Well folks last night was a gooder. A 8-1 stomping of the Avs. It was sweet. Then this morning I received a message from the Oilers on Twitter, (yes the
Jambalaya is now on Twitter) and it said that the Oilers didn't skate today. I'm hoping that that wasn't a bad decision.
It seems like MacT is going to roll with the same lines again today. And Roli was a last minute decision.
The good people of the
OilersNation are whooping up tonight down at Hudson's on Bourbon Street. I'm sure that the party is good and I hope they raise some good money for
Kids with Cancer. One of these days I'm going to have to make it to Edmonton to attend one of those Nation parties. I need to get some
shirts.
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1st Period
Well the game gets underway and the Oilers seem to be clogging up the neutral zone. Is this the trap? MacT you crazy man you. Well the PP gets to work early. 89,27,83,44,37 are out there for the Oilers. Penner scores! Yeah! 1-0 Oilers. (Penner from Grebeshkov and Hemsky at 3:12) Nice start boys. A short while later at 7:41, the Hawks do score. Boooo! 1-1 Tie Game. Then the dreaded 3rd line of 13, 34, 85 are out for the Oilers. Cogliano scores are another Oiler goal. Yeah! 2-1 Oilers. (Cogliano from Reddox and Pisani at 10:07) Well here we are in maybe another goal fest for the Oilers? Let's hope so. Last night was fun. For the last 10 minutes of the 1st, the Hawks are killing the Oilers. Come on guys... The 2nd line gets stuck in their own end and Grebs takes a holding penalty shortly after. But the Oilers do kill it off. With 1:30 left in the period the Hawks score. Damn. 2-2 Tie Game.
2nd Period
Good flow to start the 2nd. This game is really picking up the speed. Nilsson gets rocked near center ice with his head down by Campbell. Ouch! The 4th line comes out and starts rockin' it up. Ethan Moreau scores! Yeah! 3-2 Oilers. (Moreau from Penner from Brodziak at 6:03.) This is how the "good" teams become "great". Secondary scoring. In this case, 3rd and 4th 'dary' scoring. Awesome! Oh no. Smid was chasing down Havlat and clipped Roli and he goes down. It takes Roli quite a while to get up and ready to go again. But he will continue. Somehow on that play, Gagner takes an interference on the goalie penalty. Not sure where or when??? But the Oil kill it off. But the Hawks score again to tie it up. Boooooo! 3-3 Tie Game. An Oiler and a Hawk take penalties back to back and that makes a 4 on 4 situation. Just as Nilsson is rounding the ice behind his own net he spots Gagner at the other blue line. Bam! He fires a hard long pass to Gags. He busts in and shakes off a Hawk player and scores. Yeah! 4-3 Oilers. (Gagner from Nilsson and Roloson at 18:19) Great period by both teams. This sure has been fun to watch.
3rd Period
To start the period, O'Sullivan takes a slashing penalty. But the Oilers manage kill it off. With the 2nd line out, the Hawks score to tie it up. Again. Booooo! 4-4 Tie Game. Shortly after that Reddox gets hammered with what looked to me like a cheap shot to the head. This is the reason why we need Stortini in the lineup. Of course it goes unnoticed and without a penalty. The pace of the game really picks up now. LET'S GO OILERS!!! Staios hooks Toews and he is awarded a penalty shot. But Roli comes up huge again and the game is still tied. With 7:00 minutes left, the action is fierce. End to end action. So much for the trap. MacT seems to be going with 2nd line, 1st line, 4th line, 2nd line, 1st line, 4th line. What is the 3rd line chopped liver? **Reddox is out** Right at the end of the period, Gilbert gets hammered into the Oilers net and Seabrook takes a penalty. The Oilers will have about 1:40 of PP time in the OT.
Overtime
Well the Oilers send out 83, 27, 44 and 21. They have great passing and a few shots but don't manage to score. The overtime is very exciting but neither team scores. MacT sends out 10 & 34, 89 & 19, 12 & 13. This game is off to a shootout.
Shootout
O'Sullivan - scores glove high.
Kotalik - scores low glove. With that goal the Oilers WIN!!!
