EDMONTON 4
VS.
MINNESOTA 1
--------------------
So the key game tonight was that the oilers came out early and were very aggressive. You don't often see that kind of attack from them early on in the game. I think there's something about playing Minnesota now that has this team riled, because they tend to come out with a lot of pop and they're slightly angry when they play the Wild. This is something that you don't see when they play a lot of other teams even division rivals like the Flames and Canucks.
Minnesota, while missing a bunch of its better players still didn't put forth a very strong effort. They were slow from the beginning and never really had much of a chance in this hockey game. The Oilers were very good, don't get me wrong, at least for the first couple periods. Some of this is on the Minnesota Wild though, for having what was a fairly bad night. If you look at their recent record, it isn't exactly surprising. So I'm Ggnna give them the Oilers a lot of credit for the way they started tonight as I noted earlier.
Nick Backstrom didn't have a very good hockey game but he was also beat by some very good shots and I think we have to give the Oilers shooters credit for what they were able to do. They took advantage of loose pucks and pressure situations to score some very nice goals. I'm specifically speaking of of course Jordan Eberle's goals and Lennart's goal. Ryan Smyth's goal was not the greatest in the world, but good on him being persistent and identifying the puck was still loose and tapping it off Backstrom's Skate into the net. The Minnesota goal wasn't anything to really be concerned about, as we had just killed off a major penalty of course, which I'll get into in just a minute, but the Oilers were playing good hockey at that stage and a loose puck came to Heatley and he took a very good shot which #35 couldn't really see. Despite eventually catching the Oilers in shots Minnesota, didn't really play a very strong name and I think if the score we a bit closer you wouldn't of seen a lot of the play we did in the late second and third periods.
And speaking of the refereeing in tonight's game I have seen few games refereed as badly as that one. The Oilers bore the brunt of some absolutely atrocious officiating in terms of the call on Petrell the call on Gagner and some other things that were missed including Anton Lander taking some abuse, Ryan Jones being hit away from the play, and some other plays that really should've resulted in power plays. I really don't like how NHL referees take such liberty when a team has a substantial lead, and if you paid attention at all to the Nashville-Columbus game tonight I'm guessing there were some referee-effects involved in that score that ended up going from a 5-2 Columbus lead to a 6-5 Nashville win. Columbus is a bad team but the same thing could've happened to us tonight with the way the calls were being made if our penalty killing was as bad as it was last year. If you look at the Petrell major, which wasn't even a penalty much less a major, you'll see that Petrell not only let up, but tried to keep since Zidlicky from going into the boards. He either caught an edge or launched himself into the boards, I don't know what's more embarrassing. If you were actually at the game, you would've seen Zidlicky talk to Petrell after the hit in what looked like a very understanding manner rather than an angry manner, so I think he understood what was going on. If you want to talk about 89's penalty, well Sam lightly tapped the Minnesota player on his arm, and then the Minnesota player'ss arms went up and the stick hit him in the face apparently. Somehow that resulted in a four minute minor penalty. Everyone at the game was quite confused by what exactly had happened on this play and obviously quite surprised that we wound up having to kill off a double minor. The Eager penalty was also not a penalty. As usual our pal Clutterbuck dove into the boards as he was gently tapped by #55. I think this penalty was almost worth it as the Oilers were doing a very good job of imposing their will and making Minnesota keep their heads up as they played. So even though I don't think there should've been a penalty, even if there was going to be one called I don't have that much of a problem with Eager taking it. I will however criticize Darcy Hordichuk for stupidly hitting the goalie on purpose and thinking he can get away with it.
In the end though despite the fact that all these penalties meant we had to keep our most dominant line off the ice, we did enough tonight to win and that's really what was important. I don't understand why Tom Renney won't break out Eberle and Hopkins or something to that effect during some of the extended penalty kills to keep them fresh. This wouldn't hurt the team and would keep the young guys moving, which I think it's very important in a game like that.
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Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
There can be no doubt that tonight the key was the kid line. From the very beginning, Eberle and Hopkins especially were playing a fantastic game, exhibiting great puck control and driving through the Minnesota defense. As with the Detroit game, the Minnesota defense and forwards had no answer for either 14 or 93. Hall started off the game a little bit slowly. He gave away the puck I will say about seven times in the course of a couple shifts including on a power-play where he wasn't really under pressure for any length of time. It was very odd to see him having this much trouble. He was also falling all over the ice. That's not a particularly unique occurrence with Taylor Hall, but he was doing it even more so tonight. If I were him I would really think about putting more edge on my skates. I don't see how he can continue to think that he's getting that much of an advantage from what appears to be not much hollow on his blade if he's going to spend the whole game including several chances to break away from the pack, on his butt. His penalty shot effort appeared to be more a symptom of him being tired than making a bad decision. I was surprised he didn't break away from the defender more cleanly when he had the initial chance quite frankly as he would usually make that into a cleaner scoring opportunity. On the penalty shot he really appeared to be tired and took what I would describe as a pretty futile shot on net. He had Backstrom beat if he went high and I really wish you'd consider going upstairs more often on those opportunities. The good thing was his missed chance didn't cost us much because as I noted his linemates were having an excellent game. Although Hopkins only managed one point he controlled the puck excellently in all zones. He kept it away from the Minnesota defenders very well, creating time for both 14 and 4. I don't know if there are enough superlatives to describe the way Jordan Eberle plays hockey. It is amazing the feeling you get when he has the puck and time, because you know he's going to score a goal. On his second goal, you knew he'd finish about both three seconds before he actually put the puck in the net. He had the time, space, and angle. The play might as well have been over. I can't believe how bad Nick Backstrom, one of the best goalies in the league looked on that backhand deke. That was gross. On his first goal he made a very nice pick off of an attempt to clear the zone by the Minnesota player, walked into the middle, fought off a couple of slashes, stickhanded just the right amount of time to get around the defender and finished. It was an absolutely beautiful, exceptional, and elite-level play. I maintain the Jordan Eberle is right now the best hockey player on this team. There is simply no other way to describe how valuable he is and how complete the game he brings is on any given night. He is simply excellent. That is not taking anything away from Hopkins, Gilbert or any of the others, but he is just that much better. I am still a little worried about Taylor Hall as he did not pass the puck as much as he could've tonight. He could have generated several more scoring chances and did not. This is the reason why Jordan Eberle did not get a hat trick and while unfortunate is not a severe problem and clearly did not prevent us from winning. That's the important thing and this line is the reason we won tonight.
Smyth-Horcoff-Gagner
The Smith, Horcoff and Gagner line did their job in most areas tonight; especially on the penalty kill as that was a very important part of the game. They did very well in clearing the puck out of their own zone unlike some others. On five on five they weren't as flashy and I know Smith scored that goal but the interesting part of that goal was that Smid and Gilbert were the ones in on the forecheck while Horcoff and Gagner covered for them at the blue line. This is not a bad thing and if it works I will take it. The main thing that this line did all night was simply to move the puck into the opposition zone and keep it there for a period of time. They did not allow Minnesota to generate offensive chances while they were on the ice. That in a lot of ways is all they had to do because our first line was so good, but on many nights that would not be enough. I hope they can improve to where they were earlier in the year and believe they will. The thing to watch for the rest of the season is that if we are competitive we need to monitor Ryan Smyth's ice time very closely so that he is not overplayed. This would be a disaster come the playoffs, should there be any. If we are going to talk about Horcoff in a little more detail, I say he played a marginally better game than he did against Detroit in pretty much every area. Gagner is still in my opinion not the right man for this line but he did his job to a decent degree tonight. I don't know why he isn't being more effective or dynamic in the offensive zone. Perhaps he's just trying to keep his game more simple. That's okay for now but I'd like to see him be more dynamic in the offensive zone and take more of his shots. He needs to play a little more like Jared Stoll would on that line.
Eager-Belanger-Jones
- The worst line for us tonight was the third line. Ben Eager played a fairly solid game and he was the strength of that line. I don't think many people would have predicted that before the game. #55 hit a lot of people and won many races to the puck which was key to maintaining control of the play and the puck. I really liked how focused he was and that he went to the right spaces and generally did his job. As a bonus he also annoyed several Wild players and I must say that after the game as he was yapping at them and they were very annoyed I was smiling and chuckling. If you look at his linemates however, this story is not so positive. Ryan Jones had a very strange game. He bounced the puck off the metal pieces in the boards on three separate occasions. Once this generated a scoring chance but the other two times it generated turnovers. While he can't be blamed too much for this he can be blamed for being out of position on several occasions, missing chances to clear his own zone and not covering his man properly. He wasn't the worst member of this line however, as number 20 took that honor. He missed many chances to clear his own zone (especially on the PK), was out of position on several occasions and once again did not do anything in the offensive zone. Wait a minute, that's not quite true; he actually took a shot from the goal line that had absolutely no chance to score. He then skated away in frustration and confusion. I have said before that I do not know what is wrong with Eric Belanger and nothing tonight really changed. I just did not expect such a solid performer to be a constant source of disappointment. He plays a simple game that in the past has resulted in goals and I looked forward to watching him play it in Edmonton. Oh well.
Petrell-Lander-Hordichuk
- Anton Lander had a very solid game tonight. If you look at the way he skated, the physical contact that he made and the choices he made with the puck, it was all good. When Lander plays like this he reminds you that he is going to be fairly special at some point. Also Petrell played a really solid game until he was kicked out for his non-penalty. His goal was a great example of checking your man, winning a race and then taking an exceptional shot. Because he doesn't get a lot of good scoring opportunities you forget that #37 has a great shot that he showed in the preseason. He went roof on Backstrom with ease. It is great to see a guy like him have success because he does work hard. He is also smart and large which helps. Aside from the good goal he hit several people cleanly and played a generally solid game. Hordichuk didn't get a chance to do too much tonight other than take an incredibly stupid and unnecessary penalty. If he is not going to annoy the Minnesota players then he has no business in our lineup.
Gilbert and Smid
- Tom Gilbert and Smid played a really nice game tonight, which doesn't seem to be exceptional this year. The exceptional thing tonight was noted burst in to dominate the offensive zone and set up Smyth's goal. It is really hard to say anything negative when these guys are hitting, passing, shooting and defending so well.
Potter and Whitney
- Corey Potter also played a nice game. There were several instances in which he deftly separated the Minnesota players from the puck and made a play to one of his teammates. He's in the odd position of bailing out Whitney right now. #6 spent much of the night roaming, chasing the puck badly, and making iffy passes. I'd say he was a little bit better than lately but still really iffy. He refuses to shoot the puck or skate into the offensive zone. Potter was excellent on the PP, and it only really slowed when he wasn't on it any longer. The only bad thing #44 did really was that he nailed Taylor Hall with a shot, then after #4 had come back, almost did it again! OOPS!
Petry and Peckham
- Petry played a solid game in terms of his defence, but for whatever reason he struggled slightly on the powerplay point. It was the same sort of awkwardness as last game. Part of this might be his teammates playing to Potter's style, but that can only account for so much. Peckham was pretty average, which is an improvement.
Khabibulin
- Khabibulin was excellent tonight and you knew it from the very beginning. You know when an Edmonton goalie is stopping Mr. Bouchard that it is a good night. The way he robbed him in close in the second period was stunning. He was so patient to out wait the shooter like that. He was aggressive when he needed to be as well, kept his pads flat on the ice and was two steps ahead of everything. Absolutely sublime performance. Shame it wasn't an SO.
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Big win that we needed very badly. It really is unfortunate that things went the way they did in terms of having to kill penalties because this should have been a rout.
12/22/11
12/19/11
LMHF Report - Game #17
EDMONTON 2
VS.
DETROIT 3
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Back from Maui, sorry for the absence guys! Hope you read it in the last report and didn't think I vanished!
So, a couple new tonight tonight: this is the first report I am making using my new iPhone 4S so hopefully it goes well and I'll be able to get most of this done on my drive home now which would be really nice and save me some time as well as capture my thoughts quickly and get the report out sooner. The other thing that was a little bit different was where I sat to watch the game; I was in section 119 row 4, so I was really low didn't have a great view the game in terms flow and breakouts etc. like I usually like to watch but does give a lot of interesting views of other things so we'll try and take advantage of that perspective tonight.
Going into the game against Detroit you don't really ever know what's going to happen for us. We usually play quite well against the Red Wings at Rexall, but these are the Red Wings and we do have trouble with them generally. Tonight's game turned out so heartbreakingly typical when it comes to Detroit in that they scored late again on a crummy goal and we lose a close one.
It wasn't a particularly bad effort but it wasn't that great either. To give a clearly view of some of the things I'm going to pass along, I was right behind the bench sitting just to the left of that little gap between the two benches. When our players come off the ice they do not look happy right now. They don't look angry (which would be okay honestly), but just listless and tired and depressed.
If this is what the problem is we we need to look at solving it in a bit of a different way. When Detroit comes to the bench, they are focused, their eyes are alert and their heads are up. When the play is on, they are all watching, ready and jump over the gate. Our guys are looking down or just slouching and sauntering our of the gate.
It's not just a single player or even a couple guys. Eberle and Hall are pretty damn intense, but the rest are pretty iffy at this stage. I guess I'm not totally sure, but the coaches never really seemed to do anything to give the players a kick in the butt at all. I was amazed how little the coaches said. Kelly Buchberger said and did almost nothing all game (now that might be a good thing)
The biggest difference between Detroit and Edmonton was watching their decisiveness. The wings were skating in strong and very decisive lines, whereas we are constantly looking around trying to figure what to do. That one half stride is making the difference over and over again all game long. It because obvious why we're losing games and it sure doesn't look like a matter of percentages at this point.
Khabibulin
He played a pretty solid game and made some really solid saves moving side to side. He couldn't do too much on the game winning goal as Dan Cleary seemed to have tied up his legs, but he still got a piece of it anyway, which took a solid effort. You certainly can't fault him for this one.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
Hall gave a strong effort and I was relieved to see his speed return because I thought the last couple games he'd been a tad shy a a little slow. Unfortunately he gave up way too many opportunities to pass and instead tried to drive through on his own. This often results in a bit of *wow*, but he doesn't seem to convert these into goals. He's also got great linemates who are open. Detroit really had no answer for these guys and their speed. Watching Eberle work through the middle against Detroit's best and seeing the best they could do was waive their sticks was pretty special. That's an elite player right there. Great little goal in the late second as Hopkins made a good choice to create a loose puck in the slot and Eberle cruised in to rip it where Howard couldn't get it. Beauty. Hopkins and Eberle both had generally strong games save for the last powerplay of the game. I wonder if Eberle had a headache or something tonight as I saw him get something from the trainer in the second period and chomp it down before putting his mouthguard back in.
Smyth-Horcoff-Hemsky
This line did a fairly strong job against their opposition, and Hemsky appeared to have a fairly strong game. The only thing he's really struggling with is that a lot of shots are getting blocked. You can see he wouldn't normally want to shoot so often but he's clearly been directed to force it and it's not going well. I wish that the coaches would take that pressure off and tell him to stop because it's not helping the team and you don't have the ability to create separation from the shot-forcing headspace. He did make some nice passes that unfortunately weren't converted. When he was coming to the bench, he didn't look any more down than any of the other guys. Even Smyth looks frustrated and kind of dead-eyed. 94 looked a little tired again tonight which is not a surprise but his defensive positioning and corner efforts were there. He also got to the front of the net but wasn't as effective as he has been. If anyone on this line struggled it was Horcoff, who couldn't find the lanes to set up for his shot and was a little iffy skating with the puck. Solid D all around from these guys though.
Jones-Belanger-Gagner
Jones gave a pretty good effort tonight, especially considering he took a good whack in the first and had to spend a decent amount of time icing his nose. He came back strong after that and obviously scored the breakaway goal which was a nice effort. I don't agree with putting him in the SO at this stage because his goals come due to speed and urgency on those breakaways, but I would consider him on the 2nd PP with Gagner struggling so much there. Belanger was passionless tonight and looks like he truly has no confidence. At least early on he'd give that great defensive effort and provide something. I wonder if there's some sort of bigger problem there for him right now. Gagner was okay five-on-five and was one of the guys giving the most effort. It really looked like he was hurt in the second and Buchberger asked him if he was okay going out for the third but he seemed to be. Nothing really exceptional but at least the effort was there til the end.
Eager-Lander-Petrell
Eager played a bit of a strange game in that he showed some speed but didn't bring the physicality. I've noted that at the end of games especially, he backs off hits that he needs to make. He's not effective if he can't land those legally. His line could have got on a roll early as they got a strong scoring chance in the first but failed to capitalize. #37 looks to be struggling some and could be due for a trip to OKC. Lander also got beat a couple times and wasn't very good with the puck when he got the chance tonight. One cool thing about being up close was being able to hear how powerful Lander's stride is...wow.
Whitney
Ryan Whitney is not anywhere near 100% and the things I'm noticing the most are that he is not pressing for offence and that he is angling himself strangely during the play. As 6 either receives a pass or leads the rush, where last year he'd get into the zone and make a play or shoot, he backs off and forces what is almost necessarily a bad pass. This is screwing up his teammates and leading to turnovers. I suspect he thinks he can't get back into the play. He's also positioning himself facing into the middle of the ice all the time, even when he should be facing the opposition goalie or even the boards. I don't know if he's bracing or what but it makes everything very very awkward. He needs to get this stuff figured out. Of all the guys, he may have had the deadest eyes at the bench which I can tell you from last year isn't normal.
Potter
Corey Potter is playing a very strong, very big game. I didn't realize how big he was until I actually got to watch so closely and you can see how he positions himself to use his size and reach well. It was also very impressive to see the way he's looking and moving his head, as it becomes obvious that he's following the game at the same speed as the kids. That's really impressive for any defenceman, much less one we picked up from the minors.
Gilbert-Smid
Gilbert and Smid played their typical and boring 2011 hockey game. That's not a bad thing at all. They played solid D and Gilbert jumped into the offence effectively several times. If his shot is a touch more on, we win this thing going away with the chances he got. Smid put forth a really solid game and skated miles.
Peckham
There's no hiding that he's a big part of the problem right now. He's not getting to pucks and when he does, he's making mistakes that aren't small. It didn't cost him too much tonight but it certainly could have.
Petry
He fought really hard on the play to set up goal #2, but I don't know if his efforts were the smoothest. The result came to pass, but not without 3 or 4 failures first. He did pretty well for having to haul around Peckham all night, but I still wouldn't have put him in there on the PP at that stage over Potter. Certainly a bucketload of talent but I'd really love an Igor Ulanov type for him to play with on that third pair.
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I've got to say, I'm weirded out by Renney's line sequencing late in the game. You'd think he would be looking to get the kids 3 shifts with 5 minutes to go and it doesn't seem that way.
Both Hall and Eberle were the angriest after this lost. They both went VERY hard and showed it on their faces. Thanks for the effort 4 and 14.
So far the Siri dictation method is pretty iffy...I had to do a lot of editing and it came out choppy. We'll see how quickly it learns.
VS.
DETROIT 3
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Back from Maui, sorry for the absence guys! Hope you read it in the last report and didn't think I vanished!
