Putting on the Foil

Oilers 2, Flyers 0 – Game 60 – 2012-02-23 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 23-30-6 Record 33-19-7 Location: Rexall Place Date: February 23, 2012 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

So the Oilers face off vs. their old 80s rivals, the Broad Street Bullies. The Flyers have a hell of a team this year (as with recent years), so it should prove to be a tough game for the Oilers. However, the Oilers seem to play their best against the tougher opponents. They’ve had a tough time of stringing games together though, so we’ll see how this one goes.

No real lineup changes tonight for the Oilers.

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Oilers 6, Flames 1 – Game 59 – 2012-02-21 @ 7:00 PM MST – SNETW

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 22-30-6 Record 28-22-9 Location: Scotiabank Saddledome Date: February 21, 2012 @ 7:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

I hesitantly call this a Battle of Alberta. The Flamers have been kicking our asses for quite a while now. It would be nice to finally win one. I’m not really confident that happens tonight, but who knows.

Hemsky and Paajarvi seem to be forming some chemistry together. That might be what finally pulls each of them out of their respective funks. So if anything, I can hope for some good individual efforts tonight. Sorry for the somber pre-game rant. It’s getting difficult to watch these two teams play each other. I’ll still watch though, as I do every game, but my expectations are low.

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Oilers 2, Canucks 5 – Game 58 – 2012-02-19 @ 7:00 PM MST – SNETW

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 22-29-6 Record 37-15-6 Location: Rexall Place Date: February 19, 2012 @ 7:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

I think this should permanently be our GDT pic for Vancouver games. Anyways, the Canucks are fresh off spanking the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2 last night. The Oilers have miraculously played fairly well and kept it close against the Canucks this season. However, I’ll predict a slow, painful, merciless death at the hands of the Canucks tonight.

Not a lot of pre-game news out there yet, so not much to write here. I don’t believe Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be returning for this one. There is a good chance that Peckham will be back tonight though, which would be great (well, I may be in the minority there.. but I still like Peckham a fair bit). If he’s back, Cam Barker definitely should be the guy sitting.

No word on a starter just yet.
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Oilers 1, Avalanche 3 – Game 57 – 2012-02-17 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 22-28-6 Record 28-26-4 Location: Rexall Place Date: February 17, 2012 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

Tonight the Oil face off with the Avalanche. I think they’ll be facing Varlamov in net (Giguere is doubtful for tonight after suffering a groin injury against the Canucks). That can be good because hey, he’s a pretty mediocre goaltender. That can be bad though because the Oilers always seem to stink it up against the backups if you can call him the backup. He certainly is the less skilled goalie of the two.

Anyways, it’s pretty early yet.. no word on lines or anything. I don’t think we’ll see the Nuge back yet, since he was wearing the no-contact jersey at last check.

I’d have to figure that Dubnyk would start tonight as a mercy to Oilers fans. Khabi got jeered by fans early on after letting everything go in through the five hole. But you never know here.
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Hey armchair coaches… just let the guy do his job…

Let the guy do his job

Tom Renney:

It’s pretty easy to take pot shots as to what we’re doing and not doing. It’s the growth of a team that we’re worried about. Sometimes I might be protective of how I deploy those kids, when, where and how. The operative word being ‘kids’. These are going to be men in the not too distant future and I want to make sure they make it that far. I think you will see the kids start to kill penalties more. We’re working off my timetable, thank you very much, and we will continue to.

Absolutely love that quote. My suspicions on the kids have been confirmed by Renney. He IS sheltering them. The media (and some fans) have been all over Renney for giving the kids low minutes compared to Horcoff’s line.

At times this has been warranted, but I think I would actually say that generally people like to find one topic-of-the-week and harp on it to death without considering WHY this could be happening.

It’s because he’s been sheltering them from the tough minutes. I think it should be obvious that he’s been protecting them from playing in tough situations such as defensive zone starts and, at times, from playing tougher opponents.

The Oilers spent a LOT of time in their Read more »