The coaching staff worked the team’s asses off in practice on Sunday. According to reports it was as close to a bag-skate as you could get. Did it work? At least in the short term it appears so.

The team was home to the San Jose Sharks on Monday night and came up with a great effort. It ended with a 2-1 shootout victory. The team played hard and worked hard. They still made mistakes but like in October, they got the goaltending to bail them out. Devan Dubnyk has not been the “goalie of the future” that the organization thought he would be. Monday night was hopefully the start of him playing like he is. He was spectacular in making 44 saves in regulation and another 3 on 4 attempts in the shootout. This was a game that both he and the Oilers needed. It was a game that the officials let the teams play, except for one glaring error, and it was a fun game to watch. The only call by the zebras that was questionable was the 5 minute kneeing penalty to Ales Hemsky along with the game misconduct to go with it. Intent to injure? First off, how can anyone determine intent unless they can read minds. 2 minutes for tripping I could live with but a major was over the top. Second, it is Ales Hemsky. The same player who hasn’t shown much of anything this year and is hardly known as a dirty player.

We had a bit of discussion on Twitter about that call with @SportsnetSpec responding to my question about knowing the intent of a player with: “How do we think we know when hits are intentional or not? And, why should that matter?”  @Magisterrex responded to that with “Uh…because it’s Ales Hemsky? Not exactly Andy Sutton-like.” We all know that Hemsky’s only intent on the ice is to score goals. Injuring another player isn’t in his make-up.

The Oilers then flew to Vancouver for a Tuesday night tilt with the Canucks. This was a game many expected the Oilers to be blown out of. What with the game Saturday, bag-skate practice on Sunday and the game Monday. We were to be surprised again. Another great effort by the team and another game taken to the shootout. Unfortunately the Oil dropped this one 3-2 but 3 points out of 4 against 2 very good teams was not something most were thinking about after that game Saturday but it was definitely a good 2 games. Again, the zebras let the teams play the game and there were only 3 penalties called. Devan Dubnyk got the call again and again was fantastic. This was the first time in his NHL career that he had played back to back games and made a statement to be the guy the team relies on over the course of the last 33 games.

I think that most of us are looking forward to those last 33 games if we get the same kind of effort we got Monday/Tuesday. I think we will all be wearing bags on heads if we get the same effort that we got against the Flames. The Oilers currently sit 29th in the league with a 9 point lead on last place Columbus Blue Jackets. If the Oilers do manage to finish the season in 30th, then everyone will be demanding heads on a silver platter. Looking forward in the standings they clearly have 6 teams within 6 points and could easily finishe 23rd. I personally would be happy with great a great effort by the players but for one last time I would be happy with them finishing 28th or 29th. ONE LAST TIME!! This will allow them to draft that stud defenseman that every team needs. They currently have some good prospects but no one who will be that play every situation and soak up the minutes that the stud defensemen do.

So here’s to a good last 33 games. A good honest effort every (most nights) and some team chemistry being fully developed. Here’s to Devan Dubnyk putting the stamp on the starting job for next season and here’s to one last top draft pick to finish off the drafting part of the rebuild.

I read Robert Tychkowski’s article at Slam Sports and I think he nailed the major problem with the Oilers right on. Offense! That’s not to say there is nothing wrong on the defensive side of the puck, clearly there are. The Oilers currently have given up the second most number of goals with only the Toronto Maple Leafs have given up more. Their goaltending has been shaky at times but that is to be expected with 2 rookie goaltenders between the pipes. The defense can look like a great group some games and then then next game look like raw rookies with their abysmal play and brutal giveaways.

As the article stated, even the best goaltenders in the league would be losing games in net with the Oilers because they just don’t score enough to offset even the best goals against average. The Oilers still need to keep the puck out of the net more. Let’s compare the Oilers and Flames to make this point. The Edmonton Oilers are averaging 2.42 goals for per game and sit in 28th place in this stat. The Calgary Flames are averaging 2.46 goals for per game and sit 27th. The offense is pretty equal right? Granted the Oilers have been well below that for the last 30 games. Washington leads this stat with an average of 3.93 goals per game.

