us simply getting schooled down low in tight. There's nothing specific about our D which causes this, so I'm led to believe it's the system.
In terms of goaltending, sure JDD wasn't great but I'm really wondering if he could've done anything at all. I feel so horrible for him as I've stated before as the guy simply hasn't gotten a straight break since he turned pro.
Dubnyk I thought for the first time looked NHL capable for a couple sequences. He was in better position and moved more through reflex and less on thought. These are pluses. I expect him to play quite regularly now. I also believe I noticed new Oilers equipment that he was wearing, which could be an indication he's here to stay and Nik is truly done for the year.
I don't really want to waste time going on too much about individual players tonight. Penner, O'Sullivan, Potulny, Jacques and Visnovsky/Smid made my life slightly more bearable.
What needs to happen now, and I mean now, is a bunch of people need to be traded. We need the fat off this team before it ruins some of the guys who still have a shot to make a positive difference. Losing is like poison...especially losing like this. We've now experienced that a culture change cannot occur through coaching alone. I know many believed this prior to the season and saw no need to test drive a bunch of the players we are currently, I was one of them. Not a lot of good that does us now.
I guess Pittsburgh will be at the least entertaining. This was not.
3 comments:
The Pittsburgh game will be of the Globetrotters variety. I'll leave you to figure out which team will be making the cool plays off the backboards and 360 spin-o-rama dunks.
Hint: NOT the Oilers.
In all seriousness, its my opinion the team has lost all confidence in the goal tending. They seem to believe they've lost before the puck drops. I kind of see where they're coming from. They don't have enough collective talent to put 5 or 6 in a game, and it looks like that's what it'll take to win with our sieve tandem of JDD and DD.
The team has no confidence in the goaltending, it's true. I think though that they've built their own house there and now have to live in it. It's not that they're giving up a bunch of bad goals, its that the defence and forwards are creating great chances for the opp. Deslauriers has nights where he's more than good enough to win but his team gives him no shot.
I'm not sure I can think of a guy they've screwed over more than Deslauriers. He's never gotten an even break development-wise.
This is one of those chicken and egg things I suppose. But I really believe our goalies have to give the team a chance to win before the team will give the goalies a chance.
Every time we lose, the color guys pretty much make a point that a major difference is between the pipes. Sometimes they do it behind your back when they say something like "he made the saves when he had to", implying our guys didn't.
Sorry man, but neither JDD or DD are NHL quality. That's just the way it is. The saddest thing is they'll have to live this shit storm for the rest of their lives.
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