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By Racki, March 17, 2013 1:19 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 10-11-6 Record 11-11-6 Location: Rexall Place Date: March 17, 2013 @ 6:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

Gotta make this a quick one. Not sure what the Oilers lines are going to be. Yesterday’s practice seemed to indicate that the lines would change, but there were a few players taking the day off, so not sure if there will be any changes.

The Oilers got smoked the last game vs. the Predators… it was an embarrassing 6-0 loss. The Oilers will likely be a different opponent this time around, now that they have some key players back. It’s possible Mark Fistric will be back tonight too. He’s been out with an elbow injury.

I would imagine that Dubnyk gets the start here again. He was yanked early in the last one. After letting in a long bomb, I think Krueger felt it was a good idea to pull Dubnyk. It turned out that Danis was in for a pretty long night, as he really didn’t stop much of anything. Of course Danis is back to Oklahoma, but I don’t suspect Khabibulin will play just yet.
Continue reading 'Oilers 3, Predators 2 – Game 28 – 2013-03-17 @ 6:00 PM MST – SNETW'»

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By Racki, March 15, 2013 9:27 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 10-11-5 Record 12-10-5 Location: Rexall Place Date: March 15, 2013 @ 7:30PM MST TV: SNET-EDM

PRE-GAME RANT

Home sweet home… at last. The Oilers return from their longest road trip in their history in which they had 3 wins, 4 losses, and 2 loser point losses. This point also sees them looking to extend their longest winning streak of the season.. that’s right.. a wopping 2 (which they also did previously at the end of January)!

There’s been a lot of talk lately about trade rumors, as well as contracts of Sam Gagner and Ladislav Smid. Those two guys need to get signed and kept here. They are heart and soul players for the Oilers and have success at their position. We don’t need to trade them away just to spend a lot of time finding ways to replace them. Mark Fistric is also a free agent.. and to me he’s been Continue reading 'Oilers 2, Red Wings 3 (OT) – Game 27 – 2013-03-15 @ 7:30 PM MST – SNET-EDM'»

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By Racki, March 12, 2013 9:05 am

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 9-11-5 Record 10-10-4 Location: Pepsi Center Date: March 12, 2013 @ 7:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

34 points in 32 games. That’s how many Sam Gagner has, career vs. the Avalanche, and why he has the blessing of being in the perennial Avalanche game day pic. Sam Gagner always seems to come alive vs. the Avalanche (his best opponent) and the Oilers generally have good success vs. them too. They are 2-1-0 vs. them so far this year, with the last one being a 6-4 win.

The Avalanche will be a much better team tonight, however, because, unlike the last game, they’ll have Ryan O’Reilly, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson and Ryan Wilson back in the lineup. Some of you may recall we just set a franchise record in this last game vs. the Avalanche in which we peppered Varlamov with 56 shots on goal. The return of some decent talent should help their cause.

I’d imagine after a big win in Chicago there won’t be much of a lineup change, if any… perhaps Ryan Jones will slot back in. I don’t see much else for change.

Steve Smith mentioned that the reason the Oilers juggled their d-pairings was because Justin Schultz was starting to show some fatigue. This is to be expected, as this is getting to that extended-season point for him, having played College for a while where they have a rather short season (often under 40 games played). Justin Schultz has already racked up 59 games played so far this season. I’d imagine in College he played a lot of minutes, but he’s played 22:23 of ice time per game on average, which puts him 1st overall in average ice time for Oilers. He’s eating up the ice time, and it’s expected he will tire a bit. He’ll adjust to this much longer schedule though down the road.

I would assume Devan Dubnyk will start in this one again. He was relieved by Yann Danis in the last game after Teemu Hartikainen crashed into him. Dubnyk had his neck cranked hard on the play and had a bit of a stinger going. The Oilers took him out for precautionary reasons even though he could have gone. This I like to hear… the Oilers are a bottom feeding team again.. no need to risk worse injury. On that note, they are also playing it safe with Mark Fistric who probably could be back today. They at least will be able to delay a roster cut decision at least another game while Fistric sits. Hopefully no one is added to the sick bay after today.

