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‘Goaltending is a team thing’: Players and fans react as Oilers fall 8-3 at home

Photo credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
It was another night in Edmonton where the fans left feeling disappointed. Disappointed, and more so frustrated, with how this rollercoaster of a season has begun. Once again, the goaltenders continue to take blame after the Dallas Stars beat the wheels off the Oilers 8-3.
The only bright spot from that night was the fact that Connor Clattenburg scored his first NHL goal, but even the high from that wasn’t enough for the Oilers to mount a comeback.
After the game, Oilers leadership spoke to the media. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Darnell Nurse all defended the goaltending when asked. Fans online, however, showed no mercy, not just toward Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard but the team as a whole. With losses like this, it’s the netminders who get the biggest spotlight.
“A .700 save percentage and fans are booing? Give it six more games, please, before we jump to any conclusions.”
– ZWheel97 via X“Oilers down by more goals than they have shots on net.” – Baggedmilk via X“Listless, can’t get a big save, lost defensively, 3-0 Dallas. Edmonton just not ready tonight.” – Avry via X“The fourth goal might be called off but Skinner needs to go immediately. Fk this guy.”** – Schmiddy the GOAT via X“Stuart Skinner needs a change of scenery more than the Oilers need a new goalie.” – Travis Dakin via X“Time to get Coffey to come back down to the bench, kiss his feet if you have to! Please Paul, we need you to teach us how to play defence again!” – Dylan Chevy via Facebook“I miss Holland, the Oilers were actually good under him. Since Bowman came in with Jackson they unraveled everything he did and made the team worse. Joke of a f***ing team!” – Darren Prasad via Facebook“I’ll throw this out there. Ekholm sucks this year. That’s it. It’s not Bouchard. Ekholm is horrible this year. No one calls his lack lustre play out though. He’s the Viking. Arrrr.” – Trevor Schmidt via Facebook“I know Stuart Skinner is no Dominik Hasek but I think the Oilers defense is worse.” – Lindski_ via X“They are becoming a laughing stock. Where is the leadership? Where are the timely stops, where is anything to look forward to? They are supposed to be in their cup window and they are throwing games away left right and centre and no one in the organization seems to be the least bit worried.” – Jkthsnk via Instagram“How do we lay an egg against two of the contenders in our conference? Where’s the passion and effort?” – Ronster221 via Instagram“Well yes their best defence is their best offence, the defence hasn’t been up to par. Nuge is clearly missing, Hyman will find his stride, I think they’ll improve and be in the mix. It’s a long season filled with ups and downs. They’ll gel with their schedule and a little puck luck. Let’s go oil.” – Jason8649 via Instagram“Yes the goaltending did zero tonight but YOU ARE ALLOWED TO WIN WITH BAD GOALTENDING. A bad goalie doesn’t mean you just mail it in and get away with it.” – DJ_Bean via X“Martin Brodeur would be losing 4-0 with these lazy bums in front of him! But hey, they’ll ‘learn from this’, and will ‘have to do better’, right?? Going nowhere this year, period!” – Fastpilot58 via X
From the perspective of the players on the team, though, this loss came down to more than just poor goaltending. Edmonton’s captains all said that keeping the puck out of the net involves the entire team rather than just whoever is standing between the pipes.
“Goaltending comes down to a full team game. It’s not on one guy.” – Darnell Nurse“I really feel like goaltending is a team thing. It’s tough for goalies to look good when the group in front of them is not playing well.” – Connor McDavid“What are they supposed to do? They’re part of the team too, and I’m sure they’d tell you themselves that they can be better at times. We’re giving up Grade-A look after Grade-A look. You can’t expect a goalie to stop every single one of them.” – Leon Draisaitl
The fire continues to burn for the Edmonton Oilers. They have a few days off here before they fly to Seattle to face the Kraken on Saturday. Until then, fans will bang the drum for change, especially in the crease.
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