GDB 67: Moreau and Souray in it to win it
Jason Gregor
March 12 2009 12:26PM
The Oilers looked like a team a few days before the start of the season, with 24 players, five coaches and third goalie Floyd Whitney on the ice for the morning skate today. They went through a bevy of cross-ice and two-on-two, and two-on-one passing drills. Sad thing is they didn’t come close to scoring as often as Peter Pocklington has been charged by creditors.
Sheldon Souray was out there and took part in every drill so he will suit up tonight. Ethan Moreau also skated hard, while wearing the darkest colour-tinted visor I’d seen, so expect him to play as well.
Moreau’s visor makes him look a bit like a Euro, but he insisted his game won’t change due to the visor.
What will change is the lineup. Moreau and Penner will dress tonight, and they’ll play on the same line with Kyle Brodziak.
21 – 10 – 83 12 – 89 – 78 19 – 13 – 34 18 – 51 – 27
This is how they will start but if the Kovalchuk - White - Little line gives the Oilers problems don’t be surprised to see Horcoff, Moreau and Pisani become a trio to try and shut them down.
MacTavish admitted the lines could become very interchangeable tonight. Altanta coach John Anderson told me yesterday on my show that he likes to juggle his lines a lot, so expect to see many different combinations tonight.
A Horcoff - Moreau - Pisani trio could become reality down the stretch as a shut-down line.
Don’t think MacTavish doesn’t listen to the radio or read the Internet based on his comments today. He was asked about O’Sullivan and his overall game.
“I’m trying to find offensive opportunities for O’Sullivan. I want to get him some power-play time. I’m not going to pigeon-hole him as a checker just yet, that’s apparently my expertise to turn offence into checkers. He is in the process right now, (he laughs) but hopefully he has more goals in him.”
It looks like MacTavish is going with his most offensive unit of the season. The competition for ice-time tonight should be fierce, and if players are going early MacTavish said they will play more.
The Thrashers are playing well right now, going 6-3-1 in their last ten, with Johan Hedberg between the pipes, so the Oilers can’t overlook the lottery-bound Thrashers.
Their top line of Kovalchuk - White - Little have combined for 82 goals and 183 points, compared to Hemsky - Horcoff - Penner’s 49 goals and 128 points. Look for Souray and Staios to match up against that line.
The Towel Boy wrote:
Just ask those "zipperheads" in Gran Torino. They didn't want to f*ck with that.
*hasn't actually seen the movie*
The Towel Boy wrote:
like when those naked old guys stare at you in the change room at the pool.
*shivers as bad memories travel down his spine, then cries alone in the attic while listening to "everybody hurts" by REM in the dark.*
@ Archaeologuy:
Staring at wrinkly old balls is a right of passage for all young men.
SULLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY!!!!
LOVE THAT KID!!!! WHHOOOO!!!
A little bit o' redemption for O'Sullivan hey?
WWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now this is how you start a god damn period.
Why couldn't we do this all year????????
Whoo.
!!!!!!!!Nilsson!!!!!!
I love the fact that Sam NEVER GIVES UP!
I predict 31 - 2 for the Oil.
Samwise Gamgie, why do you wait so long to turn up the awesome?
As terrible as this is, and as much as I hate him, it looks kind of like MacT may have done something right for a change. He challenged Gagner to play more physical and look at him now. He's diving head first into the scrum in front of the net. It's going to make a pretty big difference in the long run. I can see next year being a big year for Juice Boy.
i think i hate gene principe
are hand passes legal on the PK? WTF?
@ DK0:
In your defensive zone, yes.
@ jeanshorts: ahh ok, thanks. Thought they missed that somehow.
finally a PP set up that I like!
Hmm. Didn't take too long for Penner to work his way to the top line
OH MY GOD PENNER FIGHTING!! COMING TO HEMSKYS AID!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE??????????????
even his fight looked sluggish.. but I'll take it :)
atta boy Penner!!
27 steps up. nice.
that Patty O'Sullivan looks like a nice pick up.
*RUBBING HIS EYES* Did I just see that right? Penner??
jeanshorts wrote:
It might have something to do with the fact that his ankle is finally healing. He's been snake-bit a fair bit the last while too.
! Penner just got himself out of the dog house.
those neon yellow shirts the servants wear are (fancy)
David S wrote:
Oh yeah I forgot about his wonky ankle. But still I'm really liking his aggressive play as of late.
Instigator penalty needs to go. its so ridiculous. if Penner gets an instigator, that thrasher better get interference for taking out Hemsky. WTF WWWWTTTFFFF
If they kick Penner out i'll will kick my f'in cat!!
"the servants"
Mua-hahahahahaha!
It was that god damn GM's meeting where they figured it would be a good idea to start calling the instegator all the time. So now, the terrible refs are going to give it to someone every fight regardless. I hate this p*ssy soft NHL.
great elbow
For as many as Souray gets away with, i guess he was due. We'll kill it off though cause Souray is a pim........... nefrmind.. FUDDDGE
He's isn't out just a ten...still worth it...I love it..that hit was three 1000's late...
Doesn't Souray have ANY idea how bad our PK is?
What the...augh!
the ever-so-dependable PK strikes again... ffs
Souray gives the elbow like Messier and even says "are you f*ckin kidding me" to the refs exactly like Mess did in the movie Boys on the Bus
Boy if your pp is struggling your eyes must light up when you see Edmonton on your schedule!!...too bad we can't play ourselves.
R-DAWG wrote:
Uhhh...our PP sucks too. We'd lose to ourselves.
why does the new site stall my computer every time a page reloads? (firefox-osx)
status shows it bogging down while it connects to google-analytics.com
Gagner is making it happen!
@ freeze:
I was just thinking the exact same thing. Someone get the monkey on the typewriter to figure this out.
freeze wrote:
It's the ads loading on the right side. Gets worse as the thread gets longer. Mine does the same thing too with the same OS and browser.
btw, great post here: www.fromtherink.com/2009/3/12/795226/coaching-changes-lead-to-b
*FMNF*
My buddy just text me said he won $1000 at Oil game for fan appreciation...a game that was actually worth going to for excitement and now money...who would have guessed Atlanta would be that exciting.
is it a requirement to be retarded if you want to ref in the NHL?
Yeah like they won't score...thank Gawd Kovalchuk is out...
Man it gets quiet in RX1 when we're on the PK. I guess the fans have that sense of impending doooooom.
Archaeologuy wrote:
I'm pretty sure Joey Moss could do a more competent job. And that's selling Joey Moss short.
Archaeologuy wrote:
Shhhh! Deep Oil might be listening and he would make a scary ref!
btw, great post here: cccp://www.fromtherink.com/2009/3/12/795226/coaching-changes-lead-to-b
*FMNF*
R-DAWG wrote:
Deep Oil and WT. Your new linesmen.
jeanshorts wrote:
Joey wouldn't stoop to that level!
freeze wrote:
Dude. As much as you'd like to dream differently, the honest to god truth is this team is not a whole lot better than where we are in the standings right now. Every decent blogger in the 'sphere put them slightly worse in fact. You weren't one of those dumbasses that actually believed that whole "leading the conference" schtick were you?