So, a couple new tonight tonight: this is the first report I am making using my new iPhone 4S so hopefully it goes well and I'll be able to get most of this done on my drive home now which would be really nice and save me some time as well as capture my thoughts quickly and get the report out sooner. The other thing that was a little bit different was where I sat to watch the game; I was in section 119 row 4, so I was really low didn't have a great view the game in terms flow and breakouts etc. like I usually like to watch but does give a lot of interesting views of other things so we'll try and take advantage of that perspective tonight.
Going into the game against Detroit you don't really ever know what's going to happen for us. We usually play quite well against the Red Wings at Rexall, but these are the Red Wings and we do have trouble with them generally. Tonight's game turned out so heartbreakingly typical when it comes to Detroit in that they scored late again on a crummy goal and we lose a close one.
It wasn't a particularly bad effort but it wasn't that great either. To give a clearly view of some of the things I'm going to pass along, I was right behind the bench sitting just to the left of that little gap between the two benches. When our players come off the ice they do not look happy right now. They don't look angry (which would be okay honestly), but just listless and tired and depressed.
If this is what the problem is we we need to look at solving it in a bit of a different way. When Detroit comes to the bench, they are focused, their eyes are alert and their heads are up. When the play is on, they are all watching, ready and jump over the gate. Our guys are looking down or just slouching and sauntering our of the gate.
It's not just a single player or even a couple guys. Eberle and Hall are pretty damn intense, but the rest are pretty iffy at this stage. I guess I'm not totally sure, but the coaches never really seemed to do anything to give the players a kick in the butt at all. I was amazed how little the coaches said. Kelly Buchberger said and did almost nothing all game (now that might be a good thing)
The biggest difference between Detroit and Edmonton was watching their decisiveness. The wings were skating in strong and very decisive lines, whereas we are constantly looking around trying to figure what to do. That one half stride is making the difference over and over again all game long. It because obvious why we're losing games and it sure doesn't look like a matter of percentages at this point.
Khabibulin
He played a pretty solid game and made some really solid saves moving side to side. He couldn't do too much on the game winning goal as Dan Cleary seemed to have tied up his legs, but he still got a piece of it anyway, which took a solid effort. You certainly can't fault him for this one.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
Hall gave a strong effort and I was relieved to see his speed return because I thought the last couple games he'd been a tad shy a a little slow. Unfortunately he gave up way too many opportunities to pass and instead tried to drive through on his own. This often results in a bit of *wow*, but he doesn't seem to convert these into goals. He's also got great linemates who are open. Detroit really had no answer for these guys and their speed. Watching Eberle work through the middle against Detroit's best and seeing the best they could do was waive their sticks was pretty special. That's an elite player right there. Great little goal in the late second as Hopkins made a good choice to create a loose puck in the slot and Eberle cruised in to rip it where Howard couldn't get it. Beauty. Hopkins and Eberle both had generally strong games save for the last powerplay of the game. I wonder if Eberle had a headache or something tonight as I saw him get something from the trainer in the second period and chomp it down before putting his mouthguard back in.
Smyth-Horcoff-Hemsky
This line did a fairly strong job against their opposition, and Hemsky appeared to have a fairly strong game. The only thing he's really struggling with is that a lot of shots are getting blocked. You can see he wouldn't normally want to shoot so often but he's clearly been directed to force it and it's not going well. I wish that the coaches would take that pressure off and tell him to stop because it's not helping the team and you don't have the ability to create separation from the shot-forcing headspace. He did make some nice passes that unfortunately weren't converted. When he was coming to the bench, he didn't look any more down than any of the other guys. Even Smyth looks frustrated and kind of dead-eyed. 94 looked a little tired again tonight which is not a surprise but his defensive positioning and corner efforts were there. He also got to the front of the net but wasn't as effective as he has been. If anyone on this line struggled it was Horcoff, who couldn't find the lanes to set up for his shot and was a little iffy skating with the puck. Solid D all around from these guys though.
Jones-Belanger-Gagner
Jones gave a pretty good effort tonight, especially considering he took a good whack in the first and had to spend a decent amount of time icing his nose. He came back strong after that and obviously scored the breakaway goal which was a nice effort. I don't agree with putting him in the SO at this stage because his goals come due to speed and urgency on those breakaways, but I would consider him on the 2nd PP with Gagner struggling so much there. Belanger was passionless tonight and looks like he truly has no confidence. At least early on he'd give that great defensive effort and provide something. I wonder if there's some sort of bigger problem there for him right now. Gagner was okay five-on-five and was one of the guys giving the most effort. It really looked like he was hurt in the second and Buchberger asked him if he was okay going out for the third but he seemed to be. Nothing really exceptional but at least the effort was there til the end.
Eager-Lander-Petrell
Eager played a bit of a strange game in that he showed some speed but didn't bring the physicality. I've noted that at the end of games especially, he backs off hits that he needs to make. He's not effective if he can't land those legally. His line could have got on a roll early as they got a strong scoring chance in the first but failed to capitalize. #37 looks to be struggling some and could be due for a trip to OKC. Lander also got beat a couple times and wasn't very good with the puck when he got the chance tonight. One cool thing about being up close was being able to hear how powerful Lander's stride is...wow.
Whitney
Ryan Whitney is not anywhere near 100% and the things I'm noticing the most are that he is not pressing for offence and that he is angling himself strangely during the play. As 6 either receives a pass or leads the rush, where last year he'd get into the zone and make a play or shoot, he backs off and forces what is almost necessarily a bad pass. This is screwing up his teammates and leading to turnovers. I suspect he thinks he can't get back into the play. He's also positioning himself facing into the middle of the ice all the time, even when he should be facing the opposition goalie or even the boards. I don't know if he's bracing or what but it makes everything very very awkward. He needs to get this stuff figured out. Of all the guys, he may have had the deadest eyes at the bench which I can tell you from last year isn't normal.
Potter
Corey Potter is playing a very strong, very big game. I didn't realize how big he was until I actually got to watch so closely and you can see how he positions himself to use his size and reach well. It was also very impressive to see the way he's looking and moving his head, as it becomes obvious that he's following the game at the same speed as the kids. That's really impressive for any defenceman, much less one we picked up from the minors.
Gilbert-Smid
Gilbert and Smid played their typical and boring 2011 hockey game. That's not a bad thing at all. They played solid D and Gilbert jumped into the offence effectively several times. If his shot is a touch more on, we win this thing going away with the chances he got. Smid put forth a really solid game and skated miles.
Peckham
There's no hiding that he's a big part of the problem right now. He's not getting to pucks and when he does, he's making mistakes that aren't small. It didn't cost him too much tonight but it certainly could have.
Petry
He fought really hard on the play to set up goal #2, but I don't know if his efforts were the smoothest. The result came to pass, but not without 3 or 4 failures first. He did pretty well for having to haul around Peckham all night, but I still wouldn't have put him in there on the PP at that stage over Potter. Certainly a bucketload of talent but I'd really love an Igor Ulanov type for him to play with on that third pair.
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I've got to say, I'm weirded out by Renney's line sequencing late in the game. You'd think he would be looking to get the kids 3 shifts with 5 minutes to go and it doesn't seem that way.
Both Hall and Eberle were the angriest after this lost. They both went VERY hard and showed it on their faces. Thanks for the effort 4 and 14.
So far the Siri dictation method is pretty iffy...I had to do a lot of editing and it came out choppy. We'll see how quickly it learns.
12/1/11
LMHF Report - Game #12
EDMONTON 2
VS.
MINNESOTA 3
In a freaking shootout...
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Driving home in the car tonight, I got to thinking that either I must be losing my brain, or the commentators were watching some other Edmonton versus Minnesota game that I was not aware of. There will always be disagreements...usually over nuanced things, but tonight there were some things said post-game that made me turn the radio off several times and wonder what exactly was going on.
I'd rate this as the third straight game that we simply placed in a sealed envelope and handed to the other team to open when they saw fit. The Oilers controlled more of the play in the first two periods than they did against Nashville, and did some really excellent things. It is interesting that someone remarked that they had been pushed around in the second period. I LOVED the way they finished the second and began the third in terms of being physical. They managed to knock two Wild players out of the game and sent a number more flying all over the ice. The first two periods were adding up to be one of our more physical games...then the tap was turned off for some reason.
I have a lot of strategy criticism to offer regarding tonight's game. It began with the puck drop...I would have started Hordichuk and got right down to business. I also wouldn't have effectively sat him down on the bench for the second straight game. Either find an offensive player you can dress, or play the guy. Late in the game, Renney had just sent out the Hopkins and Belanger lines, then with about 3 minutes to go, inexplicably double-shifted Hopkins' line despite the fact that the Horcoff unit had just had a strong shift. They didn't accomplish much of anything and looked quite tired. There was no reason to rush them back out when they were one Horcoff shift from a fully-rested shift with the game on the line. Then, Renney also played the third line AGAIN before the game was over. Moronic...In overtime, Jordan Eberle (who was our best forward AGAIN) didn't get a shift until the fourth line change (and who runs FOUR units in OT anyway???) and played with Ryan Jones...I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How he isn't out there with #93 right off the hop is beyond me. He only really got the one shift and wasn't able to muster anything. I'd argue with the SO choices on principle, but the fact is with the way the shooters performed we should have won anyway.
Even though these bad choices seem concentrated, they seemed to play a decent part in costing us the game. You should know that Kelly Buchberger was on the bench tonight and seemed to be very involved in all this, so I'm thinking it might be on him and not Renney, which would not surprise me as he's not exactly the smartest man they could have making decisions at that point. Either way, this is two home games in a row where the coaching staff has allowed their team to get stale as the game went on, despite two or three distinct rallying opportunities, and some of the blame must be laid at their feet.
As for the Wild, I remain incredibly unimpressed. They don't seem to do much of anything well other than tend goal and despite a whack of offensive talent they are not a dangerous hockey club for most of the game. It's very strange to watch. I was utterly gleeful watching Clutterbuck stagger around and the Oilers continue to push him around and ultimately force him to leave. It is so utterly satisfying to punish a guy who plays the game in such a wrong way. I still find it inexplicable that the referees call any penalties on his BS dives, as in the 1980s or early 90s, not only would these pathetic attempts to draw a call be ignored, he probably would have been sent off because he'd pissed off the ref. This kind of policing of dishonorable hockey players needs to be brought back. These guys deserve zero protection and should be punished for how they mock the game.
------------
Khabibulin
- During regulation and OT he was quite solid. The Brodziak goal looked bad, but I'm not sure you can really hang it on him. What you can hang on him is the difference between the SO win and loss. Koivu's goal was fairly good (although I'm still weirded out that #35 stretched when he had time to slide across), but the other three were pathetic. There's no excuse for the horrible leg-stick positioning on the Bouchard and especially Brodziak goals, and he had Heatley dead and still managed to screw it up. Not a good performance when your teammates get you some SO goals for sure.
Whitney
- He's really not the same guy at the moment. Just like last game, he's got no offensive presence in terms of taking good shots or making passes down low. He's standing at funny angles all over the ice and is not positioning himself well. Lastly and worstly, I counted nearly ten times tonight where he went into the corner and either lost the battle for an easily winnable puck or gave the puck away. That's unacceptable for a rookie...much less the guy who should be at worst our #2 defenceman even with all the rust. Loved what he managed to do to Clutterbuck and hope it was intentional. Very Souray-style thing to do and came at just the right time.
Petry
- First of all, I really liked that he stepped up his physical game. He made a number of strong hits where I actually had to verify again that it was indeed #58 making the connection. On the other hand, his positional game suffered and he was often forced to chase rather than employ his smooth skating game and also didn't make a lot of very nice passes. Very hit and miss from Jeff tonight.
Sutton
- Andy Sutton had the 2 nicest passes of the first, springing Ales Hemsky for a near-breakaway and hitting Hopkins with a lazer to set up our first goal. I don't know what they did with the real Andy Sutton but they can keep him. While Sutton's defensive play seemed pretty solid, the two plays that stood out for me were the massive hit he took behind our net (which should have resulted in a charging penalty) and a really stupid penalty he took in front of the Wild net when he (albeit fairly gently) crosschecked a Wild player to the ice. Such a weird game, but better than running Peckham-Teubert.
Peckham
- I don't know what it is about being down to 3 players that brings out the best in Theo, but once again he was excellent especially late in OT after Smyth's penalty. There were times tonight where got caught standing still and watching the puck, but generally he was okay. I'd still have played Teubert instead.
Smid
- Great job on Clutterbuck before and after Whitney got the kill-shot in on him. JUST missed a huge shot at him just before he left the game. Defensively he was strong but what else is new. He also dropped down and got a couple decent offensive chances again which is always good to see. Also great on the late PK in OT.
Gilbert
- Ho hum, another excellent game.
Gagner-Horcoff-Hemsky
- Okay, here's where this will probably get weird. I heard a lot of praise of Gagner tonight and some of it was absolutely effusive. I didn't see that from Sam at all. He certainly wasn't bad, but the guy couldn't get a decent shot off to save his life. Despite set ups from both 83 and 10, Sam was slow on the trigger and if he did get the puck away everything was either chest or wide. That's not a solid performance. He was also very hesitant when the puck wasn't on his stick, including on a rebound play set up by Hemsky in the third where he failed to score only because he stopped skating instead of getting to the area he needed to be in. Sam needs to be a bunch better than this in the offensive and offensive-neutral zones if he wants to be anything near a top six guy. I'm a fan, but this was far from a great night from him. Ales I found to be fairly average. He set up a decent amount of chances but didn't really drive much of the play himself and is currently struggling to get his patented drag-shot through defenders. I've never seen his shot blocked so many times as lately. If there are goat horns for this line tonight though, they have to go to Horcoff. He lost a ton of key draws tonight, thanks to the insane mentality of attempting the exact same approach even though he was getting beat cleanly every time. You have to trying something different...anything...when that starts happening. He did not. Minnesota's second goal sequence started because of an odd hesitation and failure by Horcoff to pick up his man at the blue line. He also had a number of sequences where he simply couldn't get the puck out of his own zone and had to have a linemate bail him out. Not to mention ANOTHER breakaway miss due to a poor shooting choice. Some of the issues weren't his fault entirely...for instance Gagner's bad positioning was requiring Horcoff to set up higher in the offensive zone to a point where he couldn't effectively connect on Hemsky's one-time passes, but #10 needs to recognize that and adjust rather than just plugging away. 10 and 83 need Hall back badly. He was the perfect linemate for them.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- This was one of Smyth's weaker games. He lost of lot of pucks in the corners for him, didn't really beat anyone with the puck, and looked visibly tired compared to Eberle and Hopkins. Some of this is on the coaching staff for overplaying him, but Smyth also has to be able to reach deep in games like this and help to gut out a win. Eberle as noted was once again the Oilers' best forward, scoring with what may very well be the best backhand in the NHL from his office and helping to set up another goal as well. I love that he takes winning and losing so personally and is so driven to getting the job done. He always demands more of himself. He had a few other chances and was just really good out there. Hopkins was a little less noticeable, but there are very few guys who could so seamlessly put away that pass that Sutton sent his way. He was also positioned perfectly. Great patience and moves to set up Eberle on what is effectively that same angled-pass play we've probably already seen 20 times this year. He did give the puck away a couple times, either in close or on passes and that is something he needs to watch out for. Teams are reading him in the defensive zone.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Jones
- The worst thing Ryan Jones did tonight was constantly get in the way. He disrupted a number of rush chances and offensive sequences by being out of position and generally awkward. Aside from that he was okay and did some nice things on the PK and in the neutral zone. I heard a lot of glowing review of Magnus after the game and I couldn't disagree more. While he tried some new offensive skating lines...he showed zero agility or ability to get around offensive forwards and create offensive space. He is still drifting WAY too far out of the play to cheat for defence, and this is costing him gap control so that he's then out of position and has to skate a bunch. For a positionally sound guy, he's on another planet right now and having to play nothing but catchup hockey. He got some shots away...but all weak and right at the chest. He's not doing any of the things that show up in his best games and that's very perplexing. It probably doesn't help that he's playing with Eric Belanger...who has apparently fallen down an elevator shaft. Watching Belanger early, he struggled offensively but made a bunch of subtle defensive things happen. He was bad in every zone tonight, never knew where he had to be and gave the puck away a bunch. Totally incomprehensible. He needs to see a sports psych or something because he's forgotten how to play the game and his disease is infecting other players.
Hordichuk-O'Marra-Petrell
- Good fight from Hordichuk and took/gave some solid hits in limited icetime. O'Marra looked slow and just okay positionally but also hit some people. Petrell was pretty good. I'd have considered moving him up the lineup at some point tonight.
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So, there we are. Six game homestand is not off to a good start. No good.
*ADVISORY* There will not likely be a game report on Friday as I am headed to the airport very very early Saturday morning and will be in Maui until the 11th. Sorry guys but the beach beckons!
VS.
MINNESOTA 3
In a freaking shootout...
--------------------
Driving home in the car tonight, I got to thinking that either I must be losing my brain, or the commentators were watching some other Edmonton versus Minnesota game that I was not aware of. There will always be disagreements...usually over nuanced things, but tonight there were some things said post-game that made me turn the radio off several times and wonder what exactly was going on.
I'd rate this as the third straight game that we simply placed in a sealed envelope and handed to the other team to open when they saw fit. The Oilers controlled more of the play in the first two periods than they did against Nashville, and did some really excellent things. It is interesting that someone remarked that they had been pushed around in the second period. I LOVED the way they finished the second and began the third in terms of being physical. They managed to knock two Wild players out of the game and sent a number more flying all over the ice. The first two periods were adding up to be one of our more physical games...then the tap was turned off for some reason.
I have a lot of strategy criticism to offer regarding tonight's game. It began with the puck drop...I would have started Hordichuk and got right down to business. I also wouldn't have effectively sat him down on the bench for the second straight game. Either find an offensive player you can dress, or play the guy. Late in the game, Renney had just sent out the Hopkins and Belanger lines, then with about 3 minutes to go, inexplicably double-shifted Hopkins' line despite the fact that the Horcoff unit had just had a strong shift. They didn't accomplish much of anything and looked quite tired. There was no reason to rush them back out when they were one Horcoff shift from a fully-rested shift with the game on the line. Then, Renney also played the third line AGAIN before the game was over. Moronic...In overtime, Jordan Eberle (who was our best forward AGAIN) didn't get a shift until the fourth line change (and who runs FOUR units in OT anyway???) and played with Ryan Jones...I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How he isn't out there with #93 right off the hop is beyond me. He only really got the one shift and wasn't able to muster anything. I'd argue with the SO choices on principle, but the fact is with the way the shooters performed we should have won anyway.
Even though these bad choices seem concentrated, they seemed to play a decent part in costing us the game. You should know that Kelly Buchberger was on the bench tonight and seemed to be very involved in all this, so I'm thinking it might be on him and not Renney, which would not surprise me as he's not exactly the smartest man they could have making decisions at that point. Either way, this is two home games in a row where the coaching staff has allowed their team to get stale as the game went on, despite two or three distinct rallying opportunities, and some of the blame must be laid at their feet.