Let’s take a look at the other end. The Oilers have a 3.33 Goals against average which is 29th in the league. The Flames have a goals against average of 2.44 which is good enough for 7th in the league. The difference? .89 GAA which is worth 23 additional points and 17 spots in the standings. So while a good offense can overcome a weak defense, strong defensive play can make up for weak offense too. For interest Chicago leads this stat with a 2.25 GAA. Washington actually sits 20th with a 2.80 GAA.

This proves to me one thing. You need one of your 2 sides of the ice to be great if you are going to be successful. Teams like Washington know how to put the puck in the net better than keeping it out and they are successful with it. The New Jersey Devils do it the other way as they are second in GAA but 21st in goals for. The Oilers are 28th in goals for and 29th in goals against.

Since the Oilers have 2 young goalies to develop and lots of deadwood on the forward lines, I agree with Robert that the offensive side of things is where the team needs to concentrate. Get some offense and give your young goalies a chance to develop. They always say the best defense is an effective offense and the Oilers just don’t have that. They spend too much time in their own zone and not enough in the offensive zone. It is tough to win games when you are defending all night…and not doing that well either.

The goal for Steve Tambellini for the next 18 days is to get rid of the deadwood for what ever he can get because in the long run this team will benefit even if it is just by freeing up cap room. Then this team needs to make sure they have their collective brains in gear for the draft and make sure there are no Jason Bonsignore picks in the future. The focus needs to be offense because as Washington are proving and the glory day Oilers proved, offense is fun to watch and more often than not will win you games no matter how bad the defensive side of things.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Steve Tambellini – trade deadline – offense – defense

CANOE — SLAM! Sports – Hockey NHL – Edmonton- Clock keeps ticking on Oilers

The team started the week with a 4-2 victory over the 28th place Carolina Hurricanes. It was a game that the Oilers finally played good enough to win and the Canes looked like the Oilers had the previous 13 games. After allowing the first goal on the first shot, Jeff Deslauriers settled in and played a pretty good game. The new fourth line of Marc Pouliot, Zack Stortini and Jean-Francois Jacques caused the Canes problems all night and scored 2 goals including the game winner by Pouliot. Hurricane’s goalie Cam Ward had been playing good and the team was undefeated in 5 games coming into this one but Ward was shaky and the team was lethargic and looked like the team who had sat 30th in the standings most of the season. Rookie defenseman Alex Plante made his NHL debut for the Oilers and played a solid first game and even picked up his first assist. The Oilers were not without fault and many of the problems that had been present during the losing skid were still there but they were able to come out on the right side of the score for once. 26 giveaways are not going to win many games but fortunately the Canes weren’t able to capitalize. It was a positive result that gave the team something to build on.

The second game of the week was against the Philadelphia Flyers. Another team who had struggled during December but had turned their season around in January. This game was a good close game and it took until the 19:43 mark of the third period for Ryan Potulny to find the twine on the powerplay. The powerplay unit had suffered most of the season and had been ineffective during their slide but a high sticking penalty to Flyer’s Darroll Powe with 1:50 remaining gave them a chance to win the game, which it did. Again the fourth line gave the opposition problems in the offensive zone but again they are weak defensively and it did give up a few good scoring chances. Jeff Deslauriers was again on his game and picked up his second shutout. Michael Leighton also played a good game in net for the Flyers and he appears to be a great waiver wire pick-up for the team. The Oilers played a pretty good game again although the 19 giveaways were still too high but the team played with intensity and there was lots of effort from everyone. 2 games and 2 wins to start the month.

