EDIT: Oilers down a captain, Horcoff will play
Jason Gregor
October 06 2009 10:54AM
The Oilers will be without their captain and possibly one of their assistants as they look for their first win of the season, against the 0-0-1 Dallas Stars.
The Stars dominated the Predators on Saturday, but couldn’t beat Dan Ellis, so it could be a good test for Nikolai Khabibulin to see if he can rebound.
Ethan Moreau wasn’t on the ice at the morning skate this morning and neither was Shawn Horcoff. Andrew Cogliano took his spot alongside Sam Gagner and Zack Stortini. Robert Nilsson skated with Gilbert Brule and Dustin Penner. Horcoff skated yesterday, so it is strange not to see him on the ice.
Marc Pouliot skated with J.F Jacques and Ales Hemsky, and if he plays there tonight then this coaching staff really wants to give every guy a clean slate. If Pouliot, after sitting out for two weeks, actually plays all game with Hemsky, then Hemsky either needs to carry the line or he we shouldn’t expect much from him offensively.
The Oilers swept the Stars at home last year winning 5-2 and 4-1. The Stars won both games in Dallas by scores of 4-3 and 4-2.
The Oilers PK was actually good against Dallas allowing only three goals on 20 chances for 85%, while the Oilers scored three PP goals on 16 chances for 18.8 %.
Last year was the first time since 1992/1993 that the Oilers swept the Stars in Edmonton.
Both the Oilers and Stars lost their first game even though they out shot the opposition. The Stars outshot the Predators 40-26, with James Neal potting both goals for the Stars.
***Update***
Just spoke with Horcoff, and he will play. He says it isn’t a big deal, and that he has a small tweak but he is just resting it.
Robert Nilsson admitted that he has to cut down on his risky plays in the defensive and neutral zones if he wants to stay in the lineup. Look for Nilsson to simplify his game in those zones, but he feels that he should generate more offence by not giving the puck away as often as he has.
Quinn explained the reason why he inserted Nilsson on the RW, and moved Cogliano on the left side with Gagner.
“I like Nilsson’s game on the right side, he generates more from that wing, and I know that Cogliano and Gagner have played together before, and played well, so this should give them both a better chance to produce.”
SMID FOR THE SHOOTOUT WINNER!
*carelessly drops heroin needle to the floor*
@Poo Czar
Not without Morrison or Garon lol
gagner, boo.
Ribiero looks like a 14 year old Souray...
HEMMER!!!!
Please Don't ruin this Mr. Khabibulin...
WIN! Hemmer!
POST!!! WIN!!!
WINN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right post for First Star!!!
The last game hasn't changed yet?? lol.
The most I'll say for Khabibulin is that he didn't lose the game. That dude's gotta get better...
2 points! Rack em'
Fun Fact: The Oil are on pace to finish 82 points ahead of Vancouver. :)
Congrats boys.
Decent fight from Prust here for fight fans. He tagged Stewart with a few early and split him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gi3oTyvwQw
...and 82 points behind the Flames, LOL.
Another fun fact: Gagner is on pace for 82 goals.
That was rude... I should've let you have your moment ;-)
300 wins for Khabibulin and I can't imagine many of them were prettier than that . . .
My Star comes through and the Oilers dont win a game until my goat is out of the lineup. Coincidence? I think not.
I will feel a lot better about our goal tending when our players stop scoring on our own net. (what's our score on own goals, 4 of 8?)
Then they can stop passing to the opposition in front of our net.
Then they can stop passing along the boards to opposition players.
then they can learn to complete four foot passes.
Then they can learn to hit the net on their shots.
Then maybe we'll go on a winning streak.
where the hell are you posting from? He is looking shaky though. I'm trying to get the name Habiboblin to catch on.
By the by, Milan Lucic signed an extension for 'Ales Hemsky' money today.
By the by II, Blair Betts has a dislocated right shoulder and will miss at least a month, GM Paul Holmgren said after the Flyer 6-5 OT win over the Caps. - courtesy Tim Panaccio @ hockeybuzz
nice win this evening .. 300 for the bulin wall first as a oiler congrats !! ..
If he keeps playing this way he'll end up with 308 by the end of the season!
@jeanshorts
It's OK because I didnt see it. In my mind's eye he stood on his head and it was all Staios and Moreau's fault (even though he wasnt there).
I think Quinn made a mistake not playing Khabibulin more with the first team defence during the pre-season. It is quite clear they don't trust each other yet. Given some of what has happened goal wise so far, it'll be a few games yet.
Dear Oilersnation:
Great game. Great night. Thanks for the party. I'm looking forward to more in the future.
PS: Khabibulin is still firmly in my 'goat' pile.
