The Kids Run Wild, But Come Up Short / A Beers & Jeers Game Recap

BEERS & JEERS GAME RECAP

Welcome to another fine Edmonton Oilers Beers & Jeers Game Recap.

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FINAL SCORE

MINNESOTA WILD - 4

EDMONTON OILERS - 2

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TONIGHT'S STARTING LINES

Penner/Gagner/Hemsky
Paajarvi/Horcoff/Eberle
Hall/Cogliano/Brule
Jones/Fraser/Stortini

Whitney/Foster
Smid/Gilbert
Peckham/Vandermeer

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

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VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS



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BEERS & JEERS PLAYER GRADES

The Cult of Hockey Grading System:
10 perfect game,  9 extraordinary,  8 great,  7 good,  6 above average,
5 average,  4 below average,  3 poor,  2 terrible,  1 deserves to be in minors.

#2 JAMES VANDERMEER - (4) He played 14:43 and the entire time he freaked me out. Out of Peckham, Strudwick and himself, he's the best option, but still... He ended up -1 and always seemed like a step behind. While he didn't get killed in chances, I didn't think he was very good in the first half.

#4 TAYLOR HALL - (8) BEERS Hall generated a lot of chances. He was the best Oiler on the ice. He made things happen every shift and he skated like the wind (he made Brule and Cogliano look slow). He played 20:29 and took 11 shots (6 missed) at the net. He's going to get his first goal soon. I can feel it.

#5 LADISLAV SMID - (4) Not a good game for Ladi. He was on the ice when Brodziak scored his second goal. In his 18:25 of ice time, he didn't do anything to help the team. He struggled.

#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (7) BEERS He led all Oilers players with 27:08 of ice time. Again, nearly a half a game. How does he not get tired? Whitney had two assists tonight and was visibly upset that the team lost. I love that emotion. Good choice for the assistant captain. He does need to watch the giveaways, as he had 3.

#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (7) Horcoff was a stud. He scores again to help bring the Oilers close to tying the game. Cappy really has turned his game around. Playing with some hotshots like the Big 3 kind of helps. He went 15/12 for 56% on the dot tonight. He led the forwards with 23:32 in ice time.

#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (6) Much better tonight. Maybe his best game of the season. He was lucky Hall was fired up tonight. It helped to get Cogs going early. He was 4/3 for 57% on faceoffs. Much like Gagner, that's a big improvement. He needs to shoot more from any direction. He just needs to fire the puck.

#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (8) BEERS The kid can play. Boy can he ever. He's like a seasoned vet out there. He controls the play and the puck so well, it's hard to think what these 3 will be like a few years down the road. He wants to be a winner and you can tell by his play. He was awarded with a lot of ice time (21:30) but he needs to shot more. He's got a heck of a shot.

#16 COLIN FRASER - (3) JEERS He was on the 4th line that blew this game. For 58 seconds, they had relapses and the Wild were up 2-0. He did get a little ice time (3:40 in total) in the 3rd once Penner took the misconduct. He looked out of place playing on the wing.

#22 JF JACQUES - (0) DNP (Injured)

#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (7) BEERS Good game from Foster. He, like the rest of the team looked more comfortable and therefore he played relaxed. He had 7 shots and 4 hits and played 23:02. I liked him. Oh right, he had an assist as well.

#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (6) He started out having a great game. He caused a ruckus in front of the net on the Hemsky goal. But taking the penalty wasn't so bad, it was the 10 minute game misconduct that sucked. Although, it did open up a spot for Hall on the 1st line with Gagner and Hemsky. Conundrum?

#28 RYAN JONES - (2) JEERS He was bad. -2 in less than a minute.

#33 STEVE MACINTYRE - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)

#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN - (6) He had a pretty good game. I liked his positioning and his rebound control. No real complaints about him tonight. He does need to work on his low wide shots. Maybe the bad back hampers some movement?

#38 JEFF DESLAURIERS - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)

#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)


#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)

#46 ZACK STORTINI - (1) JEERS Oy! What to say? -2 in 0:58. Ouch! Did he try to hard?

