Thursday, December 2, 2010

Do you see what I see? It's an Oilers winning streak!!

Our little Edmonton Oilers are becoming quite the Eastern killers.  First up was Ottawa with Martin Gerber leading the Oilers to victory and defeating his old team before being sent back to Oklahoma with the return of Khabibulin.  Then came the Montreal Canadiens who had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period but our comeback kids, led by Hemsky and Gagner, tied up the game and off to overtime.  They haven't faired too well in OT/SO games this year with no wins in four attempts.  However, Penner stripped the puck from the Habs and scored on a nice breakaway.

There you have it.  2 wins in a row which is their first since the beginning of the season.  And the Leaves are up tonight.  Can the Oilers make it three in a row and sweep the east?  Yes!!  The Leaves are as successful as they were last year and sit near the bottom with the Oilers. 

Dubnyk played a very good game last night so I'm guessing Khabibulin will get the start tonight.  He's been out a couple weeks with a groin injury and was playing very badly before so I'm not sure what to expect from the Russian tonight.  Honestly, he is Toronto's best chance at victory.

I'm going with Khabibulin tonight (I hope to be shocked) and am predicting a 5-1 win for our Oilers.   Suck it Burkie!!!

Update:  Hemsky is doubtful for the game which is too bad since he played great last night.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Oilers Fight Back And Win 4-3 in OT / A Game Recap


BEERS & JEERS GAME RECAP

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

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FINAL SCORE

EDMONTON OILERS - 4

MONTREAL CANADIENS - 3 OT

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TONIGHT'S STARTING LINES

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

Whitney/Smid
Foster/Vandermeer
Peckham/Gilbert

Dubnyk
Khabibulin

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VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS



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TWEETCAST REPLAY LINK

Click Here To View The TweetCast Replay

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FINAL SHOTS

Oilers - 32   Canadiens - 39

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GOAL SCORERS

EDM: K. Foster (PPG, 17:45 - 1st) , A. Hemsky (10:09 - 3rd) , S. Gagner (SHG, 13:17 - 3rd) , D. Penner (02:28 - OT)

MTL: S. Gomez (PPG, 13:05 - 1st) , M. Darche (PPG, 08:01 - 2nd) , R. Hamrlik (10:02 - 2nd)

GOALIES

EDM: D. Dubnyk (W) MTL: C. Price (L)

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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 - (7) BEERS He is on a roll. Not only did he play smart hockey, he was pretty darn good. He called for the puck like a wild man on the Hemsky goal. He yells, he gets the puck, shoots, Hemsky scores. Nice call and a nice play. He finished the night +2 and had 3 shots, 3 blocked shots and 3 hits. Nice night!

#4 TAYLOR HALL - (7) BEERS His hustle is non stop. He goes and goes and goes. He took 9 shots in total with 3 hitting the net. He tried everything i the book to score but came up short. No matter, he played great. I'm starting to see him understand NHL hockey. He's getting it.

#5 LADISLAV SMID - (6) He was OK. He didn't stand out as special tonight. He did finish +1 with 16:29 of ice time. He did have a scoring chance rate of 4/3. That's not bad.

#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (7) Whitney had a good game. He played a ton (26:16) and blocked 3 shots. I still can't believe that he can play so many minutes. He was on the ice for all the goals (for and against) but 2. He finished the night +2.

#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (6) He wasn't quite at the level that Hall was on tonight but still was OK. Horcoff played 17:32 and had 2 shots and went 6/7 for 46% on faceoffs. He fared OK on scoring chances as well.

#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (6) He played hard and created some good chances. He didn't have the same quality games that he's been having. He had 2 hits and was 3/3 for 50% on face offs.

#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (6) Much like Horcoff, he wasn't on the same level as Hall. He had a takeaway, a giveaway and a shot. He didn't really see any PK time tonight and only played 17:37 in total.

#16 COLIN FRASER - (4) JEERS I'm not a fan of Fraser. Boooooo! I see a player who tries hard, but fails on being able to bring it to the NHL level. In his 7:04 of ice time, he does throw 3 hits, but to go 1/2 for 33% on faceoffs, stinks. A 4th line center should do better than what he's doing this year. Ryan O'Marra as a replacement? Go for it.

#22 JF JACQUES - (3) JEERS He took the Oilers Bad Timing Penalty tonight and it really was a terrible penalty. Since he's been back, I scratch my head when he's in and Stortini's sitting out. Jacques brings nothing to the table. Nothing. Booooooo!

