Nikolai Khabibulin / Old Balls Is Good

I have been openly critical of Khabibulin since his time with the Oilers began. Not only have I been critical of his "trouble" off the ice, but I've also been on him for his shoddy play on the ice as well. Outside of a few stretches where he's played well, he hasn't been that good as an Oiler.

Now before I praise the hell out of old balls (I call him that cause he's old for a hockey player at 38 years old), I'm reminded of those longer stretches of bad play and I kind of want to hold my tongue.

But I can't. Right now after 4 games played, he has a goal against average of 0.72 and a .969 save percentage. His last game played resulted in a shutout. Overall so far, those are pretty damn good numbers. He's currently one of the top goalies in the NHL. Wow! How is that not impressive?

But, all good things come to an end at some point. When is his time ending? Hopefully for Oiler fans, not too soon. We need him to play well this year.

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Gagner To Play Tonight On The Wing / Tonight's Line Combos

It's getting reported right now that Sam Gagner will be back in the lineup tonight vs the NYR. It sounds like he will replace Linus Omark and Gagner will play on the wing. Should be interesting to see how he does. It's been a few years since I seen him on the wing. If I remember right, he played wing occasionally with Cogliano and Nilsson.

OTHER OILERS NEWS:

Nik Khabibulin will get his second consecutive start tonight. It appears the goalie rotation is over. For now...

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will play tonight. There was a loud out cry from fans yesterday complaining that he was going to sit out. Ok, ok. It was just me bitching about it.

Hall-RNH-Eberle
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
Eager-Lander-Petrell

Whitney-Potter
Smid-Gilbert
Barker-Sutton

GOILERS!!!

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

A Real Wild One! The Oilers Lose In Fashion. Again

What a game that was!

I was absolutely blown away that this team lost yet another game after winning nearly the entire game. I'm not going to pick apart the game (there is enough blogs that do that already), but I am going to talk about what I liked.

- The kid line has been a thrill to watch. They buzz all over and created chances like no other. As they get older and wiser, these three are going to score at will. Oiler fans are lucky to have them wear the blue and orange.

- The crowd was buzzing right from the get go. Every play, every pass, they were on the edge of their seats and were loud. That was one of the best crowd responses I have heard in a long time. Well, except for the booing of Dany Heatley. That was rather annoying.

- Belanger and Horcoff were once again studs on the faceoffs. Horcoff was 50% and Belanger was 67%. Lander was also pretty good too at 46%.

- Andy Sutton and Ladislav Smid had 4 hits each. Big bodies banging the opposition is never a bad thing.

- Paajarvi, Smyth and Eberle each took 4 shots on goal.

- Ryan Jones scored the only goal for the Oil and was setup by Ryan Smyth. Beauty pass for a nice tip in goal or as I called it, 'the give and flow'. I didn't think those two would have chemistry. I was wrong. Now only if they could convince Horcoff to grow a mullet.

- Smid blocked 5 shots. FIVE! That was the team high tonight.

-Horcoff was a takeaway machine. He did it three times.

- Anton Lander impressed me. He took a beating and kept on going. He was on his game for sure. He played like he wants to stay.

MY STARS OF THE GAME

Ladislav Smid
Ryan Smyth
Nik Khabibulin (up until the tying goal)
Tom Gilbert
Shawn Horcoff
Ryan Jones
The kid line
Anton Lander

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Ryan Keller Has Been Recalled?

Dan Tencer is reporting that Ryan Keller is listed on the Oilers game notes. So one would assume that he's been recalled.

I'll report more on this as we find out.

Interesting.

EDIT: Keller has been recalled for precautionary measures. Not for an emergency.

RIGHT BEFORE THE PUCK DROPPED, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT HE DIDN'T GET RECALLED AFTER ALL.

-WRITTEN BY SMOKIN' RAY-

Game Night "Wild"

We all know how much we are looking forward to seeing our beloved Oilers take on the high flying, free wheeling Wild. Or should I say the feisty but boring Wild?

I will be at Rexall Place for this game myself and not too bad of seats I must say. For what it is worth, I just have this feeling we may see more goals scored tonight that will send Oiler Fan into a frenzy! The Wild may not be the defensive team they used to be, but they still do know how to play with a lead, so it's important the Oilers get out to the lead first and don't look back. Here is hoping we get to see the Hall/Nugent-Hopkins/Eberle line back at work tonight.

Grab your favourite beverage, maybe something to snack on, book the TV all for yourself and sit back and enjoy as the Oilers are back in action tonight. Unless of course you are going to Rexall Place like myself.  You will  want to beat the traffic and arrive shortly before gametime so you can grab yourself something to drink and munch on,  before watching your favourite team take to the ice yet one more time this early season. Here is hoping for a big Win tonight!

My predictions for tonight's game at Rexall Place. Gametime 7:30pm CHED630am/Sportsnet-Edm

REV'S Edmonton Oiler

Gameday Predictions Oct 20th/11

1. For 2 straight games I have said at least 3 goals will be scored on the Oilers. I was wrong both times and won't let that happen again. Tonight the Oilers will give up no more then 2 goals in the game.
2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will once again get a point tonight. After the Flames pushed him around somewhat, Ryan will be wanting to play even harder to show he needs to stay up (Just in case there was any doubt)
3. With Horcoff getting all kinds of ice time each game (including PP time) I am predicting he will pick up yet another point tonight when they play the Wild.
4. Lander will be the only player on the 4th line to see more then 7 Mins total ice time. Last game, I said no one on the 4th line would see more. My mistake? Not realizing we were down a forward and Eager ended up getting a 10 min penalty so Lander got bumped up in mins and played in a few other spots. Won't make that same mistake again.
5. Belanger was a easy prediction (or so I thought) to shine in the faceoff dot and record at least 60% average in faceoff wins against the Flames. That did not happen, and he caused a bad prediction. I was wrong. However, I am going to give him a chance to redeem himself and once again make the same prediction. 60% or better in the faceoff dot for Belanger against the Wild.

(EV'S PREDICTIONS TO DATE: 4 FOR 10)

As the great Ed Whalen used to say "In the meantime and in between time, that's it, for another edition of...REV'S PREDICTION" (bolded words are not Whalen's words)

For continued information on Oiler and Baron news and 2012/13 NHL draft watch, you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/revingev