GDT – Edmonton Oilers at San Jose Sharks – Jan 2, 2010 @ 8:00 PM – CBC – Game 42
By Racki, January 2, 2010 11:16 am
GDT - Edmonton Oilers at San Jose Sharks
PRE-GAME RANT
Well, the Oilers head into a new year, and they’ll be thankful to put 2009 behind them. The playoff chance calculator has them at a 0.4% chance of making the playoffs. And as Dustin Penner would remind us, Lloyd Christmas once said “so you’re saying there’s a chance!!” (for those that missed it: Penner on not making Canada: “Like my friend Lloyd Christmas said, what was all this 1 in a million talk?”).
Anyways, the Oilers are coming off a 2-1 loss vs. the Flames yesterday in which Jeff Deslauriers stood on his head to keep the score from being completely out of hand (I’m sure many of you skipped this one, and you were smart to). They’ve lost 8 of their last 9 now. The Sharks, meanwhile have won 7 straight. So hi, uhm.. free spot on the bingo card.
Here are my predictions:
Brain says: Sharks 6, Oilers 2
Heart says: Sharks 5, Oilers 3 Oilers forfeit before this one starts
PROJECTED LINE-UPS
Edmonton Oilers Line-Up
Penner — Gagner — Nilsson
Jacques — Horcoff — Brule
Stone — Potulny — O’Sullivan
Moreau — Cogliano — Stortini
Souray — Gilbert
Grebeshkov — Strudwick
Smid — Staios
Deslauriers
Pitton
San Jose Sharks Line-Up
Heatley – Thornton – Marleau
Clowe – Pavelski – Setoguchi
McGinn – Mitchell – Ortmeyer
Shelley – Nichol – Staubitz
Blake – Vlasic
Murray – Boyle
Huskins – Leach
Nabokov
Greiss
TEAM COMPARISON
 |
STATS |  |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | GP | 41 |
| 16 | W | 26 |
| 21 | L | 8 |
| 4 | OT | 7 |
| 36 | P | 59 |
| 0.439 | P% | 0.72 |
| 2.68 | G/G | 3.24 |
| 3.17 | GA/G | 2.44 |
| 18.5 | PP% | 20.8 |
| 75.7 | PK% | 87.4 |
| 28 | S/G | 31.1 |
| 32 | SA/G | 31.3 |
| 46.7 | FO% | 55.9 |
GAME NOTES
- Visnovsky hurt his left foot falling into the boards while defending against Brandon Prust of the Flames, on Thursday. Amazingly enough, he finished his shift. It was a nearly 3 minute long shift, and after hurting his foot, he played 2 full minutes. He did have a couple of shifts afterwards too. He did have it checked by a doctor yesterday, and the verdict is 7 to 10 days.
- Strudwick will play in place of Visnovsky. He has been paired with Grebeshkov, and Smid will return to a familiar (yet scary) pairing with Steve Staios.
1ST PERIOD SUMMARY
13:10 – SJS – Huskins from Mitchell, McGinn
A shot from Huskins at the point somehow squeezes through a bunch of bodies and then through Deslauriers’ five hole. It appears to go in off of McGinn’s skate.
17:18 – SJS – Murray from Nichol, Staubitz
Similar to the first goal, a slap shot from the point squeaks through Deslauriers’ pads. He should’ve had this one.
Other Highlights
9:05 – Cogliano and Penner pair up for the best scoring chance of the period so far. Cogliano skates into the zone and gets a wrister off from a really bad angle. Nabokov kicks the rebound to the slot and Penner gets a shot off that could go in, but it’s blocked by a defenseman.
4:15 – Jacques carries the puck behind the net and wraps a hard, blind pass to the tape of Brule’s stick. He in turn fires a hard shot on net, but Nabokov turns it aside.
2ND PERIOD SUMMARY
0:43 – SJS – Heatley from Thornton, Marleau
Heatley skates from the boards, behind the net, and wraps it into the net
4:06 – EDM – Nilsson from Gagner, Penner
Nilsson breaks in the zone and makes an very nice play, flipping the puck to himself to freeze the defender and getting a shot on net.
