A lot has happened since my last blog post. The Oilers beat Los Angeles and San Jose, and tonight they lost 2-0 to the Florida Panthers. Here is the only thing you really need to know about each game.
The Oilers played a great 50 minutes against LA and deserved the win. The 10 minutes that they didn’t show up for nearly cost them the game.
The Oilers were dominated by the much superior Sharks and somehow managed to hang on for the win. I enjoyed watching this game. San Jose REALLY IS THAT GOOD! Oilers win ugly.
The Oilers dominate the Panthers on the shot clock, but get shut out. The Panthers goalie, Anderson, was given much of the credit by the SportsNet crew, but you could take any other NHL goalie and give him the same shots from the same areas of the ice, and the Oilers would probably still be shut out nearly every time. The Oilers were getting lots of shots, but few scoring chances.
Random thoughts:
What is the deal with Smyd? Why doesn’t MacT like the kid? He plays physical, gives you a great second and third effort, breaks out well, shows offensive skills, and doesn’t cough up the puck nearly as much as Grebishkov. Why is Smyd banished to the press box? It is just another MacT mystery. One of many.
I hear a lot of criticism of Erik Cole in Edmonton. I don’t know how you can fault this guy for the way his season has gone so far. The only sin he is guilty of is being a physical power forward on the softest team in the NHL. How can you possibly have success when you are a guy who attacks with speed and drives the net when the rest of your team is coasting and trying to out-talent the opposition?
I heard a rumor that we may not be able to keep Grebishkov next season. He is likely to command $4million and we do not have room for this under the salary cap. What? We will have to pay $4 million for a guy whose last name translates to giveaway? I say good riddance. There is an upside to Garbagekov, but to me he is still a fifth of sixth D-man.
Hemsky is completely amazing this season. He seems to get better with every shift! The moves he is pulling off are spectacular. And you can see that as games wear on the opposition D is starting to fear him. They are backing in, collapsing on their own goal, hoping to contain him somehow. Great job Ales!
Ethan Moreau, what happened to you? You have been my favorite player on the Edmonton Oilers for the last 5 years. But this year your game has completely disappeared. We are used to seeing you get your team up with your physical play. But this season you seem to have lost your edge. You seldom even throw a hit, nevermind anything to get your fans or teammates excited. Please get back to playing YOUR game.
The last word is about the Oilers system. The Oilers are still a very easy team to play against. They have great speed that they do not exploit. They play soft, rarely ever throwing a big hit. They do not control the tempo of games, instead playing chess and hoping to out skill, or out luck the opposition. The worst thing to me is that they give the other team a really good chance to win EVERY NIGHT. I DO blame MacT. This guy either needs to go back to a more aggressive system, or he needs to go away.
Tags: Craig MacTavish, Edmonton Oilers, Erik Cole, Florida Panthers, Grebishkov, Hemsky, Los Angeles Kings, MacT, Moreau, San Jose Sharks, Smyd
