Life is meaningless, eat Arby’s. Final Score: 7-4 Sharks
Coming into today’s game, the Oilers were 3-1 in matinee games so I was hopeful that maybe, just maybe a daytime matchup would be just what the doctor ordered. Something different to change the pace and the routine a little bit, ya know? The unfortunate thing, of course, is that the time of day has nothing to do with the fact that the Oilers are still without their best defenceman for another month or more and that the San Jose Sharks have the kind of depth that can make you pay on every shift. Pffft… who needs depth anyways? Even so, I was hopeful for a win as I always am. I figured that the laws of the universe would eventually allow for this losing streak to end and that today was as good of a day as any for it to finally happen. Expect the unexpected, right?
Unfortunately, the Oilers faked us out a little bit in the first period after they were able to open the scoring, grabbing themselves a lead that would last for all of 16 seconds. After Rattie’s McDavid’s goal went in, the Sharks really started to pour on the pressure and flex their offensive muscles. Their passing plays were crisp, their cycle was effective, and they certainly looked like a team that’s challenging for the division lead rather than one that’s hanging on for dear life like the Oilers are. To put it simply, the Oilers needed to find a way to win this hockey game and they couldn’t get anywhere close to making it happen. Once again, they couldn’t get any forward not named McDavid, or Draisaitl, or Nugent-Hopkins to score a goal and it’s pretty damned tough to win hockey games in the NHL when you’re not getting goaltending and two-thirds of the ice time is being eaten up by guys that can’t contribute.
Eventually, these terrible losses will be enough to kickstart some real change around here, right? Anybody? Hellooooooooo? Until then, we’ll just have to add another loss on the pile.
The wrap.
THE BRIGHT SIDE
- Connor McDavid opened the scoring for the Oilers with his 20th goal of the season after it looked like Ty Rattie had initially put the puck in the net. Upon reviewing the play, it was decided that Rattie’s shot did not cross the line and that the puck was not in until McDavid knocked it in shortly afterwards. The captain scored again when the game was already over and done with, which is a shame because he put on a wonderful display of hand-eye coordination to deflect the puck in out of mid-air.
- At this point of the losing streak, I’m looking for bright sides and I’ve gotta say again how much time I have for Caleb Jones and that I was thrilled to see him score his first NHL goal. Since being thrown into the mix, his numbers have increased and he’s looked more and more comfortable with each passing shift. He may not necessarily be ready for full time action right now, but the Oilers could have a player here if he can keep progressing as he has been so far. The only downside is that he wasn’t able to celebrate his first NHL goal more than he did because the Oilers were getting shit kicked by the time he put one home.
- Leon Draisaitl scored a really nice goal in garbage time to give the Oilers three goals on the day. He picked the puck up with speed, walking past the Sharks defenceman before perfectly placing a wrist shot in the top corner. Much like Caleb Jones’ goal, it’s a bummer there was nothing to celebrate at this point because the goal was a beauty.
- Ty Rattie had a nice game today and I thought he was one of the better forwards the Oilers had. He may not have scored the first goal like we all thought he might have, but he did finish the day with three assists and for that, I salute him.
- Welcome back to Jujhar Khaira. I’ve really liked the way the guy has been playing lately and it was good to have him back in the lineup after finishing up his two-game suspension.
- The Oilers looked good on the penalty kill tonight. The Sharks are very effective with the man advantage and I thought the Oilers did a fine job of nullifying the attack. It’s not often that we get to use the PK as a bright spot but today’s pickings are slim so I’m starting to reach here. Edmonton finished the day with a perfect 0/3 when down a man.
- The Sharks have an experienced team down the middle so I was surprised to find that the Oilers won 57% of the draws. I mean, it didn’t matter at all but I’m trying to look for positives here.
- The game is over now.
THE FACE PALMERS
- Only 16 seconds after Ty Rattie got the Oilers on the board, Donskoi finished off a beautiful beautiful passing play that had absolutely carved through Edmonton’s zone and in past Talbot. This goal could probably be used as a tic-tac-toe case study.
- Tomas Hertl gave the Sharks their first lead of the game after allowing them all the time and space they could ever need in the offensive zone. Once again, the Sharks moved the puck around efficiently and the Oilers weren’t able to gain possession before Tomas Hertl found the puck in the slot and buried it past Cam Talbot.
- Why is it that Logan Couture always seems to score against the Oilers? After Thornton set up behind the net, Couture was able to find some space at the side of the net and banged home a perfect pass through Talbot to extend the lead to two goals. It was a tough angle goal that Talbot got a piece of but wasn’t able to keep out of the net, and the hole got a little bit deeper. Couture added a second goal after the Oilers completely blew it in their own WHILE ON THE POWER PLAY which allowed Evander Kane to pick up a free puck and find his teammate open in the slot. Gross.