The NHL schedule maker was obviously trying to give Minnesota the advantage on Thursday as the Oilers played the Flyers on Wednesday night, had to catch a flight to Minnesota and finally got to their hotel after 4:00am. The team then had a game at 6:00pm so only about 20 hours between games. It wasn’t like the Wild needed any help though as they had won 11 straight games at home against the Oilers and they are one of the top home teams in the league. The Oilers started the game looking like they were sleep walking and only late in the first did they manage to come out of their slumber. On this night it was not Niklas Backstrom, who had beat the Oilers every time he had played them, but Josh Harding between the pipes. Unfortunately for the Oilers this didn’t make a difference. It took the Wild just over 21 minutes to finally make their domination count with Martin Havlat beating Deslauriers. The Oilers were able to tie the game 5 minutes later on a powerplay goal by Mike Comrie. The second finished still tied and was actually a rather boring period. The Wild got their lead back early in the third period and again 5 minutes later the Oilers tied it up, this time on a goal by Pouliot and the fourth line. Just less than 2 minutes later Jacques had a wide open net but Josh Harding dove across the net and snagged the puck heading into the gaping net. Harding reinjured his hip on the play and was replaced by Anton Khudobin who was making his NHL debut. This obviously looked good for the Oilers but it was the Wild who stepped up their game with Guillaume Latendresse beating Deslauriers on a great play only 2 minutes later. Havlat closed out the scoring just over 5 minutes later and the Wild again beat the Oilers at home. The Oilers did manage to get 9 shots on Khudobin in his 9:33 of time but nothing was dangerous. The Oilers lost this game because they didn’t play with the same kind of intensity they had the last 2 games and because they only managed to win 27% of the face-offs. It is hard to win a game when you start without the puck most of the night. Shawn Horcoff continued his season from hell as he won just 32% of his face-offs and was a minus 2 on the night. The minus 2 left him at –27 for the season which placed him dead last amongst all players. Pretty disgusting considering the salary he makes and the cap hit he puts on the team.

Saturday night the Oilers were in Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche, at least they were supposed to be. The bodies showed up but the minds didn’t because this was one of the worst games the team has played this year…and there have been plenty of stinkers. The Oilers were outshot 42-20, and when you take into account missed shots and blocked shots they were outshot 86-44. If it wasn’t for the 26 blocked shots and the great job by Jeff Deslauriers, this game would have been over early and been a slaughter to boot. The Avalanche may have the youngest team in the league with several rookies but they sure make the Oiler’s veterans and youngsters look like minor league players. This was so one sided that the 3-0 score was a flatter to the Oilers. In fact, the Avs only lead by 1 goal with 3 minutes to go in the game but a weak goal by Ryan Wilson put the nail in the coffin and an empty net goal by Brandon Yip was not even needed. Shawn Horcoff continued his poor play again tallying a –1 and increasing his lead at the bottom of the leagues +/- category and again only won 39% of his face-offs even though the team was 50%. While Deslauriers was the reason that the Oilers were even in this game until the end, the weak goal with 2:54 to go killed off any hope. It was a shot that needed to be saved and one that was needed if he was to try and steal a game for the team, something an NHL caliber goalie has to do from time to time.

The first 2 games looked like the luck had maybe changed but the lack of effort after those 2 wins shows this team has quit. It was embarrassing to see Pat Quinn going ballistic on the bench in the second period during a commercial time-out. I would have been embarrassed as a player to know that was being shown on national television and I would be embarrassed to know that my team was playing as bad as they were. Obviously this team and its players don’t care any longer.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Carolina Hurricanes – Canes – Philadelphia Flyers – Flyers – Minnesota Wild – Wild – Colorado Avalanche – Avalanche

Tuesday it was the Chicago Blackhawks making a trip to Edmonton. The game started off in typical fashion these days with the Oilers forgetting to show up to start the game and Jeff Deslauriers letting in that easy goal only 44 seconds into the game. It was bad enough the team didn’t show up to start the game but this made it even worse. In fact, by time the team did show up to play it was 4-0 for the Hawks and they were just in cruise control and you could see they had taken their foot off the pedal. It was a game of men (Hawks) vs. boys (Oilers). In watching the first 39 minutes it was hard to realize that both these teams were in the same league.

The Oilers finally got on the board in the last minute of the second with Fernando Pisani finding the net. The Oilers then came out in the third and played a pretty decent period, although I am not sure if it was a case of the Oilers stepping it up a bit or the Hawks laying back. Probably a bit of both. Ryan Potulny closed the gap for the home team at 5:44 of the period but that was as close as it got. Again, weak goaltending and only playing for 21 minutes are not going to win you many games.

Thursday it was the St. Louis Blues at Rexall Place. Things were looking up right? I mean, the Blues are in 19th place in the league and not the same caliber as the Hawks right. And surely the Blues wouldn’t come in and spank the Oilers like they did on December 21st when they whipped the Oilers 7-2. Right? Well this was probably the best game the Oilers have played in the last month. The games was scoreless through to the 7:44 mark of the second period when Dustin Penner put the Oilers in front. So far, so good. Yea right! In typical Oilers fashion they handed the Blues a goal only 17 seconds later to tie the game. Another glaring problem with the Oilers exposed. They either relax after getting a lead or get too high as the goals are infrequent and can’t calm themselves down to start playing the game again.