#49 THEO PECKHAM - (5) Average at best. On one hand he was great as a physical guy. He was banging and lipping people off. Good to see that. But on the other hand, he was a step behind just like Vandermeer. He had 4 hits and 2 blocked shots, but he also had 2 giveaways. I know for sure that one was a scoring chance for the Wild. I hope he gets better soon.

#67 GILBERT BRULE - (7) Brule was fast and had his chances tonight. Hall was the best on that line and Brule was second best. He had 5 hits and 2 shots. He even took some draws tonight and went 8/4 for 67%. Maybe tonight was the spark Brule needed?

#77 TOM GILBERT - (5) He had a team high 3 blocked shots. Gilbert again logged a lot of time on the ice with 23:19. Other than Penner, Gilbert took the only other Oilers penalty. He was out chanced by a 1/6 margin and a lot of it was because of his mediocre partner Smid.

#83 ALES HEMSKY - (7) He was all over the place. He scored a goal and made some nice plays. He had 4 shots and played 23:19. His fancy moves worked for him tonight. Ales Hemsky is ready for this season. He's going to prove the doubters wrong.

#89 SAM GAGNER - (7) His assist streak is over, but his solid play is just getting better. He was an amazing 13/5 for 72% on the dot tonight. Maybe his best game on faceoffs ever? Gagner played 19:15 and although he didn't create a ton of chances with Hemsky, they sure are seeming to be clicking. He had 4 shots on goal.

#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (7) The kid fired off 8 shots on goal. Wow! A team high. He was really enjoying his time on that line with Horcoff and Eberle. No complaints about Paajarvi. Can you imagine these 3 kids in the future?

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EVENT SUMMARY

GAME SUMMARY

mc79hockey Scoring Chances

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BAD TIMING PENALTY (what is a Bad Timing Penalty?)

Dustin Penner - With 4:52 played into the 3rd period, Penner took a high sticking penalty. While on his way to the box, he argued that his stick was broken from a slash (it was) and therefore the Wild should have a penalty as well. He bitched to the point of receiving a 10 minute game misconduct. Did the misconduct hurt the team? Debatable.

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Thank you for reading OilersJambalaya.com and OilFieldHockey.com. We are trying to change the way you look at the Edmonton Oilers... one reader at a time.

Special thanks to David Staples of Cult Of Hockey - Edmonton Journal for allowing us to use his grading system.

-Written by Smokin' Ray-

Oilers vs Wild Game #5 LIVE TweetCast

Welcome to the LIVE TweetCast of the Edmonton Oilers vs the Minnesota Wild.

The Church of Eberle GAME PREVIEW

TONIGHTS OILERS LINES

Penner/Gagner/Hemsky
Paajarvi/Horcoff/Eberle
Hall/Cogliano/Brule
Jones/Fraser/Stortini

Whitney/Foster
Smid/Gilbert
Peckham/Vandermeer

Khabibulin
Dubnyk

IF YOU MISSED IT, THIS IS THE LINK FOR OIL CHANGE

Edmonton Oilers (2-2-0) vs Minnesota Wild (2-2-1)

OKC Barons Defeat Monsters 3-0 / Recap With Video Highlights

I missed listening to the first half of the Barons game last night, but I stayed in the action by following along to the LIVE TweetCast.

The Barons won their third straight game of the season and also notched the first ever shutout in the teams short, but exciting history.

- The three goals came from Shawn Belle, Alex Giroux and Liam Reddox.

- Petiot, Petry, Belle, Moran and O'Marra each had one assist.

- Alex Plante duked it out with Curtis Fraser

- Omark was roughed up, so Ryan O'Marra dropped the gloves with David Liffiton. Good to see the team is starting to stick up for each other.

- Martin Gerber was in net and was outstanding. He made some huge saves on his way to the Barons first shutout. He was also the games First Star.

- Alex Giroux was the games Second Star and was great. He took 5 shots on net.

- Shawn Belle was the Third Star.

- Liam Reddox played a great game and had 6 shots. He's proving he has lots to offer, even if he is small.

- 2784 fans were at the game last night. The Barons had $1 beers on special at the game, so I'm a little surprised the arena was so empty.

- This was the first game in OKC where they had the two referee system.