- Erik Karlsson put the Sharks up by three goals after his snapshot from the point found its way through traffic and past Cam Talbot. Unlike what the Oilers were doing by giving Jones all the sightlines he wanted, the Sharks were piling up the bodies in front of the crease to create havoc for the goalie and it worked to a tee on this goal.
- Melker Karlsson started the third period with the Sharks’ fifth goal that came as a deflection off of a Brent Burns point shot. I was mad enough when Karlsson scored his first, but when he added another to give the Sharks seven on the day I was just hoping for some kind of merciful death.
- How did the Oilers only get one power play chance in this whole game? Then again, they allowed a goal against on that chance so maybe that’s a good thing?
- Peter Chiarelli is still the General Manager somehow.
- The NHL site had the giveaways listed at 12 for the Sharks and 10 for the Oilers but I don’t buy that. Then again, the Oilers never really had the puck so I guess they weren’t able to give it away?
- On Thursday night, Cam Talbot replaced Mikko Koskinen after 20 minutes and shut the door against the Canucks so it wasn’t overly surprising to see him get the start in today’s game. I’ll be the first to say that he was not very good today, but he certainly wasn’t the only one that could be described in that way either. From the crease out, the Oilers were simply outmatched and it’s interesting that Hitchcock left him in for all seven. Talbot finished the night with 33 saves and a .825 save%.
- I bought cheap beets from Superstore and they’re awful. FML. As always, you can join in on the #BeetCast conversation over on my Twitter account.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:28 | Edmonton | Connor McDavid (20) ASST: Ty Rattie (3), Leon Draisaitl (28) | 0-1 |
| 06:44 | San Jose | Joonas Donskoi (7) ASST: Erik Karlsson (25), Tomas Hertl (18) | 1-1 |
| 10:13 | San Jose | Tomas Hertl (14) ASST: Brent Burns (32), Erik Karlsson (26) | 2-1 |
2ND PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:39 | San Jose | Logan Couture (14) ASST: Joe Thornton (12), Joe Pavelski (9) | 3-1 |
| 18:45 | San Jose | Erik Karlsson (3) ASST: Barclay Goodrow (5), Joonas Donskoi (11) | 4-1 |
3RD PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02:41 | San Jose | Melker Karlsson (5) ASST: Brent Burns (33), Kevin Labanc (20) | 5-1 |
| 08:25 | San Jose | SHG – Logan Couture (15) ASST: Evander Kane (13) | 6-1 |
| 10:40 | Edmonton | Caleb Jones (1) ASST: Ty Rattie (4), Drake Caggiula (4) | 6-2 |
| 14:09 | San Jose | Melker Karlsson (6) ASST: Erik Karlsson (27), Barclay Goodrow (6) | 7-2 |
| 16:53 | Edmonton | Leon Draisaitl (19) ASST: Milan Lucic (7) | 7-3 |
| 19:54 | Edmonton | Connor McDavid (21) ASST: Chris Wideman (5), Ty Rattie (5) | 7-4 |
#GOODCONTENT
Saw this dude in the Mercer before the game. pic.twitter.com/LUVNL63w0u
— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) December 29, 2018
Just a few more days until New-Year-New-Refs?
— FatDad69 (@fat_dad69) December 29, 2018
Hertl looks like Seth MacFarlane. Also, my phone likes to autocorrect Hertl to Jerky. Mmmmmm.
— The Towel Boy (@TheTowelBoy) December 29, 2018
Chiarelli trying to navigate the trade market the past 3 years pic.twitter.com/vDNmeN3GJQ
— McLangester (@Tlangester) December 29, 2018
The best player in the world and one of the best coaches in history can't put a shine on the roster that Chiarelli built.
— Travis Dakin (@TravisDakin) December 29, 2018
Talk to me, Twitter. Tweet at @OilersNation and @jsbmbaggedmilk for your chance to land in the Best of the Tweets.
Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 12/29/2018 – 4:45 pm MST
I’ve said it before but why does the goalie coach still have a job on this team? Katz’s nephew? So many goaltenders have hit bottom with this guy. Not that the rest of the team hasn’t sucked lately but the suck always starts with goaltending and filters out from there.
Yeah, I think reflexively blaming the support staff (as Oil fans do) is a bit silly, but it’s hard not to wonder what’s going on here. Why is our goal-tending always so bad? Is it poor team defense? Maybe, but that wouldn’t explain why goalies start out strong here, then tend to get worse the longer they play in Edmonton. It’s baffling. And I can’t even blame Chiarelli for this one.