1-1 after 2 periods and the Oilers were playing a decent game. Could the streak be over? Nope, as has been the case so many times this year, it is a soft goal that costs the team the game again. 2:09 into the final period it was Alex Steen firing a shot short side over the shoulder of Deslauriers from the top of the right circle. Again the big goalie was down on his knees early and the top side was open. I am sure this is the book on Deslauiers as he lets in lots over the shoulder or short side. 2-1 final for the Blues and the streak continued.

Saturday the Oilers traveled to Calgary to take on the Flames in what I had dubbed the Loser Bowl 2010. The Oilers were winless in 12 and the Flames were winless in 9. But has been the case this season, there is nothing like a game against the Oilers to quell those losing skids. The Flames got on the board early, 3:45, and they were in full control. The Oilers did show a bit of life and at 12:25 of the period as Gagner scored a powerplay goal but that was it and the Flames took over big time and made sure to put an exclamation point on their losing streak.

The Flames piled on the pressure and you would never know that they were a team that had been suffering offensively as they fired 6 goal behind Devan Dubnyk. The Oilers looked like they were happy getting that tying goal and played embarrassing the rest of the way as they were totally outclassed. Unlike the Hawks on Tuesday, the Flames didn’t take their foot off the pedal and kept the pressure on the entire game. Miikka Kiprusoff outdueled Dubnyk and made 2 or 3 10 bell saves when the Oilers did have chances particularly a great glove save on Andrew Cogliano after he has split the Flames defense. It was a highlight of the Oilers game but the result was how things have gone for this team. Too many problems that need fixing. Flames end their losing streak at 9 and Jerome Iginla, who has had problems scoring during that time had 4 points. On the flip side, Dustin Penner was the only Oiler that was not a minus as he was even. But Penner was zeros in almost every other stat line which shows how he along with the team have stopped trying. The big offensive weapon had 0 shots and only 1 blocked attempt, no hits, no blocked shots, NO NOTHING.

I was asked why I keep watching the games when the Oilers stink to high heaven. I reply, I am a fan and I will always support the team. It doesn’t mean I won’t complain and take the losses as easily as the team obviously does. I complain about the way they are playing because I care; again something that the players obviously don’t. Besides, if the team actually wins a game again this season I want to be able to say I saw the streak end. At least before they start another one.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Calgary Flames – St. Louis Blues – Blues – Flames – Chicago Blackhawks – Hawks – losing – embarrassment

Should we expect them to just go through the motions? Should we accept them to just show up each and every game and just play dead while they are beat into oblivion? Here are my thoughts on what needs to be done to make this abysmal season something that can be looked at as a success in the long term scheme of things.

The Oilers have been dealt a gift either through fate, misfortune or even mismanagement but it is something they need to use. The gift? 32 games of under fire, in the heat of the action, mean nothing for now exhibition games. 32 games to see what players they have for the future.

The first thing they need to do is to put the younger players to the fore of this team. Whether it is by trading some of the older veterans or sitting them in the press box. And if they can’t trade some of the guys because of their contracts then send them to the minors. Who cares if someone claims them and you get nothing. This franchise has to start over anyway. Saving the money is worth it right now. The captains “C” and the assistants “A” needs to be taken from those who have them now and be given to the young guys who are going to lead this team in the future. Let them start leading now. Carolina did the same thing by taking the “C” from Rod Brind’Amour and giving it to Eric Staal. He is the future of their franchise.

The younger guys on this team need to be put in the situation of taking this team on as their own. Did anyone else notice that when the young guys like Cogliano, Gagner and Gilbert were put in that situation 2 years ago they went on that great run. The funny thing is that they did this without all those veterans being around. They were all injured and out anyway. Of course we don’t want them to do something stupid like win 25 of the last 32 games and miss the playoffs by a few points and again screw up their shot of a first or second draft pick. But, we need to know what this team has.

