The Barons finished up a 5-game road trip on Saturday. After splitting a pair of games in Lake Erie, a 3-2 OT win and a 5-3 loss, they headed to Austin for where the Stars handed them a good beatdown, chasing JDD after 1 period and winning 5-2. The Barons then took a trip up north of the border for a weekend set with the Manitoba Moose, splitting that pair as well with a recently returned Martin Gerber turning in a 3-2 shootout loss and a 4-0 win. The most telling stat of the road trip has to be the power play and the scoring in general. I went and looked at the last 5 games of the homestand and compiled those stats, and the stats of the road trip. First, here's the player stats from the homestand.
Reddox, Omark, and McDonald were coming up big for the Barons. Petry contributing his own SH goal in addition to Reddox's. Giroux's goal scoring drought continued. Petiot was injured, Belle was called up, and Plante was out for a game with an injury towards the end of a practice, so Joey Ryan and Jordan Bendfeld were brought in to fill in the holes on the blue line. Both came up big for the team when they needed them. JF Jacques provided the toughness that the team had been lacking a bit of and contributed a goal as well.
Gerber was called up after the game against the Chicago Wolves, which left JDD as the #1 goaltender ahead of Bryan Pitton who was called up from the Stockton Thunder. JDD had a shaky game against San Antonio, but slowly game into his own as time progressed. The Barons PP was 8/25 (32%) while the PK was 22/25 (88%). The Barons outscored their opponents 19-12 while going 3-1-1 in the 5-game span. Now, the road trip.
After the homestand, the Barons headed on to their road trip. Reddox and McDonald continued on their hot streaks. Omark not so much, his 3 points didn't come until the last game against Manitoba. Petry and Giroux would contribute the Barons only two PP goals on the road trip, Giroux's goal ending his 15 game goal drought. Bendfeld would end up getting a couple games in while Taylor battled an illness in the games against Manitoba. O'Marra returned in Manitoba after his shoulder injury that he suffered in the first game against Milwaukee back on the homestand.
JDD would start the first three games of the road trip. After giving up 3 goals in 1 period in Austin against the Stars, Todd Nelson pulled him in favor of Bryan Pitton. Pitton played well but was caught out of position a couple times as the Stars rolled on to win that game. Gerber returned after his stint in Edmonton and turned in 2 wins. The Barons were shaky on their PK as the road trip began, going 3/7 in the games against Lake Erie. Overall, the Barons went 2/26 (7.6%) on the PP and 21/25 on the PK (84%). They were outscored 15-14 while going 2-2-1.
The Barons return to Cox Center tomorrow for a game against the Houston Aeros and Friday for a game against Manitoba. The Barons will then travel to Rockford, Illinois to take on the IceHogs for the first time this season.
Welcome to another fine edition of the Edmonton Oilers Beers & Jeers Game Recap. We hope you enjoy what we have to offer and that you find it useful. Or at least a little entertaining.
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EDM: R. Jones (02:32 - 3rd) , T. Hall (00:23 - OT)
GOALIES
STL: J. Halak (L) EDM: N. Khabibulin (W)
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POWER PLAY
St. Louis Blues - 0/1 for 0%
Edmonton Oilers - 0/1 for 0%
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PENALTY KILL
St. Louis Blues - 0/1 for 100%
Edmonton Oilers - 0/1 for 100%
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FACEOFFS
St. Louis Blues - 25/22 for 53%
Edmonton Oilers - 22/25 for 47%
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HIT/BODYCHECK COUNT
St. Louis Blues - 20
Edmonton Oilers - 16
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GIVEAWAY TOTALS
St. Louis Blues - 17
Edmonton Oilers - 21
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TAKEAWAY TOTALS
St. Louis Blues - 7
Edmonton Oilers - 13
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BLOCKED SHOTS
St. Louis Blues - 9
Edmonton Oilers - 18
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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.
#2JIM VANDERMEER - (6) He was OK. He played 21:05 and had a team high 5 hits. Not his best game lately (3 giveaways), but still worthy enough that I wasn't screaming for a call up.
#4TAYLOR HALL - (8)BEERS He was awesome again! He scored the OT winner and really busted his hump all over the ice all game long. It took 20 games, but the real Taylor Hall is starting to show. He took 4 shots on goal and had a team high 3 takeaways.
#5 LADISLAV SMID - (6) He was pretty solid. I'm still missing his nasty side, but he's progressing. Maybe the switch to the 3rd pairing was a good idea for him and Foster? He had 2 blocked shots and a hit.
#6 RYAN WHITNEY - (6) He logged a lot of time again and made the nice pass to Hall for the game winner. He had a team high 4 blocked shots and that's rare. He can play in any situation and for the most part, handles it all pretty well.
#10 SHAWN HORCOFF - (7)BEERS He is the luckiest out of all the Oilers. He plays with Hall and Eberle and as far as I can hear, not one complaint about his big dollar contact. Is he earning it or is he just riding the rookie wave to greatness? He went 9/5 for 64% on the faceoff circle. That's pretty good. If he would have earned an assist or a goal, he would have been bumped up to an 8.
#13 ANDREW COGLIANO - (5) Decent game tonight from my eyes, but a little stinky when looking at the number totals. Only 1 shot, 1 hit, 1 takeaway 1 blocked shot and 2 giveaways. He's been better.
#14 JORDAN EBERLE - (6) He was OK. He should have been a 7, but his 3 giveaways is glaring at me. He took 5 shots in total with 3 hitting the net. It's strange to see how mature he is on the ice and I would assume that playing with Horcoff is going to age him a little. Meaning he's going to be a vet presence sooner than the other rookies. He's slick.
