In a lot of ways we didn't play that well tonight. Our D was weak, our #1 goalie was out when we really needed him to play, and only 1 forward line was really playing alright.
On the other hand, if some things go another way, this is such a different game. There was a Kane pick on a Chicago goal, the impossible call on the Hemsky/Horcoff/Huet play, Potulny (2nd) and Reddox especially (3rd) missing gimme goals. To top off the misfortune and indignity for the evening, Ethan Moreau gets run into Huet, which should have drawn the Oilers a much-needed powerplay and instead Toews puts the nail in the coffin on an illegitimate Chicago powerplay. There were even bad icing calls. A lot of "circumstance" was at play in tonight's game.
Both #2 and I went into tonight's game thinking that it would either be a blowout for Chicago or the Oilers would pull out a victory. Chicago wasn't really ON enough to blow us out; and we didn't take advantage of the chances that could have won us the game. Huet wasn't very good and while the Chicago D moved the puck well, they were perfectly vulnerable. The first line did fine in creating offence. O'Sullivan was doing well. Cogliano was skating through with complete ease.
But nothing. Those players we had ready to shoot in the slot last game weren't there. That was the difference, as it so often is. Anyway, let's talk PLAYER REPORTS
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Gilbert
- I really thought he'd come back with a great game tonight; so much for that idea. I'm a huge Tom Gilbert fan, but he might have played his worst game as an Oiler tonight. Aside from being horrible in his own zone (I believe he had two seperate shifts with 3 giveaways within 20 feet of his net for example), he didn't create any offence and skated utterly horribly. The guy was falling all over himself. I swear that Tom's got some kind of complex going on right now. He's an excellent skater and passer and is simply doing neither. He even made Strudwick look good by comparison.
Strudwick
- Probably his best game of the year to be honest. He didn't really many mistakes, covered his man, passed the puck okay and even skated with it occasionally. I didn't mind him tonight at all. Especially next to Gilbert who was so bad.
Visnovsky
- Didn't create too much and had one of his weaker games. His weak games are still okay, but we need him elite against Chicago.
Smid
- Definitely one of his weaker games. Despite trying to be tough, which is good, and skating with the puck okay, he wasn't as good defensively as he usually is.
Staios
- Not as good as last game. He was shakier. Better in the offensive zone sort of in that he controlled the puck alright; too many silly shots though. Defensively, he was just okay.
Souray
- Certainly angry and wasn't able to get anyone to scrap with him (I imagine his reputation precedes him), generated a goal with his shot and played pretty decent defence. He was especially good in the corners and skating with the puck some.
Stortini
- He made a couple defensive mistakes and was summarily benched. One thing that he hasn't done in a while is generate some offence and he needs to do that to be effective. On a night when he couldn't hit, wasn't a pest and didn't generate offence, the best place to describe him would be useless.
Jacques
- Started out great with many hits that should have got us going. I suppose in that sense he did his job. Showed some rust with the puck which hopefully he will knock off.
Gagner
- He wasn't very good, but was also set up to fail. I truly question the wisdom of Quinn to put out Jacques-Gagner-Stortini as a line as it has precisely zero chance of being effective against Chicago. Sam wasn't able to really generate any offence and certainly wasn't all that good in his own zone. I didn't see anything special.
Cogliano
- He kept skating through the Chicago D and kept getting the puck on his stick. The problem with his game is that he suddenly has completely forgotten how to do anything productive anywhere near the net. He either took weak shots, gave the puck away, or passed off badly. Cogliano should have had at least 2 goals tonight. There's no reason he should get those chances and not score. He's more than talented enough. It almost looks as though he's lost his intensity and focus on the ice. He needs to find it and quick. I'm not sure how patient we can be with him honestly.
Brule
- Quite lackluster compared to what we've seen from him in a number of games this year. The thing to remember is that this guy is still finding his way and should not be expected to lead. I still think he was more effective than a lot of guys on the roster tonight, though he did get whacked around physically some.
Reddox
- Missed a glorious chance at 4-2 that would have completely changed the game (and I really believe have led to an Oilers win). Other than that I really didn't notice him much.