As for the Wild, I remain incredibly unimpressed. They don't seem to do much of anything well other than tend goal and despite a whack of offensive talent they are not a dangerous hockey club for most of the game. It's very strange to watch. I was utterly gleeful watching Clutterbuck stagger around and the Oilers continue to push him around and ultimately force him to leave. It is so utterly satisfying to punish a guy who plays the game in such a wrong way. I still find it inexplicable that the referees call any penalties on his BS dives, as in the 1980s or early 90s, not only would these pathetic attempts to draw a call be ignored, he probably would have been sent off because he'd pissed off the ref. This kind of policing of dishonorable hockey players needs to be brought back. These guys deserve zero protection and should be punished for how they mock the game.
------------
Khabibulin
- During regulation and OT he was quite solid. The Brodziak goal looked bad, but I'm not sure you can really hang it on him. What you can hang on him is the difference between the SO win and loss. Koivu's goal was fairly good (although I'm still weirded out that #35 stretched when he had time to slide across), but the other three were pathetic. There's no excuse for the horrible leg-stick positioning on the Bouchard and especially Brodziak goals, and he had Heatley dead and still managed to screw it up. Not a good performance when your teammates get you some SO goals for sure.
Whitney
- He's really not the same guy at the moment. Just like last game, he's got no offensive presence in terms of taking good shots or making passes down low. He's standing at funny angles all over the ice and is not positioning himself well. Lastly and worstly, I counted nearly ten times tonight where he went into the corner and either lost the battle for an easily winnable puck or gave the puck away. That's unacceptable for a rookie...much less the guy who should be at worst our #2 defenceman even with all the rust. Loved what he managed to do to Clutterbuck and hope it was intentional. Very Souray-style thing to do and came at just the right time.
Petry
- First of all, I really liked that he stepped up his physical game. He made a number of strong hits where I actually had to verify again that it was indeed #58 making the connection. On the other hand, his positional game suffered and he was often forced to chase rather than employ his smooth skating game and also didn't make a lot of very nice passes. Very hit and miss from Jeff tonight.
Sutton
- Andy Sutton had the 2 nicest passes of the first, springing Ales Hemsky for a near-breakaway and hitting Hopkins with a lazer to set up our first goal. I don't know what they did with the real Andy Sutton but they can keep him. While Sutton's defensive play seemed pretty solid, the two plays that stood out for me were the massive hit he took behind our net (which should have resulted in a charging penalty) and a really stupid penalty he took in front of the Wild net when he (albeit fairly gently) crosschecked a Wild player to the ice. Such a weird game, but better than running Peckham-Teubert.
Peckham
- I don't know what it is about being down to 3 players that brings out the best in Theo, but once again he was excellent especially late in OT after Smyth's penalty. There were times tonight where got caught standing still and watching the puck, but generally he was okay. I'd still have played Teubert instead.
Smid
- Great job on Clutterbuck before and after Whitney got the kill-shot in on him. JUST missed a huge shot at him just before he left the game. Defensively he was strong but what else is new. He also dropped down and got a couple decent offensive chances again which is always good to see. Also great on the late PK in OT.
Gilbert
- Ho hum, another excellent game.
Gagner-Horcoff-Hemsky
- Okay, here's where this will probably get weird. I heard a lot of praise of Gagner tonight and some of it was absolutely effusive. I didn't see that from Sam at all. He certainly wasn't bad, but the guy couldn't get a decent shot off to save his life. Despite set ups from both 83 and 10, Sam was slow on the trigger and if he did get the puck away everything was either chest or wide. That's not a solid performance. He was also very hesitant when the puck wasn't on his stick, including on a rebound play set up by Hemsky in the third where he failed to score only because he stopped skating instead of getting to the area he needed to be in. Sam needs to be a bunch better than this in the offensive and offensive-neutral zones if he wants to be anything near a top six guy. I'm a fan, but this was far from a great night from him. Ales I found to be fairly average. He set up a decent amount of chances but didn't really drive much of the play himself and is currently struggling to get his patented drag-shot through defenders. I've never seen his shot blocked so many times as lately. If there are goat horns for this line tonight though, they have to go to Horcoff. He lost a ton of key draws tonight, thanks to the insane mentality of attempting the exact same approach even though he was getting beat cleanly every time. You have to trying something different...anything...when that starts happening. He did not. Minnesota's second goal sequence started because of an odd hesitation and failure by Horcoff to pick up his man at the blue line. He also had a number of sequences where he simply couldn't get the puck out of his own zone and had to have a linemate bail him out. Not to mention ANOTHER breakaway miss due to a poor shooting choice. Some of the issues weren't his fault entirely...for instance Gagner's bad positioning was requiring Horcoff to set up higher in the offensive zone to a point where he couldn't effectively connect on Hemsky's one-time passes, but #10 needs to recognize that and adjust rather than just plugging away. 10 and 83 need Hall back badly. He was the perfect linemate for them.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- This was one of Smyth's weaker games. He lost of lot of pucks in the corners for him, didn't really beat anyone with the puck, and looked visibly tired compared to Eberle and Hopkins. Some of this is on the coaching staff for overplaying him, but Smyth also has to be able to reach deep in games like this and help to gut out a win. Eberle as noted was once again the Oilers' best forward, scoring with what may very well be the best backhand in the NHL from his office and helping to set up another goal as well. I love that he takes winning and losing so personally and is so driven to getting the job done. He always demands more of himself. He had a few other chances and was just really good out there. Hopkins was a little less noticeable, but there are very few guys who could so seamlessly put away that pass that Sutton sent his way. He was also positioned perfectly. Great patience and moves to set up Eberle on what is effectively that same angled-pass play we've probably already seen 20 times this year. He did give the puck away a couple times, either in close or on passes and that is something he needs to watch out for. Teams are reading him in the defensive zone.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Jones
- The worst thing Ryan Jones did tonight was constantly get in the way. He disrupted a number of rush chances and offensive sequences by being out of position and generally awkward. Aside from that he was okay and did some nice things on the PK and in the neutral zone. I heard a lot of glowing review of Magnus after the game and I couldn't disagree more. While he tried some new offensive skating lines...he showed zero agility or ability to get around offensive forwards and create offensive space. He is still drifting WAY too far out of the play to cheat for defence, and this is costing him gap control so that he's then out of position and has to skate a bunch. For a positionally sound guy, he's on another planet right now and having to play nothing but catchup hockey. He got some shots away...but all weak and right at the chest. He's not doing any of the things that show up in his best games and that's very perplexing. It probably doesn't help that he's playing with Eric Belanger...who has apparently fallen down an elevator shaft. Watching Belanger early, he struggled offensively but made a bunch of subtle defensive things happen. He was bad in every zone tonight, never knew where he had to be and gave the puck away a bunch. Totally incomprehensible. He needs to see a sports psych or something because he's forgotten how to play the game and his disease is infecting other players.
Hordichuk-O'Marra-Petrell
- Good fight from Hordichuk and took/gave some solid hits in limited icetime. O'Marra looked slow and just okay positionally but also hit some people. Petrell was pretty good. I'd have considered moving him up the lineup at some point tonight.
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So, there we are. Six game homestand is not off to a good start. No good.
*ADVISORY* There will not likely be a game report on Friday as I am headed to the airport very very early Saturday morning and will be in Maui until the 11th. Sorry guys but the beach beckons!
11/28/11
LMHF Report - Game #11
EDMONTON 1
VS.
NASHVILLE 2
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So that's two very frustrating games in a row for me. Obviously the one on TV was a little harder to take, but this one of course is an evening and a live event so it is always worse when a game like this happens. A lot of people are just going to declare that the Oilers played badly tonight...they did not. The game could be broken up into two rather clear halves. Pre-Major and post-major. This picture/time may be approximate as it also has to do when #35 went on a tear and ripped off a bunch of world class saves all in a row.
Before the penalty, we were playing a pretty solid game. The chances were coming reasonably frequently and it really looked like we'd win. 14 was going strong along with his linemates, Hemsky and Horcoff were tugging along a struggling Paajarvi, and Gagner looked to have found some of his stride along with Jones (who was having one of his best games as he often does against Nashville) and Belanger. Things looked really good in terms of attacking and we were generally keeping Nashville to the fringes despite being outshot. Our D were playing an aggressive but simple game. It was really looking like the recipe for a win.
Then Ryan Jones delivers a clean, solid, beautiful hit in return for the BS that Tootoo is busy perpetrating and it all goes down the tubes for some reason. We got that 5 minute major for bodychecking, but it specifically didn't hurt too much. This was because our continued aggressive play combined with some ref-guilt resulted in multiple penalties to the Predators. We couldn't take advantage of the less than 5-on-5 action and indeed our goaltender put on a display the likes of which you might see once a year, with a sequence of saves that were truly sublime.
I figured this series of events would simply boost our chances; especially after Tootoo took another penalty. For whatever reason we were suddenly useless. Every puck was just out of reach. Nearly every player overskated their check constantly. The puck was a hand grenade. It had nothing to do with getting shots...they were forcing absolutely everything from passes to possession to shots to dekes. It was just ugly. I'm sure some of this was the ice, but we also won 9-2 on that ice so that can't be all of it. I don't know whether we were suddenly tired and completely out of gas or whether we got completely off our game plan or what. It was just ugly after that. Despite some intermittent pressure, we never really contended for the game again. All the pop was gone. It's sad to see games like that because one individual effort could have taken it. One rush (we totally stopped rushing, btw. It was all dump and not much chase which DOES NOT WORK FOR US), one tip, one great shot....we had none of that left for whatever reason. It was very perplexing.
I'm not saying the game was in hand, but we were building a win for a decent part of this game. There's a comfort level there on most nights, which I say in the positive because it means we know we always have a chance.
Nashville didn't look good at all, save for a couple strong spurts and Weber/Suter. They just aren't very talented. Their goalie looked to have gotten hurt in the third and I'm fairly confident that if we could have tested his ability to go side-to-side we would have scored easily, but we just couldn't manage it.
I have to criticize Renney's use of the 4th line tonight. Hordichuk made some mistakes early, including having a man WIDE WIDE WIDE open in front and missing him because he couldn't be bothered to pick his head up and look, but #16 should have been out there in the second to cause some NSH player some grief. Instead...he comes out when we're losing in the third...NO.
I know we're going to lose games like this because we're far from a complete team as yet, but it is ones like these that make me angriest in many ways because they are there for the taking and we just give them away.
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Khabibulin
- He was all-world tonight. No doubt. At least 10 utterly beautiful saves and boy was he focused. He also prevented multiple scoring chances by positioning aggressively, pokechecking and/or stick lifting a couple guys and everything else. He was on tonight. His flurry of saves in the second period should have been more than enough to spur this team on to victory, but it was for naught. I hope he's not discouraged after this sublime effort.
Whitney
- While he played fairly decently, you can really tell he's not all there. He struggled at the opposition blue especially and didn't have any of the offensive game in him that we're used to seeing. I can specfically recall when he joined a rush and got the puck in the slot but instead of attempting a minor drag and shoot that I'm sure he would have last year, he made a low percentage and low quality pass to Horcoff. The puck may have still gone in anyway after caroming over to Hemsky and resulting in a pile-up, but Whitney should have finished that play and showed no interest. Come to think of it, he didn't seem to be patrolling his own zone with much ferocity either. Disappointing effort from #6.
Petry
- I don't recall any particularly spectacular plays, but he had some strong moments moving and controlling the puck. I didn't see any defensive lapses from him tonight really, which is always a positive. I'm still not sure he's getting the rushes started as well as he needs to, and this was more evident in the second half of the game.
Peckham
- There was a play in the third where Theo had a Predator lined up inside the blue line all the way from the bench. Theo of last year would have clobbered that guy and jumped back into the play...Theo of today backed off the hit and then got himself out of position somehow as well. Didn't move the puck well enough, didn't cream anyone and took that goofy penalty on Tootoo (which if he was having a great game would have been worth it just to make him look like the moron he is). Not a strong effort.
Teubert
- He was really strong in the first half; aggressive, physical and solid on the puck. In the second half, he was too aggressive, missed his checks, bumbled the puck and created odd-man rushes in the wrong direction. I suppose to some degree that's a rookie playing with a struggling young partner, but he still has to be better than he was as the game went on. Still like his trajectory and his chances to be a factor for this team in the near future, but he can't have many more nights like tonight without getting sent to OKC.
Gilbert and Smid
- Might as well group these guys together. They were both pretty good. I loved Gilbert stepping up to make a couple nice hits. Smid could have been more physical but I understand that he's got to much minute-responsibility to be laying random beatings on people in scrums around the net. In some ways that is unfortunate but at that is because he's good.
Petrell-Lander-Hordichuk
- As I alluded to earlier, #16 had a bit of an off game. He missed that pass, missed some hits and didn't get Nashville off their game in any meaningful way. He also didn't get a chance to do so in the second period, but we can only really judge his on-ice play. #37 and #57 played pretty solid games, each both giving and taking some bumps as well as generating a couple of decent chances. They weren't really given much chance to influence the game, but they did what they could.
Jones-Belanger-Gagner
- Belanger played bad enough that at one point he got taken out for Lander. He really couldn't find any offensive flow or positioning and bobbled the puck or made bad passes on a number of occasions. Usually this is compensated for by strong defensive play and staying high in the offensive zone to get the puck back to his linemates but I didn't see that tonight. Jones came out like crazy, winning races, landing hits and generating offence. The first half was an excellent effort. I really didn't notice him after the five minute major for whatever reason. I don't know if he backed off or what, but the effectiveness and the jump that was carrying his line and giving Gagner room to work were gone. Sam certainly played one of his strong games despite that fact that his senseless giveaway and the subsequent NSH goal will probably be what he is remembered for. He got to the net with the puck strongly, made some excellent passes and dekes, chose well in terms of when not to shoot and showed a lot of speed. What's still missing? He's got zero finish right now. Sam of a couple years ago scores 2 tonight easily.
Paajarvi-Horcoff-Hemsky
- I suspect there will be some negative reviews of Hemsky and Horcoff after tonight but I don't buy it. They played mostly strong games and put forth some serious effort to try and get another goal or two. Hemsky did more skating tonight than I've seen in quite some time and set some excellent plays up. Horcoff hit the holes, got open for shots and supported well. There was a problem though, as that #4 guy wasn't patrolling their left wing. I suspect that with him there, at least 2 goals come out of this line tonight. I know there were some giveaways and less than ideal plays, but many were the result of #10 and #83 having to do way too much of the skating and play both wings. It is really too bad Horcoff went weak-backhand on his breakaway...he had Lindback beat through speed and only needed to take a strong forehand shot. This was not exactly the seizure of opportunity that fans of #91 (and I count myself among them, but not as high on his offence as others) were hoping for. He was near-horrible in fact. He didn't get past anyone despite receiving several excellent passes in quality areas (he either had speed and backed off or never turned on the jets depending on the situation). He failed in close and lost the puck several times and also failed to get shots off when in the open. I maintain that part of this is because his stick is too long to make intricate plays with the puck or be a strong offensive player in close quarters. He can't get by on flying wide and making weak attempts at the net for long. You give #91 another chance next game, after clearly speaking to him about skating in different lanes, playing assertively, hitting people (he gave up at least 5 good hitting chances and 2 specifically resulted in ineffective D) and understanding that he's out there to produce offence. If he can't figure that out in half a game, he's back on the 4th. It is really a shame that both Linus and Teemu are hurt in OKC. I don' t think Magnus is actually ready for this. Too many fundamentals to work on.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- Eberle was the guy who nearly dragged us kicking and screaming to victory tonight. In addition to his goal, which was an excellent little play based on patience and shot choice, he generated several other excellent chances and just barely missed. He was the one constant and certainly could have gotten the job done given a couple small changes. Hopkins was just okay...he had one particularly bad shift in the second period where he got caught out too long, turned the puck over and nearly caused a goal. The thing is, he also managed to land a nice hit and make a goal-saving defensive play on the same shift. There wasn't a ton of fireworks from #93 tonight but he was fine. Smyth started strong but appeared to get very tired as the game went on. I can understand why, but this is something we'll really have to watch.
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I think the important thing to take from tonight's game was the lack of discipline and distraction that shaped the play in the back half of this one. It isn't that we didn't have the talent, weren't prepared or didn't have the chances...we just got WAY off the plan and no one dragged us back there.
VS.
NASHVILLE 2
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So that's two very frustrating games in a row for me. Obviously the one on TV was a little harder to take, but this one of course is an evening and a live event so it is always worse when a game like this happens. A lot of people are just going to declare that the Oilers played badly tonight...they did not. The game could be broken up into two rather clear halves. Pre-Major and post-major. This picture/time may be approximate as it also has to do when #35 went on a tear and ripped off a bunch of world class saves all in a row.
Before the penalty, we were playing a pretty solid game. The chances were coming reasonably frequently and it really looked like we'd win. 14 was going strong along with his linemates, Hemsky and Horcoff were tugging along a struggling Paajarvi, and Gagner looked to have found some of his stride along with Jones (who was having one of his best games as he often does against Nashville) and Belanger. Things looked really good in terms of attacking and we were generally keeping Nashville to the fringes despite being outshot. Our D were playing an aggressive but simple game. It was really looking like the recipe for a win.
Then Ryan Jones delivers a clean, solid, beautiful hit in return for the BS that Tootoo is busy perpetrating and it all goes down the tubes for some reason. We got that 5 minute major for bodychecking, but it specifically didn't hurt too much. This was because our continued aggressive play combined with some ref-guilt resulted in multiple penalties to the Predators. We couldn't take advantage of the less than 5-on-5 action and indeed our goaltender put on a display the likes of which you might see once a year, with a sequence of saves that were truly sublime.
I figured this series of events would simply boost our chances; especially after Tootoo took another penalty. For whatever reason we were suddenly useless. Every puck was just out of reach. Nearly every player overskated their check constantly. The puck was a hand grenade. It had nothing to do with getting shots...they were forcing absolutely everything from passes to possession to shots to dekes. It was just ugly. I'm sure some of this was the ice, but we also won 9-2 on that ice so that can't be all of it. I don't know whether we were suddenly tired and completely out of gas or whether we got completely off our game plan or what. It was just ugly after that. Despite some intermittent pressure, we never really contended for the game again. All the pop was gone. It's sad to see games like that because one individual effort could have taken it. One rush (we totally stopped rushing, btw. It was all dump and not much chase which DOES NOT WORK FOR US), one tip, one great shot....we had none of that left for whatever reason. It was very perplexing.
I'm not saying the game was in hand, but we were building a win for a decent part of this game. There's a comfort level there on most nights, which I say in the positive because it means we know we always have a chance.
Nashville didn't look good at all, save for a couple strong spurts and Weber/Suter. They just aren't very talented. Their goalie looked to have gotten hurt in the third and I'm fairly confident that if we could have tested his ability to go side-to-side we would have scored easily, but we just couldn't manage it.