@Librarian Mike
Dude, what happened to your tagline? (in your profile) HOW WAS THE PINT?
It was a scary win tonight, but a fun night at the Pint. Thanks for the party Bingo and company!
Ha. Oh, nothing. I wrote my tag like that intentionally...an attempt at being 'edgy' or something. The Pint was lots of fun. It was nice to meet some of the fine people from this site.
Not a bad game, either. I'm still not ready to remove Khabibulin from my 'goat' spot yet, but at least he kept it together at the end.
...and apparently I have a habit of repeating myself...I blame the beer. Good night.
Great night at the Pint tonight. I hope to see more Nation faithful out at the next meet-up!
was at the game, here is my take:
Neal is a great player. Hemsky sucked until the last 10 minutes. Khabibulin still looks shaky. Souray is the Captain, regardless of what the jerseys say. Nillson didn't make up for his bad passing with that Penner assist. Horcoff was spinning the tires. Staois looked pretty good.
so is dustin penner
@z
I'm not on the anti-Staios wagon, but didn't think he looked good, maybe average. Had a real tough time covering Neal.
Hemsky was pretty invisible for the first 50. Though that in air deflection across the blue line was pretty sick.
Classy move by the Oil at the end with the salute. I think things are really changing in Oil town for the better. Optimism feels good.
Hey Penner was my STAR!!!!!!!!!!! And Staios is my goat. He was completely goatish tonight but still he needs to really pick it up
@nullterm
I guess what I meant to say was that he looked good for Staois. He wasn't a star or anything, just not overly disastrous like he has been in recent games. The fact he is out there on shifts when Visnovsky should be really exemplifies how badly the Oil need a shutdown D-man.
I've heard Tambellini be called cautious by other GMs on a few occasions now. I hope he isn't waiting for the perfect deal because things could get real nasty when they face a team with some serious fire power if the team doesn't get a move on this soon.
A wins a win. (sigh) Khabiboblin? Khi'llbebooin' (sign) We're in trouble unless we can play against Turco and Toskala every night.
Thanks to Librarian Mike, Alberta Ranger, freeze, greens, and Paq Twinn for coming out to the Pint last night!
If there were other folks there (aside from Amber and Gregor) and I missed you, my apologies. Catch you at the next meetup
Maybe we can make a 3 for 1 trade now to get Schremp back from the Islanders! ;)
RossCreek wrote:
Looks like we dodged a bullet there.
Yeah Betts may be hurt but if we picked him up who's to say he wouldn't have been hurt?
I was listneing to Rod 'n the Bod last night and was pretty excited about their play. Rod can do that to you. Though it did sound like my goat is still a bit shakey at times (Khabi). I just hate it when the announcer call it like "and another stop by the 'bulin wall" as is on the replays on SNW. It sounds so lame. Oh an especially on CBC where that is all they called him.
Anyway nice to see some production from Comrie, Gagner and Penner.
So far Penner, Cogliano and Smid are outscoring Heatley 2-4-6 vs 1-4-5... WOOOOOO! Best trade we never made! Also Souray is a STUD. Loved the ragdolling of Barch.
FYI, MacT will be on "Off-The-Record" today.
Anyone else think Rob Brown sucks??? He was sugar coating Hemmers shootout goal and Bulin's last save so bad last night it's not even funny. I dont mind a little homerism in an analyst but that guy is just rediculous sometimes. Hemmer screwed up and got lucky, Bulin was saved by the post. I can put up with Gene and Kevin but Brown has to go.
Watching the first 2 games has brought up a question for me:
Could Horcoff be any more ineffective?
He has played over 20 mins each game, has 0 points, is -2, and has 1 shot. All this despite being on the PP for over 3 1/2 mins per game. He really needs to pick up his play. It's easy to shut down Hemsky when he's the only one on the line that can handle the puck.
@Scorecoff Hemmercules
Rob Brown is terrible, but Bulin was not saved by the post. If you see a straight on angle, there was nothing to shoot at there, that shot either hits the post, or is a save.
I agree though, Rob Brown is the worst color man in the biz, even worse than John Garrett, who's painful to listen to.
Dan the Man wrote:
Pretty funny way of looking at statistics. If you wanted to make the point the other way, you could also point out that through the same two games, our three guys took 94:55 minutes of ice-time to score those 6 points (0.06 points per minute) while Heater scored his 5 in 36:49 minutes (0.13 points per minute) clearly showing that Heater is outscoring our guys by better than 2 to 1. Stats can show anything.
:-)
Horcoff was just about going to sit the game out so I wonder if he is playing injuried. He may not be doing anything offesnively but if he is winning those draws he is doing something.