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Post by Dr. Telly-Belly on Dec 6, 2019 5:22:23 GMT -7
After roughly 8 weeks, the Oilers have fallen out of 1st place. It was fun while it lasted but reality set in with a Zona win. The Oilers have a ways to go. We can no longer fool ourselves. Goaltending, defense, and secondary scoring are needing to improve if the Oilers are to making it in the playoffs. PK and PP have definitely improved significantly so was that the major difference? Tip surely is a major difference too but Holland has more work. Thus far Holland has been a breath of fresh air but when he gets some cash, this team is going to have to change.
While I'm disappointed in the Senators lose and Arizona's win I knew it was coming.
Who knows? The Oilers could go on a 10-0 run and be firmly in 1st but that is unlikely. We aren't there yet. Still, thank Kenny for a fun 2 months.
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Post by sharptooth on Dec 6, 2019 7:52:54 GMT -7
The sky isn’t falling but tonight imo will be a good judge if we are ready to fold or take the bull by the horns and lay a woooooping on the Kings.
It sure would be nice to get Kass and Nuge back soon!
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Post by fogolin2 on Dec 6, 2019 8:22:03 GMT -7
It sure was fun. I just checked the wildcard standings, and we're only 5 points above it. Gotta tighten up the chin straps and get back to work. Enough losing to these bottom feeders.
Good thing we put all those points in the box already. They get tougher to collect as the season goes on.
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Post by GrooveyAsh on Dec 6, 2019 13:44:39 GMT -7
We're only 3 points ahead of where we were at this point last year.
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Post by Marshall Bruce Mathers III on Dec 6, 2019 14:36:16 GMT -7
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Post by drtaf on Dec 6, 2019 15:49:03 GMT -7
I'd prefer me some C hicken "A LA King" tonight than the "Fowl" Crow we've been eating of late
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Post by Dr. Telly-Belly on Dec 6, 2019 16:56:47 GMT -7
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Post by Marshall Bruce Mathers III on Dec 6, 2019 19:47:16 GMT -7
AZ lost today, if we win we'll be back first. If that happens, does that make this topic redundant?
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Post by Dr. Telly-Belly on Dec 7, 2019 6:12:52 GMT -7
AZ lost today, if we win we'll be back first. If that happens, does that make this topic redundant? nope
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Post by rapiershot on Dec 7, 2019 10:32:39 GMT -7
With respect to McD and Drai, we're not beating any team on talent alone. This is a team that needs to outwork opponents in order to stand a chance. We've seen them lose when they don't and win when they do. The players' job descriptions are pretty clear - Tippett's system is not complex - and execution is critical. That's why I think they will continue to play 58 -60% hockey the rest of the way. Playing is learning and (hopefully), they are learning. "Just do your job..." really applies to this team.
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Post by Dr. Telly-Belly on Dec 7, 2019 11:04:07 GMT -7
With respect to McD and Drai, we're not beating any team on talent alone. This is a team that needs to outwork opponents in order to stand a chance. We've seen them lose when they don't and win when they do. The players' job descriptions are pretty clear - Tippett's system is not complex - and execution is critical. That's why I think they will continue to play 58 -60% hockey the rest of the way. Playing is learning and (hopefully), they are learning. "Just do your job..." really applies to this team. Which should land us in the playoffs. Like I said above, this year feels like the team has improved over last year but there is more Holland needs to do (in the off season).
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Post by Marshall Bruce Mathers III on Dec 7, 2019 12:56:52 GMT -7
AZ lost today, if we win we'll be back first. If that happens, does that make this topic redundant? nope But... the topic is: "It was Great While It Lasted." Then the first sentence says: "After roughly 8 weeks, the Oilers have fallen out of 1st place." So... now that he Oil are back in first, it makes this topic redundant.
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Post by Dr. Telly-Belly on Dec 7, 2019 13:32:49 GMT -7
But... the topic is: "It was Great While It Lasted." Then the first sentence says: "After roughly 8 weeks, the Oilers have fallen out of 1st place." So... now that he Oil are back in first, it makes this topic redundant. o.k for some it might. LOL
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Post by mrtea on Dec 7, 2019 15:01:17 GMT -7
Let's face facts, we all knew that staying in 1st place in our division is possible but unlikely. We all know that the Oilers were over achieving, the real question is how much are we over achieving. at the start of the season "experts" had us not even making the playoffs. Many of our own fans agreed with this, although many of our fans also agreed that we would be in the fight for a spot. Remember we had question marks about our goaltending, defense and forward lines and don't forget about our terrible PK and PP. None of us really thought that soooo much could go the right way for us. BUT IT DID!
We need to realize that yes we are really improved over last season, but we still have a lot to improve upon. Our defense is improved, but there is a lot of room for improvement there still. Our forwards have improved over last season, but there is a long way to go yet. We are still in a very good spot and I fear there will be slump at some point coming soon. I just hope we can overcome the slump before it gets too ugly. My biggest disappointment this season is how badly we get beat when the wheels fall off. I knew we were going to lose games, but I hate watching the team fold the tent for business early and just basically giving up.
That is what we have to improve on.....our team confidence. I find the Oilers as a team tend to get over confident and let teams take the game away while we're trying to make cute plays and thinking we can just come back when we want to. Then we realize the game is getting away from us and the confidence seems to disappear. This confidence issue is a backbreaker for us and we need to gain the maturity to overcome it.
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Post by drtaf on Dec 7, 2019 15:03:23 GMT -7
let's hope we're arguing about this in June!
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Post by blackhawk216 on Dec 10, 2019 12:34:55 GMT -7
We're only 3 points ahead of where we were at this point last year. I was surprised when I read this Groovey, and initially thought that can't be right. But it is correct, this time last season after 32 games we had 37 pts, this season after 32games we have 40pts. The concerning thing about last season is that for the remaining 50 games, we only earned a miserable 42 pts. Surely history can't repeat itself so soon...…….can it?
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Post by drtaf on Dec 10, 2019 15:40:09 GMT -7
That is a scary stat!! With the Bettman point it's sometimes hard to make up ground and in the last little stretch that Bettman point has allowed us to stay near top. However, I only really look at how many points we are above the last wild card and that's shrunk considerably over the last few weeks. We used to be 10-12pts clear of 9th place, now we are 5pts. We could go from Penthouse to Outhouse real soon if we dont start putting together a 4-5 game winning streak soon
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Post by drtaf on Dec 10, 2019 22:18:36 GMT -7
Yep Real Soon!
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Post by fogolin2 on Dec 10, 2019 22:43:02 GMT -7
fLames have won 6 in a row and are 2 points back. Kuzmenko sakes
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Post by FloridaAltFan on Dec 11, 2019 5:45:47 GMT -7
fLames have won 6 in a row and are 2 points back. flames sakes Yes, but we're not getting ahead of ourselves. We've seen the hard times too. I think the Oilers are about 2 years away with their great defensive prospects coming along. Now, is not the time. Calgary has a shorter window. I'm not sure what the Flames are going to do with Bennett and Czarnik coming back and everyone playing so well right now. I would say all the ex-Oil are playing well right now Lucic, Reider, and Talbot. I haven't been able to catch any Oiler games lately due to work but Neal in last 5 games has 3 assists and a minus 2 or minus 17 in all the games. Neal has also dropped in minutes/game lately. Oilers I think might win the trade this year but not by as much as they thought. Neal was horrendous last year for Calgary, so much so I wouldn't take him back even for a player like Frolik.
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