I have to criticize Renney's use of the 4th line tonight. Hordichuk made some mistakes early, including having a man WIDE WIDE WIDE open in front and missing him because he couldn't be bothered to pick his head up and look, but #16 should have been out there in the second to cause some NSH player some grief. Instead...he comes out when we're losing in the third...NO.
I know we're going to lose games like this because we're far from a complete team as yet, but it is ones like these that make me angriest in many ways because they are there for the taking and we just give them away.
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Khabibulin
- He was all-world tonight. No doubt. At least 10 utterly beautiful saves and boy was he focused. He also prevented multiple scoring chances by positioning aggressively, pokechecking and/or stick lifting a couple guys and everything else. He was on tonight. His flurry of saves in the second period should have been more than enough to spur this team on to victory, but it was for naught. I hope he's not discouraged after this sublime effort.
Whitney
- While he played fairly decently, you can really tell he's not all there. He struggled at the opposition blue especially and didn't have any of the offensive game in him that we're used to seeing. I can specfically recall when he joined a rush and got the puck in the slot but instead of attempting a minor drag and shoot that I'm sure he would have last year, he made a low percentage and low quality pass to Horcoff. The puck may have still gone in anyway after caroming over to Hemsky and resulting in a pile-up, but Whitney should have finished that play and showed no interest. Come to think of it, he didn't seem to be patrolling his own zone with much ferocity either. Disappointing effort from #6.
Petry
- I don't recall any particularly spectacular plays, but he had some strong moments moving and controlling the puck. I didn't see any defensive lapses from him tonight really, which is always a positive. I'm still not sure he's getting the rushes started as well as he needs to, and this was more evident in the second half of the game.
Peckham
- There was a play in the third where Theo had a Predator lined up inside the blue line all the way from the bench. Theo of last year would have clobbered that guy and jumped back into the play...Theo of today backed off the hit and then got himself out of position somehow as well. Didn't move the puck well enough, didn't cream anyone and took that goofy penalty on Tootoo (which if he was having a great game would have been worth it just to make him look like the moron he is). Not a strong effort.
Teubert
- He was really strong in the first half; aggressive, physical and solid on the puck. In the second half, he was too aggressive, missed his checks, bumbled the puck and created odd-man rushes in the wrong direction. I suppose to some degree that's a rookie playing with a struggling young partner, but he still has to be better than he was as the game went on. Still like his trajectory and his chances to be a factor for this team in the near future, but he can't have many more nights like tonight without getting sent to OKC.
Gilbert and Smid
- Might as well group these guys together. They were both pretty good. I loved Gilbert stepping up to make a couple nice hits. Smid could have been more physical but I understand that he's got to much minute-responsibility to be laying random beatings on people in scrums around the net. In some ways that is unfortunate but at that is because he's good.
Petrell-Lander-Hordichuk
- As I alluded to earlier, #16 had a bit of an off game. He missed that pass, missed some hits and didn't get Nashville off their game in any meaningful way. He also didn't get a chance to do so in the second period, but we can only really judge his on-ice play. #37 and #57 played pretty solid games, each both giving and taking some bumps as well as generating a couple of decent chances. They weren't really given much chance to influence the game, but they did what they could.
Jones-Belanger-Gagner
- Belanger played bad enough that at one point he got taken out for Lander. He really couldn't find any offensive flow or positioning and bobbled the puck or made bad passes on a number of occasions. Usually this is compensated for by strong defensive play and staying high in the offensive zone to get the puck back to his linemates but I didn't see that tonight. Jones came out like crazy, winning races, landing hits and generating offence. The first half was an excellent effort. I really didn't notice him after the five minute major for whatever reason. I don't know if he backed off or what, but the effectiveness and the jump that was carrying his line and giving Gagner room to work were gone. Sam certainly played one of his strong games despite that fact that his senseless giveaway and the subsequent NSH goal will probably be what he is remembered for. He got to the net with the puck strongly, made some excellent passes and dekes, chose well in terms of when not to shoot and showed a lot of speed. What's still missing? He's got zero finish right now. Sam of a couple years ago scores 2 tonight easily.
Paajarvi-Horcoff-Hemsky
- I suspect there will be some negative reviews of Hemsky and Horcoff after tonight but I don't buy it. They played mostly strong games and put forth some serious effort to try and get another goal or two. Hemsky did more skating tonight than I've seen in quite some time and set some excellent plays up. Horcoff hit the holes, got open for shots and supported well. There was a problem though, as that #4 guy wasn't patrolling their left wing. I suspect that with him there, at least 2 goals come out of this line tonight. I know there were some giveaways and less than ideal plays, but many were the result of #10 and #83 having to do way too much of the skating and play both wings. It is really too bad Horcoff went weak-backhand on his breakaway...he had Lindback beat through speed and only needed to take a strong forehand shot. This was not exactly the seizure of opportunity that fans of #91 (and I count myself among them, but not as high on his offence as others) were hoping for. He was near-horrible in fact. He didn't get past anyone despite receiving several excellent passes in quality areas (he either had speed and backed off or never turned on the jets depending on the situation). He failed in close and lost the puck several times and also failed to get shots off when in the open. I maintain that part of this is because his stick is too long to make intricate plays with the puck or be a strong offensive player in close quarters. He can't get by on flying wide and making weak attempts at the net for long. You give #91 another chance next game, after clearly speaking to him about skating in different lanes, playing assertively, hitting people (he gave up at least 5 good hitting chances and 2 specifically resulted in ineffective D) and understanding that he's out there to produce offence. If he can't figure that out in half a game, he's back on the 4th. It is really a shame that both Linus and Teemu are hurt in OKC. I don' t think Magnus is actually ready for this. Too many fundamentals to work on.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- Eberle was the guy who nearly dragged us kicking and screaming to victory tonight. In addition to his goal, which was an excellent little play based on patience and shot choice, he generated several other excellent chances and just barely missed. He was the one constant and certainly could have gotten the job done given a couple small changes. Hopkins was just okay...he had one particularly bad shift in the second period where he got caught out too long, turned the puck over and nearly caused a goal. The thing is, he also managed to land a nice hit and make a goal-saving defensive play on the same shift. There wasn't a ton of fireworks from #93 tonight but he was fine. Smyth started strong but appeared to get very tired as the game went on. I can understand why, but this is something we'll really have to watch.
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I think the important thing to take from tonight's game was the lack of discipline and distraction that shaped the play in the back half of this one. It isn't that we didn't have the talent, weren't prepared or didn't have the chances...we just got WAY off the plan and no one dragged us back there.
11/20/11
LMHF Report - Game #10
EDMONTON 9
VS.
CHICAGO 2
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I sat down last night to write this post at almost 3am after a long night of fun and celebrating. I honestly don't think I could have gone to sleep before then, as in some ways the smile from that game is still carrying me today. It was an incredible game and something I really didn't expect or see coming any time soon. I had really low expectations going into this one and was of course blown away.
There was a really cool moment in the third...while everyone was caught up in the moment and chanting "We Want TEN!", I had a flashback...we were playing Buffalo in January of 2009 and getting waxed...when Buffalo got to 9, a similar chant went up as a jeer and very sad cry about how our team was doing at the time. It's been a long long road since the summer of 2006, but I suspect the moments like last night, where the shoe is on the other foot and we're the crowd giving its team a standing ovation during almost the entire last minute of the game, will become more frequent as we go along. There was also a time when the Hawks waxed us in a very similar fashion to what happened last night and to give them a bit of their own back was very satisfying. I imagine the Hawks must be thinking it is about 1986 and Alberta is a crappy, crappy place to go for two games.
While there were a couple bad goals allowed by Chicago tonight, so much of the difference between a game like last night and the Ottawa game comes in the little races and puck wins along with making sure you take a properly placed shot. We won so many little races or reaches for the puck it was unbelievable. We outskated the Hawks all night long, which is not an easy thing to do. Instead of squandering early chances, we put the puck where it needed to go. We chose proper skating lines and made a ton of tape-to-tape passes. I think the most important thing we did though was that the forwards to a man all came back fairly deep into their own end all night long. They knew the defence were going to be in tough, short-staffed and facing a strong opponent. They knew that the past few games had seen a lot of struggles in terms of getting the puck moving. They also seemed to know that their only chance at winning this was going to be to score a lot of goals and either run away with it or trade goal for goal and come out ahead at the very end in a high scoring affair. Thankfully for all of our blood pressures, the second scenario never came to be.
I have to give a decent amount of credit tonight to Tom Renney and his line combinations up front. Though it appeared they were only drawn up the day prior to the game, it became clear immediately that the Hawks would have to deal with three fairly effective lines. Lately we'd been down to only two of those lines and that was killing us on nights when one of them wasn't going. The combination of Lander, Jones and Horcoff certainly didn't run around making a bunch of things happen offensively, they were able to control the puck, play smart positional hockey and generate some rushes. I imagine this line came into being because of Lander's strong game the other night, and it changed the matchups pretty drastically for us. While this line could handle some defensive responsibility, the Hawks had no answer for either 94-93-14 or 4-89-83. When these lines were re-combined for powerplays in more familiar combinations from this season, nothing much changed. There was a flow to just about all the combinations last night.
I hope everyone got to enjoy that game last night. If you didn't, find someone who PVR'ed it. I already know that LMHF#2 did and I'll be heading over there sometime soon to watch it again. Being there was pretty special. There was an atmosphere in the building that is unique to a Saturday game against a historic team that also happens to be very good right now; and one that has had to deal with a lot of disappointment lately. It received a heavy dose of joy, fun and craziness last night. Our boys also didn't let up. Early on, the goals fired them up and the referees made them angry. After that they were all over both the Hawks and the refs for the rest of the evening. There was an intensity that I haven't seen in a long, long time and it was great to watch.
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Hall-Gagner-Hemsky
- Well, I think the rust is off for Ales. As soon as you saw him skating with true authority through multiple Chicago defenders, dodging a well-positioned hit and driving to the net with no option but to score, you knew he had returned. That goal was big. Converting the first chance of a game really sets a tone; and when it is done in that way by one of the less-hyped players (let's face it, Chicago's whiteboard was probably all 93, 4, 14 and possibly a little 94) meant that Chicago had to be ready for multiple sources of offence on the night. Even though most of what Hall generated subsequently was driven by the PP and the other kids/Horcoff, I enjoyed watching Hall and Hemsky play because of their ability to use the "climb the ladder" strategy to advance up the ice with strong lateral movement. If Hall can learn to pass and touch pass in the same way Hemsky does, these two will be silly good together. Even already, they play in convenient position when relevant to each other. If Hall's driving, Hemsky's high up and open for the pass. If Hemsky's working his way up the RW as is his trademark, Hall swoops into the slot. When Hemsky gets the puck at his blue, there's Hall on a streak down the LW. I could go on. It was beautiful, fast, ruthless hockey. Hemsky was strong, though not perfect the rest of the game. He made a whack of solid passes and mainly found his comfort zone with the puck. Hall got locked in the zone very early in this one. You could see it on his face; when he scored his first two goals he barely even seemed to smile. He was on a mission in this one and wouldn't be denied. People think Hall is a rush scorer...he isn't. Not a wide rush scorer anyway. Guys like Hemsky do that. Hall is at his best when he uses his speed to be positionally strong and create offensive levels that the other team has to deal with. Hall's office is right beside the net where he scored two of his goals tonight. That's another reason that Hemsky playing with him works well. He's got such and excellent wrister when standing still and needs to specifically set it up more. His third goal was a thing of beauty. He was still locked in and motivated, steamed into the O-zone and delayed just long enough that he could go perfectly through the D's legs and shelf on Emery. Just outstanding and what a way to net a hat trick. Later he got sent in on a rush and nearly scored (I couldn't tell if Hemsky whacked the puck after Emery went down or not) and we were robbed of our 10th goal by an official who didn't realize Hall was just taking a mini-break beside the net after barreling into it head-fist. Apparently the stripes don't realize they're dealing with Gumby. That also robbed Ales of a multi-point game, which is really crummy. When it comes to Sam I'm somewhat conflicted. He clearly did not have a very good game in terms of what he did with the puck. There were a lot of iffy passes and the shots he took weren't particularly good. Both Hall and Hemsky started feeding him the puck to try and give him a chance to get something going and get a point or two but there was nothing doing. I liked how he moved through the neutral zone with speed, but he couldn't make anyone miss and couldn't take an elite-level shot. It has become clear that Gagner is at least 1-2 steps below our top level talents in terms of being able to create and force offence upon the other team. The thing is, he did clearly do a decent job of supporting what was a strong line. I'd give him a chance for a couple more games, but it will be important to watch closely in terms of what he's actually accomplishing.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- Two of the best games I've seen Oilers forwards play live from two of the players on this line last night. It was incredible. I remain adamant that Eberle should have been a star, and quite possibly first star because he made a ton of things happen early. The play he made to hold off the Chicago defenders, turn the corner and hit Smyth with the slickest of little passes was utterly sublime. It also seemingly came out of nowhere. The guy just makes things happen. Then he and Hopkins started making music...and it was over. The thing about the all-kid line is that much of the time Eberle gets overshadowed in Hall's attempts to rush and Hopkins deferral to #4. #14 plays the game at about the same speed as Hopkins, and in the same amazingly smart way. Not only was the finish on Eberle's goal an absolutely perfect shot, it was generated by a brilliant skate past the opposition and no-look pass by Hopkins, which was generated by some lovely transition play in the neutral zone. It was like watching a couple of race horses get loose and just GO. Then they combined for the 5-on-3 Gilbert goal with their behind the net play. I pitied the Chicago defence at that stage. Teams are going to have to put that on video and attempt to break it down, because it's brilliant. With Hall heading to the front of the net, and Whitney as a better shooting option once he gets back, that 5-on-3 will be SCARY. They can cut out front, hit a defenceman, or hit Hall in the slot. So long as they keep drawing penalties (and their skill says they will), this is going to be a challenge for the rest of the league. Lost in much of the euphoria was another strong game from Smyth. He played more of the support role that I spoke about in terms of Gagner, but did it at a higher level with very few mistakes. He was in his office for his goal and generally supported either offensively or defensively for the rest of the game. You could see he was having fun. As for Hopkins, what can you say really. He's a superstar. Every single time he got the puck he made something happen. Opposing players cannot adjust to him. Even in games where the other kids are shut down, he always makes something happen. In games like last night, he notches 5 assists (and had one taken away apparently or it would have been 6) and makes it look easy. He just gets around people and generates speed out of nothing like on his rush to set up Eberle. His passes are flat and perfect. There was a sequence in the third where the Oilers were going for their 10th and Eberle, Hall and Hopkins all got going...I kept yelling for Hopkins not to score because he needs assists...at that point he was 2 from the NHL record in a single game held by some guy who wore #99 whose jersey was hanging in the rafters a ways above where the play was going on. Thing is, #99 wasn't exactly subjected to video review of his assists. I suspect in 1980 the stat line would have read that #93 had 7 a's last night. That we're talking about a preposterously young and far from his peak #1 center doing these things is utterly amazing. Apparently he also has a flair for the dramatic and likes to show up huge for HNIC...no complaints here!
Lander-Horcoff-Jones
- I didn't know what to expect when I saw these guys lined up for the opening draw. I could see the appeal because if they're effective it frees the offensive guys to attack secondary lines all night long. I lost track of exactly who was matching who once the score went crazy, but I'm assuming these guys got some heavy defensive responsibility early on. Horcoff was huge in this game, keeping up with the kids on the PP and managing a goal of his own as the result of some hard work and solid positioning. He's really transitioning into an effective leader of this particular squad of guys. I've never had any problem with him being elevated to that status because he's always been one of the Oilers that even when his game wasn't very good, he said the right things and had the right attitude. In games like tonight, it's good to see that he can keep up with the offensive guys in some ways. He again, is playing a supporter role in a lot of ways, but doing it very well. He and Smyth are primary on the PK, where they are pretty much always good. Jones scored an ugly, ugly goal but I was more impressed by the fact that he did it right after taking a stick or something to the face on the shift before. He was back and driving again. Also, if you're going to put the puck on net, he did a good job of picking at least a tricky spot. In a game full of that much offensive flare, Jones' head down and skate approach doesn't exactly grab headlines, but he was positionally good enough and giving enough effort that things are fine. Lander was probably the most quiet of the guys on this line, but that was okay too. He was in the right spots, minding his check and keeping his game simple. It is quite hard to believe that he seems to have just quickly snuck by several players into a position of responsibility, but his pedigree is certainly showing in that he, even when given responsibility, doesn't seem to play bad games really.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Eager
- Honestly they didn't do much at all aside from one strong shift where they could have scored. Magnus got a strong push to try and get him some offence, but as I'm sure has been pointed out by many, all he was able to do was skate down the wing quickly. He was not back to making strong defensive stops or drawing penalties really, and thus just wasn't very effective. He needs to figure out that he needs to stop or cut laterally on some of those rushes if he ever wants to score there. I still think one of the problems for Magnus is that his stick is too long and he's not able to make quick lateral plays with it. So long as he's stuck in straight up and down mode, he'll be stuck not scoring. I could definitely take or leave Eager at this point. He avoided hits on several occasions last night and there's no excuse for that when the rest of the squad is playing such an intense game. I didn't exactly expect to have to question whether he'd play an enthusiastic game. Belanger didn't have a responsibility for much of anything last night and as such I didn't really notice him much. I'm not worried about his lack of offence to be honest, because to me he looks like the kind of guy that will go on a real streak at some point.
Gilbert-Smid
- As has been the case this season, they were our best defensive pairing even with the stats as they wound up. Gilbert made some excellent reads and was getting his shot through including his goal and the assist on Hall's second period goal. I honestly didn't see much from the defencemen last night as this game was largely about the forwards...which is amazing to say when Gilbert goes out and gets four points. Smid let Gilbert play his game, which seems to be his job pretty much every night now. Somehow in all the excitement and goal scoring, and despite Smid's strong puck moving, he was once again blanked on the board. Talk about crummy. Between the two of these guys they killed 14 minutes worth of penalties...wow.
Petry-Peckham
- What a night on the stats board from these two. It wasn't totally benign either...Theo was finally physical and moved the puck with a lot more care and attention than he has of late. When he plays like that he's useful, but early on he was still having a decent amount of difficulty. Jeff Petry showed how well he can move the puck to his forwards in a game where the forwards were getting into proper starting position. Pretty exceptional. What I hope really comes from this is that the confidence builds quickly for both of these guys.
Teubert-Chorney
- These guys had about the game I was expecting. #33 hit some people and was not quite as good as his previous appearance (likely due to the rush of arrival and the pairing) but held his own okay. I've been generally impressed with most of his efforts. Chorney was okay, but wasn't really able to contribute offensively. Hemsky found him twice with perfect chances to make something happen in the second period and both times he couldn't make it work. You're not going to get much better feeds as an offensive defenceman. He needs to deliver on those.
Khabibulin
- I thought he was decent. Chicago didn't really get a ton of great chances even though they threw a lot of shots our way. The first Chicago goal is one he certainly would have had a couple weeks ago. Our goalie situation could still be a problem yet, but I think we've found the strategic way we're supposed to attempt this winning thing. Khabibulin's job then becomes to be Fuhr and just stop one more than the next guy. I know that's easier said than done, but we appear to be able to run & gun.