#16 COLIN FRASER - (6) On the 4th line with Storts and Jacques. He did find himself with 1:07 of PK time. Best of all forwards. He dropped the gloves with Della Rovere and did pretty good. Nice to see some emotion form Fraser even if he only plays 6:14 a night.
#22 JF JACQUES - (4) He was average at best. The supposed BIG HITTER doesn't hit very often. His physical presence is lacking the physical. Or the presence. He did lay out 2 hits and 2 blocked shots, but I always expect more from the tough guys.
#26 KURTIS FOSTER - (5) I didn't mind Foster. He sure isn't what the media hyped him to be. I have been expecting that Souray bomb shot from him and so far, I have only seen it once (not tonight). He had 1 shot, 1 hit and 1 giveaway.
#27 DUSTIN PENNER - (6) Renney said after the game that Penner was not feeling well. I suppose looking back you could tell, but I still liked how he played. He had 2 good shots on goal and when he drives to the net, good things happen.
#28 RYAN JONES - (7)BEERS He's another guy that I have been flogging lately. Tonight he was great. I liked him. Really. He scores the games opening goal in the 3rd period and played well all night despite looking like the 3rd wheel with Gagner and Paajarvi. Jones had a team high (with Vandermeer) 5 hits. If he keeps playing like this, a call up might never be made.
#29 MARTIN GERBER - (0) DNP (With OKC Barons)
#33 STEVE MACINTYRE - (0) DNP (Healthy Scratch)
#35 NIKOLAI KHABIBULIN - (8)BEERS He was on his way to another shutout when, you guessed it, another former Oiler Eric Brewer scores to tie the game. He played well all night and did come up with some key saves. I was worried that he's going to get overplayed again, but he seems ready to come back not like Hemsky.
#40 DEVAN DUBNYK - (0) DNP (Backup)
#43 JASON STRUDWICK - (0) DNP (Healthy Scratch)
#45 SHAWN BELLE - (0) DNP (With OKC Barons)
#46 ZACK STORTINI - (4) He was OK. He crashed and banged but still needs to do more I think. He only had 1 hit to his name. He played 6:24.
#49 THEO PECKHAM - (6) He took a puck in the mouth in the first, was stitched up, and then came back and finished the game. Character that guy has. While he didn't register a lot of stats on paper, he is a welcomed participant. He can play tough. He out chanced the opposition 8/5.
#67 GILBERT BRULE - (6) He was decent. Not much to complain about. He took 4 shots and was 3/3 for 50% on faceoffs. He filled in for Horcoff when Horcs had skate issues and seemed like a fit with the rookies.
#77 TOM GILBERT - (6) He led the team in ice time with 24:48. All that ice time is sure to hurt him somehow. Oh yes... 3 giveaways. He didn't lead the team in blocked shots tonight and that to me, is strange. I have seen him play better even though he out chanced the Blues.
#83 ALES HEMSKY - (0) DNP (Injured Groin)
#89 SAM GAGNER - (7)BEERS His chemistry with Paajarvi is growing. Gagner led that line all game long and with the Jones goal, marked another point for Gagner. It is weird that he didn't take a single shot. If you are wondering, I gave him a 7 for his willingness to compete. Replace Hemsky with Jones and this line will rock.
#91 MAGNUS PAAJARVI - (7)BEERS Another good game. He also picked up an assist on the Jones goal. He had 3 quality shots and a takeaway. He's really been improving these last few games. I like that he's gelling with Gagner.
I had an idea a while back in April about creating an Assist Leader award and to call it the Wayne Gretzky award.
After getting all too excited that this may take off (I do that a lot), it didn't go like I had hoped at all. I went to some of the local press for help/questions with this and was told by most that I was wasting my time. One had said that the NHL has considered renaming a trophy after Gretzky anyways, so this isn't a new concept.
Well... I'm not talking about renaming an existing trophy like the Hart or the Art Ross as that MSM suggested. I'm talking about making a brand new trophy all together. One that makes sense for today's NHL.
I truly believe the NHL needs an assist leader trophy for the guys that get unrecognized. Those players matter and arguably, if there wasn't an assist, there would never be many goals.
It's hard to argue who the best goal scorer is. Howe? Lemieux? Hull? Gretzky? It's hard to argue who's the greatest player of all time. Same 4 guys plus Orr? But it sure isn't hard to figure out who the greatest passer was. That's clearly, Wayne Gretzky. Hands down.
He owns the NHL record of 1,962 career assists (including playoffs, he has a total of 2,222assists). He has the highest assists per regular season game percentage with 1.321 per game. (1,962 assists in 1,485 games). In 1985/86, Gretzky had an NHL record 163 assists in one season (he had 11 more assists in the playoffs that year too). In 1990/91 he made the record for most consecutive assists with 48 assists in 23 straight games. To this day no other player has beaten that streak. He's tied with Billy Taylor for most assists in one single game with 7 assists. That 7 assist game happened in his first NHL season. Gretzky has a league best 270 playoff assists. There is at least another dozen or so assist records that Gretzky can call his own that I am not listing here. He's the assist king. You can't argue that.
He owns multiple records (see above). He's had his number 99 retired league wide. He was labeled the Great One. And yet no NHL trophy in his honor?
So you know what? I'm going to "waste my time". I'm going to tell the world that this needs to happen. I believe it's the right thing to do. If you do to, please sign this petition. I don't know if any amount of signatures will do anything to help this, but I'm going to try. Gretzky would never give up. Either should I.
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