Potulny
- Did his job and got a couple shots. Can't particularly expect him to drag a team out of a loss.
O'Sullivan
- Did his thing offensively and generated a bunch of chances for others but wasn't really able to get a great shot away that could have changed the game. I'm very pressed to think of when he last really played a bad home game in that he's always very solid. Basically it's as simple as he's never "the problem" on the ice.
Moreau
- Put forth an effort I suppose, but certainly not effective. He definitely got jobbed on the penalty though, that was not his fault in the least.
Horcoff
- I thought he was much better tonight. Specifically in the offensive zone he was shielding the puck with his body and making smart passes leading to chances to score. He was finding his skating lane more effectively than in other games this year. I hope he's getting his health back because they need him; but I'm not sure how I'll be able to tell anymore since it seems like everyone's injured all the time. Very positive on Horcoff's game tonight.
Penner
- Really good. I like nights when he scores garbage goals. Did exactly what he needed to do and kept driving the puck. Can't hold this one against him.
Hemsky
- Good, not great. Made his plays, was good defensively and at least tried to get the team going. No doubting the first line controls the puck and it's largely due to him.
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Yeah, I'm not sure we had three stars tonight.
I got a fair bit more depressed as I wrote this. I thought it'd be more positive when I started out. Oh well.
How healthy are Gagner, Horcoff and Hemsky? I mentioned this in the other thread but didn't Gagner go for an MRI on his hip. Nothing was said about the result. Horcoff only took one faceoff and I believe his shoulder is bothering him. What do you think?
__________________ "He just ate up Robyn Regehr for dinner, a spectacular play by Hemsky, and Robyn Regehr has got doo doo all over his face" - Rod Phillips call on Hemsky's goal vs the Flames
How healthy are Gagner, Horcoff and Hemsky? I mentioned this in the other thread but didn't Gagner go for an MRI on his hip. Nothing was said about the result. Horcoff only took one faceoff and I believe his shoulder is bothering him. What do you think?
I wouldn't be surprised if they're all playing hurt at this stage.
I wouldn't be surprised if they're all playing hurt at this stage.
Gagner had an MRI on his hip but the result was never released. I'm wondering if Gagner's hip injury is a lot more serious than the team is saying. If Horcoff's shoulder is bothering him so much that he can't take faceoffs, why is he playing. In tonight's game, he only took one faceoff and Penner took the majority of the faceoffs. What do you think?
Can't say I always agree with your reviews, but I enjoy them nonetheless LMHF#1. Gilbert looks like the second coming of another infamous Tom...Poti. We haven't had a butter soft D-man at that size since him. He looked tentative, and backed off a couple of checks that he should have been on, and wanted the puck off his stick as fast as he could get rid of it. Terrible...
Unless I'm wrong, you missed reviewing Deslauriers -- who fought the puck again, I thought. I'm expecting Dubnyk will get a call, barring a quick recovery for Khabibulin. And maybe it was just me, or the CBC feed itself...but the arena sounded like a tomb. Was it that quiet in there?
Maybe I'm just more sensitive to what's going on with Horc as a center who blew his shoulder out completely taking a draw....
But the guy is definitely not 100% right now. Penner taking the draws instead of him makes that obvious enough. Hopefully it's just a tweak, but...
edit:
And JDD was AWFUL tonight. I'm sorry, but outside of the Toews goal... every single one of those should have been stopped. 3 brutal rebounds, and 20 cent somehow slips in fivehole without even making a move?
Gilbert
- I really thought he'd come back with a great game tonight; so much for that idea. I'm a huge Tom Gilbert fan, but he might have played his worst game as an Oiler tonight. Aside from being horrible in his own zone (I believe he had two seperate shifts with 3 giveaways within 20 feet of his net for example), he didn't create any offence and skated utterly horribly. The guy was falling all over himself. I swear that Tom's got some kind of complex going on right now. He's an excellent skater and passer and is simply doing neither. He even made Strudwick look good by comparison.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shizuka
Can't say I always agree with your reviews, but I enjoy them nonetheless LMHF#1. Gilbert looks like the second coming of another infamous Tom...Poti. We haven't had a butter soft D-man at that size since him. He looked tentative, and backed off a couple of checks that he should have been on, and wanted the puck off his stick as fast as he could get rid of it. Terrible...
