All Entries Tagged With: "ales hemsky"

Game 17 preview – Shorthanded Oilers visit Colorado

First it was Souray who was knocked out of the lineup with a concussion. Then Horcoff went down with a shoulder injury. And now Hemsky is sidelined, also with a shoulder injury. Those are big holes in any lineup, when the team has dropped six of their last seven they’re huge holes in your lineup.

Game 16 preview – Living without Horcoff

Shawn Horcoff will be out of the Oilers lineup for the next 7-10 days with a shoulder injury that he suffered on Monday night against the Islanders. Horcoff hasn’t pissed a drop this season offensively but his presence will be missed although certainly not on the score sheet. Even when he brings nothing in the offensive zone he is solid defensively, he wins faceoffs, and he sees a lot of ice time on the penalty kill. Those are hard things to replace.

Game 15 review – A terrible effort from the Oilers

I’m willing to accept a team that is struggling with the effects of the flu. If you’re worn down then it’s hard to compete at an elite level; to me that’s completely reasonable. But while I’m willing to accept the flu as an excuse on some level, I also think I at least deserve is to at least see a team that is trying to compete. If you play hard and you lose, so be it. But if you don’t try and don’t compete, then to me there is no excuse for that.

Game 15 preview – Sick and tired of being sick and tired

Thanks to the flu the Oilers have been undermanned and overwhelmed for more than two weeks now. I don’t want to yell and scream that the team is terrible and that trades need to be made now to save the season because they’re sick and I’m sure that it’s tough, or near impossible, to play at a competitive level when you feel like garbage. But do you know when the Oilers last played a good game? October 16.

Game 14 review – The lack of scoring continues

With yesterdays 2-0 loss to the Bruins the Oilers have now dropped four of their last five games. And considering how the other game went they’re luck to have won even one. But as bad as things have been I’m not hitting the panic button – not yet at least.

Game 13 review – Thank God for Penner and Hemsky

“A fire hydrant could score 40 goals playing with Wayne.” – Glen Sather

Right now it seems like a fire hydrant would score a lot of points playing between Penner and Hemsky. That hydrant wouldn’t win many faceoffs but neither do the Oilers so I guess there wouldn’t be a big difference there.

Game 13 preview – The Kid Line returns

In an effort to jump start the offense Quinn is going to move Horcoff back onto the top unit with Penner and Hemsky. Gagner will move down and play with Cogliano and Nilsson, reuniting the Kid Line. Breaking up a line that’s been playing really well to insert dead weight seems a little sketchy to me but when you haven’t scored in seven periods you’ll try anything I guess.

Game 11 review – Luongo blanks the Oil

Last night reminded me in a lot of way what I watched with the Oilers last season. The game that they played wasn’t terrible overall but they never really seemed close to a win.

Game 11 preview – Getting right back on the horse

Following last nights loss to the Flames in Calgary the Oilers hopped right on a plane headed to Vancouver. Between the late puck drop in last nights games and the flight I’m sure the Oilers would have liked to have had a day off to work on their game and to let some of the [...]

Game 10 preview – Battle of Alberta round 3

There really aren’t must win games in October. No team has ever won the Cup in October and no team has eliminated themselves either. But while there might not be must win games there are really would like to win games. Tonight in Calgary the Oilers are playing a really would like to win game.

Game 9 review – In Penner we trust

Fans in Edmonton are tripping over themselves to be heard saying “I always thought Lowe was a genius for signing Penner”. Of course very few people actually thought that and fewer still ever said it out loud. Now though, if Penner asked to have Rexall Place renamed the Dustin Penner House of Dominance nobody in this town would turn him down.

Game 9 preview – There is literally nobody left

Between injuries and the flu the Oilers are rapidly running out of players. In addition to Souray, Pisani, Pouliot, and Staios who are out with various injuries you can now add Stone and Brule to the list of Oilers unable to play.

Game 8 review – 60 minutes and not 1 second more

The Oilers won last night 2-1, on that everyone agrees. But how well the Oilers played seems to differ significantly. Opinions within the blogosphere vary from the Oilers outplayed and outchanced the Canucks to the Canucks outchanced the Oilers to the Canucks were effortlessly superior compared to the Oilers. For my money I thought the Oilers played well enough that the two points weren’t undeserved but they weren’t much better.

Frolov in Edmonton sounds good to me

In an effort to get his game to where they feel it needs to be the Kings are going to let Frolov watch tonights game from the press box. He is without a doubt one of the most talented players that the Kings have, so a move like this certainly caught me by surprise. Lets say for a minute that this doesn’t do the trick and they choose to trade him, would Edmonton be a good fit?

Game 8 preview – Which Luongo will Edmonton get?

This year I’m trying something new. I’m trying to be more relaxed when I go to Oiler games. Not that I was exactly a raving lunatic before, but occasionally I’d really let opposing fans or a terrible game from the Oilers – and last season there were many – get to me and when that happened I just didn’t enjoy the game as much.

Game 7 preview – Now Hemsky is out

With the short road trip over the Oil once again return to home ice tonight to host the Wild and they will do so without Hemsky. The upside here is that he has the flu and isn’t hurt, unlike Souray, Pisani, and Staios. Pouliot is hurt too but he is useless as far as I’m concerned so no big loss.

Game 4 preview – Some new lines and no Souray

For the second time in as many weeks the Oilers will host the late game on Hockey Night In Canada. But don’t get used to it Oiler fans, it’ll only happen another two times in the remaining 26 weeks of the season. Tonight the Oilers are shuffling the deck up front and on the blue line Souray is out.

Game 3 review – Another heartbreaker in Edmonton

I’m not going to be able to go through 82 games like this. In three games so far this season, the Oilers have lost a game in the last minute , given up the tying goal in the last minute and gone to a shootout twice. My heart can’t take a full season of that.

Game 3 preview – Is Quinn fooling with Calgary

So the geniuses that make the NHL schedule have the Oilers and Flames facing off for a second time this season tonight in Edmonton. I like the Battle of Alberta as much as anybody but twice in the first three games seems strange.

Game 2 review – The bounces go for the Oil this time

I’m not sure the reason – it could be karma, or cosmic balance, or even some sort of universal justice – but it seems to me that the sports world has adopted a policy of “what goes around comes around”. I know this might sound strange but stick with me for a minute.