Away: Oklahoma City Barons (13-8-2), 4th in the Western Division; Last Game: 5-2 Loss to Texas Home: Manitoba Moose (11-7-3), 5th in the Northern Division; Last Game: 6-3 Loss to Milwaukee
Quick News and Notes -This is the first of 4 meetings between the two teams this year. -The Moose and the Barons are both coming off of 2 game losing streaks. -Martin Gerber is returning from his stint in Edmonton. He should be the starter tonight. -JDD started 6 straight games for the Barons going 3-2-0-1. He was pulled after the 1st period in their last game against Texas after letting in 3 goals. -Belle is tied for 7th in points among defensemen with 15. Petry is tied for 11th with 14. -Omark is tied for 11th in points overall with 23. -Hartikainen is tied for 1st in PP goals among rookies with 5. -Reddox is tied for 1st in SH goals overall with 3. -OKC PP: 24/131 (18.3%) 13th in the league; MTB PP: 15/117 (12.8%) 27th in the league. -OKC PK: 99/112 (88.4%) 3rd in the league; MTB PK: 80/95 (84.2%) 10th in the league.
The Barons look to come back to end their losing streak after a split with Lake Erie and a loss in Texas. Ryan O'Marra has stayed out of the lineup the last few games and still remains questionable. Petiot continues to be injured from his lower body injury. OKC fans may remember the Moose. Sebastien Centomo was called up to the Moose a couple times when he played for the Blazers. Alexandre Giroux continues to try to break out of his scoring slump. Puck drop is at 7:30. The game will be broadcast on 96.1 KXY. As always, you can follow myself(@AHLBarons) and Scott(@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet about the game.
EDM:J. Eberle (03:10 - 1st) , T. Hall (06:24 - 2nd) , S. Gagner (19:57 - 2nd) , T. Hall (16:55 - 3rd) , R. Jones (17:29 - 3rd)
GOALIES
EDM: N. Khabibulin (W)TOR: J. Giguere , J. Gustavsson (L)
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BEERS & JEERS PLAYER GRADES
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 - (7)BEERS He was dynamite tonight. He had an assist on the Jones goal and was +4. He played 20:57 and was on top of his game. He also had 5 hits to his credit. This is back to back games where he was given a 7 by me. Vandy is the first of many Oilers players to prove me wrong tonight.
#4 TAYLOR HALL - (8) BEERSHis mastery of the game keeps getting better. He pulls out a 1st star performance with a 2 goal night. Both goals were spectacular. Hall is the real deal and with the 2 goals tonight he ties Gagner with the team lead at 8 a piece. He was part of 8 scoring chances tonight and took a team high, 4 shots. 30 friends and family were at the ACC to see Taylor light it up.
#5 LADISLAV SMID - (6) Again not a real solid effort but was good enough not to be bad. He had 2 hits and 2 blocked shots. He was +1 at games end. I can honestly say that he didn't stand out to me.
#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (7)BEERS Whitney had 2 assists tonight and that moves him to the top spot for defenceman in the league. He finished +3 but was roasted on scoring chances for and against (6/11). He blocked a team high 5 shots and laid out 2 hits. He's a rock back there.
#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (7)BEERS He was +3 and had an assist on the 2nd Hall goal. He did a lot of good out there and really helped make space for the kids. He had 2 shots, 3 blocked shots and was 8/11 for 42% on faceoffs. He out chanced the opposition 7/4. I'm thinking he's liking the mentor thing?
#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (6) He was not bad. He took 2 shots, 2 hits and 2 blocked shots. I liked his hustle and he did play a lot of PK time. Other than going 1/7 for a terrible 13% on faceoffs, he was OK.
#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (8)BEERS Wowzers! The kid can play. He scored a goal and had 2 assists and that was good enough to move him very close to the rookie scoring lead. Eberle may be a kid, but he's playing a like a man. He's not on the PK anymore, so all his productivity came on even strength play. Buy an Eberle jersey. You just can't go wrong.
#16 COLIN FRASER - (5) I'm not going to complain. He was OK. He did nothing to make anyone take notice, but was also with Big Mac and Storts. He had 3 hits and 1 takeaway in 7:28 of playing time. 3:07 of that time was on the PK.
#22 JF JACQUES - (0)DNP (Healthy Scratch)
#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (6)He was OK. He took a lot of shots with only 2 hitting the net. Not much else to say about Foster.
#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (6) He had a quiet game stats wise. He played good enough but he didn't take the game by the balls. He took no shots, had no hits and only registered a blocked shot. Not a spectacular night when the rookies are tearing it up.
#28 RYAN JONES - (6) He has been bad as of late. I said to hell with him, send him down and call up Reddox. Well... tonight he scores and snags an assist. I'll give him credit. He showed me he can be useful. He only played 14:23 but finished +2, 1 shot, 1 hit and 2 takeaways. I wasn't fond of his 3rd period penalty, but he did manage to score the 5th goal.
#29 MARTIN GERBER - (0) DNP (Minors)
#33 STEVE MACINTYRE - (4) Did fight Colton Orr and beat him up (which was great), but that's all. Hmmm... hard to grade. He should earn a 7 strictly for his fight and the fact the Leafs didn't try to mess with the kids after that. He did his job even if he only played 3:20.
#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN -(8)BEERS His first game back off the injury and he blasts out a shutout. Holy hell! 33 saves for the win and he looked great doing it. I was wrong about him. I figured him playing tonight was a huge mistake. I was wrong. *gasp*
#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (0) DNP (Backup)
#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (0) DNP (Scratch)
#45 SHAWN BELLE - (0) DNP (Minors)
#46 ZACK STORTINI -(5) Same boat as MacIntyre, but he didn't put any fear into anyone. He also played just over 3 minutes so how do you judge him on that effort? Not his fault Renney doesn't play him more. I say give him a 5 for moral support.
#49 THEO PECKHAM - (7)BEERS He hit (3 hits) guys like he does every other game. He's damn good at it too. He plays a solid defensive game and can read plays well. Sometimes he goes to far out of his way to hit a guy, but tonight he recovered fine every time. He did well in scoring chances for and against. He was +1
#67 GILBERT BRULE - (5)Brule was somewhat quiet again. 2 shots and 1 hit is his claim to fame. He was even on scoring chances and really had no impact on this game once again.
#77 TOM GILBERT - (6)He was OK. He wasn't on for any of the goals which is strange considering he played 16:57 of E/S ice time. He blocked 3 shots and took one of his own. At least that's something.
#83 ALES HEMSKY - (0) DNP (Injury) He came and played for one game yesterday and was really sore after it. He sat out this game but I'd expect him for Saturday's game.
#89 SAM GAGNER - (7)BEERSHe was good again. He scored a nice goal tonight and it was all on effort. Following the puck will help you get those once in a while. He misses Hemsky and Jones just isn't a good enough replacement. I liked how Paajarvi and Gags worked together. They seem to be clicking. Now to have Hemsky back permanently. He took 2 shots and had a takeaway.
#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (6) He played hard and earned another assist tonight. His pointless streak really is over. I bet he's happy about that. Like Gagner, he was +2 and had a shot, a takeaway and a blocked shot. He's been improving a lot of the last couple games.
- Hemsky will not play tonight. He was sore after last night's game.
- Khabibulin will start tonight in goal for the Oilers.
- The Leafs' average age of 26.0 is the youngest in the NHL.
- The Oilers average age is 26.9.
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