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Sorry for the lateness guys, it's been a long couple days but because of the nature of the game, I still felt it was important to get written. What a game. Seriously, if you didn't get to see it, go find it. What a night. Here's to many more!
VS.
CHICAGO 2
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I sat down last night to write this post at almost 3am after a long night of fun and celebrating. I honestly don't think I could have gone to sleep before then, as in some ways the smile from that game is still carrying me today. It was an incredible game and something I really didn't expect or see coming any time soon. I had really low expectations going into this one and was of course blown away.
There was a really cool moment in the third...while everyone was caught up in the moment and chanting "We Want TEN!", I had a flashback...we were playing Buffalo in January of 2009 and getting waxed...when Buffalo got to 9, a similar chant went up as a jeer and very sad cry about how our team was doing at the time. It's been a long long road since the summer of 2006, but I suspect the moments like last night, where the shoe is on the other foot and we're the crowd giving its team a standing ovation during almost the entire last minute of the game, will become more frequent as we go along. There was also a time when the Hawks waxed us in a very similar fashion to what happened last night and to give them a bit of their own back was very satisfying. I imagine the Hawks must be thinking it is about 1986 and Alberta is a crappy, crappy place to go for two games.
While there were a couple bad goals allowed by Chicago tonight, so much of the difference between a game like last night and the Ottawa game comes in the little races and puck wins along with making sure you take a properly placed shot. We won so many little races or reaches for the puck it was unbelievable. We outskated the Hawks all night long, which is not an easy thing to do. Instead of squandering early chances, we put the puck where it needed to go. We chose proper skating lines and made a ton of tape-to-tape passes. I think the most important thing we did though was that the forwards to a man all came back fairly deep into their own end all night long. They knew the defence were going to be in tough, short-staffed and facing a strong opponent. They knew that the past few games had seen a lot of struggles in terms of getting the puck moving. They also seemed to know that their only chance at winning this was going to be to score a lot of goals and either run away with it or trade goal for goal and come out ahead at the very end in a high scoring affair. Thankfully for all of our blood pressures, the second scenario never came to be.
I have to give a decent amount of credit tonight to Tom Renney and his line combinations up front. Though it appeared they were only drawn up the day prior to the game, it became clear immediately that the Hawks would have to deal with three fairly effective lines. Lately we'd been down to only two of those lines and that was killing us on nights when one of them wasn't going. The combination of Lander, Jones and Horcoff certainly didn't run around making a bunch of things happen offensively, they were able to control the puck, play smart positional hockey and generate some rushes. I imagine this line came into being because of Lander's strong game the other night, and it changed the matchups pretty drastically for us. While this line could handle some defensive responsibility, the Hawks had no answer for either 94-93-14 or 4-89-83. When these lines were re-combined for powerplays in more familiar combinations from this season, nothing much changed. There was a flow to just about all the combinations last night.
I hope everyone got to enjoy that game last night. If you didn't, find someone who PVR'ed it. I already know that LMHF#2 did and I'll be heading over there sometime soon to watch it again. Being there was pretty special. There was an atmosphere in the building that is unique to a Saturday game against a historic team that also happens to be very good right now; and one that has had to deal with a lot of disappointment lately. It received a heavy dose of joy, fun and craziness last night. Our boys also didn't let up. Early on, the goals fired them up and the referees made them angry. After that they were all over both the Hawks and the refs for the rest of the evening. There was an intensity that I haven't seen in a long, long time and it was great to watch.
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Hall-Gagner-Hemsky
- Well, I think the rust is off for Ales. As soon as you saw him skating with true authority through multiple Chicago defenders, dodging a well-positioned hit and driving to the net with no option but to score, you knew he had returned. That goal was big. Converting the first chance of a game really sets a tone; and when it is done in that way by one of the less-hyped players (let's face it, Chicago's whiteboard was probably all 93, 4, 14 and possibly a little 94) meant that Chicago had to be ready for multiple sources of offence on the night. Even though most of what Hall generated subsequently was driven by the PP and the other kids/Horcoff, I enjoyed watching Hall and Hemsky play because of their ability to use the "climb the ladder" strategy to advance up the ice with strong lateral movement. If Hall can learn to pass and touch pass in the same way Hemsky does, these two will be silly good together. Even already, they play in convenient position when relevant to each other. If Hall's driving, Hemsky's high up and open for the pass. If Hemsky's working his way up the RW as is his trademark, Hall swoops into the slot. When Hemsky gets the puck at his blue, there's Hall on a streak down the LW. I could go on. It was beautiful, fast, ruthless hockey. Hemsky was strong, though not perfect the rest of the game. He made a whack of solid passes and mainly found his comfort zone with the puck. Hall got locked in the zone very early in this one. You could see it on his face; when he scored his first two goals he barely even seemed to smile. He was on a mission in this one and wouldn't be denied. People think Hall is a rush scorer...he isn't. Not a wide rush scorer anyway. Guys like Hemsky do that. Hall is at his best when he uses his speed to be positionally strong and create offensive levels that the other team has to deal with. Hall's office is right beside the net where he scored two of his goals tonight. That's another reason that Hemsky playing with him works well. He's got such and excellent wrister when standing still and needs to specifically set it up more. His third goal was a thing of beauty. He was still locked in and motivated, steamed into the O-zone and delayed just long enough that he could go perfectly through the D's legs and shelf on Emery. Just outstanding and what a way to net a hat trick. Later he got sent in on a rush and nearly scored (I couldn't tell if Hemsky whacked the puck after Emery went down or not) and we were robbed of our 10th goal by an official who didn't realize Hall was just taking a mini-break beside the net after barreling into it head-fist. Apparently the stripes don't realize they're dealing with Gumby. That also robbed Ales of a multi-point game, which is really crummy. When it comes to Sam I'm somewhat conflicted. He clearly did not have a very good game in terms of what he did with the puck. There were a lot of iffy passes and the shots he took weren't particularly good. Both Hall and Hemsky started feeding him the puck to try and give him a chance to get something going and get a point or two but there was nothing doing. I liked how he moved through the neutral zone with speed, but he couldn't make anyone miss and couldn't take an elite-level shot. It has become clear that Gagner is at least 1-2 steps below our top level talents in terms of being able to create and force offence upon the other team. The thing is, he did clearly do a decent job of supporting what was a strong line. I'd give him a chance for a couple more games, but it will be important to watch closely in terms of what he's actually accomplishing.
Smyth-Hopkins-Eberle
- Two of the best games I've seen Oilers forwards play live from two of the players on this line last night. It was incredible. I remain adamant that Eberle should have been a star, and quite possibly first star because he made a ton of things happen early. The play he made to hold off the Chicago defenders, turn the corner and hit Smyth with the slickest of little passes was utterly sublime. It also seemingly came out of nowhere. The guy just makes things happen. Then he and Hopkins started making music...and it was over. The thing about the all-kid line is that much of the time Eberle gets overshadowed in Hall's attempts to rush and Hopkins deferral to #4. #14 plays the game at about the same speed as Hopkins, and in the same amazingly smart way. Not only was the finish on Eberle's goal an absolutely perfect shot, it was generated by a brilliant skate past the opposition and no-look pass by Hopkins, which was generated by some lovely transition play in the neutral zone. It was like watching a couple of race horses get loose and just GO. Then they combined for the 5-on-3 Gilbert goal with their behind the net play. I pitied the Chicago defence at that stage. Teams are going to have to put that on video and attempt to break it down, because it's brilliant. With Hall heading to the front of the net, and Whitney as a better shooting option once he gets back, that 5-on-3 will be SCARY. They can cut out front, hit a defenceman, or hit Hall in the slot. So long as they keep drawing penalties (and their skill says they will), this is going to be a challenge for the rest of the league. Lost in much of the euphoria was another strong game from Smyth. He played more of the support role that I spoke about in terms of Gagner, but did it at a higher level with very few mistakes. He was in his office for his goal and generally supported either offensively or defensively for the rest of the game. You could see he was having fun. As for Hopkins, what can you say really. He's a superstar. Every single time he got the puck he made something happen. Opposing players cannot adjust to him. Even in games where the other kids are shut down, he always makes something happen. In games like last night, he notches 5 assists (and had one taken away apparently or it would have been 6) and makes it look easy. He just gets around people and generates speed out of nothing like on his rush to set up Eberle. His passes are flat and perfect. There was a sequence in the third where the Oilers were going for their 10th and Eberle, Hall and Hopkins all got going...I kept yelling for Hopkins not to score because he needs assists...at that point he was 2 from the NHL record in a single game held by some guy who wore #99 whose jersey was hanging in the rafters a ways above where the play was going on. Thing is, #99 wasn't exactly subjected to video review of his assists. I suspect in 1980 the stat line would have read that #93 had 7 a's last night. That we're talking about a preposterously young and far from his peak #1 center doing these things is utterly amazing. Apparently he also has a flair for the dramatic and likes to show up huge for HNIC...no complaints here!
Lander-Horcoff-Jones
- I didn't know what to expect when I saw these guys lined up for the opening draw. I could see the appeal because if they're effective it frees the offensive guys to attack secondary lines all night long. I lost track of exactly who was matching who once the score went crazy, but I'm assuming these guys got some heavy defensive responsibility early on. Horcoff was huge in this game, keeping up with the kids on the PP and managing a goal of his own as the result of some hard work and solid positioning. He's really transitioning into an effective leader of this particular squad of guys. I've never had any problem with him being elevated to that status because he's always been one of the Oilers that even when his game wasn't very good, he said the right things and had the right attitude. In games like tonight, it's good to see that he can keep up with the offensive guys in some ways. He again, is playing a supporter role in a lot of ways, but doing it very well. He and Smyth are primary on the PK, where they are pretty much always good. Jones scored an ugly, ugly goal but I was more impressed by the fact that he did it right after taking a stick or something to the face on the shift before. He was back and driving again. Also, if you're going to put the puck on net, he did a good job of picking at least a tricky spot. In a game full of that much offensive flare, Jones' head down and skate approach doesn't exactly grab headlines, but he was positionally good enough and giving enough effort that things are fine. Lander was probably the most quiet of the guys on this line, but that was okay too. He was in the right spots, minding his check and keeping his game simple. It is quite hard to believe that he seems to have just quickly snuck by several players into a position of responsibility, but his pedigree is certainly showing in that he, even when given responsibility, doesn't seem to play bad games really.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Eager
- Honestly they didn't do much at all aside from one strong shift where they could have scored. Magnus got a strong push to try and get him some offence, but as I'm sure has been pointed out by many, all he was able to do was skate down the wing quickly. He was not back to making strong defensive stops or drawing penalties really, and thus just wasn't very effective. He needs to figure out that he needs to stop or cut laterally on some of those rushes if he ever wants to score there. I still think one of the problems for Magnus is that his stick is too long and he's not able to make quick lateral plays with it. So long as he's stuck in straight up and down mode, he'll be stuck not scoring. I could definitely take or leave Eager at this point. He avoided hits on several occasions last night and there's no excuse for that when the rest of the squad is playing such an intense game. I didn't exactly expect to have to question whether he'd play an enthusiastic game. Belanger didn't have a responsibility for much of anything last night and as such I didn't really notice him much. I'm not worried about his lack of offence to be honest, because to me he looks like the kind of guy that will go on a real streak at some point.
Gilbert-Smid
- As has been the case this season, they were our best defensive pairing even with the stats as they wound up. Gilbert made some excellent reads and was getting his shot through including his goal and the assist on Hall's second period goal. I honestly didn't see much from the defencemen last night as this game was largely about the forwards...which is amazing to say when Gilbert goes out and gets four points. Smid let Gilbert play his game, which seems to be his job pretty much every night now. Somehow in all the excitement and goal scoring, and despite Smid's strong puck moving, he was once again blanked on the board. Talk about crummy. Between the two of these guys they killed 14 minutes worth of penalties...wow.
Petry-Peckham
- What a night on the stats board from these two. It wasn't totally benign either...Theo was finally physical and moved the puck with a lot more care and attention than he has of late. When he plays like that he's useful, but early on he was still having a decent amount of difficulty. Jeff Petry showed how well he can move the puck to his forwards in a game where the forwards were getting into proper starting position. Pretty exceptional. What I hope really comes from this is that the confidence builds quickly for both of these guys.
Teubert-Chorney
- These guys had about the game I was expecting. #33 hit some people and was not quite as good as his previous appearance (likely due to the rush of arrival and the pairing) but held his own okay. I've been generally impressed with most of his efforts. Chorney was okay, but wasn't really able to contribute offensively. Hemsky found him twice with perfect chances to make something happen in the second period and both times he couldn't make it work. You're not going to get much better feeds as an offensive defenceman. He needs to deliver on those.
Khabibulin
- I thought he was decent. Chicago didn't really get a ton of great chances even though they threw a lot of shots our way. The first Chicago goal is one he certainly would have had a couple weeks ago. Our goalie situation could still be a problem yet, but I think we've found the strategic way we're supposed to attempt this winning thing. Khabibulin's job then becomes to be Fuhr and just stop one more than the next guy. I know that's easier said than done, but we appear to be able to run & gun.
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Sorry for the lateness guys, it's been a long couple days but because of the nature of the game, I still felt it was important to get written. What a game. Seriously, if you didn't get to see it, go find it. What a night. Here's to many more!
11/17/11
LMHF Report - Game #9
EDMONTON 2
VS.
OTTAWA 5
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So, those of you who have been around for a while will recognize this type of game report. On nights like tonight, I don't find it particularly relevant to break down the performances by player. As a team we were so bad tonight that even the bright lights if there were any are worth a quick mention and that's it. I was once +2 with 2 Assists in a 9-2 loss...funny story but it obviously didn't matter very much. The short time where the team played well and the very few players who did anything positive tonight are worth just about as much aside from perhaps Lander's beautiful goal (he looked to change where he was trying to shoot mid-fire because he had his head up and saw Anderson had dipped his shoulder, then took advantage, just PERFECT).
I was in a bad enough mood by the end of this thing that it really angered me when Ryan Jones got excited about scoring to make it 5-2...and off his foot no less. Head to the bench and sit down #28; you just scored a completely meaningless goal on a night when you and your team are taking a beating and you've done absolutely nothing to stop that. That was not the time to whoop it up. I was also disappointed in the other players who celebrated and the fans who were overexcited about it...yeah, I was mad.
If you watched the warmup, you could see this team is off. The smiles are gone. The passes aren't crisp and the players aren't skating with much authority. The shots also weren't very good. Ironically enough, the only guy who actually looked like he had some jump was Taylor Hall. He buried the puck in the warmup and made Khabibulin look like a statue...maybe that was an indication of things to come.
We came out playing a really offensively aggressive game tonight which is certainly something we need to do in order to win. There was a massive problem though...when it came to finishing we had absolutely nothing. It wasn't that #41 in the OTT net was making huge saves...it's that we had time and space and didn't make him make any huge saves. The shots were weak, rushed or misdirected. We had all the go but none of the focus. If a team keeps this up and it is the theme of the game...they'll probably bounce one in and win anyway, but it is very tough for even very good teams to win that way. Teams without any goaltending, and who lose half their defence during the course of the game have absolutely no chance.
Make no mistake, both goalies were horrible. The last 3 OTT goals specifically were just bad. Michalek's goal was a horrible shot. Winchester actually stopped skating and looked back as if the play was ending before he scored his goal and neither the D, nor Dubnyk were able to use that to any kind of advantage. They were all sleeping in a game that badly needed to be turned around into a win. The Oilers needed this win really badly. OTT, while playing decent hockey right now, has a whole lot of non-players on their team and you've got to take advantage when you've got Chicago coming in on Saturday. The final goal is 100% on Dubnyk; missing that puck was inexcusable. I had a very very close up view as I was in much lower seats that usual tonight and that was just terrible. (thankfully I had a great view of the only highlight of the night, Lander's goal, as well).
When the kid line is on, they stretch the opposition's D, either forcing them to back up or creating odd man rushes. On every shift tonight, they seemed to fail to get past the OTT defence in any meaningful way, and either took weak shots through the D or put the puck behind the net where the OTT defence was waiting for it. They were beyond ineffective and got very frustrated as the game went on, Hall especially. Hopkins wasn't too horrible, but he can't lug that line on his own. I don't know why they've shifted their attack strategy so much and they need to hit the practice ice in a serious way to get it back.
When we were winning earlier this year, we did it through solid defensive play from our forwards and defensive units. Odd-man rushes were held to a minimum, players made smart plays with the puck, and we often held the puck in the offensive zone for an extra possession after their first attempted rush. We had none of this tonight. Paajarvi as part of his line with Omark and Belanger was excellent at this, allowing the other lines to attack a more tired opposition. We had 3 lines going that could push the puck. Well, now we have a slumping line of kids, a line of vets who is mostly consistent, and a useless third line. 91-20-28 will not score goals or control possession. They are not built to do it; especially with the D we're currently packing.
Speaking of that D, we appear to have lost 3 of them now. That's terrifying especially when it comes to Potter, but you know what is worse? That Theo Peckham (who I've always liked and want to cheer for) is still in the lineup. He's been horrible. He's been directly culpable for multiple losses and played a huge part in allowing 5 goals tonight. Even with the injuries, I'd still either try to trade him for a different type of defenceman while he still has some value, or waive him. It makes me sad because he really showed he had potential last year, but that appears to have been his high point. He got comfortable and has lost his edge, and now his confidence. Sorry Theo, you're costing this team games.
Tom Renney is not free from criticism tonight; in fact I'd say he did just about everything wrong. It was abundantly clear that #35 was off after the second goal and you have to yank him there...he didn't. He knew Sutton was hurting and didn't insist on calling up a defenceman which made us vulnerable to what happened tonight. Once we were down to 4 D, and had an intermission to plan, he didn't cycle 1 or 2 forwards back to D to fill in and take some pressure off an overwhelmed and undercapable D group (specifically Peckham and Petry). That's effectively giving up. He then was positive after this game...there was nothing to be positive about. Either say nothing at all and start fresh tomorrow or rip the team a new one. If there were any justice, at least 3 guys would be headed out and several would be called up from OKC...I sincerely doubt that will happen.
What you are seeing right now is the risk you take when you don't go get an insurance policy for this team. After we beat Washington and subsequently, we needed to go out and get a defenceman to keep results positive and make sure that even if we hit some bumps, it wouldn't be too bad. Now, we risk doing serious damage to the progress of our players. Some are getting very frustrated and it is totally unnecessary. After those 2 quick goals went in, everyone hung their heads. Good teams don't do that. There's no doubt that it is tough to come back after that deficit is built, but good teams buzz for the rest of the game and at least come close. We quit. That's unacceptable.
I'm not sure if there's much more to say. I'm plain pissed off after that effort.
VS.
