Oilers Lose To Flames 6-1 And Clinch 30th Overall / Video Highlights

The Edmonton Oilers lost 6-1 to the Calgary Flames.

Game recap is found here.

Oklahoma City Barons Playoffs in Sight

Last weekend, the Barons won when they needed to, and in great fashion. Jeff Deslauriers stepped his game up after getting pulled the previous weekend in favor of Brian Pitton, and turned in two straight shutout wins. The Barons 7-0 win against Rockford and their 2-0 win against Texas put the Barons in prime position entering the final week of the AHL season.

Two games with playoff implications happened during the week. Tuesday night, the Rockford IceHogs traveled to San Antonio to finish off their road games of the season. Rockford entered the contest last in the division and San Antonio entered clinging to playoff hopes. Trailing 2-1 entering the 3rd period, Rockford scored 2 straight and put away the empty netter to give them the 4-2 win.

Wednesday night, the Texas Stars were in Peoria to begin their 4 games in 5 night stretch to end their season. Entering the 3rd, the Stars led 2-1 but the Rivermen were able to tie it up midway through the period and score the game winner at 18:05.

As we enter the final weekend, here's how the standings look:

And the weekend's schedule for the teams in playoff contention:

If the Barons win on Friday, they'll have a chance to clinch a spot on Saturday, barring any freebie points being given out. The Barons have had their struggles against the Rampage. They lost the first 4 meetings between the two, but would then go on to win the next 4 meetings. Their last game, the Rampage won 4-3 in San Antonio on March 10th. Martin Gerber has definitely had the better success against the Rampage, going 3-4 with a 2.45 GAA and .922 Sv%.

Gerber is still a question mark for the rest of the season. He spent most of the last two home games with backup Brian Pitton outside the endboards. Still day to day with a sore neck at last check.

The big thing to look at, the Texas Stars have a horrible 3 in 3 this weekend. After playing in Peoria on Wednesday, the play in Milwaukee on Friday, at home on Saturday, and finish the season in an afternoon game in San Antonio. I won't say that I don't see them making it in, but it's still entirely possible for the Barons to stay out of the crossover spot.

Friday and Saturday are going to be huge for the entire division. Of the 4 open spots in the entire league, 3 of them lie within the division. Be sure to stay tuned to Oilers Jambalaya for final weekend coverage, and for live updates throughout the weekend and hopefully into the playoffs, be sure to follow me on Twitter. The future is bright Oilers fans.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Video Highlights Of Oilers Shutout Win Over Canucks

The Edmonton Oilers win 2-0 over the Vancouver Canucks

Game Recap From Cult of Hockey

- POSTED BY SMOKIN' RAY -

Lowetide Is In A Book Called Hockey Superstitions?

Allan Mitchell from the great Oilers blog Lowetide was mentioned in a book that I am reading right now.

The book is called Hockey Superstitions by Andrew Podnieks. Great little book if you want some light reading.

Lowetide's part in the book is called Stan The Man (page 30). Podnieks writes that whenever Lowetide would put Stan Weir's picture on his blog between 2006 and 2008, the Oilers had a remarkable 14-2 record in the 16 times he posted that picture during the playoffs.

Crazy stuff huh? I had no idea.

Cool to see Lowetide's name come up in the book. It really blew my mind that it was in there. See what happens when you read kids?

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -

What's In A Number?

As I watch these last few games, I'm starting to notice that the little things are bugging me. Here's some examples of what I mean;

Why is Khabibulin starting again? Isn't MacIntyre supposed to kick the crap out of somebody? Why does Brule keep trying to comeback? Does Fraser ever improve as a player? Ever? Is Cogliano for real the best player out there? And for the love of god, why is Khabibulin starting again?!? (*Editors note: For the record, Dubnyk starts tomorrow. I'm just being sarcastic*)

But what is really bugging me lately is the stupid numbers the Oilers give these kids in training camp without considering who may or may not be called up during the season. Most stories you hear from players is that the team gave them their numbers when they joined the organization, so that's what they wear now. Makes you wonder, how did Giroux get #12 this year? Or Ondrus get #25? Or Moran as #20? Or even Petiot with #37? Was this the teams choice, or the players? Why are they special?

It's strange that they gave those four lower numbers even though they got passed up on for call ups all year long. While the rest of the "also good prospects" get odd ball numbers like #42 or #58 or #54 or #56.

Don't get me started on why in the hell Peckham is wearing #49. I can almost guarantee that's not his "number". Yet he still wears it? Come on Oilers!

I can see the prospects that have no chance getting to the show taking an odd ball number like say Brandon Davidson, but a kid like Jeff Petry shouldn't be playing 30+ games as an Oiler with #58 on his back. Give him a proper number (unless he actually likes #58) and make him part of the team officially. Nothing sticks out a rookie for the other team like a stupid number on his back.

I've noticed that there is no number yet for Colten Teubert on the Oilers site. Will he get to choose his own number or will he get an odd ball given to him for next year? I'm going to guess he gets a low number like #8.

I'm curious to know how giving out numbers really works for the Oilers. How does it get determined who gets what? Who picks the numbers?

- WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY -