The Cult of Hockey's "Skinner steals crap show of a game vs Sabres" podcast

Let's do this! The Cult of Hockey podcast. By the Faithful and for the Faithful. Today Bruce McCurdy and David Staples dig into the Oilers of Edmonton's 3-2 win over the Sabres of Buffalo.

[@DS-hs3qp]

Skinner was fantastic.... his calmness and economy of movement were outstanding.

[@reganbodnarchuk2716]

It's always interesting watching the Oilers because you never know what you're going to get

[@epiphany519]

Game 49. Long post follows with base game statistics including some for the Buffalo Sabres. Read, don't read, up to you. These are BASE stats not detailed ones like the Cult of Hockey does. My comments and observations at the end. Statistics for Buffalo Sabres at Edmonton Oilers January 25th, 2025 Edmonton Oilers: J Skinner 1 Goal Nuge 2 Goals Emberson 1 Primary Assist Kapanen 1 Primary Assist Ekholm 1 Secondary Assist Nurse 1 Primary Assist Bouchard 1 Secondary Assist S Skinner 39 Saves on 41 Shots = .952 Save %age Buffalo Sabres: Tuch 1 Goal Kulich 1 Goal Zucker 1 Primary Assist Bryson 1 Secondary Assist Power 1 Primary Assist Cozens 1 Secondary Assist Reimer 31 Saves on 34 Shots = .912 Save %atge Sabres Oilers Shots on Goal 42 34 Hits 29 15 Faceoffs Won 32 33 PP 0/3 0/1 Penalty Mins 2 6 Giveaways 16 15 (12 per NST) Takeaways 7 (4 per NST) 5 (4 per NST) Blocked Shots 7 (8 per NST) 16 (12 per NST) 3 Stars: 3-Kulich (1G), 2-Nuge (2G), 1-S Skinner (.952 Save %age) Player TOI PP TOI PK TOI SOG +/- PIM Hits Blocks Giveaways Takeaways Bouchard 24:22 1:45 0:43 3 0 0 2 3 1 1 Nurse 23:41 0:15 2:40 3 1 0 2 0 1 0 Ekholm 23:00 0:07 2:51 3 2 0 1 2 1 0 Kulak 20:14 0:00 2:25 3 -1 0 0 3 0 0 Emberson 14:56 0:00 3:19 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 Stecher 12:06 0:00 0:00 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 Draisaitl 22:36 1:43 0:00 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hyman 18:44 1:31 0:00 1 -1 2 0 0 1 0 Henrique 16:39 0:16 1:58 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 Nuge 15:51 1:52 2:36 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 Arvidsson 15:37 0:28 0:00 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 C Brown 15:03 0:00 2:19 5 1 0 0 0 0 1 Janmark 14:51 0:00 2:40 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Perry 14:09 0:42 0:00 3 1 0 0 0 2 2 Podkolzin 14:05 0:00 0:37 0 -1 0 3 0 0 0 J Skinner 10:44 1:18 0:00 2 1 0 2 2 0 0 Kapanen 10:33 0:00 1:10 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 Philp 6:49 0:00 0:36 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 Oilers Faceoff Breakdown: Won Lost Percent Draisaitl 13 13 50.0 Henrique 10 3 76.9 Nuge 4 10 28.6 Philp 3 3 50.0 Perry 1 0 100.0 Janmark 1 1 50.0 C Brown 1 1 50.0 J Skinner 0 1 0.00 Sabres's Faceoff Breakdown: Won Lost Percent McLeod 9 10 47.4 Cozens 9 3 75.0 Kulich 7 8 46.7 Thompson 3 2 60.0 Krebs 2 5 28.6 Zucker 1 3 25.0 Lafferty 1 1 50.0 Tuch 0 1 0.00 Still can't watch or listen to games while I wait for surgery. Special Thanks to Austin Hockey for doing play by play for this game. It's appreciated. Few things that I got from this. #1: You're MESSING UP Noah Philp. He played a GRAND TOTAL of 6:49 today (and was 50% in the faceoff circle). How can he progress with squat for time. #2: You REALLY REALLY REALLY need to do drills on how to hit an empty net because Leon couldn't do it and it was wide open. It's like we're cursed or something and it's embarrassing. #3: Stu was phenomenal and anyone who says otherwise is blinder than I am (and I have maybe 20% in one eye currently, maybe). #4: NUGE IS HUGE!!!!!!!!! This was actually not a great game especially compared to the Canucks game but hey, it's a win. The Oilers are now first in the Pacific Division one point up on VGK who face I think it's the Panthers next while we face Seattle and don't count LA out. They're 8 points back but have 4 games in hand, they win them all and it's another tie at the top. They face Detroit next. Take care all

[@dianedyck3474]

Thanks again!…I look forward to your stats after every game and I know you put them mainly on here!

[@boblogan3665]

I just bought a new house and put less effort in to that than you did onto this post

[@epiphany519]

@@boblogan3665 We all have to have a hobby (lol). Thanks for the reply.