OTTAWA 5
----------------
So, those of you who have been around for a while will recognize this type of game report. On nights like tonight, I don't find it particularly relevant to break down the performances by player. As a team we were so bad tonight that even the bright lights if there were any are worth a quick mention and that's it. I was once +2 with 2 Assists in a 9-2 loss...funny story but it obviously didn't matter very much. The short time where the team played well and the very few players who did anything positive tonight are worth just about as much aside from perhaps Lander's beautiful goal (he looked to change where he was trying to shoot mid-fire because he had his head up and saw Anderson had dipped his shoulder, then took advantage, just PERFECT).
I was in a bad enough mood by the end of this thing that it really angered me when Ryan Jones got excited about scoring to make it 5-2...and off his foot no less. Head to the bench and sit down #28; you just scored a completely meaningless goal on a night when you and your team are taking a beating and you've done absolutely nothing to stop that. That was not the time to whoop it up. I was also disappointed in the other players who celebrated and the fans who were overexcited about it...yeah, I was mad.
If you watched the warmup, you could see this team is off. The smiles are gone. The passes aren't crisp and the players aren't skating with much authority. The shots also weren't very good. Ironically enough, the only guy who actually looked like he had some jump was Taylor Hall. He buried the puck in the warmup and made Khabibulin look like a statue...maybe that was an indication of things to come.
We came out playing a really offensively aggressive game tonight which is certainly something we need to do in order to win. There was a massive problem though...when it came to finishing we had absolutely nothing. It wasn't that #41 in the OTT net was making huge saves...it's that we had time and space and didn't make him make any huge saves. The shots were weak, rushed or misdirected. We had all the go but none of the focus. If a team keeps this up and it is the theme of the game...they'll probably bounce one in and win anyway, but it is very tough for even very good teams to win that way. Teams without any goaltending, and who lose half their defence during the course of the game have absolutely no chance.
Make no mistake, both goalies were horrible. The last 3 OTT goals specifically were just bad. Michalek's goal was a horrible shot. Winchester actually stopped skating and looked back as if the play was ending before he scored his goal and neither the D, nor Dubnyk were able to use that to any kind of advantage. They were all sleeping in a game that badly needed to be turned around into a win. The Oilers needed this win really badly. OTT, while playing decent hockey right now, has a whole lot of non-players on their team and you've got to take advantage when you've got Chicago coming in on Saturday. The final goal is 100% on Dubnyk; missing that puck was inexcusable. I had a very very close up view as I was in much lower seats that usual tonight and that was just terrible. (thankfully I had a great view of the only highlight of the night, Lander's goal, as well).
When the kid line is on, they stretch the opposition's D, either forcing them to back up or creating odd man rushes. On every shift tonight, they seemed to fail to get past the OTT defence in any meaningful way, and either took weak shots through the D or put the puck behind the net where the OTT defence was waiting for it. They were beyond ineffective and got very frustrated as the game went on, Hall especially. Hopkins wasn't too horrible, but he can't lug that line on his own. I don't know why they've shifted their attack strategy so much and they need to hit the practice ice in a serious way to get it back.
When we were winning earlier this year, we did it through solid defensive play from our forwards and defensive units. Odd-man rushes were held to a minimum, players made smart plays with the puck, and we often held the puck in the offensive zone for an extra possession after their first attempted rush. We had none of this tonight. Paajarvi as part of his line with Omark and Belanger was excellent at this, allowing the other lines to attack a more tired opposition. We had 3 lines going that could push the puck. Well, now we have a slumping line of kids, a line of vets who is mostly consistent, and a useless third line. 91-20-28 will not score goals or control possession. They are not built to do it; especially with the D we're currently packing.
Speaking of that D, we appear to have lost 3 of them now. That's terrifying especially when it comes to Potter, but you know what is worse? That Theo Peckham (who I've always liked and want to cheer for) is still in the lineup. He's been horrible. He's been directly culpable for multiple losses and played a huge part in allowing 5 goals tonight. Even with the injuries, I'd still either try to trade him for a different type of defenceman while he still has some value, or waive him. It makes me sad because he really showed he had potential last year, but that appears to have been his high point. He got comfortable and has lost his edge, and now his confidence. Sorry Theo, you're costing this team games.
Tom Renney is not free from criticism tonight; in fact I'd say he did just about everything wrong. It was abundantly clear that #35 was off after the second goal and you have to yank him there...he didn't. He knew Sutton was hurting and didn't insist on calling up a defenceman which made us vulnerable to what happened tonight. Once we were down to 4 D, and had an intermission to plan, he didn't cycle 1 or 2 forwards back to D to fill in and take some pressure off an overwhelmed and undercapable D group (specifically Peckham and Petry). That's effectively giving up. He then was positive after this game...there was nothing to be positive about. Either say nothing at all and start fresh tomorrow or rip the team a new one. If there were any justice, at least 3 guys would be headed out and several would be called up from OKC...I sincerely doubt that will happen.
What you are seeing right now is the risk you take when you don't go get an insurance policy for this team. After we beat Washington and subsequently, we needed to go out and get a defenceman to keep results positive and make sure that even if we hit some bumps, it wouldn't be too bad. Now, we risk doing serious damage to the progress of our players. Some are getting very frustrated and it is totally unnecessary. After those 2 quick goals went in, everyone hung their heads. Good teams don't do that. There's no doubt that it is tough to come back after that deficit is built, but good teams buzz for the rest of the game and at least come close. We quit. That's unacceptable.
I'm not sure if there's much more to say. I'm plain pissed off after that effort.
10/30/11
LMHF Report - Game #8
EDMONTON 4
VS.
ST. LOUIS 2
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Seriously, this is so much fun. Even on an early Sunday where either afternoon or 6pm games are always slow starters for whatever reason and the fans are always a little bit out of it, this was absolutely awesome when we got going.
What I'll take from this game is that we can win with a seriously subpar defensive group even when playing a physical team...and that when teams have to open up and try to catch us, they are dead. The Blues realized part way through the second that they weren't going to squeak this one out and weren't generating enough solid chances. As soon as they tried to stretch out the play, we were rushing at them like mad men. It could easily have been 6 or 7 goals for us tonight.
To give some insight into how far the forwards have come...once Ales is healthy again, we'll have to sit someone and it may well be Sam Gagner...and we're not terrified. I'd greatly prefer it be Jones but that seems unlikely. The logical choice is Lander...but he sure is doing some nice things on the PK and in tough spots against tough players. We have some very very good problems right now up front.
They're certainly not perfect...but no team is at this point in the season. Most aren't also missing two of their very best players. What we are doing though is building a ton of confidence in the fact that we can make games go the right way for us. We have the ability to lock the barn door and wait for an offensive chance; or to push other teams into giving us one. In games where the refs haven't been a joke...we're drawing penalties. STL was allowed to get away with some serious liberties tonight, and we should have drawn a number of additional powerplays. That we didn't get them doesn't change the plays that should have drawn them.
We're obviously heading out on a pretty serious-looking road trip here...and this is both a massive challenge and massive opportunity. For once, we've taken advantage of a nice stretch of home games (even though we played some really solid hockey teams) and are in a position where we know we can run and now have the opportunity to announce our presence to this whole league. This is huge...and it's going to be a serious ride. If they went out and grabbed a #2/3 defenceman without sacrificing significant resources, I'd say they'd be totally ready to roll some teams. We shall see what is to come.
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Khabibulin
- Just another ho-hum night for #35 this year. The two goals he allowed were both fairly exceptional; Backes shot was not only perfectly placed but straight through Petry and the other goal was an ugly scramble. Everything else was gravy. Once again, focused and active are the words I'd use to describe Khabibulin which is something I just couldn't do last year. I can see how it'd be hard to focus through our last two years...but man, it's just a different guy there. He didn't have to be spectacular tonight, but there were two specific sequences in the third where he was money and kept our lead at 2. He allowed our inexperienced and thrown-together D to play a much more comfortable game. Lovely.
Petry
- Stepped right in and played a really solid game when we needed it badly. Aside from not playing Backes' goal very well (that's a must block), he was really good. The most noticeable thing he did tonight was grab the puck at around his blue line and skate it with authority into the opposition zone on multiple occasions. He also jumped in very nicely on Eberle's goal to pressure the STL defence into allowing a mismatch. He needs to stay and to play. Too good to sit when among this current crop.
Peckham
- We needed him to step up very very badly and for pretty much the whole night he did that. Aside from a couple shaky corner battles late, he made solid decisions with the puck and stayed in position most all night. His pass to set up Hall's breakaway was a thing of beauty...quick read, couple quick steps and fired it right onto Hall's stick. Awesome. Also did a really nice job in supporting Plante. We need more of this from Theo plus a whack of physicality.
Potter
- The Corey Power Potter Play rolls on...lovely little pass to Hopkins at just the right time to allow him to set up Horcoff for the goal. He generates the lanes and chances that more experienced defencemen haven't been able to provide us with. Tonight was a repeat of his other games...solid D positioning, walked the line in the offensive zone and intimidates opposing forwards trying to contain him. So steady. Lock him up before he commands 3 mil.
Plante
- He struggled...but struggled well enough. Unfortunately for Alex and for us, he's just not an NHL defender. When you watch him play, you'll notice that he spends way too much time worrying about having one hand on his stick and staring out at the play rather than getting involved in it. What he managed to do though was not have any ugly blow-ups and that certainly is worth something for a guy pressed into action like that against a pretty decent hockey club with some big, powerful forwards.
Smid
- Beautiful game. He was in superb defensive position the whole game and even excelled when necessity required him to be separated from Gilbert. As usual when #5 plays a solid game, he skated the puck beautifully to positions where he could make a strong and safe pass. This is the key to his game and when he's on he's tremendous at it. Awesome shot-blocking tonight as well.
Gilbert
- I remember one awkward sequence in our defensive corner that resulted in a giveaway. Aside from that...if you'd like to see what the definition is of a perfect game from a team's #1 defenceman, go watch the game over and observe Gilbert. WIth the puck tonight he was absolutely stupendous...every decision was good and most were perfect. He was everywhere on a night when they needed him to be huge. So glad to see him back to playing this way and there's zero reason he can't keep up his game this way because it's perfectly within itself.
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- This crew got the job done very nicely for us tonight. I have to wonder if it is difficult for teams to transition from playing this line to playing Hopkins' line and then back again because it is so drastically different. Horcoff had himself a pretty stupendous game. His goal was a nice little read in a spot that has become a strong point of his game especially this year. When the play goes to the front of the net on the PP, Horcoff is either screening, driving or getting a stick on the puck. That's pretty much exactly what you need. He absolutely owned the faceoff dot tonight and seemingly out of nowhere is on a 7-game point streak. Second-best hockey of his career for sure. Smyth is doing what he does best; playing well and making it look incredibly awkward! Both goals were the result of him driving the net and went through Halak's pads. I won't complain though because it looks so much better than the super slow motion slapshot. I'm not sure what happened to him in the third, but that fluffed breakaway was just ugly...The thing that he and Horcoff have done though is brought a level of stability and responsibility to the defensive zone from their combined effort...it makes the D's job much easier. Jones was fairly decent tonight in that he won some battles and was physical. I'm still waiting for him to use some speed to get open, but perhaps this line just doesn't generate rush chances really.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- Great little play by Hall on the Horcoff goal driving through to distract the D...such good fundamental hockey. It is these things that make the difference between wins and losses. I'm guessing Hall actually goes home tonight pretty frustrated because he missed a breakaway (stop going backhand-fivehole Taylor...it's a low % move and you have a great forehand), an absolutely filthy juke-and-feed from Eberle (why whack at that rather than holding it for a fraction of a second as Eberle would have?) and just about scored the goal of the year after making a STL defender look absolutely stupid. The pass he made to set up Eberle's goal was stupendous...but it says something about a player when he's a big part in two goals and we're able to look and clearly say he should have had more. Eberle was Eberle...silly-solid and constantly generating offensive chances. You don't have to worry about him in an even more solid way than you don't have to worry about a guy like Smyth. I love how he's adapted so well to his role of helping control the point with Potter and there were several excellent examples of that puck exchange tonight. The thing about Eberle is he was actually frustrated with having not been able to shoot that goal he scored in...he's so demanding of and confident in himself that he thinks he should have shot that puck into the net. Love that guy. Hopkins obviously made an absolutely perfect read and pass to Horcoff for the goal (all while showing that the Hall and Potter pass options were still there), but what I liked about his game were the subtle offensive plays where he turned on the speed on even if he didn't get a good chance he took the puck to a safe area, his wicked-hard shot in the third period that just barely missed, and his subtle D that kept STL from getting several solid chances. Lovely effort from these guys tonight.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- For a line that got no points tonight, they were pretty impressive. Sam pretty much turned off the giveaway machine he's been operating these past couple games. He got his slapshot on net and generated some rebounds, as well as making a great little move and read that was stopped by Halak in the third. He needs to build on tonight's performance. Magnus blew by several defenders and used his speed once again to keep plays alive in the offensive zone. He was also very good in the defensive zone. I understand he's got to be frustrated and you could see that in the third when he worked himself into a really nice chance, was stopped by Halak and hung his head for a time. The thing is, it hasn't impacted the other aspects of his game on most nights and specifically tonight. Poor Eric Belanger had a really tough game despite playing quite well. He got his head bashed into the boards twice, then got the most ludicrous boarding penalty I've seen in some time. I'd have forgiven him if he snapped on someone before the end of that game. Thing is...he was once again very solid on the defensive zone including a couple of absolutely key defensive breakups and got some pretty solid offensive things happen. He owned the dot too.
Eager-Lander-Petrell
- These guys right now are precisely what a fourth line should be. They're generating a really solid forecheck and some decent chances while not really giving up anything offensively. While Eager had a pretty solid game in terms of skating with speed and being in the right place, I actually thought he could have been better as he whiffed on a couple shots and missed some passing opportunities. Still a solid game, but I wonder why he doesn't seem to take wrist shots ever...Petrell again was super solid defensively, hit when he had the chance and played his position wonderfully. Lander? Again, broken record. In position, took beating, moved puck forward. Excellent job from this crew tonight.
----------------------
The thing I think I like most about this team right now is their attitude. They are saying they saw this coming. They are very very demanding of themselves. They are very calm about things. The young guys and the veterans are on the same page and enjoying themselves. This is what the beginning of special teams often looks like.
VS.
ST. LOUIS 2
-------------
Seriously, this is so much fun. Even on an early Sunday where either afternoon or 6pm games are always slow starters for whatever reason and the fans are always a little bit out of it, this was absolutely awesome when we got going.
What I'll take from this game is that we can win with a seriously subpar defensive group even when playing a physical team...and that when teams have to open up and try to catch us, they are dead. The Blues realized part way through the second that they weren't going to squeak this one out and weren't generating enough solid chances. As soon as they tried to stretch out the play, we were rushing at them like mad men. It could easily have been 6 or 7 goals for us tonight.
To give some insight into how far the forwards have come...once Ales is healthy again, we'll have to sit someone and it may well be Sam Gagner...and we're not terrified. I'd greatly prefer it be Jones but that seems unlikely. The logical choice is Lander...but he sure is doing some nice things on the PK and in tough spots against tough players. We have some very very good problems right now up front.
They're certainly not perfect...but no team is at this point in the season. Most aren't also missing two of their very best players. What we are doing though is building a ton of confidence in the fact that we can make games go the right way for us. We have the ability to lock the barn door and wait for an offensive chance; or to push other teams into giving us one. In games where the refs haven't been a joke...we're drawing penalties. STL was allowed to get away with some serious liberties tonight, and we should have drawn a number of additional powerplays. That we didn't get them doesn't change the plays that should have drawn them.
We're obviously heading out on a pretty serious-looking road trip here...and this is both a massive challenge and massive opportunity. For once, we've taken advantage of a nice stretch of home games (even though we played some really solid hockey teams) and are in a position where we know we can run and now have the opportunity to announce our presence to this whole league. This is huge...and it's going to be a serious ride. If they went out and grabbed a #2/3 defenceman without sacrificing significant resources, I'd say they'd be totally ready to roll some teams. We shall see what is to come.
--------------
Khabibulin
- Just another ho-hum night for #35 this year. The two goals he allowed were both fairly exceptional; Backes shot was not only perfectly placed but straight through Petry and the other goal was an ugly scramble. Everything else was gravy. Once again, focused and active are the words I'd use to describe Khabibulin which is something I just couldn't do last year. I can see how it'd be hard to focus through our last two years...but man, it's just a different guy there. He didn't have to be spectacular tonight, but there were two specific sequences in the third where he was money and kept our lead at 2. He allowed our inexperienced and thrown-together D to play a much more comfortable game. Lovely.
Petry
- Stepped right in and played a really solid game when we needed it badly. Aside from not playing Backes' goal very well (that's a must block), he was really good. The most noticeable thing he did tonight was grab the puck at around his blue line and skate it with authority into the opposition zone on multiple occasions. He also jumped in very nicely on Eberle's goal to pressure the STL defence into allowing a mismatch. He needs to stay and to play. Too good to sit when among this current crop.
Peckham
- We needed him to step up very very badly and for pretty much the whole night he did that. Aside from a couple shaky corner battles late, he made solid decisions with the puck and stayed in position most all night. His pass to set up Hall's breakaway was a thing of beauty...quick read, couple quick steps and fired it right onto Hall's stick. Awesome. Also did a really nice job in supporting Plante. We need more of this from Theo plus a whack of physicality.
Potter
- The Corey Power Potter Play rolls on...lovely little pass to Hopkins at just the right time to allow him to set up Horcoff for the goal. He generates the lanes and chances that more experienced defencemen haven't been able to provide us with. Tonight was a repeat of his other games...solid D positioning, walked the line in the offensive zone and intimidates opposing forwards trying to contain him. So steady. Lock him up before he commands 3 mil.
Plante
- He struggled...but struggled well enough. Unfortunately for Alex and for us, he's just not an NHL defender. When you watch him play, you'll notice that he spends way too much time worrying about having one hand on his stick and staring out at the play rather than getting involved in it. What he managed to do though was not have any ugly blow-ups and that certainly is worth something for a guy pressed into action like that against a pretty decent hockey club with some big, powerful forwards.
Smid
- Beautiful game. He was in superb defensive position the whole game and even excelled when necessity required him to be separated from Gilbert. As usual when #5 plays a solid game, he skated the puck beautifully to positions where he could make a strong and safe pass. This is the key to his game and when he's on he's tremendous at it. Awesome shot-blocking tonight as well.
Gilbert
- I remember one awkward sequence in our defensive corner that resulted in a giveaway. Aside from that...if you'd like to see what the definition is of a perfect game from a team's #1 defenceman, go watch the game over and observe Gilbert. WIth the puck tonight he was absolutely stupendous...every decision was good and most were perfect. He was everywhere on a night when they needed him to be huge. So glad to see him back to playing this way and there's zero reason he can't keep up his game this way because it's perfectly within itself.
