BEERS & JEERS GAME RECAP
Welcome to another fine Edmonton Oilers Beers & Jeers Game Recap.
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FINAL SCORE
EDMONTON OILERS - 7
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS - 4
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TONIGHT'S STARTING LINES
Paajarvi/Gagner/Hemsky
Hall/Horcoff/Eberle
Penner/Cogliano/Brule
Jones/Fraser/Stortini
Whitney/Gilbert
Smid/Strudwick
Peckham/Foster
Khabibulin
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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 - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#4 TAYLOR HALL - (7) Hall scores his second ever NHL goal and picks up an assist. Kind of like last night's game, another 2 points. He played with some great confidence and he earned his 17:02 of ice time. He had 2 shots, a hit and a takeaway. He did more than the stats suggest.
#5 LADISLAV SMID - (6) I liked Smid. He played a ton (22:27) and never really looked out of it. He was on the ice for the Dowell goal but that was all Strudwick. He had 2 hits and 2 blocked shots.
#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (6) He was pretty decent. Why? Like I said yesterday, maybe he needed less time on the ice? He played 6 minutes less (22:54) and looked better. Let's hope Renney continues this. Whitney had 1 assist, was +2,
#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (8) BEERS Horcoff picks up another 2 assists and seems to be on fire playing with the kids. I mean really, how hard is it? Skate, get puck, pass to Eberle or Hall, notch assist. He was 10/7 fro 59% on faceoffs. That helped the Oilers be better. He needs to stay above 50%.
#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (7) It seems like the line change has helped Cogs. He scores his first of the year from Brule and Foster. He didn't make any glaring mistakes and was great on faceoffs. 5/2 for 71%. He had 2 shots, 2 hits, 1 takeaway and 2 blocked shots. All this in 14:55 of ice time.
#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (8) BEERS Solid game again. How does he do it? He scores and picks up an assist in 19:46. He had 3 shots on goal and a team high, 3 takeaways. Did I mention his goal was another sweet one?
#16 COLIN FRASER - (6) Much better game for Fraser. Renney finally went for it with the 4th line and it paid off. They didn't get scored on. 2 hits and 2 shots in 9:11 of ice time.
#22 JF JACQUES - (0) DNP (Injured)
#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (6) He played his first game since the groin injury. He had 2 assists and was +3. He took 2 shots and played a rounded game. His injury looked ok but his playing time was limited. He only skated 14:19, so to rack up those kind of stats, he had a pretty good game.
#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (5) He had chemistry with Brule and Cogliano. While he did play OK in front of the net, he didn't really make much of an impact on this game. He was +1 in 13:36 of ice time.
#28 RYAN JONES - (6) He scored his 2nd of the year. He had a big shot block (2 in total) that stung him and he didn't get scored on. While his overall game was worth a 5, his goal IMO bumped him to a 6.
#33 STEVE MACINTYRE - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN - (4) JEERS He was average or slightly below. He let in 4 goals and that stinks. He had 2 of the Oilers 6 giveaways and he made me grouchy. One minute he's a freaking all star, the next he's a bum off the street wearing goalie gear. No consistency. He can make a big save, but the little ones sneak in. Not all the goals were his fault though, but he didn't help out much. Lucky the team playing in front of him scored a bunch.
#38 JEFF DESLAURIERS - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (0) DNP (Healthy scratch)
#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (3) JEERS He was, in my books, expected to be not great anyways. But explain how he's the only Oiler -1? He played 20:17 and had a funny play where he was playing the puck and he stepped on the puck. While falling down, Dowell snags it and scored (not so funny part). Why do we have to have him in the lineup? Oh right... him or Vandermeer. Oy!
#46 ZACK STORTINI - (6) He was good. Not bad for a guy who hasn't played in a while. His line didn't get beat and he had 2 hits and was +1 in 7:32. Glad to see him play again.
#49 THEO PECKHAM - (5) He could have been better, but with a win, it's hard to bitch. He finished +2 and played 18:57. He had no shots and only had 1 hit. But I suppose when your winning, no need to push the envelope.
#67 GILBERT BRULE - (6) Brule had a team high 5 hits but also had a team high, 2 penalties. Both were not great plays by Brule. He had an assist on the Cogliano goal. If he wants more ice time, he needs to shoot more. Hitting is good, but shooting gets you out there.
#77 TOM GILBERT - (6) Not noticed much other than right off the hop. He blocked shots tonight like he always does and had 3. He finished +3 and was on the ice for 21:06. He could shoot more.
#83 ALES HEMSKY - (8) BEERS He was the worst on the team with 3 giveaways. That's the bad. The good? He had a goal and an assist while finishing +2. He had 3 blocked shots and 2 shots. He created lots of chances and really made the Hawks pay attention.
#89 SAM GAGNER - (7) He scores his first 2 goals of the year. 1 for real and 1 in an empty net. I liked the 1st line and I thought Gags was a big part of it. 2 takeaways and 2 shots in 16:13. His faceoffs still stunk at 38%. I don't know how he's going to fix that?
#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (7) He knows how to pass that puck. He's not afraid to hold it either. His poise is evident when playing with Hemsky and Gagner. It's fun to watch him play. He had 2 assists and was +3 in 16:10 of ice time. He didn't register a shot and I hope that's not a common sight. Good overall game for Paajarvi.
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EVENT SUMMARY
GAME SUMMARY
FACEOFF REPORT
SHOT REPORT
mc79hockey Scoring Chances
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BAD TIMING PENALTY (what is a Bad Timing Penalty?)
None -
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Special thanks to David Staples of Cult Of Hockey - Edmonton Journal for allowing us to use his grading system.
-Written by Smokin' Ray from OilersJambalaya.com-