Team seems snakebit. Talbot especially.
I want to believe otherwise, but I can’t imagine this team getting back to a wildcard spot. Even if they somehow manage to do so, probably with a lot of luck within a weak Division, what good will it really do?
They’ve got 4 good players (counting Jones). Maybe 5 when Klef comes back. That’s it, that’s all…?
How can a Hockey team suck so hard for so long? Need to start the “ McDavid asks for a trade” pool. It shouldn’t be long now.
You have to wonder how a team can go 9 – 2 – 2 and follow that up with 5 losses in a row. Also, this is the second losing streak after multiple wins this year and Oilers D was healthy the last time.
Same script as last season.
Same script as EVERY season. Insanity, same thing over and over again.
The Oilers are like a bad relationship with someone who gets your hopes up a bit, only to come crashing back down.
The same script isn’t even mildly suprising anymore.
Everyone gives you crap, Mr. Bung, but it turns out you are right. This is embarrasing. Chiarelli screwed up McDavid. He needs to be fired immediately. Don’t wait for the season to end. Do it now. A new GM needs to get a long look at this team to figure out how to fix it. Turns out, it’s not the coach. Bye, Chia.
How about a possible explanation, Lose their top d-man, 4th d-man, top winger… Might have an affect on a team built as poorly as the Oilers.
“top winger”
Would that be the $800,000 PTO tryout?
During that 9-2-2 stretch they never really consistently dominated. I thought it might catch up to them.
No firings yet?
Another instalment in Aquila Productions upcoming documenting “Wasting McDavid: Squandering a Generational Talent”
Firing of Chia is inevitable. To fix the damage and do a proper rebuild will take a couple years at least to make this team competitive again. Also – take time to let the other prospects to develop. Chia urinated away too much value with other moves. Trade what? Get what? Will just create new holes.
Completely screwed this roster over.
Vegas now holds last spot in pacific playoff- on track for 96 points. EDM on track for 86.
Barring a miraculous turnaround the oil will only be fighting for a wild card spot.
And that means playing Nashville wpg or Calgary in the first round – and presumably a swift exit.
Is that a poor enough showing to cost chia his job? Or hitch? Or trigger a cleaning of the fok and fog?
Possibly “no” to all.
Not to worry. There is no way this roster makes the playoffs this season. Even with the D healthy.
Any competently run organization committed to winning would attempt to fix it. Katz. No. The jock sniffer will keep around his glory year fantasies.
Sh*t will hit the fan when McDavid decides he has had enough – which will happen. Guy has winning in his DNA and this Oilers organization has losing in its DNA.
I’m not sure if I ever witness a worse period of hockey by two ‘NHL” wingers than P1 by Caggulia and JP. Cags blows the pinch coverage and sets up a 3 on1. On the ice for the 2nd goal and Cags takes a penalty behind the Sharks net. I don’t think I have ever seen a player look more lost than JP tonight. He has to learm in NA hockey you have to be quick you can’t take those wide figure skating turns it takes you out of the play. No ability to read the play. Thinking he should be in the AHL, not for his development but because he is such a detriment in the NHL. Marody may not have near the physical attributes as JP, but if you want to wim hickey games today, Marody is a better choice.
From the time he gave the puck (may I say game) away vs the bolts JP has been absolute garbage. If he can’t handle that adversity get him put of here, he is a detriment to the team.
JP needs to go to the AHL…unfortunately…things are not looking good for him. Yak 2.0. Will likely end up in the K.
Is JP a case of typical Oiler mismanagement of a blue-chip player or is it a player selected in the draft that shouldn’t have been selected at that spot? Ultimately Oiler management is responsible for screwing it up and the accountability or repercussions will be nonexistent.
Batzal got a hat trick tonight…
Thanks for rubbing it in lol.
Sigh. What is really annoying is that they weren’t going to pick Barzal at that spot even if they kept the picks they urinated away in the poorly vetted Reinhart deal. That deal set the tone for the Chia reign as GM. Sad.
Oilers brass are the smartest guys in any room let’s just trust the ‘plan’ bobby nicks was talking about.
The thing that annoyed me about the Bobbi Nicks hiring is that the guy had little to no NHL management experience. More Oiler/Katz bullsh*t.
At that time I was just happy Katz was perceivably moving on from the OBC, that is until K.Lowe and MacT were sitting at the the draft table with Charelli. How nieve I felt at that moment.