I know Gilbert's soft, but he's never been this bad, he's playing tentative and afraid to do anything, it looks like he's playing trying not to get hurt. I really think he hurting but with a lack of other bodies, he's got little choice, as LMHF said, he's an excellent skater and passer and is simply doing neither right now.
I know Gilbert's soft, but he's never been this bad, he's playing tentative and afraid to do anything, it looks like he's playing trying not to get hurt. I really think he hurting but with a lack of other bodies, he's got little choice, as LMHF said, he's an excellent skater and passer and is simply doing neither right now.
Why not? He looks like can't skate, handle the puck, pass, shoot, or take or give a hit right now. He's shown he's better than this over the last 2 season, and was always had the ability to do the first 3 and 1/2 very effectively.
What other reason could there be on why he would suddenly start looking like a 10 year old special need kid out there???
Was this today's game. I really think if Horcoff's shoulder is bothering him so much that he can't take a face-off, he shouldn't even be playing.
Really . I'm tired of the injury excuse in general , and I'm really tired of it when it comes to Horcoff . Three years in a row now this guy has got the injury excuse . Yet every off-season he trains like a madman and proclaims himself to be in the best shape of his life .
If his shoulder is screwed then he should sit down and get it taken care of . The team has a thirty million dollar investment in him and can't afford to have a one armed first line center for the next five seasons . Not like he's accomplishing a whole hell of a lot out there anyway .
Really . I'm tired of the injury excuse in general , and I'm really tired of it when it comes to Horcoff . Three years in a row now this guy has got the injury excuse . Yet every off-season he trains like a madman and proclaims himself to be in the best shape of his life .
If his shoulder is screwed then he should sit down and get it taken care of . The team has a thirty million dollar investment in him and can't afford to have a one armed first line center for the next five seasons . Not like he's accomplishing a whole hell of a lot out there anyway .
Agreed, what ever happened to protecting a long term investment?
And JDD was AWFUL tonight. I'm sorry, but outside of the Toews goal... every single one of those should have been stopped. 3 brutal rebounds, and 20 cent somehow slips in fivehole without even making a move?
I have to totally disagree with this assessment.
Goal 1: Smid makes an absolute gong show of it behind his own net, Toews gets a shot from 5 feet away, JDD makes the first save, and nobody is there to stop Toews from taking his own rebound and roofing it top corner. You can only ask the goalie to do so much. Simply abysmal team defense.
Goal 2: Versteeg left all alone in front of the net, JDD makes not one but two great saves at his doorstep, and on the 2nd save it flutters up in the air and looked like it was going to sail over the net, except that Souray felt the need to swat at it and inadvertantly punch the puck into his own net. Team defense sucks yet again.
Goal 3: IMO the Kane goal was the only one that you could even halfway get on JDD for not stopping...and it was essentially a breakaway for Chicago's most dangerous offensive player. And I'm sorry, but what were you looking at if you thought that Kane didn't make any moves? He made a very quick backhand-forehand-backhand-forehand deke before putting it 5 hole into the net. A stoppable shot perhaps, but IMO it's a matter of perspective. I'll bet the Chicago fans were raving about what a great goal Kane scored, not about how JDD let a soft goal in.
Goal 4: JDD makes the first save off his shoulder from a sharp angle shot, the puck drops to the ice where Visnovsky utterly fails to resemble a defensive defenseman and clear the puck, letting his man easily send it cross ice to Madden for an open net tap in. Once again, team defense = slapstick.
Goal 5: Simply an unstoppable wrister from the slot by Toews, top corner in the blink of an eye. IMO the Chicago goal of the night, hats off to them for a great play.
So no, his save % may have taken a pounding but to characterize JDD performance as AWFUL? That sounds more like something Asiaoil would say, and I thought you were more objective than that.
Maybe I'm just more sensitive to what's going on with Horc as a center who blew his shoulder out completely taking a draw....
