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.
- ted:
- Metal&Oil:
- Racki:
- hemmerlady:
- Trogdor:
- Steve-O:
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Themocracy
Hey, I have the perfect picture for Monday Morning Standings, I’ll post a link later. Really debating what game to watching just want to see a gritty performance by the oil, not necessarily a win but a physical beat down on the sharks.
I’ve got the swap button ready on the remote to switch between games at any moment. So far watching the Oil.
And sounds good about the pic Zack.
haha, they just mentioned Quinn calling the team dumb. It’s hard not to laugh at that, as sad as it is.
Thats the Oilers season right there in a nut shell
What’s sad is it’s likely true. How many times do you go over stuff before you get that you have to back check and work hard to win?
Here’s the low res of the pic…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/zackman35/Hayden-Stanley-Cup-Kiss.jpg
Possible Caption: “Kissing the cup goodbye.”
The oil game isn’t very exciting at the moment, I wish that the Swede’s were playing tonight, I’d like to see MPS in action.
Well, on a good note, we get to watch the Canadians and the Swedes tomorrow (in separate games). Maybe even the Finns, if they win.
Oohhh that was a slow moving puck…
SWEEEEEEPP.. hurrry.. harrrrdd!
To bad Smid was focussed at the front of JDD on that goal. He’s usually the one to get a stick on those dribblers before they hit the goal line!
Jesus.. does JDD have a hole in his pads? Another one squeaks through.
Oh Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, you need a thigh master tonight.
Another trickler, I think I saw Pitton tremble a bit.
New plan, put a defenseman behind Deslauriers.
Yeah, that’s what I want to see. Make em bleed’, we need a Hanson line..
I see the Finns aren’t faring any better.
Well, that period went well. Just how we drew it up.
Oh nice combo by Hartikainen and Rajala. No goal, but they generated a couple scoring chances.
Just gaining ground on the Canes for last place. Its for the best. But ya make em bleed!!!
Ya that deflection of the post would have been huge for the Fins but it rings iron, the US goes the other way and scrores to make it 4-1 but the Fins are showing some heart
Hey Racki in case you wanted to watch what you missed from the Canada / US game on New Years Eve cause of your PVR mishap All the WJHC games are Archived on the TSN site(links on the WJHC brodcast sked on the main page).
Sweet, thanks for the heads up MetalOil.. wouldn’t mind watching the tail end.
NP I am going watch the whole thing again now since I was totally Shit faced and the whole game was kind of a blur. I blame beer pong on that one.
Fins Score to make it 4-2 with 5 to go. Finland has been kind of unlucky to be trailing by 2. just not getting the bounces.
FU Heatley!
Isles gave up a 3-0 lead tonight, think the Sharks will?
Incredibly unlikely, LNOF
Wow, nice play by Nilsson.. what a goal… wow.
Scorree! Gags for my pool!
Oh Struds got tagged there. Good effort though.
Didn’t look like Strudwick actually got hit… looked to be a glancing blow from the replay. But hard to tell.
Good try by the Fins, USA prepare for a pounding from the Swedes, or at least I hope.
4-2 Final Zack? Haven’t been watching.
Wow, Nilsson… nice dangle
Hummm I am starting to change my opinion on Nilson. Maybe we should hold onto him but I do fear that he will just disappear on on us again somewhere in the near future.
Racki: Hey sorry, it was 5-2 and Shroeder sp* passed JR in world junior, USA all time points.
MetalOil: Bobby has some magic hands but it’s only every few games, consistency has always been an issue with him but you already know that hehe. I think it’d best to wait until his stock is highest and then trade him off in a package deal.
Agreed on both accounts. But I think I’m still all for moving him. The dangles are really nice, but a few cutesy dangles here and there aren’t enough reason to keep him around. If he suddenly shows he wants to be here, thats a different story. He has looked good so far, recently.
How does Grebeshkov get beat out by a defenseman for an icing call? I know it’s Boyle, but come on..
I was a huge fan of Grebs last season but this season he has been a big disappointment. I still see potential there. If we can get a discount on him in the off season then I would still wanna keep him around.
Hey you guys hear about Kovi? Apparently he’s meeting with his agent here pretty soon and if they can’t make a deal by Monday the doors are open (CBC Hotstove). I really hope if a team signs him that it isn’t for more than 6 years, those kind of contracts can really tie down a franchise…
Same old Oilers.
Sorry Storts, that was stupid.
Edit – But matched by Pavelski’s stupidity so it’s a wash.
Edit 2 – NM, crap.
Id give him up to 8. He is the type of player that makes everyone around him better. Imagine a top line of Brule, Penner and Kovalchuck.
Pitton soon?
I wouldn’t. Let JDD work through it. I think we only see Pitton in the event of injury, therefore hopefully we don’t see him.
Horrible defensive effort by the Oilers there.
MetalOil: We’d have to throw in probably our first round pick, Sheldon, Cogs or Gags and something else ridiculous. It’d be more probable if you sub in Penner instead of Souray maybe but still I wouldn’t hold your breathe on it. I think we should keep tanking too, with Kovi we’d probably end up around 10th or 11th at best (factor in we’d be trading away one or more of our key assets that we actually have).
At this point, I don’t think we should even be considering Kovalchuk, to be honest.
nice chance by the Oil there.
Beauty hit by Grebs. The Oil are getting their chances now.