OFFICIAL GAME SHEET

OilFieldHockey Recap

OKCBarons.com Recap

OKLAHOMA CITY BARONS WIN 3-0 OVER LAKE ERIE MONSTERS

OKC Barons vs Lake Erie Monsters LIVE TweetCast (6:00pm MDT)

Welcome to another fine TweetCast brought to you by OilersJambalaya.com.

Listen to the Live Broadcast here!

Game Preview CLICK HERE

GAME SHEET

OKC BARONS vs. LAKE ERIE MONSTERS

The Edmonton Oilers New Line Combos, What I'm Thinking

The Oilers have shuffled some lines today and there has been some interesting changes, and some that are not.

The Oilers Twitter account released these lines;

Paajarvi Horcoff Hemsky
Penner Gagner Eberle
Hall Cogliano Brule
Jones Fraser Stortini/MacIntyre

Now, nobody knows for sure if these will be used on Thursday, but if so, I like the top two lines and not so much the bottom two. Let's take a look.

Paajarvi Horcoff Hemsky - Wow! This could actually be a legitimate NHL 1st line. We all know the Horcoff/Hemsky love affair that has gone on for years, so we really don't need to break that down. They will work. Paajarvi and Hemsky had some time together in preseason and they had some good chemistry. Horcoff being the pro that he is, I'm sure will find chemistry with Paajarvi much like he did with Eberle and to a lesser degree, Hall. This line will work as a unit. I can hardly contain myself to see these guys in action.

Penner Gagner Eberle - While I don't love this line, I do like it and think it will work. Penner has shown that he can play with Gagner. They play well together. Jordan Eberle is the wild card here. How will he play with Gagner? How will mesh with Penner? On paper, this is a good mix. The shooter (who can make plays too) in Eberle, the playmaker in Gagner and the big body/shooter/playmaker in Penner. If this line works, the Oilers have two great top two lines.

Hall Cogliano Brule - For the love of... why is Cogliano still the center? His scoring chance ratio, along with Brule, have been atrocious so far. Last game alone Cogs was 0/6. Brule? 0/8. So why keep these two together? Why keep Mr. ICan'tWinAFaceoffCogliano as the center? If you feel like this line needs to be together, fine. But it should be Hall/Brule/Cogliano then. They will still get outchanced, but at least Brule will win some draws and that's better than what's going on there now. Here's a question, if those two get killed like that on a nightly basis, how is this progressing Taylor Hall in his development? It's not is it? I hate this line. Hall would have a better chance at succeeding by playing with Jones and Fraser over Cogliano and Brule.

Jones Fraser Stortini - I'll be honest, I don't mind the 4th line. I like Jones and Fraser. They have been pretty decent (but could be better). I'm not fond of the Jones/Fraser PK duo though. I think they get too much time and with the Oilers PK being 26th in the league, maybe Jones/Fraser need less time?

SO SMART GUY, WHAT LINES WOULD YOU GO WITH?

Fair question. I can honestly answer, I don't know for sure. I like the new top two lines, but this is what I came up with as an alternative;

Hall/Gagner/Hemsky - Not as good as the new 1st will be, but I think it would still be a good line. On the plus side, wouldn't this give Hall a good shot at being able to play his game and not be center of attention? On the minus side, very small line.

Paajarvi/Horcoff/Eberle - Horcoff and Eberle work really well together. They just needed a different LW. In comes Paajarvi who is bursting at the seems to get a chance in the top two. He's ready to improve and he now has the (no goals) monkey of his back. I'd like to see this line together to see what they can do.

Jones/Brule/Penner - You can't deny the chemistry that Penner and Brule had last year. Penner makes Brule (like everyone) a better player. Brule played some of his best Oilers hockey on a line with Penner. Take Pens away, Brule disappears. Plus with the Jones energy added in, this could be a real solid 3rd line if they can all work together. How can you not try this line?

Cogliano/Fraser/Stortini - Honestly, once the Oilers send a goalie down, they should bring up Reddox. He's flying down in OKC and he just might be the spark the Oilers are lacking on the 4th line. Maybe if Cogliano sat once in a while or found himself on the 4th line like Gagner last year, he'd improve or change? If you ask me, a Reddox/Fraser/Stortini line could be pretty darn entertaining.

So there you have it. What would you guys do?

-Written by Smokin' Ray-