[@jasonb9152]

Our goaltending finally stole a game, I think maybe the third one of the year? It’s nice to see. I think our goaltending is good but certainly not great. So I’m glad he had a game like this.

[@Ace96x10]

ya, 3rd.

[@connerslate9]

Best analysis podcast on KZbin thanks guys

[@Feedback4Utoday]

Oilers so unpredictable. Fantastic to get past Vegas to 1st now - but still a lot of errors it seems

[@atomsRnot4717]

Today the oilers forgot that drop passes are supposed to go to your teammates.

[@Ace96x10]

Strange game indeed. Congrats to Stu, he played a solid game. Kapanan?, getting better by the week.

[@joetoh6675]

Clawing up to the Jets. Good to see vets like Perry and Henrique help the team get it done. And keep going Nuge!

[@nicolasderuiter1699]

I love how the misc “Goodwill bin” has produced such gems in Emberson, Podzilla, and Kapanen

[@dianedyck3474]

I hate when we play like we did today ! I knew we wouldn’t be as intense as the last game but geez!…we had some good moments but I’m just glad we won!Buffalo looks like a good young team tho!

[@raytothet7665]

I love David's background 😂

[@dianedyck3474]

It seems skinner plays better when he has a lot of shots on him?…maybe it’s just me?

[@SuperRonmiester]

Start skinner, Jeff skinner and Nuge all were noticeable tonight in a good way……. The rest of the team not so much…… but the team on the backs of those three players (moreso Stuart skinner) won this game that they usually lose in year previous.

[@duaneday5474]

nurse was creating chances

[@spiritedtruthseeker5929]

Im quick to call Skinner a glorified backup, but ill eat crow now, cause he was a beast tonight. Please keep this up Mustashio

[@wadekevin2074]

We got lucky tonight. Stu was amazing. But with McDavid back on Monday will recharge the boy's.

[@roncole2565]

We could have had a little less on Colorado situation let's talk more about the others

[@zacharyhoehn6127]

ty 4 pod

[@joetoh6675]

About the chaotic schedule in early January: the dummass league office should prioritize making travel schedules more rational for Western teams. It looked like the Oilers travel schedule was made last and they got all the leftover bits that didn’t fit. Instead leave all the one game out & backs, one game home “stands”, and criss-crossing, etc., for the Eastern conference where distances are shorter. Duh. The more geographically isolated, the higher priority a team should receive regarding a rational travel schedule. January shows that Edmonton was obviously not treated well in this regard. They had a criminally negligent 5 games in 7 days last year too, meaning two back2backs in one week. Compare Rangers sked for eg: they have zero cross continent flights on the same road trip, and zero crisscrossing like the Oil had in Jan. Ranger games at NYI and NJ can be considered home games for travel purposes. The sked for those three teams should be made last every year.

[@docforest4851]

No team has ever tried so hard to avoid moving into first place as much as the Oilers did last night. Fortunately, Skinner and RNH were not aware of this.

[@russellsehn9566]

And I'll say it again: they CAN NOT score on an empty net

[@allendale18]

Well, they have seven empty netters this far this season.

[@RobertMunn-l8l]

Al Iafrate always said "empty nets are for sissies!"

[@dwaynegamble244]

Yeah they should definitely work on the empty net

[@jeniasmackay7931]

6​@@allendale18

[@thekiltedzombie8230]

Can we please have a re-do on Arvidsson!

[@aaronst.pierre3080]

I actually thought Skinner was sketchy in the first period. He seems to be fighting the game a lot in most first periods. After that though he was tremendous.

[@Marcosmidable]

It's still a long season to go, they can't play well all the time.

[@DuffMcDowell]

My observation with this team is a total lack of urgency when it comes to putting the puck into an empty net. Why can’t this team hit an empty net. RNH has a wide open net and shoots the puck right at the defenceman and then looks stunned that he didn’t score. Leon don’t even know what to say about that. They really make it way to hard on themselves someone needs to be selfish when it comes to empty net goals. All that being said they still managed somehow to win the game.

[@allendale18]

They have 7 EN goals this season.

[@RobertMunn-l8l]

Al Iafrate always said empty net goals are for sissies

[@jeniasmackay7931]

​6 @@allendale18

[@DuffMcDowell]

Not enough for the amount of chances they have. Colorado has 18 empty net goals over double

[@KalleLagerlof]

Leon, what the hell??!

[@KalleLagerlof]

Leon looked completely worn down

[@tomharrison6607]

connor and leon have a bad habit of coasting back to the bench it can really cost them sometimes

[@MyHappy002]

The early start might have thrown off the players' routines.

[@SeanHillaby]

I have a hard time seeing Hall helping anything.

[@Tank1TC]

Good thing for the Oilers thatBouchard is playing so poorly this year. Hard to think he is worth anything over 7 MM

[@Old-Blue]

Skinner on a roll, not, win one lose two 🙄