[Jables16]

To echo the sentiments of some earlier posters I feel like a lot of these issues stem from poor goaltending. That being said I also feel that a lot of the issues with goaltending have been due to the three goalie approach that started the year. In 14-15 the "win and you're in" approach seemed to work because it was a clear tandem of two guys. You knew if you lost it was likely the other guy would start but you knew there'd be a chance to redeem yourself, the fairly even split was probably good for both guys physically, and they were there to motivate each other rather than try and beat the other guy out.

This year their mentality would have been "win and you could be out of a job". I get that these guys are professional athletes and expected to shoulder great deal of pressure but when it's hard enough to stop the puck in the context of winning that particular hockey game without having in the back of your mind "I might be in the press box for the next month or in the AHL". The more you become terrified of making a mistake the more likely it is to happen and the lack of confidence goes from the net out affecting everyone.

I think Treliving has to wear the goat horns on this one. There was a clear succession plan of Ramo walking, Hiller being the #1 and Ortio coming to the NHL full time as the back-up but I think he really just panicked because of Hiller's play in Game 6 vs. VAN and Game 1 vs. ANA, neither of which were entirely his fault. Maybe he was sure there was a trade to be had somewhere in the off-season but he didn't get that done either.

Now he has a much bigger mess on his hands and no clear solution. Don't get me wrong I really like a lot of the things Brad has done and really doubt he's going anywhere anytime soon but this is his first big challenge as GM and will go a long way in seeing what we really have here.

I feel like tonight's game has the potential to be a turning point for the season. There should be no shortage of motivation to bring it to the Oilers after what they did to the Flames on home ice, and the non-stop talk of McDavid, and the Flames regression. If they can pull it all together tonight and have a statement game that could be the start of something. If not, well we could be in for another looooong season.