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By Racki, March 10, 2012 10:37 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 26-35-6 Record 35-30-4 Location: Pepsi Center Date: March 10, 2012 @ 1:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

This is an early one today. According to Jonathan Willis, over at Oilers Nation, afternoon games aren’t actually that bad for us. It turns out we just suck all the time, and being particular adept at sucking at afternoon games is just an illusion. This is just any old normal game, so carry on.

Khabibulin will get the start (according to a Bob Stauffer tweet, Dubnyk pulled his groin), and the actual game lines are below. Omark will play with Hemsky and Gagner some more today. Watching the game live is a lot different than watching it on TV. There’s a lot of stuff you see happening live that you don’t see on TV, but I think you miss a LOT at the live game too. So I’m looking forward to seeing how Omark really plays with Hemsky today, because I didn’t get a very good sense of this when I was at the game vs. the Canadiens. The “kid line” together on the road (where Renney and co. can’t get their line match-ups easily) could be interesting (i.e. not good). We’ll see how that goes. Renney’s been sheltering them quite a bit this season, and rightfully so. But lately, I think we have had a lot of what Renney calls “passengers” on this team, so that’s an even bigger story here. It would be fine for teams to check our kid line into submission if the other 2 scoring lines were actually doing their jobs properly and potting some goals.

Enjoy this one folks. I should be around in the GDT Chat, if anyone else happens by.

Continue reading 'Oilers 2, Avalanche 3 (SO) – Game 68 – 2012-03-10 @ 1:00 PM MST – SNETW'»

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By Racki, February 17, 2012 9:46 am

-={ 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.
Continue reading 'Oilers 1, Avalanche 3 – Game 57 – 2012-02-17 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNETW'»

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By Racki, January 31, 2012 4:41 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 18-26-5 Record 26-23-2 Location: Rexall Place Date: January 31, 2012 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNET OILERS

PRE-GAME RANT

It seems like it’s been an eternity since the last Oilers game.. a whole week ago! So I’m happy to finally see some hockey, even if it is nearly last place hockey.

The biggest change tonight is going to be seeing Philippe Cornet (fresh out of the AHL All-Star Game, no less) playing on line 2. Tom Renney mentioned that the Oilers need to see what they have before they know what they need. I’m interested to see what Cornet can do, although I never really thought much of him in our lineup. He’ll play with Eberle and Gagner, which should be a good chance to show off his skills if they’re there. He also should get some powerplay time.

Dubnyk starts this one again tonight too.

BTW, does anyone have any clue what channel this will be on? It’s not showing on the Shaw Guide just yet. I assume 302, since it is “Sportsnet Oilers”. But really, I’m not sure. I won’t be around, but I’d like to record it.

Continue reading 'Oilers vs. Avalanche – Game 50 – 2012-01-31 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNET OILERS'»

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By Racki, December 9, 2011 11:03 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- vs. 13-12-3 Record 13-15-1 Location: Rexall Place Date: December 9, 2011 @ 7:30 MST TV: TSN

PRE-GAME RANT

The Oilers are back to floating turds in the toilet again. Just when you think they’re a great team, they turn it around on us. But really, they are still a better team than many would have expected at the start of the year, so I’ll give them some slack. But it would be nice to see them finally turn it around.

Sutton is suspended indefinitely, so Teubert should draw in. The 3rd and 4th lines also have seen a bit of juggling. Add to that, Smyth and Gagner have swapped lines. How will it work out? Well… at this point, they haven’t got much to lose.

OILERS LINES (PROJECTED)

Continue reading 'Oilers 4, Avalanche 1 – Game 29 – 2011-12-09 @ 7:30 PM MST – TSN'»

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By Racki, November 26, 2011 12:07 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 12-8-2 Record 9-12-1 Location: Pepsi Center Date: Movember 26, 2011 @ 5:00 MST TV: CBC

PRE-GAME RANT

The Oilers have won 2 of 3 games on this road trip so far (4-1 loss to Dallas, 6-2 win against Nashville, and 5-2 win vs. Minnesota). They’ve also seemed to have found their scoring touch, having scored 12 goals in those 3 games. I expect that we’ll see another good game tonight. The Oilers took the only meeting of the season between these two (also in Colorado) by a score of 3-1. The Nuge also seems to bring out his A game most when on CBC. I assume that is just blind luck, however.

Speaking of the Nuge, he’s still tied for first in team points and is on a point-per-game pace. His 24 points in 22 games puts him 8 points ahead of the closest rookie, Craig Smith of the Nashville Predators. I know the pace will have to slow down eventually, this season, but it doesn’t seem like it ever will. He’s looking better out there both offensively and defensively (despite being stripped of the puck on one of the Wild’s goals last night). This kid was the right choice.

Other “heroes” on the season… Ladislav Smid is still leading the league in shots blocked, while Nikolai Khabibulin is 4th in GAA and 2nd in SV%. Peckham is still trying to find his stride, and so is Whitney. I am anxious to see what happens once those two are back to their peak form.

Dubnyk should play this one tonight, although I don’t predict any other roster changes tonight.

OILERS LINES

Continue reading 'Oilers 2, Avalanche 5 – Game 23 – 2011-11-26 @ 5:00 PM MST – CBC'»