Join host Nick Zararis on this edition of Locked on Oilers for a deep dive into the Edmonton Oilers 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night. Nick walks through why the state of the Oilers goaltending room is making everyone else’s life more difficult, why the Oilers warts feel even more pronounced than ever and the mindset to stop the skid
The Edmonton Oilers, derailed by poor goaltending, drop the sixth of their last
seven games
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4 Comments
Man, I really don’t like just blaming the goalies, because this defense is absolutely trash. Like, look at the fourth goal—three Oilers behind the net, one guy fighting for the puck against two Ducks, and nobody giving a damn about the guy standing alone in front of the net for five freaking seconds. Or the fifth goal—McDavid and Draisaitl backchecking, but where the hell were Kulak and Nurse? I get the pressure on the goalies, but I can’t keep my mouth shut when I see the same defensive disasters over and over again, and all we do is swap goalies instead of fixing the defensive system. 25 years of the same shit—always blaming the goalies while ignoring the real issue. At this rate, Edmonton will never win a Cup. I mean, yeah, Pickard should’ve had the second goal, but the rest? Skinner got beat on two solid shots—one was an onetimer, the other basically a shootout move. What do you expect? Even prime Martin Brodeur wouldn’t save this team with the kind of defensive breakdowns happening every game. And it’s not just the goalies—look at the offensive side too. Nugent-Hopkins had a perfect scoring chance and shot it straight into the pads. Meanwhile, McTavish from the same distance puts it top shelf. If McTavish had shot low, we’d be talking about a great save from Pickard. But when Nuge does it, suddenly it’s not a mistake, it’s just “Dostal made a big stop.” See the double standard? Blaming the goalie is just the easy way out for people who don’t actually understand hockey. I’ve seen it everywhere—who cares that four of the goals came from players left completely alone in front of the net? Just blame the goalie, right? Makes everything simple. But keep calm, keep changing goalies and see how many Cups that wins. Spoiler alert: none.
I totally get the frustrations, but as a 25-year Oilers fan, I’ve seen the same thing over and over. A few bright moments here and there, sure, but overall? It’s the same story. We know how to change goalies, but the defense? Same issues, year after year. It’s like a never-ending cycle, and as Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Until the defense changes, no goalie can work miracles. And honestly, the goalie coach should be out the door before any of the goalies.
I just don’t understand why they play an entirely different form of defence, compared to other teams. I am a complete repetition nerd and can see repeated patterns of the same mistakes that end up costing them, every single game. When the other team is moving into our zone, our D men never work together to block their offence from entering. Look at how the other teams do it, they’re highly effective at preventing entrance, but we invite them for coffee or tea. Our checking behind our own net is severely lacking but watch how the net is wide open when they create scoring chances. Where’s our teammates protecting the goalie? I mean a lot of other teams will have all 5 guys stacking a pyramid so we can’t find a hole to shoot into. If we are trying to get the puck cleared, why, oh why, are we skating towards our own goalie, and when passed the puck, are facing the wrong way so we’ve now created an opportunity that the other team has seized on, so many times! I could go on and on but I am so frustrated that last season the team was solid and playing like a tight cohesive game and now we aren’t putting 1 on 1 defence and leave the guy the second they’re in our end zone and are constantly scrambling and they can easily pass the puck behind our own net since no one stays 1 on 1. McDavid is severely underperforming and we don’t know why. I believe everything got into the guys’ head, and now they can’t see the big picture. Someone needs to suggest Hypnosis, which helps boost their self image into a positive one, and doesn’t affect anything that the individual doesn’t want to do. So it’s a win win when you hire someone effective like that!
RE: Eggs are expen$ive. I echo that sentiment, analogy and observation entirely.
Hours ago on TSN’s SportsCentre, Craig Button claimed the Oilers’ defence hadn’t been good following the 4 Nations tournament (a video, posted on the TV network’s YouTube page, titled “‘Oilers have been awful defensively’: Button on Edmonton’s struggles since 4 Nations”). Goaltending hasn’t been good either, but to be fair, in so many of their games, the Oilers have also thrown defence right under the bus.