And Next Up is Donald Brashear?
January 18th, 2008 by jstainerHello everyone,
My name is Joel and I am excited to be a part of the hockeyanalysis community as I lend my online voice to Oiler nation. I’m a lifelong fan of the Edmonton Oilers, but in the end I’m simply enamored with the game of hockey. I hope that this can be but one perspective among the hockey world on the team I know and love (and at times certainly hate).
Thursday night’s game against the Washington Capitals featured a little bit of everything and highlighted the way that this Edmonton Oiler team seems to function. After busting out of the gates with a 2 goal lead in the first period, the Capitals were let back into the game early on in the second and then took the lead shortly thereafter, causing the Oil to have to scramble back to even earn themselves a point. This is such a common theme amongst this young team and is a pretty disturbing trend.
What resulted was one of the most back and forth overtime periods that I have seen in quite some time, followed by an awkward, and not very easy to watch, shootout, that featured broken sticks, fumbled pucks and outright missed nets on a regular basis. At one point the Washington Capitals sent out the always fearsome shootout duo of Donald Brashear and career 5 goal scorer John Erskine. It the end it was Matt Bradley (who supposedly just jumped over the boards without the coaches go ahead) who ended the madness and gave the Oilers a rare road loss.
After rattling off 4 straight wins at home, the Oilers have put together an impressive back to back set of losses against 2 of the league’s worst teams. The rest of this road trip against the league’s southeast division should finally give an answer as to whether this team has any shot at all at making the playoffs. By far the weakest division in the NHL, this team should be aiming to win the rest in the series to feel like they have come out of the trip feeling good about the team’s chances.
Some interesting things to note from last night:
Shawn Horcoff’s 3 points last night gives him 12 in his last 6 since Ales Hemsky came back from injury. In the 7 games that he has played without Ales at his side, Horcoff has earned himself only 1 point.
Joni Pitkanen injured his groin and will miss the next 3-7 days depending on how it heals. Dick Tarnstrom should play back into the roster for the next game on the back end.
Dwayne Roloson was great in the shootout, but it should not have even got to that point. He can’t be blamed for all of the goals, (certainly not Mike Green’s top corner wrist shot…wow), but a couple were very suspect. One has to wonder how much longer he will even be with this Oilers if this type of play keeps up.
Robert Nilsson is on thin ice with the team with some suspect defensive play as of late. In last night’s game he appeared to be on the verge of being benched once again after a defensive gaffe, but came out the next shift and scored a powerplay goal to redeem himself. Still, only Cogliano and Gagner played less ice time then he did during the game.
The Oilers play again on Friday night in Carolina in what must be considered a very winnable game. Mathieu Garon will get the start in goal.
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4 Responses to “And Next Up is Donald Brashear?”
By Ian on Jan 19, 2008
welcome to the site Joel.
By jstainer on Jan 19, 2008
Thanks Ian. Figures that right after my first blog the team earns one of the worst losses of the season.
Through thick and thin …
By gmlane on Jan 19, 2008
Joel, I started blogging here and my team loses 10-1 for the worst franchise loss EVER.
I know how you feel..
By The Iceman on Jan 21, 2008
Welcome aboard Joel. Looking forward to your comments. I blog for the Panthers and Hawks, so come take a look.