Monday, December 04, 2006

 

Oilers Game Day-Canucks

Record: 13-10-2Record: 13-13-1
Preview



• Ryan Smyth. Out. Ales Hemsky. Out. Ethan Moreau. Out. Steve Staios. Beat up. Marc-Andre Bergeron. Recovering from pneumonia. Dwayne Roloson. Often impregnable, sometimes terrible, but always mental. Forwards. Tepid. Defence. Porous. Power play. Awful. Penalty kill. Coming down to earth. Opponents this week: Vancouver, Carolina, Dallas. My optimism? Never high, ebbing low.

• I'd assume Alexei Mikhnov draws in tonight, but that would be to assume that the coaching staff is sane. The Oilers keep calling players up, not playing them, and then sending them back down. It's like they are trying to gather a bunch of Air Miles for guys before the holidays. If Mikhnov does play, I hope MacT gives him some actual quality minutes. None of this 4-5 minute bullshit. Give my Traktor Boy some 1st line, 2nd line, PP time, coach!

• The Oilers have already lost to Phoenix, St. Louis and Columbus this year. Just thought I'd get that out of the way.

• I'd be more optimistic about beating the lowest scoring team in the league (2.15 Goals Per Game) if we hadn't just been shutout by the second lowest scoring team in the league (2.16 Goals Per Game), and already lost to the third lowest scoring team in the league (2.28 Goals Per Game).

• According to a commenter on CoI, Kevin Lowe turned down an offer of Vishnovsky and Frolov for Chris Pronger, because he wanted the extra draft picks from Anaheim. Those draft picks better end up panning out, because that is a nice offer from the Kings (if true, of course). Keeping in the rumour mongering vein, Jim Matheson is now on the Joe Sakic hunt in the Journal. Soon it will be Sidney Crosby as a puck-moving defenceman. Wait for it.

• My new favorite nickname for this team: The Bipoilers. As I've just proven, it covers the fan base, too.

• Again, shout outs to The Drizzler, Loxy, and all the Oil fans keeping it real in British Columbia.

Prediction: 3-1 Oilers. Time for the millionaires to step up. Our millionaires, not the Hockey Zombie Millionaires from Vancouver. Horcoff, Pisani, Stoll to score.

***Update*** As I guessed, the Oilers aren't actually going to play Mikhnov tonight. At least, that's what TSN is saying. That has to be the fifth or sixth time the team has done this already this season. With Hemsky and Smyth out, MacT will look for offence from JF Jacques over Mikhnov. Because that makes sense. Pfft.

Comments:

Kevin Lowe turned down an offer of Vishnovsky and Frolov for Chris Pronger, because he wanted the extra draft picks from Anaheim.

I can't fathom even Kevin Lowe turning down this deal. Either it's totally bogus (my guess) or there were other parts to it that made it uninteresting from an Oiler's perspective...
 


Is the entire Oilogosphere doped up on anti-depressants this morning?
 


Braving slippery roads and boil water advisories but made it down from kelowna. Hope to see the usual suspects at the Frog.
 


Andy, Lowetide must have a dislocated shoulder, MC a shoulder injury with unspecified details, and PM a broken thumb.

Or maybe thats a different team I'm thinking of . . .

Go Bipoilers!! The good one please.
 


Dennis:

1) From what I heard Keenan say, they were out of the Pronger sweepstakes early, for whatever reason. The other thing here was that Boumeester isn't apparently "ready" to play for his hometown team....yet. Lots of pressure for any player, and J-Bo is apparently quite the introvert.

2) Not once did I hear LA mentioned in any substantiated rumors regarding Pronger. The story with them always was they were going to sign Blake back from Colorado. In hindsight though, considering they're a longshot at best to make the playoffs, why make either move? Lombardi would have to have been on some good stuff to even consider trading Frolov, who might be one of the best Russian players out there past Kovalchuk/Ovechkin/Malkin.

3) Getzlaf: my guess is Burke said "anyone but that guy". But then again, considering the historical hard-on for local boys and the fawning about Lupul in the Edmonton papers prior to the 2002 draft, I wouldn't put this past Lowe as a flat-out fuck-up if Getzlaf wasn't classified as untouchable. He's also the kind of guy that if he's not on your team, you want to see someone put his face through the glass. He's the kind of guy who just has to be himself to piss off the opposition (and their fans, apparently...I do not like the guy one bit, but I'd take him on the Oil in about half a second).