I predict a much better game for the Avalanche this time around.. could be a tough one. Which Oilers team will we see? Who knows. I would bet money that it will be the good one though.
Continue reading 'Oilers 4, Avalanche 0 – Game 26 – 2013-03-12 @ 7:00 PM MST – SNETW'»

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By Racki, March 10, 2013 12:03 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 8-11-5 Record 21-1-3 Location: United Center Date: March 10, 2013 @ 5:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

The Oilers face the Blackhawks again tonight for the second time on this grueling road trip. This, thankfully, is the second last game of the road trip. In the first game of this road trip, the Oilers managed to take the Blackhawks to overtime in a game that probably looked closer on the scoresheet than it really was. The Oilers were outworked in this one, much like the rest of the road trip. But the Blackhawks are one hell of a team this year, as we all know. So I don’t feel too bad about that one. The game vs. Dallas, the Oilers were quite good, however (although this also was probably closer than the score led on). I have hopes that they can return to that form tonight.

The Oilers should have a boost tonight. They get 3 players back from injury: Ales Hemsky, Teemu Hartikainen and Shawn Horcoff. Horcoff should provide a bit boost to this team, as even the haters are starting to realize what he brings to the table. He also held an all players meeting with the team to rally the troops. So let’s hope that works. A lot of people who seem to know everything about everything (especially the things they can’t even see) have questioned Horcoff’s leadership. Here are some fine, recent quotes from players in support of Horcoff:

“You see what he brings when he’s out. He’s a guy who does everything so well and he really is an emotional leader for this team with his worth ethic and his compete,” said Sam Gagner. “He competes and battles better than anybody. We’ve missed him.”

“It’s really unfortunate,” said Gagner. “You can’t just look at numbers and jump to a conclusion. The way Horc plays, he lifts everyone on our team. At the end of the day, you have to play the way he plays if you’re going to expect to win in this league. He battles for loose pucks, he wins those battles. He’s in the right position all the time.”

“He wears the C for a reason,” said Ryan Jones. “It’s funny. When I first came here, I didn’t realize how much grief he got and I never really understood it. He’s the first guy in the locker room, the last guy to leave. He’s the hardest working guy on this team.” (this one to me is embarrassing… our fans are the laughing stock of the NHLPA, I’m sure)

I can dig deeper.. these are new quotes.. but really, there is zero indication that any leadership issue here. That said, there are some mighty stupid fans here that do everything from blaming our standings on Devan Dubnyk (since apparently it’s now a goalie’s job to score goals / shoot the puck) to the 4th coach in 5 years, to pretty much everything. My advice is to shut your french fry hole and go back to whatever it is you do when it’s game time. I would currently trade this city’s fans for Nashville fans. At least the ones that are the loudest there support the team. This team is frustrating to watch right now, but throwing guesses out there as to what is the problem and ragging on players is counterproductive and likely to get even worse results. I believe I’m preaching to the choir in these parts, however.

Moving on! Sounds like the lines will be shuffled today, again. Bob Stauffer had a guess at what the lines would be, so I’ve put them below.

Continue reading 'Oilers 6, Blackhawks 5 – Game 25 – 2013-03-10 @ 5:00 PM MST – SNETW'»

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By Racki, March 8, 2013 12:53 pm

-={ Puttin’ On The Foil Presents… }=- at 8-10-5 Record 9-9-5 Location: Bridgestone Arena Date: March 8, 2013 @ 6:00PM MST TV: SNETW

PRE-GAME RANT

If the Oilers had as much consistency at playing the game as I do at making GDT, we would be a much better hockey team. I’m not sure why I still do these..

Anyways, Chris Vande Velde got sent back down. Definitely needed this… he hasn’t really accomplished much. I don’t consider him a bad player, I consider him much like the rest of our bottom six, however…. existing just for the purpose of killing time and hopefully not leaking any goals. That has to change! The Oilers need some players that are tough to play against. They need guys that will give their all every shift, but also score some goals when the skill lines can’t do it.

I hope Yakupov makes a return to our top six.. this time without being at the cost of Paajarvi who has looked at home on the top six again, alongside Gagner. Ales Hemsky is out with a bruised foot after blocking a shot from Jacob Kindl. Yakupov still looks good when he is in an offensive situation with the puck on his stick. In a defensive situation, he looks fairly terrible when the puck is on his stick. That will change one day though, so I am not worried.. just mentioning it.

In conclusion, this team is an embarrassing mess.. no matter what lines we slap together, it will stay that way. We need a healthy Horcoff, and we need some better glue players. And we also need a general manager who realizes that you are allowed to make moves during the course of a season. Other teams do it.

Should be another stinker.. I’ll still watch though being the masochist I am.
Continue reading 'Oilers 0, Predators 6 – Game 24 – 2013-03-08 @ 6:00 PM MST – SNETW'»