13:32 – SJS – Marleau from Thornton, Murray
Gagner is the lone man covering the ride sight of the net, but is lured by a player over to the left side, leaving a huge lane open down the middle of the ice for Marleau. Marleau fakes a slapshot from the point then skates uncontested into the slot and wrists a shot past Deslauriers on the glove side.
Other Highlights
15:20 – Strudwick and Clowe go at it. This is a continuation of a battle in front of the net earlier. Clowe really lands the only punches. The announcers go crazy, but I didn’t really think there was much of a fight here. Most of the blows seemed to be glancing, and it looked like Strudwick just lost his balance.
13:36 – Nilsson makes an amazing Dangle move that draws excitement from Lee.
13:22 – Nilsson is bowled over at the blue line by Nichol with a nice hit.
8:52 – GIlbert throws a rare hit, and its a good one.. on Clowe of all people. Very nice hit.
7:05 – CBC points out that the Oilers have 37 GF and 17 GA in the last 10 games. Brutal.
2:56 – Somehow a Gilbert shot that is tipped out front stays out. Another very dangerous chance by the Oilers, but the magic forcefield keeps the puck out.
1:32 – Grebeshkov throws a huge open ice hit on Ortmeyer.
0:46 – Horcoff comes in the zone alone. He delays and drops it back to Brule who fires a shot on net, but Nabokov makes the save.
3RD PERIOD SUMMARY
No scoring.
Other Highlights
15:47 – Deslauriers makes a big glove save on a slap shot from Huskins from close range.
14:53 – Murray pops O’Sullivan with a decent hit at the blue line by the Sharks bench.
14:20 – O’Sullivan skates past Murray, goes to the backhand from Nabokov’s left, but Nabby makes the save.
2:51 – The Sharks generate a good chance, with Deslauriers down and out, but the Oilers collapse in front of the net and battle to keep the Sharks from getting a shot on a fairly wide open net.
1:39 – Roughness starts after the whistle. Staios roughs up Mitchell, throwing a gloved punch at him. Staios then drops his gloves with Leach. It is simple a wrestle match though as none get any punches off.
0:30 – Horcoff and Brule exchange good chances from in close, banging away at a loose puck, but can’t beat Nabakov.
POST-GAME RANT
Overall I’m going to say this was a decent game played by the Oilers, but this was clearly the case of a last place team playing a first place team. The Sharks out-skilled the Oilers tonight. Maybe not even that… their 4th liners out grinded our 4th liners, and their skill guys looked better than our skill line. They clearly just had a better team. Add to that, Deslauriers had a game completely opposite to the Calgary game. He looked very human in net, and let in a couple he shouldn’t have early on. That may have been the difference, getting the game off to a bad start.
Next game, Tuesday vs. the Coyotes on PPV @ 7:00 PM.
- Metal&Oil:
- Racki:
- hemmerlady:
- Trogdor:
- Steve-O:
Loading ...
Themocracy
lol MetalOil
So who’s going to watch the Oilers? I bet you the USA vs. Finland game is way more exciting to watch.
1-0 TO. Nice. Go LEAFS!!! I feel dirty.
Im sticking with the World Jrs. I have never seen Toni Rajala play hockey so I am going to see what the hype is about.
I’ll be watching the US vs. Fins. Two teams with a lot of anger right now.
Riessen. Uggg.
So whenever Russia blows a late lead and a game it should just be refereed to as getting Eberlaid.
Thankfully the Fins game is an hour earlier.. so I’ll start with that and see how it goes. I regret bailing on Canada for the Oilers, especially since my PVR missed the OT and SO in that game. I’m recording both anyways.
I’ve seen a bit of Rajala and Hartikainen. So far, Rajala hasn’t been too impressive, to be honest, but I’ve only seen one game… so that’s hardly enough to judge. He did show a couple of great bursts of speed and nice stickhandling, but he disappeared a lot of the game. Hartikainen is the opposite… he likely isn’t a guy with a tonne of skill, but he battles out there.
I wonder how high Niederreiter’s draft stock rised after tonight’s performance (he’s only 17 too).
Tank for Niederreiter !!!
Is he even ranked by Central Scouting???
lol You guys are coming up with some comedy gold tonight
What about Swiss goaltender Benjamin Conz stock? He made 50 saves on 52 shots?
