Comments (14)

By Racki, October 17, 2011 11:51 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- AT 2-1-1 Record 1-1-1 Location: Rexall Place Date: October 17, 2011 @ 7:30 MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

The Eager has landed… Ben Eager makes his regular season debut for the Edmonton Oilers. Perfect timing, considering Hordichuk just got hip-checked onto the IR on his own hit. Eager should add some toughness without too much skill at expense.

The big news around the Oilogosphere… actually even the NHL… is that our new kid line was spectacular on Saturday. How will they follow that performance up? I expect there to be good nights, great nights, and slow nights. And I would not be surprised if tonight was a slow night, unfortunately, against a team that plays a pretty tight defensive game.

Word is that Renney might dress 7 defense for this game, as one forward (unknown as to who yet) is feeling “under the weather”. They are a game time decision. Also, Theo Peckham, who’s been under a bit of fire lately MAY be a healthy scratch. He’s come under a bit of scrutiny from Oilers fans lately, as his start hasn’t been too stellar just yet. Petry will slot into the line up though, whether Peckham is out or not. Whitney won’t play tonight, but sounds like he’ll be in tomorrow though vs. Calgary. He and Gagner went through Tom Renney’s “test” today, which is a good sign.

The Oilers play back to back games. Tomorrow is against Calgary. I’d have to guess that today they’ll play Khabibulin, and tomorrow Dubnyk will see Calgary. Dubnyk seemed to struggle a bit vs. Vancouver (who doesn’t?), so who knows what Renney will decide. Actually, I do now, as Twitter tells me that it is in fact Khabibulin.

Prediction: 2-1 Oilers

OILERS LINES

Continue reading 'GDT: Oilers 3, Predators 1 – Game 4 – 2011-10-17 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW'»

Comments (17)

By Racki, October 15, 2011 11:26 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- AT 1-2-1 Record 1-0-1 Location: Rexall Place Date: October 15, 2011 @ 8:00 MST TV: CBC

PRE-GAME RANT

Tonight the Oilers butt heads with the Canucks at Rexall place. I’ll be at this one, so I’m hoping for a good game. The Canucks haven’t exactly gotten off to a good start with just 1 win in their first 4 games, so there may be a chance that we win this one. We didn’t get the nickname “slump busters” for nothing though.

Dubnyk has been confirmed to be getting the start tonight, which makes me happy. I’m a firm believer in going with your best goalie until they show they need a night off. That hasn’t happened yet, however Dubnyk did get a night off vs. the Wild on Thursday. To his credit, Khabibulin was fairly good in net (although some of his puck handling decisions were scary) and I think that he played like he deserved to be there. But it really is good to see Dubnyk in net for this one, as I firmly believe he can steal games. That is likely what he will need to do against a team like Vancouver.

It really is too bad that we won’t see Ben Eager in the line up for this one, as he has some scores to settle with the Canucks. However, Darcy Hordichuk (as Jason Gregor noted) stated when he was signed that he will keep the Canucks and Flames honest. I’d love to see him do that tonight… maybe even stir the pot a bit.

Prediction: 4-2 Oilers

OILERS LINES

Continue reading 'GDT: Oilers vs. Canucks – Game 3 – 2011-10-15 @ 8:00 PM MST – CBC'»

Comments (23)

By Trogdor, October 13, 2011 10:46 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- AT 1-0-0 Record 1-1-1 Location: Xcel Energy Center Date: October 13, 2011 @ 6:00 PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

Game 2! It’s about time…

This will be the Wild’s 4th contest so hopefully their team cohesion doesn’t shine through while our boys are still learning each other’s names. The Wild sit at 1-1-1, but the losses were by a single goal with one of those being a shootout, so they haven’t played bad hockey. Heatley and Setoguchi have settled in nicely already with 5 points between them over the 3 game span.

Continue reading 'GDT: Oilers 1, Wild 2 (SO) – Game 2 – 2011-10-13 @ 6:00 PM MST – SNETW'»

Comments (27)

By Racki, October 9, 2011 11:47 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- AT 2-0-0 Record 0-0-0 Location: Rexall Place Date: October 9, 2011 @ 7:00 PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

It seems like forever since we’ve last seen a regulation game so, needless to say, I’m excited as hell for this one. The big story about tonight’s game is that we’ll see the NHL debut of two Oilers in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Anton Lander. The Oilers are giving Nugent-Hopkins the best possible start he can get by playing between Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky. These guys have been playing together in practice for quite a while now, so it will be interesting to see what kind of chemistry has been built there. We all know that Hemsky, as amazingly skilled as he is, can be a difficult player to play with at times. But I think Hall and Nugent-Hopkins are very smart players that should have no troubles keeping up.

Lander will center the fourth line tonight, which contains Ryan Jones and Darcy Hordichuk. I don’t expect too much magic from him tonight playing with those two guys. But I do expect to see what he can do in the defensive zone at shutting down opponents and playing an energy game.

The other HUGE deal for me.. Continue reading 'GDT: Oilers 2 – Penguins 1 (SO) – Game 1 – 2011-10-09 @ 7:00 PM MST – SNETW'»