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- This crew got the job done very nicely for us tonight. I have to wonder if it is difficult for teams to transition from playing this line to playing Hopkins' line and then back again because it is so drastically different. Horcoff had himself a pretty stupendous game. His goal was a nice little read in a spot that has become a strong point of his game especially this year. When the play goes to the front of the net on the PP, Horcoff is either screening, driving or getting a stick on the puck. That's pretty much exactly what you need. He absolutely owned the faceoff dot tonight and seemingly out of nowhere is on a 7-game point streak. Second-best hockey of his career for sure. Smyth is doing what he does best; playing well and making it look incredibly awkward! Both goals were the result of him driving the net and went through Halak's pads. I won't complain though because it looks so much better than the super slow motion slapshot. I'm not sure what happened to him in the third, but that fluffed breakaway was just ugly...The thing that he and Horcoff have done though is brought a level of stability and responsibility to the defensive zone from their combined effort...it makes the D's job much easier. Jones was fairly decent tonight in that he won some battles and was physical. I'm still waiting for him to use some speed to get open, but perhaps this line just doesn't generate rush chances really.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- Great little play by Hall on the Horcoff goal driving through to distract the D...such good fundamental hockey. It is these things that make the difference between wins and losses. I'm guessing Hall actually goes home tonight pretty frustrated because he missed a breakaway (stop going backhand-fivehole Taylor...it's a low % move and you have a great forehand), an absolutely filthy juke-and-feed from Eberle (why whack at that rather than holding it for a fraction of a second as Eberle would have?) and just about scored the goal of the year after making a STL defender look absolutely stupid. The pass he made to set up Eberle's goal was stupendous...but it says something about a player when he's a big part in two goals and we're able to look and clearly say he should have had more. Eberle was Eberle...silly-solid and constantly generating offensive chances. You don't have to worry about him in an even more solid way than you don't have to worry about a guy like Smyth. I love how he's adapted so well to his role of helping control the point with Potter and there were several excellent examples of that puck exchange tonight. The thing about Eberle is he was actually frustrated with having not been able to shoot that goal he scored in...he's so demanding of and confident in himself that he thinks he should have shot that puck into the net. Love that guy. Hopkins obviously made an absolutely perfect read and pass to Horcoff for the goal (all while showing that the Hall and Potter pass options were still there), but what I liked about his game were the subtle offensive plays where he turned on the speed on even if he didn't get a good chance he took the puck to a safe area, his wicked-hard shot in the third period that just barely missed, and his subtle D that kept STL from getting several solid chances. Lovely effort from these guys tonight.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- For a line that got no points tonight, they were pretty impressive. Sam pretty much turned off the giveaway machine he's been operating these past couple games. He got his slapshot on net and generated some rebounds, as well as making a great little move and read that was stopped by Halak in the third. He needs to build on tonight's performance. Magnus blew by several defenders and used his speed once again to keep plays alive in the offensive zone. He was also very good in the defensive zone. I understand he's got to be frustrated and you could see that in the third when he worked himself into a really nice chance, was stopped by Halak and hung his head for a time. The thing is, it hasn't impacted the other aspects of his game on most nights and specifically tonight. Poor Eric Belanger had a really tough game despite playing quite well. He got his head bashed into the boards twice, then got the most ludicrous boarding penalty I've seen in some time. I'd have forgiven him if he snapped on someone before the end of that game. Thing is...he was once again very solid on the defensive zone including a couple of absolutely key defensive breakups and got some pretty solid offensive things happen. He owned the dot too.
Eager-Lander-Petrell
- These guys right now are precisely what a fourth line should be. They're generating a really solid forecheck and some decent chances while not really giving up anything offensively. While Eager had a pretty solid game in terms of skating with speed and being in the right place, I actually thought he could have been better as he whiffed on a couple shots and missed some passing opportunities. Still a solid game, but I wonder why he doesn't seem to take wrist shots ever...Petrell again was super solid defensively, hit when he had the chance and played his position wonderfully. Lander? Again, broken record. In position, took beating, moved puck forward. Excellent job from this crew tonight.
----------------------
The thing I think I like most about this team right now is their attitude. They are saying they saw this coming. They are very very demanding of themselves. They are very calm about things. The young guys and the veterans are on the same page and enjoying themselves. This is what the beginning of special teams often looks like.
10/27/11
LMHF Report - Game #7
EDMONTON 2
VS.
WASHINGTON 1
-------------------
Okay. It is time. We have arrived. Re-build over. We do not suck anymore and it is time to win.
Some people will be discouraged and chalk tonight's game up to things like luck...naw. Good teams win games like this. They find a way. They win despite segments of their lineup struggling to score. They win even when they don't dominate.
What a great feeling. I don't care that it was a low scoring and special teams heavy kind of game. We beat the last undefeated team in the league. We beat Alexander Ovechkin. We beat the mighty Capitals. Everyone in now on notice. Apparently there were an absolute ton of scouts in the building tonight...I'm guessing they were trying to figure out exactly what's going on here. The birth of one hell of a hockey team is what's going on here.
Also, I've figured out what has happened with our goaltending. You see, when Nik went to jail in Arizona, he was visited by former Vezina Trophy winner Jim Carey, who was able to dispose of him through some sort of Face-Off style procedure, and having rehabilitated his brain through extensive sports psychology work, returned to the NHL impersonating Nik Khabibulin to dominate once more. What a story and what luck for us!
Let there be no doubt that the Caps are an excellent hockey team. Only through seeing them live can you appreciate some of the finer elements of their skill. The way they float to the dangerous areas and always have a backwards passing option in the offensive zone is just incredible. They are patient, fast, can fire the puck and are dangerous at all times. With all that said, I think they're still decently beatable. If they face a squad that reads the play really well, and is able to think through their D system and adjust, there are a lot of passes that can be picked off. It is also possible to frustrate them and get them to stop skating if you don't play into their game. Tonight we forced the Capitals to use their sticks where they would normally use body position or skating. Our strong effort gave us enough powerplay advantage time that we scored enough goals and didn't allow Washington to get into a groove. We really did some good things to them and they couldn't cope for some time, especially in the second.
There we some very good efforts tonight, and some not so good ones. Rather than being disappointed we didn't play perfectly...such as being outshot and not scoring on the 5-on-3 or that our bottom three lines still aren't doing anything, be glad that we won without all that.
------------
Khabibulin
- What can you say really? On the only goal he allowed, he appeared to be interfered with and the rest of the night he was active, focused and ridiculously solid. He stared down Ovechkin several times and made some great saves. Even on the bar-rattler with little time left, I'd argue he took away everything else. He was never shaky and made some absolutely stupendous side-to-side saves. The crowd chanted his name at the end of the game, then when he was announced as first star. He acknowleged the applause and that was appreciated. What a start. He looks like a different man.
Potter
- Sign him right now to an extension. Right now. On the plane, draw up a deal and sign him. The guy has been mind-boggling and tonight was no exception. His D was excellent. He managed to carry around Theo Peckham all night and ran the powerplay point like a seasoned veteran. His shot on Eberle's game-winner was an absolute thing of beauty that I as a former defenceman just marvelled at. He took the pass, found his lane, shot hard and low to the perfect side (that shot either goes in or goes to Eberle. all day long that is a goal either way.) through a screen with an open Eberle waiting for the puck. Absolutely perfect. Before that he'd made an absolutely gross slap-pass to Eberle who then set up Hall for a beauty. This guy isn't just surviving, he's playing like a star back there for a team that needed to find a guy like him so badly. Just an amazing joy to watch.
Peckham
- Pretty much the opposite of Potter unfortunately. I really like Theo...but he's been terrible and tonight was no different. The gift-wrapped second period giveaway pass to Ovechkin was just the most obvious point. He also took an early penalty, didn't impact the game physically, bobbled the puck a bunch and didn't make many good plays in his own zone where he needs to be effective. I don't know what's wrong with Theo but he looks like a totally different hockey player as well. Sit him. Petry needs to play tomorrow.
Gilbert
- He had a very quiet but very effective game. You can't really point to anything specific that I can recall, but there were really no mistakes from him tonight.
Smid
- I liked what he brought tonight; especially getting in the face of the Capitals forwards and even his elbow that resulted in a penalty. You do what you can against a team that good and Smid has become the kind of player that stays in the right position and never gets beat on anything weak. The only thing I'll dog him on is that I think it was him that missed the slapshot chance on the empty net.
Barker
- Probably his best game tonight. There was a play near the end of the game where the Capitals forecheckers were expecting him to make a panic clear and he just sat there calmly with the puck for a while...just a brilliant little play that makes the difference in one-goal games like this. He also got his shot on net and near the net several times, made some excellent little passes and played physically. He seems to be able to cross-check the hell out of people and not get called for it...which is essentially art for a defenceman. Came up pretty big when we needed him to very badly.
Sutton
- There were times tonight where I almost liked Andy Sutton. Watching him throw one Capitals player into another not once but twice was one of the funnier and more impressive things I've seen. He didn't make a lot of good passes...I think he needs a new stick because even when he has time he just doesn't seem to be able to work his correctly. The penalty at the end was pretty bad...there's no reason to get your hands up there at all. He had position and just needed to make a good, solid hit. Ugh...
Eager-Lander-Petrell
- Once again they played a nice, effective fourth line game. They seem to be very good at it. I was a little surprised that we didn't see more of Eager because you can certainly get the Capitals off their game through a distraction such as the kind he can provide. Petrell was once again extremely solid positionally, used his size to his advantage and contributed to the PK. He plays a broken record sort of a game and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Lander had fewer good moments in this one than he's had in the past couple games in that he didn't show a lot with the puck. He also didn't get beat, which is a plus but it seemed like he could have done more even in limited time. Good work on the PK though.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- Sam gave the puck away all night tonight, and not even trying to make plays most of the time, he was just bad. I think I counted around 10 giveaways from #89...which is totally unacceptable. He too seemed uncomfortable with his stick as he was fiddling with it between stoppages in play, but his reads are off, he can't see the passing lanes and his timing is horrible. Until he gets back up to speed, Sam either needs to be the fourth line C so Lander can go play #1 minutes in OKC, or ride the pine entirely. I actually like what Gagner brings when he plays on the fourth line, and have found in the past that it helps get him going. Couldn't hurt. Belanger was really steady defensively and especially in the third period. There were a couple times where he swooped in and skated loose pucks to safety as I'm not quite sure anyone else on our squad could. He's definitely making a difference for us even if he's not showing up on the scoresheet. I am a bit perplexed as to how useful he is on the PP...I don't see it at all. Paajarvi wasn't really a big factor tonight. I can recall him skating some pucks in decently well but he really didn't make any big plays that I can recall. There's nothing particularly wrong with this but I'm betting people will make a big deal out of it. This line actually had some solid shifts early on and seemed to be a tough match for Washington, but couldn't capitalize before the special teams parade started. I agree with getting Magnus off the PP as he's just not cut out for it right now (though that doesn't mean I like the 94-20-89 unit either...yuck)
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- Smyth looked tired again...but saved his most focused and determined efforts for the defensive zone and the PK. That's where he's making a huge difference right now. He did set up a couple chances that Jones and Horcoff missed...but he wasn't effective on the powerplay and couldn't get any kind of transition game going. Horcoff did what he tends to do in games like this...miss some decent offensive chances, put up a great screen to help create a goal (Eberle's) and play really solid D. There were much fewer turnovers from him tonight and it really looked like he bore down. I'd say this was one of Jones' better games as his positioning wasn't so bad, he landed some hits and kept up to his linemates. I'm not sure where his loose-puck-chasing speed has gone exactly though...that seemed to be his trademark play last year and he's missed chances at it so far including tonight.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- I'm getting to the point where I wonder what else can be said. These guys had their hands full in terms of keeping up in the defensive zone tonight and certainly allowed some extended possessions, but again they bent without breaking. In the offensive zone...I really don't think any team can contain them when given even a little time and space. The Potter-Eberle-Hall goal (which saw #93 touch the puck before that) was a thing of beauty which we could have seen at least two more times tonight. They also set up that diagonal line play I talked about after last game and Hopkins made an absolutely sick pass through that could have been banged in. The Eberle goal was the result of a sustained effort and again, Hall touched the puck before Hopkins and Potter. These guys are playing the game in the offensive zone at a level I haven't seen live from any Oilers before. Even on quiet nights they do what they did tonight. They all have 9 points now...just wow.
-------------
I'm struggling to finish this tonight but boy was that ever great. Winning these games rather than the inevitable disappointed feeling we've left the rink with for the last several years is so satisfying. I gave a pretty huge fist-pump after this one was done. Can't wait to see these guys play again. It is a new day.
VS.
WASHINGTON 1
-------------------
Okay. It is time. We have arrived. Re-build over. We do not suck anymore and it is time to win.
Some people will be discouraged and chalk tonight's game up to things like luck...naw. Good teams win games like this. They find a way. They win despite segments of their lineup struggling to score. They win even when they don't dominate.
What a great feeling. I don't care that it was a low scoring and special teams heavy kind of game. We beat the last undefeated team in the league. We beat Alexander Ovechkin. We beat the mighty Capitals. Everyone in now on notice. Apparently there were an absolute ton of scouts in the building tonight...I'm guessing they were trying to figure out exactly what's going on here. The birth of one hell of a hockey team is what's going on here.
Also, I've figured out what has happened with our goaltending. You see, when Nik went to jail in Arizona, he was visited by former Vezina Trophy winner Jim Carey, who was able to dispose of him through some sort of Face-Off style procedure, and having rehabilitated his brain through extensive sports psychology work, returned to the NHL impersonating Nik Khabibulin to dominate once more. What a story and what luck for us!
Let there be no doubt that the Caps are an excellent hockey team. Only through seeing them live can you appreciate some of the finer elements of their skill. The way they float to the dangerous areas and always have a backwards passing option in the offensive zone is just incredible. They are patient, fast, can fire the puck and are dangerous at all times. With all that said, I think they're still decently beatable. If they face a squad that reads the play really well, and is able to think through their D system and adjust, there are a lot of passes that can be picked off. It is also possible to frustrate them and get them to stop skating if you don't play into their game. Tonight we forced the Capitals to use their sticks where they would normally use body position or skating. Our strong effort gave us enough powerplay advantage time that we scored enough goals and didn't allow Washington to get into a groove. We really did some good things to them and they couldn't cope for some time, especially in the second.
There we some very good efforts tonight, and some not so good ones. Rather than being disappointed we didn't play perfectly...such as being outshot and not scoring on the 5-on-3 or that our bottom three lines still aren't doing anything, be glad that we won without all that.
------------
Khabibulin
- What can you say really? On the only goal he allowed, he appeared to be interfered with and the rest of the night he was active, focused and ridiculously solid. He stared down Ovechkin several times and made some great saves. Even on the bar-rattler with little time left, I'd argue he took away everything else. He was never shaky and made some absolutely stupendous side-to-side saves. The crowd chanted his name at the end of the game, then when he was announced as first star. He acknowleged the applause and that was appreciated. What a start. He looks like a different man.
Potter
- Sign him right now to an extension. Right now. On the plane, draw up a deal and sign him. The guy has been mind-boggling and tonight was no exception. His D was excellent. He managed to carry around Theo Peckham all night and ran the powerplay point like a seasoned veteran. His shot on Eberle's game-winner was an absolute thing of beauty that I as a former defenceman just marvelled at. He took the pass, found his lane, shot hard and low to the perfect side (that shot either goes in or goes to Eberle. all day long that is a goal either way.) through a screen with an open Eberle waiting for the puck. Absolutely perfect. Before that he'd made an absolutely gross slap-pass to Eberle who then set up Hall for a beauty. This guy isn't just surviving, he's playing like a star back there for a team that needed to find a guy like him so badly. Just an amazing joy to watch.
Peckham
- Pretty much the opposite of Potter unfortunately. I really like Theo...but he's been terrible and tonight was no different. The gift-wrapped second period giveaway pass to Ovechkin was just the most obvious point. He also took an early penalty, didn't impact the game physically, bobbled the puck a bunch and didn't make many good plays in his own zone where he needs to be effective. I don't know what's wrong with Theo but he looks like a totally different hockey player as well. Sit him. Petry needs to play tomorrow.
Gilbert
- He had a very quiet but very effective game. You can't really point to anything specific that I can recall, but there were really no mistakes from him tonight.
Smid
- I liked what he brought tonight; especially getting in the face of the Capitals forwards and even his elbow that resulted in a penalty. You do what you can against a team that good and Smid has become the kind of player that stays in the right position and never gets beat on anything weak. The only thing I'll dog him on is that I think it was him that missed the slapshot chance on the empty net.
Barker
- Probably his best game tonight. There was a play near the end of the game where the Capitals forecheckers were expecting him to make a panic clear and he just sat there calmly with the puck for a while...just a brilliant little play that makes the difference in one-goal games like this. He also got his shot on net and near the net several times, made some excellent little passes and played physically. He seems to be able to cross-check the hell out of people and not get called for it...which is essentially art for a defenceman. Came up pretty big when we needed him to very badly.
Sutton
- There were times tonight where I almost liked Andy Sutton. Watching him throw one Capitals player into another not once but twice was one of the funnier and more impressive things I've seen. He didn't make a lot of good passes...I think he needs a new stick because even when he has time he just doesn't seem to be able to work his correctly. The penalty at the end was pretty bad...there's no reason to get your hands up there at all. He had position and just needed to make a good, solid hit. Ugh...
Eager-Lander-Petrell
- Once again they played a nice, effective fourth line game. They seem to be very good at it. I was a little surprised that we didn't see more of Eager because you can certainly get the Capitals off their game through a distraction such as the kind he can provide. Petrell was once again extremely solid positionally, used his size to his advantage and contributed to the PK. He plays a broken record sort of a game and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Lander had fewer good moments in this one than he's had in the past couple games in that he didn't show a lot with the puck. He also didn't get beat, which is a plus but it seemed like he could have done more even in limited time. Good work on the PK though.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- Sam gave the puck away all night tonight, and not even trying to make plays most of the time, he was just bad. I think I counted around 10 giveaways from #89...which is totally unacceptable. He too seemed uncomfortable with his stick as he was fiddling with it between stoppages in play, but his reads are off, he can't see the passing lanes and his timing is horrible. Until he gets back up to speed, Sam either needs to be the fourth line C so Lander can go play #1 minutes in OKC, or ride the pine entirely. I actually like what Gagner brings when he plays on the fourth line, and have found in the past that it helps get him going. Couldn't hurt. Belanger was really steady defensively and especially in the third period. There were a couple times where he swooped in and skated loose pucks to safety as I'm not quite sure anyone else on our squad could. He's definitely making a difference for us even if he's not showing up on the scoresheet. I am a bit perplexed as to how useful he is on the PP...I don't see it at all. Paajarvi wasn't really a big factor tonight. I can recall him skating some pucks in decently well but he really didn't make any big plays that I can recall. There's nothing particularly wrong with this but I'm betting people will make a big deal out of it. This line actually had some solid shifts early on and seemed to be a tough match for Washington, but couldn't capitalize before the special teams parade started. I agree with getting Magnus off the PP as he's just not cut out for it right now (though that doesn't mean I like the 94-20-89 unit either...yuck)
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- Smyth looked tired again...but saved his most focused and determined efforts for the defensive zone and the PK. That's where he's making a huge difference right now. He did set up a couple chances that Jones and Horcoff missed...but he wasn't effective on the powerplay and couldn't get any kind of transition game going. Horcoff did what he tends to do in games like this...miss some decent offensive chances, put up a great screen to help create a goal (Eberle's) and play really solid D. There were much fewer turnovers from him tonight and it really looked like he bore down. I'd say this was one of Jones' better games as his positioning wasn't so bad, he landed some hits and kept up to his linemates. I'm not sure where his loose-puck-chasing speed has gone exactly though...that seemed to be his trademark play last year and he's missed chances at it so far including tonight.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- I'm getting to the point where I wonder what else can be said. These guys had their hands full in terms of keeping up in the defensive zone tonight and certainly allowed some extended possessions, but again they bent without breaking. In the offensive zone...I really don't think any team can contain them when given even a little time and space. The Potter-Eberle-Hall goal (which saw #93 touch the puck before that) was a thing of beauty which we could have seen at least two more times tonight. They also set up that diagonal line play I talked about after last game and Hopkins made an absolutely sick pass through that could have been banged in. The Eberle goal was the result of a sustained effort and again, Hall touched the puck before Hopkins and Potter. These guys are playing the game in the offensive zone at a level I haven't seen live from any Oilers before. Even on quiet nights they do what they did tonight. They all have 9 points now...just wow.