Wow, pretty impressive, especially against some of the Russian shooters. The post made a couple of great saves too.
Just for the record, hockeys future has El Nino ranked at 21 so far. Tarasenko at 6th.
CSS doesn’t have Nieder-etc. on their list just yet, but I’m also looking at what probably isn’t an updated list too. http://centralscouting.nhl.com/
As for Conz, not sure where he’s at.
Is TSN streaming the US/Finland game?
Probably.. away from your TV? If they aren’t streaming it..you can try the usual sites for PPV games.. looks like one of them may stream it.
Edit: according to tsn’s site, they are streaming it. No idea if it’s live though, actually..
TSN says it is being streamed live.
Thanks. I see live/VOD on the schedule but no link to watch yet….
Rajala was once touted as being Finland’s Sidney Crosby. Seems a little over the top to me. Wow is he every small. http://thehockeynews.com/articles/30257-Oilers-Watch-Future-on-display-at-WJC.html
Okay. Got it running.
Lets go Finns!!!
And yes, Finnish Crosby sounds a bit extreme.
My gut says the Americans will take this one but hey if the Swiss can take out the Russians then who knows.
Finns will be playing a hard hitting game. They could take the US in one game.
33 points in 31 games for the Wheat Kings is pretty good for Rajala though. Especially when you consider how he is adjusting to new surroundings in North America right now.
One thing that the article points out, which is good, is that he’s playing in the Dub this year, so that helps him get more used to the physical play and smaller ice.
The downside though (which may be an upside, actually) is I think it’s either WHL or NHL for him until he’s 20 (no AHL). I think…
Didn’t the Oilers already sign him?
Our prospects on the ice now (11=Rajala, 35=Hartikainen)
I see Rajala as a Dean McAmmond type for potential.
I’d assume they haven’t signed him yet. But I’m just saying that the Oil might not be able to send Rajala to the AHL next year if they wanted to, due to age and the CHL agreement. I think they’ll be able to though because he was drafted by us while he was in Europe.
Yikes. This could be a route.
Gord “Random WJHC hockey player had to go to Edmonton to get facial reconstruction surgery.”
Pierre “Yes…. in Edmonton, by the way”.
Way to help out, Pierre.
I think he just can’t shut up.
This reminds me of the Oil playing the Hawks.
He has already signed his 3 year Entry Level contract. I think he was signed so that we could have more say in his development and sway him to come over and play in the memorial cup this year.
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3865272&FORM=ZZNR6
The Swedes and USA would be a better semi, I would think. That also sets up would could be a helluva good final, if Canada gets past the Swiss. Canada vs. USA or Canada vs. Sweden with both be very exciting games to watch.
Ahh..
I think it’s great he’s over here anyways. A guy his size is going to have to get used to N.A. hockey sooner than later. I would be surprised if he makes the cut here next year though. We’re going to have a traffic jam of guys vying for spots, so I think it would probably be best for him to get another year either in the AHL or WHL (assuming he can play in the AHL, and I think he can actually).
Agreed Racki. This one could be 4-0 if not for Markstrom.
Someone get me some Gatorade!
Markstrom’s a Swede
Stay hydrated.
He’s been unconcious for the Fins. lol
The Springfield Falcons have actually won a game! Hooraaaay. First win since Nov 21st-ish… since Doobie was recalled. Doobie saved the day today, earning a first star in a 2-1 win with 33 saves.
I think Boston Oiler said he was going to that game.
I’d be worried if I were the Panthers.. he hasn’t stopped a damn thing yet, this game!
I do not blame Rob Daum for whats going on in Springfield. His team has been raped and pillaged with all the call ups to the big club. I even think he is doing a great job down there when you consider how well the call ups have played for the Oil.
Yah the Oilers haven’t done Daum any favors with all the call-ups.
Hartikainen is 6’2, which is big, but compared to the rest of his line, he looks 6’6 out there.
Reminds me of Penner and the rest of the Oilers.
Yah, true on that.
Switched it to the Oilers for a bit.. we’ll see how this one starts.
I heard a rumour the Oilers are playing tonight.
So far it sounds like you heard wrong. lol
I’m kidding… neither team has looked particularly good just yet.