The team needs to know if Sam Gagner is going to be the leader many thinks he is. They need to know if Andrew Cogliano is a bonafide top 6 forward or does he need to be groomed as a shut down guy. Is Penner the guy they forked out all that money for and started the season like a gangbuster or is he a lazy bust like he has been the last month? What role does Patrick O’Sullivan fit into? Find his role and let him play it rather than playing with different line mates in different roles every second game. They need to know if Gilbert can run the power play and if Smid can be their shut down defender. Is Gilbert Brule going to be an offensive threat? Is Ryan Potulny a second, third or 4th line center? Is Marc Pouliot going to be the player they thought they drafted or is he another one of those dead, go nowhere draft picks the Oilers are famous for drafting?

32 games is a great opportunity to see what this team has in its youth. Management needs to make the hard decisions now. Steve Tambellini and Kevin Lowe have to stop being friends with the veterans and bite the bullet. They need to start thinking of building a team like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit. They all did it with draft picks and filled in the gaps around. Stop trying to chase after stars and wasting your time with players that won’t come to Edmonton in their current situation. Build a team and there is a good chance that stars will want to come.

Another thing that has to happen is that once the excess baggage and contracts have been purged, Daryl Katz needs to put a lock on the cheque book. No more out priced contracts for third line or role players. Every team is full of them so you don’t need to pay for them. No more Mr. Nice Guy. One good season doesn’t a fat contract make.

RIght now a win for the Oilers is a good effort in a game that means something in the long term scheme of things. A lazy effort or a meaningless game is not going to do this team any good. The learning experience starts Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, a team they need to strive to become and learn from.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Katz – Tambellini – Lowe – rebuild

When things go wrong, you’ll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better. – C. S. Lewis

This is the only way that fans can look at the Edmonton Oilers season right now. Last night against the Dallas Stars was again a shining example of how those things that can go wrong, just continue to go wrong.

The Oilers started the game desperately trying to hand the game to the Stars. With 4 penalties in the first 11 minutes it appeared that the team was just going to play a lazy game and lie down and play dead. For the second straight game, they gave their opposition a 5 on 3 power play by taking 2 penalties at the same time. On this night it was again 2 veterans with Horcoff and Pisani both getting nailed. Again this was untimely as it was only 41 seconds after the Stars had scored to take a 1-0 lead. With the Oilers having the 29th ranked penalty killing unit you expected the Stars to make it 2-0 quickly. On this night, however, it was not the Sedin twins on the ice and the Oilers were able to kill that off. What did they do to celebrate this kill? Less than a minute after the brilliant kill Sam Gagner took a holding penalty and were again able to kill that off. With 6 seconds left in that penalty they Patrick O’Sullivan was pegged for unsportsmanlike conduct and with the team shorthanded for almost 6 consecutive minutes, the Stars finally solved the Oilers PK and made it 2-0. The shots at this time were 17-2 for the Stars and it looked like this was going to be Monday all over again.

The Stars did their best though to throw the Oilers a bone and 14 seconds after their second goal, they gave the Oilers a power play of their own with Kris Barch being caught for holding. Ryan Potulny only took 25 seconds to narrow the gap to 2-1. By the end of the period the Oilers had managed to narrow the shots gap to 18-11.

The second period was a better period for the Oilers as they controlled most of the play and ended the period outshooting Dallas 14-5. Dallas scored first in the period against the run of play with Taylor Chorney pinching at the Dallas line and getting caught. Jamie Benn finished the 2 on 1 we a perfect shot to beat Devan Dubnyk who was making his second straight start for the Oilers. Edmonton’s dominant play finally paid off with 19 seconds left in the period as Sam Gagner found the twine and again narrowed the score to a 1 goal game.

The third period was again a good period for the home team and they should have faired better at least had a few more power plays but the referee’s (Wes McCauley and Justin St. Pierre) swallowed or lost their whistles and allowed several plays, that were far worse and more blatant than some of the calls made in the first period, go unpunished. It just so happened that most of those blown calls would have gone in Edmonton’s favor. Finally, with Dubnyk on the bench in favor of the extra attacker, Sam Gagner scored his second goal of the game. 1:02 to go and it looked certain that the Oilers hard work was at least going to get them to overtime and get them a point. It would have made sense considering the first 2 games between the teams this season had gone to the shoot-out.

Unfortunately for the Oilers, a late minute brain freeze cost them the game. It was that situation that when things go bad they just continue to go bad. Jason Strudwick fell to the one side of the net while covering Brad Richards which allowed a wide open James Neal to pot the winner. 23 seconds left and the Oilers were again down and had lost the game in the final minute once more. The Oilers did make it close in the final 10 seconds but Marty Turco was able to shut the door and hold on for victory.