#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (6) His goal was a bomb of a shot. BOOM! That was an awesome shot. He made a few nice passes tonight but he finished -1 and had 2 giveaways. He wasn't great, yet not bad either.

#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (7) BEERS He scored the game winning goal on a steal at the Habs blueline. He did play a pretty solid game. He had 4 shots and 3 hits in 17:50 of ice time. He was way better than the guys he played with.

#28 RYAN JONES - (3) JEERS He was pretty bad. Again. I don't get why he's here and not Reddox. Reddox is doing everything he can for the OKC Barons and putting up some good numbers at the same time. Jones, does nothing. He did get sticked in the face which resulted in the Oilers first goal, but other than that, he did squat. Booooooo!

#29 MARTIN GERBER - (0) DNP (Minors)

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

#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN - (0) DNP (Backup)

#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (7) He played well. Nice game for him. He just plays so composed. Once again he takes the Oilers to overtime or better. He deserves more games even with Khabibulin coming back.
#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (0) DNP (Scratch)

#45 SHAWN BELLE - (0) DNP (Minors)

#46 ZACK STORTINI - (0) DNP (Healthy Scratch)

#49 THEO PECKHAM - (6) BEERS He was instrumental in helping the Oilers keep that "edge" in the 1st period. He laid out some nice hits and had 3 blocked shots and played 20:00 minutes. One of those blocked shots resulted in the Oilers scoring shortly after. He did the right (brave) thing and it helped the team out. I like this guy.

#67 GILBERT BRULE - (6) Brule was so so. While he was OK, he just wasn't as good as he's been lately. He had 2 shots, 2 hits and 2 takeaways. While that line had a few good chances, his playing was a pretty low level game.

#77 TOM GILBERT - (7) He was good. 3 shots and 3 blocked shots. He always seems to find a way to block shots. Kudos to him! In his 23:26 of ice time, he managed to not be on for a goal against. Including the penalty kill. Gilbert has been better lately and it's about time.

#83 ALES HEMSKY - (8) BEERS He came back tonight with a bang. He had a goal and 2 assists to go with a +2 rating. When Gagner scored his goal it was all because Hemsky was skating backwards and was in position to shoot. He gave Gagner that few extra inches that he needed to score high on Price. All game he made positive things happen. He was the on ice leader tonight. Welcome back Hemmer!

#89 SAM GAGNER - (8) BEERS He has been playing these last few games like a man possessed. He's been great. He can play both ends of the rink well and if his faceoffs were better -- he was a team high 9/7 for 56% -- he could be a serious threat. Gagner seems to be "getting it" this year. He can do it all. It's only going to get better.

#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (7) BEERS He created a lot of chances and was in a lot as well. He was on for 10 chances for and had 6 against. He finally after a lot of games, he picked up an assist on the Hemsky goal. He worked so hard tonight it was nice to see him pick up a point. He does need to find that physical edge in his game. He shouldn't be afraid to hit players.
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BAD TIMING PENALTY (what is a Bad Timing Penalty?)


JF Jacques - Stupid bone headed penalty taken at 6:50 of the 2nd period. Not only was it in the offensive zone, that Power Play for the Habs helped them gain momentum to not only score then, but they go on to score shortly after that to go up 3-1.

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GAMES 3 STARS

1st: DUSTIN PENNER
2nd: MATHIEU DARCHE
3rd: ROMAN HAMRLIK

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USEFUL LINKS

EVENT SUMMARY

GAME SUMMARY

FACEOFF REPORT

SHOT REPORT

mc79hockey.com Scoring Chances

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Thank you for reading OilersJambalaya.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 of OilersJambalaya.com-

Pat LaForge Comments About The Edmonton Oilers Intent In Quebec

Oilers Make Trip To Montreal / The Oilers vs Les Canadiens / A LIVE TweetCast


Welcome to the LIVE TweetCast of
the Edmonton Oilers vs the Montreal Canadiens 
GOILERS!!!

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TV: TSN (HD)

RADIO: 630 CHED & Oilers Radio Network

PUCK DROP: 5:08 p.m. MST


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EDMONTON OILERS STARTING LINES

Hall - Horcoff - Eberle
Paajarvi - Gagner - Hemsky
Penner - Cogliano - Brule
Jacques - Fraser - Jones

Whitney - Smid
Peckham - Gilbert
Vandermeer - Foster

Dubnyk

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Last 10 Games: Montreal 7-3-0; Edmonton 3-5-2

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Edmonton Oilers (7-12-4) at Montreal Canadiens (15-8-1)


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