I hear that Shawn Horcoff isn't playing tonight and that Kyle Brodziak is taking his place on the 1st line. Tom Gilbert is playing tonight which is good. On a side note, Theo Peckham (D) has been called up and Ryan Potulny (F) has been sent down.
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1st Period
Roli gets the game going in the 1st minute with a stick to the balls to Dan Cleary. Nice move. But it resulted in a penalty. A short time later Detroit (Rafalski) scores on the same PP. 1-0 Wings. About 2 minutes later Detroit was breaking in to the Oilers zone. Pouliot looks at the guy (Lebda) he is supposed to be covering and then looks back to the shooter. Well, Lebda gets the pass and scores. Pouliot looks dumb. 2-0 wings. At 5:44 Detroit (Cleary) scores again. 3-0 Wings. They are making the Oilers look like the Oil Kings. For those who say the Oilers are a "puck possession" team, then I think they need to watch Detroit. They are a true puck possession team. Gagner then takes a questionable cross checking penalty and Detroit (Hossa) scores again. 4-0 Wings. In the last 2:00 minutes in the period Brodziak loses it and Detroit scores (Datsyuk) once more and makes it 5-0. Wow. What a bad period.
2nd Period
MacT seems to be switching things up. Deslauriers gets the nod. Sorry Roli. Maybe tomorrow. It also looks like Peckham and Strudwick are changing places. And if I was MacT, I would give Hemmer something better than a couple of 3rd liners to play with. Cogs and Moreau would be a better option than Penner and Brodziak. IMO. The game gets in a good flow for the first 8:00 minutes of the period. Hemsky takes a penalty. (He is playing very crappy this past few games. Wonder why?) And the Oilers kill off the penalty. Finally we kill one. But a short time later Detroit takes a penalty. This could be a jump start for the Oilers. But... it isn't. The Oilers do however get on a little momentum swing and start giving Detroit some serious presssure which results in another Detroit penalty. Sam Gagner has been the Oilers best player so far in this game (IMO). I really like his drive that he has to try and do something out there. But he's little and really when it comes down to it, he really can't do much. Yet. In time I can see him being really good. Better than Hemsky. But that's just my opinion. So with 5:00 minutes left in the 2nd, MacT has the MacBlender on at a medium pace. It's getting hard to keep up with who's with who. But the Oilers do look much better in the 2nd then they did in the 1st. But it's too little, too late. The score is still 5-0 Wings. *opens another beer* Oh wait. Detroit wants one more. Lidstrom scores this time with 7 seconds left in the period. 6-0 Wings. I guess I spoke too soon.
3rd Period
I am very optimistic for this period. I think we can at least score one goal. Right? Please? We will see... The period started off pretty good. Brodziak is back with the 4th line for a shift and had a nice breakaway. Didn't score, but nice. But the Oilers do score. All right Stortini! A crash to the net type goal and thank god. We needed that. 6-1 Wings. So with 15:00 minutes left... can a miracle happen? 5 more goals to tie. Well it happened. Another goal (7:01). Stortini to Penner. Storts is on a mission. 6-2 Wings. Detroit is maybe to comfortable right now. But the Oilers are a 3rd period team. We seem to like to do things the hard way. Oh My God! Pouliot scores! You read that right. Pouliot scores. 6-3 Wings. We are on a roll now. Watch out Wings. The deep fryer is on. Hold the phone I say! At 15:29 Samuelsson will score for the wings. Momentum is gone. Damn! 7-3 Wings. Wait... 14 seconds later, Leino scores to make it 8-3 Wings. That pretty much was the fat lady singing. Damn you Detroit and your awesomeness. Damn you.
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Tonight's Starting Lines (basically only the 1st period)
Penner Brodziak Hemsky (these guys were terrible. Two pluggers with our "star" player. Good thinking MacT.)
Nilsson Gagner Cole (This line stayed intact for the most part. They were not bad. Cole could have been more physical. Nilsson was not really an impact player. Gagner was quite good. Maybe the best Oiler?)
Moreau Cogliano Reddox (These guys were so-so. I personally do not like this line. When Horcoff is out, Cogs should be the guy. Not #51.)
Strudwick Pouliot Stortini (This is a useless line. No one to fight on Detroit. Pouliot has played bad in this game even though he scored. Strudwick was moved to defense. Storts all of a sudden in the 3rd became Hemsky. He was a machine.)
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Final Score
Edmonton Oilers - 3
Detroit Red Wings - 8
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BEERS
HAHAHA! Like there is going to be any. Well, lots of beers being consumed by the fans because what else do we have to do with the rest of a Saturday. We drink. Yay!
Honorable Mentions (but not worth a beer)
Sam Gagner (He was good even if the stats don't show it. He played hard, did his back checking and made some hits.), Zack Stortini (had 2 points and was a huge surprise in the 3rd.), Denis Grebeshkov (He played ok. He managed to be +1 at the end of the game.), Tom Gilbert (also finished +1.) Jeff Deslauriers (he came into a nightmare once again. He managed a little better this time. He was pretty good)
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JEERS
Ales Hemsky
- The guy looked like a floater out there. A cheery picking waste of a roster space. Ok. That may be a little harsh but I can't stand when one of our core guys are not even trying. He is a great player but sometimes he doesn't feel like playing. Today being one of them. Booooooooooooo!
Sheldon Souray
- I pick on him because he is the elder on the D line. He is our best guy now that Visnovsky is out. He needs to lead. And that didn't really happen this game. I expect tomorrow's game to be better. Boooooooooooo!
Ethan Moreau
- Completely non-existent in this game. No big hits. No 10 shots. No leading. If it seems like I am picking on the leaders of this team, your right. I blame them for having a team fall apart. They wear the C's and A's for a reason. Show up tomorrow please! Boooooooooooooo!
Honorable Mentions (because there is too many people who sucked)
- Marc Pouliot (made a few bad plays. Wasn't a factor other than his goal.), Steve Staios (no leadership from Steve. No fiesty play, no anything.), Dwayne Roloson (He was beat by some realy nice tip ins. Not all his fault, but he wasn't good either)
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Next game is tomorow at 1:00 vs. the Wild. That will be tough. But we will get the win. We better...
I agree with your 'Beers' except for Gagner. And I love Gagner. I've given him plenty of rope because of his age and some experiments earlier this season, but I expected a noticable progress this year given his often hoted hockey sense.
ReplyDeleteOne of the joys last season was following Gagner and Cogliano, who I had been following before. Though Cogs is kinda faltering at the moment, he's been fun to watch. Gags has been frustrating however.
Glad I found your blog, I like the 'Beers and Jeers'. Anyway hoping for more Beers today against the Wild. Go boys!
I think his main progress this year has been his away from the puck play. I see him doing more defensively minded things out there. (1st man back, good shot blocker, see the ice well, get's in lanes) That alone is the main reason why MacT has never benched him like any of the other guys. But... in do time he will be a real solid player for the Oilers.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes... I have been a little gratuitous with my praise for Gagner. I can't help it. He may be that "superstar" someday that all the teams want/need.
His main goal should be to eat a lot, work out and get bigger and stronger. That is his main weakness. He seems to like to drive to the net and that's hard to do when your tiny.
But hey, thanks for finding me. I always welcome new readers. I love to hear all sides of people's opinions. Hence the Jambalaya.