Another hard effort by the Oilers that probably deserved a better fate but again it was an L beside their name on the game sheet. Again, Devan Dubnyk was in line to maybe pick up his first victory but again the Fickle Finger of Fate was shown to him and he added another loss to his stat line. 

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Dallas Stars – Stars – National Hockey League – NHL – Rexall Place – fate – things go wrong

The Edmonton Oilers played possibly their best game in months yet they still managed to lose the game. They outplayed the opposition almost to a man, they out shot them, they out hit them, blocked over 3 times more shots, and even had less giveaways yet they still lost the game. There was 2 places they didn’t outplay the Canucks and in the end, those 2 facets of the game ended up costing them the game.

5 on 5 the Oilers were a far better team than Vancouver. But one of the major achilles heels of this team was blown out of the water. The Sedin twins were almost non-existent for most of the game however they were busy strutting their stuff during the power play. A power play that was 3 for 4 and only spent a total of 3:27 on those man advantage situations. Between them the Sedin’s picked up 1 goal and 5 assists for 6 points.

The first goal was the result of a weak Stortini penalty and the second goal, with only 4:06 to play and the Oilers hanging to a 2-1 lead, was the result of a lazy, weak, stupid, selfish (you can continue to add adjectives here) penalty by Andrew Cogliano. The third was a gift given to them by brutal officiating by referee Kyle Rehman. On a call that was clearly a dive, Oiler’s Denis Grebeshkov was called for hooking and the twins made the abysmal Oiler penalty kill pay. No wonder this team is 29th on the PK after a performance like that.

Unfortunately the penalty kill overshadowed a rather spirited and gritty performance by a team that forgot to show up Monday in Denver. It also wasted the best performance of young goalie Devan Dubnyk’s career. Unfortunately for Dubnyk he is still winless in his young NHL career. In fact he played equal to probably the second best goalie in the world in Roberto Luongo.

The Oilers again failed miserably in the face off circle only winning 42% but to make things worse, they only won 38% of the face offs while short handed. Pretty hard to kill penalties when you can’t win a face off and be able to control the play.

With Carolina winning tonight the Oilers find themselves only 1 point out of last in the league. With Dallas and Chicago up next it doesn’t get any easier. It looks like that maybe the February 1st meeting with the Hurricanes could be the battle for last place. 9 losses in a row and in a free for all fall, we are looking at the possibility that this version of the team could break 3 records in one season, something that hasn’t  happened in a long time. The team has already set a record for the longest winning streak on the road with 5 games. Now they are working on the longest losing streak and lowest number of points in a season. 33 more games to go; at least we have the Olympics to look forward to in the middle of that stretch.

Francis Bacon had a quote that will fit perfectly with the rest of the Oilers season:

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Vancouver Canucks – Canucks – National Hockey League – NHL – Murphy’s Law

I have watched the Oilers since the beginning of the WHA days and this was one of the worst games I can remember in a very long time. This made 8 straight losses and 15 times in the last 16 games. We all know, and the team knows that their playoff hopes are totally gone but the least they can do is try or give the semblance of try when they step on the ice.

Again, the leadership on this team must come into question. The leaders on this team are obviously ok with losing and unfortunately they are dragging the young guys down that rutted road of no return. This team brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from the legendary Vince Lombardi:

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

This team has obviously gotten into the habit of losing and the leadership of this team seems to be quite happy with this. How could things have gotten this bad? I believe that the leadership of this team started to try and take control of the team when Craig MacTavish was coach and I don’t think things are any different now. The leadership wants to control the team and don’t want to do anything other than their way.

The penalties in the game were all of the lazy variety. The forwards didn’t come back very hard to protect their own zone and when they did they didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing. The defense was equally inept in their own zone and had no idea what was going on. Jeff Deslauriers didn’t have a particularly strong game either in net but when you are hung out to dry all night it would have taken a miracle anyway.

Captain (and I use the term loosely) took an absolutely brutal penalty in the first period to give the Avalanche a 5 on 3 and Pat Quinn pretty much stapled him to the bench in the third period giving him only 2:35 of ice time which was less than every other player on the team.

