Away: Oklahoma City Barons (4-4-1); Last game: 3-2 OT Win vs. Hamilton Home: Chicago Wolves (4-2-1); Last game: 4-3 Win vs. Milwaukee
Quick News and Notes -This is the second of eight meetings between the two teams. -The Wolves won the first meeting 2-1 in Oklahoma City. -This is the third game of a 5-game road trip for the Barons. -Petry, McDonald, and Giroux were the goal scorers in the Barons last game. -The Barons PK streak ended at 35 when Brendon Nash of Hamilton scored on a PP. -Brad Moran is the only Barons player with a postive +/- rating with a +2. -Shawn Belle is tied for 11th in the league and is 2nd among defensemen in points with 9(1G,8A). -Alex Plante is tied for 2nd in the league with 4 major penalties. -The Barons have been outscored 3-9 in the 1st Period this season, and have outscored their opponents 11-9 and 9-7 in the 2nd and 3rd Periods respectively. -The Barons have been outshot 84-86 in the 1st, and have outshot their opponents 95-93 and 88-80 in the 2nd and 3rd Periods respectively. -The Barons are 8 for 58 on the PP(13.8%), and 43 for 46 on the PK(93.5%). -The Wolves are 7 for 29 on the PP(24.1%) and 26 for 33 on the PK(78.8%).
Players to watch OKC: If Pitton starts in goal, we'll have to see how he bounces back from his loss. Both Reddox's and Omark's point streaks ended after being blanked vs. Hamilton. Hopefully they can get another one going tonight. Hartikainen was the lone Baron that scored when they last played Chicago. CHI: Darren Haydar(20) and Jason Krog(10) lead the team with 7 points a piece. Haydar and Riley Holzapfel(9) are the two Wolves who scored when they last played the Barons.
Coming off the OT win in the CBC broadcast game vs. Hamilton, the Barons look to build on it after actually being able to get some good rest. With the last game being broadcast on television, it gave everyone else a chance to see what we in OKC have been complaining about since the season started, the team just can't catch any breaks. Hopefully the team can step up the PP and the team can get some pucks in the net. Puck drop is at 7 CT/6 MT. The game will be broadcast on 96.1 KXY As always, you can follow myself(@AHLBarons) and Scott(@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet during the game.
The Cult of Hockey Grading System: 10perfect 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 - (0)DNP (Healthy scratch)
#4 TAYLOR HALL - (5)Hall like the rest of the Oilers didn't show up at the start. He was hit a few times and seemed to bounce back. That's a good sign. He had 18:56 of ice time and was -1.
#5 LADISLAV SMID - (6) Better game for Smid. He played a little more nasty than normal. He was +1 and blocked a team high, 5 blocked shots. Smid wasn't on for any of the special teams goals. He played well.
#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (4)JEERS Leads the team in ice time, again. 28:10. He sucked big time in the first half of this game. Sucked bad. He might have had 2 assists, but his 4 giveaways out weigh that. That's four that counted. I seen way more than that. Interesting note; he was on the ice for 7 out of the 8 goals scored tonight. Kind of good, kind of bad. He was going to get a score of 3, but the 2 assists bumped it up to a 4.
#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (5) Horcoff went 14/11 for 56% on faceoffs tonight. That was the best on the team. But the important ones were late in the game and it was in the Oilers zone. Flames could have had a great chance, but Horcs won the draw. I said before the 3rd started that this was going to be his 1st test as a captain. Could he rally the troops? I think he did his job.
#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (5) He probably played his best game of the year. He had an assist and played 16:16. He even seen some overtime ice time. He was OK tonight. He took 4 shots and went 4/5 for 44% on faceoffs. Much improved game.
#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (7)BEERS Another good game from the rookie. He scored early in the 3rd to get it all going and was +1 by games end. I love Eberle! He's so smart with the puck it's ridiculous. You can't teach that. That's a gift. He had 4 shots and yet I feel like he didn't shoot enough. He gets chances, he just needs to try it more.
#16 COLIN FRASER - (3) He played minimal once again. In his 2:43, he managed to drop his gloves and stick up for Hall after he was nailed and he racked up 17 penalty minutes (instigator, fighting, misconduct). On a side note; Congrats to him on the birth of his baby!!!
#22 JF JACQUES - (0) DNP (Injured)
#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (5) He was playing well before he hurt his groin. Ouch! He finally scored his first goal. Then the injury. I'd say a 5 is fair for his 11:16 of ice time.
#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (4)JEERS For a big guy, he sucked. The first half of the game he skated around like it was public skating. Geez he pisses me off. He can dominate a game, if he wants to. Tonight he didn't want to. Gagner in a way, made him play better in the 3rd. He did block a shot when it mattered the most, but he needed that effort all game. For some reason Renney put him out for the shootout. Not sure why.
#28 RYAN JONES - (3) 3:30 of ice time. Not much to write about.
#33 STEVE MACINTYRE - (3) 1:49 of ice time. He did nothing much like Jones.