Gagner - no shot
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Tonight's Starting Lines
O'Sullivan Horcoff Hemsky (The 1st line was good for most of the game. I expected them to be clicking by now but maybe we need to be a little more patient. O'Sullivan looked good. His speed and his willingness to shoot from anywhere is a huge bonus for Hemsky. Hemsky looked ok. He still isn't like the same Hemmer from the 1st half of the season. But he's coming around. Horcoff was average. He did way better on the faceoffs this game. But this line wasn't really a game changer and the Oilers need them to be.)
Nilsson Gagner Kotalik (I am starting to like this line. Except they kind of suck in their own end. A few times tonight they were struggling to keep their head above water. But when they get out they are really dangerous. Nilsson seems to be on a roll since the press box sitting. Gagner had a good game. But 0 for 8 on the faceoff dot sucks. He tries like mad, but couldn't do anything there. Kotalik played well. He isn't looking as slow to me as he did the 1st few games. He does make Gagner look fast though.)
Reddox Cogliano Pisani (MacT treats this line like it's the 4th line. They saw limited ice in the last half of the 3rd (mostly because Reddox was hurt). But Cogs and Pisani saw the ice in OT. Reddox played ok. He played just under 6:00 and picks up an assist. Cogliano scores a nice one and ends the game with 4 shots. He also stunk it up on the faceoff dot (25%). Pisani has flashes of the old Pisnai. Then he goes back to average Pisnai. Tonight we seen both.)
Moreau Brodziak Penner (I really like this line. They play tough, yet they can move the puck. Moreau has played two good games in a row. Good on him. 3 shots and a goal is a nice way to help the team win. You don't need to try too hard in order to play well. Brodziak also played well. He does what is asked of him and tries his best. He was out for a lot of faceoffs tonight. Penner had another strong game. Keep this guy on this line. He seems to be a better player on the 4th line. He has a two point night and a couple of hits. He was great.)
Souray Staios (I don't mind this pairing. Souray is one of my faves this year. He plays like he wants to win every game. He always seems to show up. Staios has had a few good games lately. Tonight was another one. I had him written off at the beginning of the year, but he sure is making me change my mind.)
Grebeshkov Gilbert (I thought that this pairing was good as well. Grebs was played pretty good. The mistakes he did do, didn't really cost the Oilers that much. Gilbert played well. He
played over 23 minutes and blocked 3 shots. He had one slight hiccup but whatever, he has been good lately.)
Strudwick Smid (I don't like this pair at all. Smid is good. I like his game. Nothing wrong with him. It's Strudwick that freaks me out. I wish we had an answer for that. Peckham? They are about equal. IMO. But MacT loves Struds.)
Roloson (Roli was good. I am really liking the cut of his jib. He has showed that he is a pro and he comes to play. He rarely takes a night off and tonight wasn't one of them. Good game Roli!)
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FINAL SCORE
Edmonton Oilers - 5
Chicago Black Hawks - 4
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BEERS
Dwayne Roloson - Roli was rock solid again for the Oilers. Sure he had a few not so great moments, but was otherwise fantastic. The guy faced 43 shots. That's 39 saves. At first I thought that JDD was finaly going to start. But once again MacT makes the right decision. *ducks for cover* For a heck of a game Roli, you deserve a frosty. Cheers!
Sheldon Souray - I really like what he brings to this team. IMO He should be the Captain. He plays his butt off every game and is chnaging his game to make himself more effective. And it's working. 28:56 of ice time and he blasted 5 shots at the net. I think he deserves a nice cold one. Cheers!
Dustin Penner - The big guy was good toight. Maybe the 4th line mentallity is giving him the advantage of less pressure to perform? What ever it is I like it. He has played his best games as an Oiler lately playing with Brodz and Chopper. A goal and an assist tonight to lead the team. Good on you Penner. The big guy wants a Big Bear in a Brown Paper Bag? Cheers!
The Entire Team - Two huge games in a row. KEGGER!!!
Honorable Mention - Patrick O'Sullivan (scores a nice SO goal and plays a pretty decent game.) Sam Gagner (He continues his points streak by scoring again this game.) Ales Kotalik (He scores another SO goal. Plus he seems to be fitting in with Gagner)
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JEERS
No one player really deseveres a boo. Am I wrong?
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Well that was a great 4 point two nights. All very quick and exciting. A good two days for Oiler Hockey. The next game is Sunady at 1:00 in the afternoon against the Wild. Big Mac or Stortini should draw in for that game. See you all then...