This was an embarrassment to the proud tradition of the Edmonton Oilers and the 20 guys who are dressing every game had better put out even if it doesn’t result in a win. I am sure at this point of the season that all the fans want to see is effort. The wins are only a bonus at this place and time in the season but effort is a necessity. This reminds me of one final Vince Lombardi quote:

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

The Edmonton Oilers are no longer working hard and have obviously surrendered.

Technorati Tags: Edmonton Oilers – Oilers – Colorado Avalanche – Avs – National Hockey League – NHL – Vince Lombardi – embarrassment

The Oilers have shown over the first 46 games that their line-up and team make-up is filled with weaknesses. If only took the San Jose Sharks 3:51 to expose one of them. That dreaded weak goal. Patrick Marleau was given credit for the goal as his centering pass from the corner hit Oiler’s starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk’s stick and deflected through his legs and into the net. Definitely not the kind of gift that the league’s top line needs and not the way the Oilers need to start a game.

The Oilers did have a bit of life though and were able to tie the game briefly with 16 minutes gone in the period as some hard work down low by Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner lead to a great cross ice pass from Gagner that found the stick of a pinching Denis Grebeshkov who made no mistake beating Shark’s starter Thomas Greiss who was making his 7th start of the season.

That was as close as the Oilers would get though as another of their nemisis bit them less than 3 minutes later. Dustin Penner was nailed for a high sticking call out near center ice. It was one of those lazy, unnecessary penalties that ultimately seems to cost the Oilers and it took the Sharks only 54 seconds to find the twine as Devin Setoguchi gave them the lead for good. Outshot 16-6 in the period the Oilers were lucky to get out only down by 1but some good goaltending by the rookie Dubnyk kept the Sharks circling but not biting.

The Sharks took that final bite out of the Copper and Blue only 22 seconds into the second period as Setoguchi scored his second of the game and it was going to take a miracle for the Oilers to close that wound and win the game. That miracle was not going to happen. In fact that would have been a miracle of huge proportions as the team has had a rough enough time as it is and with the flu bug again hitting the team taking Gilbert Brule out for his second straight game and Fernando Pisani who had just come back from his latest bout with his ulcerative colitus. Ryan Stone also missed the game with his knee bothering him to the point the pain was to much to endure.

Joe Thornton closed the scoring for the Sharks with less than 5 minutes to play in the middle frame with one of the nicest plays you will see as the Sharks passed the puck around quickly with the final cross ice pass finding Thornton for a tap in.

The one positive for the Oilers on this day was that they finally scored a short handed goal. Half way through the third period, with Sam Gagner sitting in the sin bin for hooking, Patrick O’Sullivan blocked a pass in the Oiler zone and went coast to coast beating Greiss for his 10 goal of the season and the Oilers first shorty. It was little consolation with the final score ending up 4-2.

The Oilers were outshot 36-29 in the game. The one stat that really sticks out for me though was that the team only won 30% of the face offs. You are not going to win many games with that kind of win rate. In fact, most games will be a lot worse than this one with that kind of performance at the dot. Shawn Horcoff continued his brutal play and for his multi million dollar contract the Oilers got 18% success rate in the area of his game he is supposed to be strong in. 3 wins and 14 losses. I guess at least that since he was 0 +/- in the game he didn’t increase his lead at the bottom of the leagues plus/minus stat. The team as a whole did a decent job against the top team as they were dishing out the hits, blocking a good number of shots and kept the number of turnovers down, but in the end, a few weak points and a far inferior skill set lost this game.

The first period tonight had to be one of the most boring periods of hockey I have seen in a while. There were only 7 total shots (4 by the Oilers) and no goal and very little in the way of action. Other than some good work by Robert Nilsson and Andrew Cogliano and a great hit late in the period by Dustin Penner it was booooorrrrring hockey.

The one thing I was impressed with in the first period was the defensive work (yes, defensive) by Robert Nilsson especially in taking the puck away from a much larger Michael Rupp in the defensive zone. The Oilers did some good work and ended the period getting a 5 on 3 powerplay as the Pittsburgh Penguins were guilty of taking 2 penalties at the same time with 12 seconds left. The Penguins played the period like they thought this game was going to be a gimmie.