#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN - (4) JEERS He sucked bad in the first half. Bad. He was off his game. Sure he faced a lot of shots, but the goals he did let in were soft. He needs to be sat for a game of two. He can't play every game.
#38 JEFF DESLAURIERS - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (5) He was decent. He had a fight with Jackman that he started and kind of was beat. He took some hard punches to the head. He played 19:24 and while he still sucked, he wasn't that bad. He even saw some overtime time.
#46 ZACK STORTINI -(0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#49 THEO PECKHAM - (6) He was not bad in a game full of bad. Made some good hits and picked up an assist. *gasp* He's caught up to Hall! 21:37 of ice time and he didn't play bad. He had a team high, 5 hits. Good for Theo. Hope the trend continues. Just watch those penalties.
#67 GILBERT BRULE - (5) Brule was banging and crashing. At one point he had Glencross wanting to fight. He did his job and didn't get burned by the Flames. He took 3 shots on goal. His low point, 0/5 for 0% on faceoffs. Ouch!
#77 TOM GILBERT - (5)I don't know how to grade Gilbert. He was on the ice for a lot of goals, but he did play 28:54. His soft play continues to plague him as Gilbert a few times gave the puck away in his own zone. Nice to see him score and he blocked some key shots at key times. I didn't think he was nearly as bad as Whitney was.
#83 ALES HEMSKY - (4)JEERS He did nothing to deserve the A on his jersey. Hemsky needs to be a leader on this team and I'm sure it's not because he's a great talker. He needs to play hard 100% of the time. When the Oilers started sucking and Penner was lollygagging, Hemsky should have been that guy, not Gagner. Hemsky disappointed me tonight. He can do better than that, and we should expect it. Even his shootout goal attempt was lame.
#89 SAM GAGNER - (6)BEERS He gets a 6 based on effort and for the fight. He fought Olli Jokinen and did quite well. His 4th if your counting. I thought Sam played like he was wanting to win this game on his own. He was playing gritty and really stuck out to me as a difference maker. He made a few passes to Penner in the 3rd that really seemed to get him going. He did the same for Hemsky. Watching him tonight is one of the reasons why I said he should be captain.
#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (7)BEERS A goal and an assist. Not bad! He was +2 at the end of the night and had 4 shots. In his 17:16 of ice time, he made the most out of it. I like everything about these kids. You can tell he's not scared to play in this league. He seems to get going more when the team struggled. That's a good sign for the future of the Oilers.
Theo Peckham - His 3rd period High-Stick penalty was a blatant call. No way the ref missed it. It was a needless penalty and it could have cost the Oilers the game. He needs to be more cafefull with his stick near the end of a game like that. Lesson learned.
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Regehr - White
Giordano - Sarich
Bouwmeester - Staios
Kiprusoff
THE SEASON SERIES
This is the third of six meetings between the teams. The Oilers earned a 4-0 victory at Rexall Place in the season opener, but the Flames answered with a 5-3 victory in Calgary nine days later.
Podcast #5 of "The Oil Terminal" is available for download, or listen from "The Oil Terminal" page located here.
In this podcast, We catch up on several issues, and including the Barons season so far. What the Barons need to improve on home and away. Hopefully you will enjoy this weekly podcast of "The Oil Terminal".
The Barons defeated the Bulldogs and it wasn't easy. The Barons once again had a terrible first period and they had to rally from there. Alex Giroux scores the overtime winner.
GAME NOTES:
- Shawn Belle can play the game well. His skating and vision is great. He does need to work on his penalty troubles. When he does take a penalty, it's usually not a good one. He had 2 assists and was +2.
- Liam Reddox didn't shoot the puck as much as he has been, but he did have some great chances. He works hard out there and he's making it clear that if the Oilers call up a forward, it's him they choose. He had 4 shots.
- Alex Giroux scored the overtime winner. He had a number of chances today and finally scored. He was +2 and had 4 shots. If this Barons team wants to win, he's going to need to step up and be a top guy.
- Martin Gerber was the first star today. He didn't have to make any huge stops until the midway point of the game. Although the Bulldogs first goal was one he should have stopped. He faced 31 shots in this game.
- Colin McDonald had a good game. He was hit from behind and smacked his head on the glass. Lucky he wasn't hurt. He scored the Barons second goal and finished +1 with 3 shots on goal.
- Jeff Petry was much better this game. He had a goal and an assist with 3 shots. He works well with Belle and they are a force out there. He was also +2 at the end of the game.
- Brad Moran had a quiet first half. He took 3 shots and assisted on the Giroux game winner. He's been on of the better Barons so far this year.
- Linus Omark did squat. Sure he's fancy, but he didn't look like a player who had something to prove. He had 2 shots on goal.
- Alex Plante did what any good teammate would do. When McDonald was nailed into the glass, Plante dropped the gloves and stuck up for his teammate. Good tilt. He was punched pretty good at the start, but managed to get his own in near the end.
- Johan Motin was the only Baron to be -1 at games end.
GOALS
Petry from Belle and Cornet
McDonald from Belle and Petry
Giroux from Moran
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