Looking back on it now it make complete sense; Katz knows nothing about hockey so whom did he rely on to hire Bobby Nic? K.Lowe that’s whom. They created a facade to fool the fans into believeing they were moving on from the OBC but, in fact they were only hiring more of them.
It make one wonder if Charelli is the GM only by title but in fact has nothing to to do with player acquisition.
Given the dysfunction in the organization, who knows what really goes on behind the scenes. In any competently run organization, Lowe, MacT and Howson would have been gone – and not to return. In what company or organization does this happen? The former GM’s are still part of management? Bizarre. But I guess it might be part of the puzzle in explaining the mess that things are in today.
Kool-aid – Katz and Nicholson had a friendship going back at least a decade.
It is truly morbid and disheartening that Katz is comfortable with how dysfunctional his organization is run. He is beyond eccentric…
@ serious gord
I wasn’t aware of that, I suppose that would explain it.
but remember there were other high quality players available other than Barzal like Chabot, Kyle Conner, Boeser and the like that could have been helping us right now as well. funny that we still need a high scoring winger who can score goals as well as a point producing d-man.
In a week, the talk will be the central scouting report…….
Also – with the Oilers being sellers at the deadline, what they can get for the assets moving out.
If Charelli is in charge… then absolute minimum.
Besides connor and drai i would have everyone on the chopping block.
Not Nuge?
He will get you the best return possible at this point. He is never going to be at the same level as connor and drai.
I get what you are saying but, if Charelli is making the decision are you truly confident that Nuge will get the right return? I’m pretty sure any other GM could have done better with the Hall trade. It scares the sh** out me when it comes to Charelli trading anyone. His trading acumen is absolutely abysmal.
Trade Drai – keep nuge.
Why? Because of money, skill or both? I personally would keep all 3, it will give us something to eventually build around. How many yrs. were we clamouring for centermen when we didn’t have any?
Drai is ineffective as a centre and he’s too expensive to be a winger for mcd.
Trade him for a stud d and a competent winger.
@ serious gord
Gotcha, makes sense however, not at the deadline. Can’t trust Charelli to pull it off; he’ll f*** it up like he did Hall trade. Best to wait till draft or July 1st hopefully change for the better has occurred. Question is what team has a stud defender and a winger they are willing to part with?
I had stated stated some time ago that the trade should be done In the post season.
Don’t let chia make another trade.
Maybe we can Taylor freakin Hall for Drai.
It is right now. Man crappy is this.
Sh¡t runs downhill!!!!!
#firekatz #firelowe #firegretzky #firenicholson #firestauffer #firehunter
Is Katz is pre-occupied with his women problems? Is that why he doesnt do anything regarding restructuring the Oilers management.
Those casting couches won’t run themselves.
Downvoters, those casting couches will run themselves?
Your comment was defamatory.
Fair enough. Story covered by numerous news outlets in 2017.
Just need to look up Viva Glam magazine and Daryl Katz.
Hes an absentee owner. He dont give a crap. Lives in palm springs 10 months of the year. Keep paying for those seats coiler fans.
I think he’s a huge oil fan. Of thirty years ago.
His plan of reuniting all of his friends back on the cup with him as owner looks to be becoming ashes (yet again) and he has no idea how to resurrect it without canning them all.
And he hasn’t the guts to clean house.
Ad nauseum – he is Phillip wrigley redux. And thus is yet another tragic story of an owner so in love with his team he can’t get out of the way and let them succeed.
Unfortunately, another chapter in the history of sports but for the wrong reasons.
This franchise is cursed. It doesn’t matter who comes here. U may as well start trying to condition yourself to root for another team. After 34 years of oilers I’m trying to shift to jets. Tired of wasting hours of my life watching this gong show.
You’ll be back like the rest of us.
Yup, just when you got out, they’ll pull you back in.
Tmac was not the problem, Hitch is not the problem. St the risk of repeating myself, the problem is sitting in the GM chair and extends to the ironically renamed ‘brain trust’ (formerly known as the old boys, the boys on the bus, the old guard, the friends of katz and so on)
Most recognized that it is the roster built by management over the last several seasons that is the problem. The coaches take the heat because they are the “easiest” to move in/out compared to the roster mess.
Well….another cycle of the Lil’ Oilers is about to start up….might as well send out the scouts.
-11.6% after the loss to SJ for playoff chances. Currently at 24%.
Has anybody won the Art Ross back to back when not on a playoff team?
I would like to see everyone stay away for one game, with the arena close to empty just might get the owners attention
two inevitable outcomes: chia gets fired and mcd gets traded…
It’s time you guys realized you’re the marks.