The second period started on the 5 on 3 powerplay and finally with 14 seconds left, Cogliano was able to pop his own rebound into the net after a great save by Marc-Andre Fleury. If I remember correctly, that was the first PP goal for the Oilers at 5 on 3 this year. If it wasn’t then it was a really long time ago. Speaking of a really long time ago, that was the first goal for Cogliano in 28 or 29 games. He has had the jump lately but just hasn’t had the scoring luck.

The second game then went back into booorrring mode for a while with neither team doing a lot of anything. Half way through the second the Penguins Rupp was nailed for a penalty (stupid offensive zone Oilers type) and again the Oilers scored with Lubomir Visnovsky finding the twine with a point shot after Patrick O’Sullivan had hit the crossbar but followed up and passed the puck to the point for the shot.

The Penguins got their first chance on a powerplay 2 minutes after that goal. Ranked 29th in the league on the powerplay is really hard to fathom with the fire power this team has but watching them it is easy to see why. Other than a breakaway from Bill Guerin the Penguins did very little and most of them were standing around. I don’t care how talented you are but if you are going to stand around then nothing is going to happen. 

With 25 seconds left in the period Robert Nilsson took the puck away from a Penguin just inside the blue line and he drove the net 2 on 1 with Cogliano and made the deke which Fluery saved. In the process, Nilsson was bumped a little by Evgeny Malkin and he embellished it a bit as he drove over Fleury. Fleury took exception to the collision and immediately pounced on Nilsson leading to a small melee in the net and both Nilsson and Fleury with minor penalties. After the really boring first period the second period had 32 shots with 18 of those by the Oilers. That was probably one of the better periods of play by the Oilers since their 5 game winning streak in early December. I was also reminded that during the Penguins last game in Edmonton in December, 2007 the Oilers were leading 2-0 after 2 periods and ended up losing 4-2. Not again right?

The third period started with a couple of Oiler type giveaways by the Pens resulting in breakaway chances by Penner then Pisani. Fleury with 2 pretty good saves on both chances. The Penguins then started to look like they might get interested in playing and with just over 3 minutes gone the Oilers goaltending bug bit them. After 2 good periods, Devan Dubnyk allowed that weak goal at the wrong time that has plagued the team all season long. The old softie under the arm on the short side by Tyler Kennedy. 2 minutes later it was Ryan Stone taking one of the Oilers trademark weak-assed lazy penalties to give the surging Penguins their second powerplay of the game.

And for the upteenth time this season that dreadful penalty cost them. This time it was Matt Cooke who punished Stone for his stupidity. The Pens had probably played hockey for 5 minutes in the game to this point and they were tied at 2. The Oilers continued their “Fall for Hall” as again the defensive zone coverage was dreadful as Smid, Visnovsky and Cogliano are all beaten to the puck and with Ethan Moreau out picking his nose in no man’s land in the slot and no Pen within 15 feet of him, Jordan Staal’s centering pass deflects off Pascal Dupuis’ knee and behind Dubnyk. Last time these teams met in Edmonton it was Sidney Crosby with 3 points in the third period. Tonight it was Jordan Staal’s turn to pull the feat. 3-2 was the final score with Crosby and Malkin going pointless.

So, why did the Oilers lose again? This team has 4 or 5 (ok maybe 10 or 12) things that cost them every game and tonight was no different. While Pittsburgh was getting NHL calibre goaltending from Fleury, the Oilers were giving up the weak goal at the wrong time of the game. While Fleury was making 2 breakaway saves early in the third to keep his team in the game, Dubnyk was allowing the softie to let the Pens back in. I know he is a rookie but with both him and Deslauriers fighting to keep a job with the Oilers next year, you have to be better than that.

Then it was the penalty that killed the game. Ryan Stone started the season as one of the Oilers better players but since he was injured he has been average at best. Tonight he sunk himself officially into the doghouse as he took that lazy penalty that the Oilers weren’t able to kill off (as is the case with most of those lazy penalties) and that tied the game. The Oilers then failed to win the puck on a dump and chase in their own zone and that too ended up in the net. Captain Ethan was on the ice for less than a dozen minutes tonight, ended up –2 and had zeros in every other stat line. No hits, no blocked shots, no shots…nothing. Good job again leading by example.

I guess the one positive to come out of the game was that the lose helped take them further behind 28th place Toronto as the Leafs won tonight. The “Fall for Hall” is still working in the Oilers favor but as is normal with the team they will either not get the first pick or will go “off the board” with their first overall pick if they do get it.