Game 21 preview – In search of an elusive road win

The Oilers wrap up their five game road trip tonight in Columbus. After getting out of the gate on this trip with a win in Colorado and a loser point in Ottawa the Oilers have dropped back to back games to the Sabres and Thrashers. After the Colorado game I wrote that a successful road trip is a 0.500 road trip. Well by that metric whether or not this trip is successful hangs in the balance tonight.

The Oilers have played the Blue Jackets once before this season. It was an interesting game where the Oilers fell behind 4-1 only to storm back and win 6-4. In the overall scheme of things I don’t think that giving any team coached by Ken Hitchcock a three goal lead and then expecting to win is something that you should do regularly. Sound defense is a constant with his teams, I wouldn’t flirt with disaster again tonight if I was the Oilers.

In net tonight will be Garon for the Jackets. Garon was of course an Oilers for a part of last season. Garon’s numbers this season are better than Mason’s but I certainly don’t think that Mason is in any danger of losing his job as the number one guy in Columbus. This move is really a case of riding the hot hand, that the hot hand was traded by the opposition certainly doesn’t hurt either.

For the Oilers Khabibulin gets the start again tonight. This is a bit surprising since he also started yesterday afternoon in Atlanta. This will be the first time this season in back to back games that Deslauriers hasn’t seen some ice time, maybe Quinn thinks that a 0.500 road trip is important too. Maybe he just wants to stop the losing streak at three. Regardless of the reason this will be Khabibulin’s 18th start of the season which is a lot more than I thought he’d have 21 games into the season.

The other lineup change of note for Oiler fans is yet another injury, this time to Gagner. If you’re getting tired of the injuries you’re not alone believe me. To replace Gagner the Oilers have a couple of options; Nilsson could draw in or Strudwick (maybe Smid) could be moved up to forward and Arsene could fill the vacant spot on the back end. Neither option  excites me too much to be honest with you.

If I had to pick between the two I might move a defenseman up. That decision has less to do with what the blue liner can do against what I know Nilsson will do. Nilsson is just death to watch some nights as he blindly throws the puck into the middle of the ice. This is a guy who has been given countless chances to prove he deserves a roster spot and he just keeps making the same lazy plays. If nothing else at least a guy like Strudwick could throw a couple of hits and maybe generate some energy instead of turnovers.