But the guy is definitely not 100% right now. Penner taking the draws instead of him makes that obvious enough. Hopefully it's just a tweak, but...
edit:
And JDD was AWFUL tonight. I'm sorry, but outside of the Toews goal... every single one of those should have been stopped. 3 brutal rebounds, and 20 cent somehow slips in fivehole without even making a move?
Sure, maybe he isn't 100%, but obviously he's still feeling well enough to play. He looks like same old Horc out there to me, I say that honestly. The way it appears from where I sit, is maybe - just maybe - Coach Quinn is trying to see if taking those massive amounts of faceoffs is what is holding the rest of his game (both offensively and defensively speaking, but mostly the former) back.
"We'll lessen the load for you in this area and see if you can make up for it the others." so-to-speak. A "please prove us wrong" type of situation. That's what it looks like to me.
I talked to the timekeeper right after it happened. He shrugged and said that while he felt bad about it, he, like everyone else in the building, thought it was a goal and stopped time. He realized he was wrong when he saw the replay.
Didn't get to see the game, but was wondering... did Penner just take the draws and otherwise play his usual game, or was he playing Center? I'm assuming the former, since they wouldn't have wanted Horcs to get banged around on the boards, but was curious whether Penner had the makings of a power center...
I talked to the timekeeper right after it happened. He shrugged and said that while he felt bad about it, he, like everyone else in the building, thought it was a goal and stopped time. He realized he was wrong when he saw the replay.
And there was no reason for him to not think it was a goal. There were 3 or 4 guys with their hands in the air along with the referee pointing to the net signaling a goal.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but did the goal light not go on making everyone think it was a goal originally??
In a lot of ways we didn't play that well tonight. Our D was weak, our #1 goalie was out when we really needed him to play, and only 1 forward line was really playing alright.
This is the problem with every game. We're a 1-line team, and our D is weak sauce, and our backup goalie is a sieve at the moment. Those who are playing are probably playing hurt.
It's one thing to say the bounces could have gone our way and the result is different. The problem is, it's the same thing every night. Listen to Quinn or the players after these games and it's a broken record.
The compete level is NOT there. Chicago won because their guys went to the tough areas and WON the battles. When our guys go (which isen't often), they lose them.
There appears to be no system for the players out there. How many times were we just chasing in our own end? The PK leaves the points wide open, and the PP is as uncreative as dirt. Offensively, 5-on-5, there's no flow. either our D rip it around the boards, we chip it out and the other team comes back in, or we have one guy carry it all the way up to the blue line and either turn it over there, or chip it in and not retrieve it.
At the start of the year, with healthy bodies, the strategy of 1-big guy and 2 smurfs was working because it got every line involved physically. At this point, injuries are preventint that lineup, I just don't understand why they can't adapt.
And JDD was AWFUL tonight. I'm sorry, but outside of the Toews goal... every single one of those should have been stopped. 3 brutal rebounds, and 20 cent somehow slips in fivehole without even making a move?
Almost agreed. He could have got some defensive help that would have prevented at least another 1, but oh well. Not a good game for Jeff.
I talked to the timekeeper right after it happened. He shrugged and said that while he felt bad about it, he, like everyone else in the building, thought it was a goal and stopped time. He realized he was wrong when he saw the replay.
Here's the thing: I absolutely fail to see how by the rules they could make the call they did. There seems to be no combination of factors that leads to both no-goal and no time remaining. What were they even reviewing? And wasn't the initial goal call made as the result of Hemsky's bankshot rather than Horcoff's poke?
Didn't get to see the game, but was wondering... did Penner just take the draws and otherwise play his usual game, or was he playing Center? I'm assuming the former, since they wouldn't have wanted Horcs to get banged around on the boards, but was curious whether Penner had the makings of a power center...
Didn't catch as much of it this game, but last game Penner actually played the center position after he took draws.
At the start of the year, with healthy bodies, the strategy of 1-big guy and 2 smurfs was working because it got every line involved physically. At this point, injuries are preventint that lineup, I just don't understand why they can't adapt.
This is what I think is most interesting. The clear solution to a lack of bodies should be to go out and secure more via trade. It is also never a bad time to improve your team, yet the statement uttered by management continues to be "wait until we're healthy". What kind of freaking utter lunacy is that?