-------------
I'm struggling to finish this tonight but boy was that ever great. Winning these games rather than the inevitable disappointed feeling we've left the rink with for the last several years is so satisfying. I gave a pretty huge fist-pump after this one was done. Can't wait to see these guys play again. It is a new day.
10/25/11
LMHF Report - Game #6
EDMONTON 3
VS.
VANCOUVER 2
-----------------
It is so much fun to care again.
It's been really hard these past few years for someone who wants the home team to win so badly and doesn't particularly believe in "rebuilds". The thing is, if you threw yourself into a game like tonight, you would always be disappointed. The missed chances would come back to haunt you. The team would allow bounces, miscues and panicking to beat them. Not so tonight, and possibly not so again for a long time. There will of course be nights where we lose games, but not without a fight, and not with the utter hopelessness that has been present until recently.
Tonight for a few minutes against last year's Stanley Cup losers (WOOOOOO!!!! I mean...LOOOUUUUUUSSSSEEEERRRRRRRR) we were absolutely unstoppable. We took off and came at them in waves. It was a semi miracle that Vancouver wasn't down 4 or 5 goals after that outburst. To watch our guys rock and roll like that was one of best sights that ice has seen in years.
The only reason we were able to reach that point is that our entire team weathered a rather vicious storm in the first period. The Canucks threw everything they had at us and we gave them absolutely nothing. There could be no honest whining from the Canucks coach about them playing horribly in this one. That was an impressive period and if we had been able to keep 6 healthy defencemen, would have meant that this becomes a 4 or 5 goal win for our squad. The Canucks were on the ropes badly.
The third period was certainly a trial by fire for many of our players, and I have to credit Renney for properly realizing that the path to victory tonight required the kids to keep playing a whack of minutes. Staying aggressive for most of the game made sure we got the win tonight.
We can certainly face the Canucks with a different look this year, as we can finally bite back when they play their typical, classless game. We absorbed a lot of punishment tonight but it did not distract us from our game plan. Getting popped didn't change what our players were out there attempting to do on the ice where it has in the past.
I'm going to take it pretty easy on the defence tonight. They were in it up to their necks and certainly made some mistakes that could have been bad...but they bent without breaking and gave every last bit of sweat they had to this game. It is tough against any NHL team when you lose your #1 Dman early in the game, but against a pesky rival with a lot of speed it is usually fatal. It wasn't pretty, but they found a way.
I actually prefer beating the Canucks to the Flames, because as I've covered before many many times, I really really don't like their Edmonton-based fans. This one felt great, and especially because it was our young guys that came out and took it to the Canucks.
-------------
Khabibulin
- Before he allowed the first goal, he was utterly stupendous. He was once again active, engaged and clearly fired up for this one. He had a couple sequences including the key one in the second period where he was so locked on it was amazing. An unfortunate stick that directed Cody Hodgson's shot into the net threw him off his groove a bit though, and to be honest he fought the puck pretty hard for the rest of the game. He gave up a giant rebound then overplayed the puck to allow the second goal, and made similar plays down the stretch that thankfully didn't cost us. I'm very interested to see how he rebounds next start.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- These guys showed tonight that they can play some amazing hockey against a strong opposition. Vancouver had no answer for these guys all night, as they drove possession and created an absolute ton of chances. Eberle's goal was one of the best wrist shots you'll ever see and he was clearly incredibly happy to get it. Hall made a fabulous read and pass to set it up as well. 14 and 4 were pretty locked in tonight, with 93 often deferring to a support role (and playing it beautifully, this is a complement about his hockey sense not a slight). The second goal looked like a replay of several plays we've already seen from that line this year. Either Eberle or Hall had a wide open net and Hall made no mistake. I'm still surprised they didn't score on the 4-on-1 after Bieksa made the world's stupidest pinch, but that actually revealed one of the only troubles these guys sometimes have...they get aligned horizontally across the ice sometimes and don't have any depth to their attack. They'll find this soon enough, which only means they're going to produce more. It cost them on both that rush and in the third on the play where Eberle had no angle and shot it into Schneider's glove. The pass that Hopkins made on that play was just amazing. I'd actually like to commend 93 on his defensive and neutral zone efforts tonight. He was in such good position and made great stops and poke plays to disrupt the Canucks. He played an every zone game for the whole game. Hall took hits and it only focused him more. He was flying around the ice and is really looking for his linemates right now. I heard Eberle was angry to the point of expletives after the game regarding his missed chances...you have to love a guy who is nearly PPG and is angry at himself for not being better. What we are watching here is truly something special. 3 complete players playing hockey on a level we haven't seen in at least 20-some years at a very young age...it is something else on nights like tonight when they're really tested.
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- I'm a little conflicted on what to say about these guys tonight. On one hand, their absolute results look pretty solid as they logged a ton of minutes and did well to keep the Canucks top guys from hurting us too badly despite the situation on D. On the other...Horcoff for one missed a whole ton of passes in the first, gave the puck away several times late, and lost a ton of faceoffs. He didn't look right tonight, but went to the right place and scored a very similar goal to the triple OT goal vs. San Jose several years ago. Smyth looked very tired and slow most of the night. He didn't seem to be able to forge past the Canucks D very much at all. Again though, he makes the key play behind the net to set up a huge goal. Jones worked hard to keep things moving in the right direction, but tipped a puck into his own net and missed his check on several occasions. SO these guys were kind of all over the place tonight. I think it showed why it is so important that they get Hemsky back and get him on this line...they need someone to do more of the puck work and add some dynamic play. In the meantime...I'd try a split of Eager and Petrell in Jones' spot...but then again I'm crazy.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- Sam was pretty bad early on...there's no getting around that. He made a bunch of weird passes that didn't connect or were picked off, and was making some really strange skating/turning decisions. His game improved as things went on until he got hurt, but 89 needs to put some work in before he's ready. He honestly looks overmatched on this team at the moment. Magnus was playing a decent game in the first and then got absolutely pasted on his typical board rush. I haven't seen anyone catch him on this play yet this year...and it wasn't pretty. After that play, there was a pronounced back-off in 91's game, which is not good because he's already not the most in-your-face drive-through-people guy. He did play a solid defensive game and maintained strong position, but really didn't use his speed in the same kind of way he has for most of the year. The one guy on this line who was pretty impressive was Belanger. His defensive positioning was excellent, he skated many pucks to safety and really took charge in his late shifts when others were panicking like crazy. Big effort from 20.
Petrell-Lander-Eager
- These three played an excellent fourth line game. Eager, despite the two penalties was effective on the forecheck and moving the puck down the ice as well as getting in the Canucks' face just enough. They hate him and it throws them off. He also got in some hidden elbows and stick shots, which are usually the exclusive tool of the Canucks in abusing our squad. No longer. 57 and 37 both played strong games on their line, on the PK, and when they were elevated to play with Belanger. Petrell specifically made some absolutely tremendous blocks, landed several hits and was seemingly always in the right position. Maybe he won't need to be sent down...could be he's learning on the job. Lander really stepped up as well and once again, took a beating and kept going. We seem to have rounded up a bunch of really tough young forwards.
Gilbert
- For most of the night GIlbert was excellent. He had a few giveaways as all the defencemen did tonight, but he got it done. You could certainly see that he was somewhat out of his comfort zone after not being able to play full time with Smid.
Smid
- He made some great plays including a huge breakup play late in the game to prevent a goal after a puck hit the ref's stick and went to Hansen in front of the net. 5 seems to step up in these Vancouver games so it certainly is not surprising but it is definitely impressive.
Sutton
- It was a strange mixed bag of a game for Sutton. He was so tired by the end that he was getting knocked around in utterly embarassing fashion. He actually won some races that mattered and moved the puck okay at other times. He also defused a couple situations where the Canucks would have gotten some cheap shots in against us in the past. There were also a couple solid hits but also some nasty giveaways. I don't know what to say...he had to play too much and did okay with it. His attempt at defending Burrows in the third might have been the saddest thing I've ever seen an NHL defenceman do. It was like watching a horrible curve ball hitter take the worst swing of his life and smash his face into the ground.
Barker
- At times it was ugly...he sort of skates into pinches with caution and tends to be too late to do much of anything. Thankfully on the most dangerous 2 of these plays tonight, he had enough sense to take the body. He also made some solid outlet passes and was okaya on the powerplay.
Whitney
- Dammit....
Potter
- Honestly he made more mistakes in this game than in any other he's played for us...but still put forth a tremendous effort. Amazing to see that he was the TOI leader tonight but he was indeed everywhere, moving the puck, blocking shots, hitting people, it was pretty terrific. Specifcally, he made an excellent little play to get the puck to Hall, who then got it to Eberle for the first goal. I heard a variation on this on an old Beta tape from the 1988 playoffs...."THANK GAWD FOR COREY POTTER!"
------------
There were moments tonight where it really felt like we'd arrived and I'll tell you what...if they find a way to beat Washington and end their winning streak, it's officially on in this town. At that point, management must go out and get a defenceman and get this show on the road. You cannot waste what these kids are doing and the efforts we're getting from vets right now. It's falling into place people.
Smid great defensive stop late
Potter lovely play to Eberle goal
VS.
VANCOUVER 2
-----------------
It is so much fun to care again.
It's been really hard these past few years for someone who wants the home team to win so badly and doesn't particularly believe in "rebuilds". The thing is, if you threw yourself into a game like tonight, you would always be disappointed. The missed chances would come back to haunt you. The team would allow bounces, miscues and panicking to beat them. Not so tonight, and possibly not so again for a long time. There will of course be nights where we lose games, but not without a fight, and not with the utter hopelessness that has been present until recently.
Tonight for a few minutes against last year's Stanley Cup losers (WOOOOOO!!!! I mean...LOOOUUUUUUSSSSEEEERRRRRRRR) we were absolutely unstoppable. We took off and came at them in waves. It was a semi miracle that Vancouver wasn't down 4 or 5 goals after that outburst. To watch our guys rock and roll like that was one of best sights that ice has seen in years.
The only reason we were able to reach that point is that our entire team weathered a rather vicious storm in the first period. The Canucks threw everything they had at us and we gave them absolutely nothing. There could be no honest whining from the Canucks coach about them playing horribly in this one. That was an impressive period and if we had been able to keep 6 healthy defencemen, would have meant that this becomes a 4 or 5 goal win for our squad. The Canucks were on the ropes badly.
The third period was certainly a trial by fire for many of our players, and I have to credit Renney for properly realizing that the path to victory tonight required the kids to keep playing a whack of minutes. Staying aggressive for most of the game made sure we got the win tonight.
We can certainly face the Canucks with a different look this year, as we can finally bite back when they play their typical, classless game. We absorbed a lot of punishment tonight but it did not distract us from our game plan. Getting popped didn't change what our players were out there attempting to do on the ice where it has in the past.
I'm going to take it pretty easy on the defence tonight. They were in it up to their necks and certainly made some mistakes that could have been bad...but they bent without breaking and gave every last bit of sweat they had to this game. It is tough against any NHL team when you lose your #1 Dman early in the game, but against a pesky rival with a lot of speed it is usually fatal. It wasn't pretty, but they found a way.
I actually prefer beating the Canucks to the Flames, because as I've covered before many many times, I really really don't like their Edmonton-based fans. This one felt great, and especially because it was our young guys that came out and took it to the Canucks.
-------------
Khabibulin
- Before he allowed the first goal, he was utterly stupendous. He was once again active, engaged and clearly fired up for this one. He had a couple sequences including the key one in the second period where he was so locked on it was amazing. An unfortunate stick that directed Cody Hodgson's shot into the net threw him off his groove a bit though, and to be honest he fought the puck pretty hard for the rest of the game. He gave up a giant rebound then overplayed the puck to allow the second goal, and made similar plays down the stretch that thankfully didn't cost us. I'm very interested to see how he rebounds next start.
Hall-Hopkins-Eberle
- These guys showed tonight that they can play some amazing hockey against a strong opposition. Vancouver had no answer for these guys all night, as they drove possession and created an absolute ton of chances. Eberle's goal was one of the best wrist shots you'll ever see and he was clearly incredibly happy to get it. Hall made a fabulous read and pass to set it up as well. 14 and 4 were pretty locked in tonight, with 93 often deferring to a support role (and playing it beautifully, this is a complement about his hockey sense not a slight). The second goal looked like a replay of several plays we've already seen from that line this year. Either Eberle or Hall had a wide open net and Hall made no mistake. I'm still surprised they didn't score on the 4-on-1 after Bieksa made the world's stupidest pinch, but that actually revealed one of the only troubles these guys sometimes have...they get aligned horizontally across the ice sometimes and don't have any depth to their attack. They'll find this soon enough, which only means they're going to produce more. It cost them on both that rush and in the third on the play where Eberle had no angle and shot it into Schneider's glove. The pass that Hopkins made on that play was just amazing. I'd actually like to commend 93 on his defensive and neutral zone efforts tonight. He was in such good position and made great stops and poke plays to disrupt the Canucks. He played an every zone game for the whole game. Hall took hits and it only focused him more. He was flying around the ice and is really looking for his linemates right now. I heard Eberle was angry to the point of expletives after the game regarding his missed chances...you have to love a guy who is nearly PPG and is angry at himself for not being better. What we are watching here is truly something special. 3 complete players playing hockey on a level we haven't seen in at least 20-some years at a very young age...it is something else on nights like tonight when they're really tested.
Smyth-Horcoff-Jones
- I'm a little conflicted on what to say about these guys tonight. On one hand, their absolute results look pretty solid as they logged a ton of minutes and did well to keep the Canucks top guys from hurting us too badly despite the situation on D. On the other...Horcoff for one missed a whole ton of passes in the first, gave the puck away several times late, and lost a ton of faceoffs. He didn't look right tonight, but went to the right place and scored a very similar goal to the triple OT goal vs. San Jose several years ago. Smyth looked very tired and slow most of the night. He didn't seem to be able to forge past the Canucks D very much at all. Again though, he makes the key play behind the net to set up a huge goal. Jones worked hard to keep things moving in the right direction, but tipped a puck into his own net and missed his check on several occasions. SO these guys were kind of all over the place tonight. I think it showed why it is so important that they get Hemsky back and get him on this line...they need someone to do more of the puck work and add some dynamic play. In the meantime...I'd try a split of Eager and Petrell in Jones' spot...but then again I'm crazy.
Paajarvi-Belanger-Gagner
- Sam was pretty bad early on...there's no getting around that. He made a bunch of weird passes that didn't connect or were picked off, and was making some really strange skating/turning decisions. His game improved as things went on until he got hurt, but 89 needs to put some work in before he's ready. He honestly looks overmatched on this team at the moment. Magnus was playing a decent game in the first and then got absolutely pasted on his typical board rush. I haven't seen anyone catch him on this play yet this year...and it wasn't pretty. After that play, there was a pronounced back-off in 91's game, which is not good because he's already not the most in-your-face drive-through-people guy. He did play a solid defensive game and maintained strong position, but really didn't use his speed in the same kind of way he has for most of the year. The one guy on this line who was pretty impressive was Belanger. His defensive positioning was excellent, he skated many pucks to safety and really took charge in his late shifts when others were panicking like crazy. Big effort from 20.
Petrell-Lander-Eager
- These three played an excellent fourth line game. Eager, despite the two penalties was effective on the forecheck and moving the puck down the ice as well as getting in the Canucks' face just enough. They hate him and it throws them off. He also got in some hidden elbows and stick shots, which are usually the exclusive tool of the Canucks in abusing our squad. No longer. 57 and 37 both played strong games on their line, on the PK, and when they were elevated to play with Belanger. Petrell specifically made some absolutely tremendous blocks, landed several hits and was seemingly always in the right position. Maybe he won't need to be sent down...could be he's learning on the job. Lander really stepped up as well and once again, took a beating and kept going. We seem to have rounded up a bunch of really tough young forwards.
Gilbert
- For most of the night GIlbert was excellent. He had a few giveaways as all the defencemen did tonight, but he got it done. You could certainly see that he was somewhat out of his comfort zone after not being able to play full time with Smid.
Smid
- He made some great plays including a huge breakup play late in the game to prevent a goal after a puck hit the ref's stick and went to Hansen in front of the net. 5 seems to step up in these Vancouver games so it certainly is not surprising but it is definitely impressive.
Sutton
- It was a strange mixed bag of a game for Sutton. He was so tired by the end that he was getting knocked around in utterly embarassing fashion. He actually won some races that mattered and moved the puck okay at other times. He also defused a couple situations where the Canucks would have gotten some cheap shots in against us in the past. There were also a couple solid hits but also some nasty giveaways. I don't know what to say...he had to play too much and did okay with it. His attempt at defending Burrows in the third might have been the saddest thing I've ever seen an NHL defenceman do. It was like watching a horrible curve ball hitter take the worst swing of his life and smash his face into the ground.
Barker
- At times it was ugly...he sort of skates into pinches with caution and tends to be too late to do much of anything. Thankfully on the most dangerous 2 of these plays tonight, he had enough sense to take the body. He also made some solid outlet passes and was okaya on the powerplay.
Whitney
- Dammit....
Potter
- Honestly he made more mistakes in this game than in any other he's played for us...but still put forth a tremendous effort. Amazing to see that he was the TOI leader tonight but he was indeed everywhere, moving the puck, blocking shots, hitting people, it was pretty terrific. Specifcally, he made an excellent little play to get the puck to Hall, who then got it to Eberle for the first goal. I heard a variation on this on an old Beta tape from the 1988 playoffs...."THANK GAWD FOR COREY POTTER!"
------------
There were moments tonight where it really felt like we'd arrived and I'll tell you what...if they find a way to beat Washington and end their winning streak, it's officially on in this town. At that point, management must go out and get a defenceman and get this show on the road. You cannot waste what these kids are doing and the efforts we're getting from vets right now. It's falling into place people.
Smid great defensive stop late
Potter lovely play to Eberle goal
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