All Entries Tagged With: "nikolai khabibulin"
Game 25 preview – Oilers receive a royal visit
It’s back to business for the Oilers tonight as they host the Los Angeles Kings. This will be the first meeting of the season for these two teams but of last season the Kings have really gave the Oilers real problems. In the four games between the two clubs last season the Oilers won just one, thanks to the loser point though they did manage to get a single point in one of the other three.
Game 24 preview – It’s time to start winning
This week could very well define the Oilers season. As a fan it hurts to think that on the 23rd of November but it likely is reality.
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 At The Quarter Point
It seems like only yesterday that the Oilers were getting ready to faceoff against the Flames in their first game of the year and here we are now 20 games deep into the 2009/10 NHL season. With the season a quarter over I thought we should take a quick look back at the season so far and hand out some quarter season accolades.
Game 19 preview – Just keep doing what you’re doing
Tonight in Buffalo the Oilers play their third game of a five game road trip. The key to success is to just keep doing what they’ve been doing – simple offense and lots of shots at one end of the rink and limited second chances and good clean breakouts at the other end of the ice. It’s obviously a lot easier said than done.
Game 17 Review – That’s How You Start A Road Trip
I look at most road trips in a very simple way – if you come out with .500 record then the trip was pretty damn good. So with that in mind it’s always nice to start a road trip out with a win. When you pick up that opening game win, there is just a little less pressure on the team going into the next games on the trip. Now it may or may not in fact be true that early wins on a road trip help the team on the rest of the trip, but I can guarantee that last nights 5-3 win over the Avalanche did help boost the confidence of the Oilers.
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 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 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 review – Another loss to the Flames
The games played in the Battle of Alberta are some of my favorites out of any season so you can imagine the pain that it’s causing me to see my beloved Oilers with a 0-2-1 record against the Flames. That all those losses have come in a short 22 day stretch is the equivalent of rubbing salt into the wound.
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 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.
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 review – Penner leads the way
Last night was not the typical Oilers-Wild game, it was actually entertaining. Well it maybe wasn’t great right from puck drop, it took the Oil four and a half minutes to register a shot, but eventually it got there. From games I’ve seen the Wild play in the past that is about the best you can hope for.
Game 6 review – Not quite ready for the big boys
Admittedly this post is a day late. But I was working out of town yesterday and just didn’t have the time. I could have let this review go but the Oilers game on Wednesday night proved one very important thing that I really felt needed to be pointed out. The Oilers aren’t close to competing with the elite teams in the Western Conference.
Game 6 preview – Khabibulin returns to Chicago
When the Oilers take to the ice tonight it will be with Khabibulin between the pipes. This will be Khabibulin’s first game back in the Windy City since he signed a free agent deal with the Oilers in July. In his four years in Chicago Kahabibulin played well enough and had decent stats – a 90-80-24 record with a 2.81 GAA and a .904 save percentage.
Game 5 review – Oilers win big in Nashville
I’m still not sure what surprised me the most about last nights game. Who am I kidding, Stortini scoring two goals would be the most surprising. Aside from his mother, I don’t think there is anyone on the planet who thought he would score two goals in a game ever. Maybe the most surprising of all was that the goals weren’t ugly, they were actually decent.
Game 5 preview – Deslauriers gets the call
The Oilers faceoff tonight in Nashville for their first road game of the season. The Oilers haven’t fared well against the Predators in recent years. In the last three years the Oil have a 1-10-1 record and they haven’t won in Nashville since October 29, 2005. So how will the Oil break that trend? By starting their backup goalie of course.
Game 4 review – The Bulin Wall arrives in Edmonton
After a slow start to the season it looks like the goalie that the Oilers signed to a four year deal in July has finally arrived. For the second time in as many starts Khabibulin lead the way for the Oilers with some stellar goaltending, the result this time was a 3-2 win over the Canadiens.
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.