The silver lining is that Visnovsky might be available now, and in the long term, my money says they bring at least one of Boumeester or Redden home to northern Alberta, one way or another...
 


An Oilers-Nucks game is always a mixed blessing - I get to watch one of my two most hated teams lose, but I also have to see the other one win.

I'm rooting for anything except overtime.

Go Flames.
 


Well, what if Burke said you can have Getzlaf plus (insert name of scrub Anaheim D-prospect here) OR you can have Lupul and Smid, but you can't have Smid plus Getzlaf?

Ultimately, if he could have got Getzlaf instead of Lupul, early returns suggest he made the wrong choice. For starters, Getzlaf can pretty much play any forward position. Really, Lowe should have said "Give me Getzlaf PLUS Lupul PLUS Smid", forget the draft picks, and held out until Burke buckled.

Then again, they passed on Getzlaf in 2003, why would they go after him now? Stupid move on Lowe's part, regardless of the circumstances.
 


A couple of months ago I heard a Pittsburgh radio guy say Lowe was offered Ryan Whitney and the latest Staal kid but Pronger didn't want to play in Pittsburgh anymore than he wanted to remain in Edmonton.
 


Doesn't look like Mikhnov is getting into the lineup tonight, according to TSN. Give this guy a chance.

Bipoiler....good name. And appropriate.
 


A couple of months ago I heard a Pittsburgh radio guy say Lowe was offered Ryan Whitney and the latest Staal kid but Pronger didn't want to play in Pittsburgh anymore than he wanted to remain in Edmonton.

I really didn't need to hear that Pronger had a say in where he went, in addition to his other antics. If that is the case, I would like to have word with Kevin Lowe on behalf of Oilers fans.
 


Dwayne Roloson. Often impregnable, sometimes terrible, but always mental.

That's why I love him.
 


Wish me luck, I'm going to try to get down there and watch what will likely be a terrible game.
 


Yell at Stoll for me, Loxy.

Six rookies plus Andy.

For the next few weeks at least.

Yeesh.
 


Six rookies plus Andy.

Did you mean, "six rookies plus, Andy"? Because I'm pretty sure I'm not a seasoned vet playing tonight.

Give 'em hell, Loxy.
 


Didn't you get that e-ticket - Lowe cc'd it to me. I'm going to post on it.

"Grabia Gets Callup - Promises to Give Them Hell!"

Better catch that flight - you still might make the warmup.

You're playing with Torres and Stoll so you're going to look good besides.
 


If I've been called up, it means I'll fly there, not play, and then be sent back down tomorrow.
 


You are on fire with bitterness tonight, my friend.

Almost ten minutes in and not a shot on net.

Fuel to the flame?
 


That may have been the weirdest goal I've ever seen. Yet it was so beautiful.

And more fuel for my fire.
 


How so - I'll see the highlight tomorrow but following the pbp online is not all that illuminating.

Horcoff - slap - 48 ft.
 


We're getting murdered. How are we winning?
 


Oh. It deflected off a defenceman's stick, took a 90 degree right turn, bounced off the other Canuck defender, then turned another 90 degrees into the net. It was like the magic loogie.
 


Was Roger McDowell out there?

Maybe he took your roster spot!

Is it that bad?

Horcoff played over eight minutes. He took that penalty to get a rest.
 


A goal like that, goes in once, every game for Luongo.
 


There we go! Two goals by working hard in the corners and behind the net. Right on, boys!
 


3-0. KEEP SHOOTING, BOYS!
 


Who knew that finishing hits, working hard in the corners, and shooting the puck would result in goals?
 


Is this a home game? How many Oilers fans are there in the stadium?
 


Apparently quite a few, according to Tyler.

3-0.

And Lupul scored.

And work was involved!

Its an early Christmas miracle!
 


OFF COMES THE GOALIE MASK!!! ROLI! ROLI!!
 


Vaunt.

That is all.
 


I wrote a long, long comment.

Then realized it would be better suited for my blog.

Check here in a few minutes.
 

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