Katz doesn’t keep the old boys around for him, it’s to drive that emotional attachment that keeps his pockets lined.
Edmontonians are hockey fans. A fair number of fans are not just going to see the Oilers. Some want to see other, well run teams and their stars. Some to see McDavid…
Vast majority of the younger fans could care less about Gretz, Lowe and MacT and any of the other old boys. He is keeping them around for him.
Who’s buying all those corporate seats? Rich old guys who lived and died with Gretzky. If it was Joe Blow as vice-chairmen or whatever title they’ve given him they aren’t shelling out for decades of Cleveland Browns.
There is some truth to what you are saying. To many the chance of glimpsing one of the old boys at Rogers is thrill enough.
But to thousands of others they have become pariahs.
How many of those compared to the rest of the place?
My theory is that Chia has not been fired because these have all been collective decisions by Lowe, MacT, ex-Oilers. It was a group effort. I think the heat needs to be placed on that troll owner Katz to get his attention, in the end this has been the worst run franchise since him taking over. I put the blame mostly on him. In the end, they wont make the playoffs again this year so maybe they can get rid of dead weight contracts at the deadline like Benning, Kassian, Brodz. Shave 6-8 million off of the cap for next season. Maybe what they are forgetting amongst all this incompetance is that the clock is ticking closer and closer to McD asking to be traded behind closed doors.
I don’t think too many decisions are PC acting in isolation. Someone put a link to video clip of the Bruins board room when they were discussing what to the about the “f—-king horse—-” Seguin. There were probably a dozen people in the room, including Cam Neely, and the video suggested that the concensus was to dump Seguin. So decision like trading Hall etc are almost certainly not done in isolation. But when your GM it doesn’t matter the buck stops with you.
I was down by the treatment plant by Goldbar park yesterday. The river seemed a little pink – is that you baggedmilk?
Not sure if it’s from the red wine or the beets.
#FreeMcDavid
That’s all, he deserves A LOT better
Yup, I think it’s time and I can’t see the organization being any good for the next few years. Talbot has been a disaster and they really needed him not to be this year.
This: the latest edition of Wasting McDavid, was especially wasteful.
Then again, who can be shocked, really. Its a nest of nepotism that runs this show, arrogance in spades, competence in short supply.
That wee spike with stellar goaltending was nice tho, eh. Illusory, but nice.
PETER CHIARELLI President of Hockey Operations & General Manager CRAIG MACTAVISH Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations DUANE SUTTER Vice President, Player Personnel KEITH GRETZKY Assistant General Manager BOB GREEN Director, Player Personnel SCOTT HOWSON Vice President, Player Development BILL SCOTT Director, Salary Cap Management & Assistant to the President, Hockey Operations
Each one of these people need to go!!!!!! They have all been involved, and are all just as inept as the president. Chia has been here 5 years, We all know how long MacT has been here, Sutter 9 seasons, Gretzky 3 years Oilers – after 5 with Bruins, Scott % years , 3rd with cap management, Howson is in year 2 I dont think he has shown the level of ineptness as the rest(yet), and Bob Green season 6,,,,,,, Other than Howson each one has had several years at there role, and are obviously failing, failing bad. They should all go!!!!!
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this slide. The team is minus 3 of their top 4 defence men. You can’t replace that during the season. The minute klef and Russel went on the IR I knew it was curtains. Couple that with the teams unwavering loyalty to play Talbot and it’s not hard to predict they would end up where they are. Koskinen was doing pretty well with an mhm defence in front of him. No goalie is going to look good with that crew in front of them. Chia will make a knee jerk trade or get fired in the next couple weeks.
*NHL defence in front of him…….
Certainly the challenge was going to be great but I had hoped if Koskinnen had remained red hot and with a not so tough schedule (Philly, Van twice and St L) they might come close to 500 in the 3 weeks leading to new year. But alas it was only a dream.
I automatically assume that the poster is either 12 years old or suffers from mental deficiencies when I see them bring up the Hall trade: talking about how they could have got more in the trade.
The quietness of the crowd was criticized yesterday. I was at the game and you could feel it before the game. Fans in this town has seen this movie before and knew they had paid good coin to watch an execution. Watching the Oil at this point is kind of like watching over a loved one fading away on life support. You know what the outcome will be but feel helpless as no one can do anything about it.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Hall and Eberle trade was negative in point production. The defence is disgusting. The GM is 100% bad news. New GM. Coach and centers on the team are awesome. 97,29,93,16 is sweet. The lack of a balance in the roster is shocking. Pc is a fool
cool story bro