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GDB 13.0: HOTEL YORBA
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Lowetide
Nov 6, 2016, 12:59 ESTUpdated: Invalid DateTime
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We love HOME games; have Liquor Depot delivery in under an hour. Click, pick, sit back and watch the game. 
With each passing day, I become more convinced that Oilers fans are no longer able to truly enjoy success. Seriously. I don’t know if it is the ten years of failure, leftover rage from the Hall trade or the litany of acid released on twitter about the team each day. Can you do something for me? Can you put all of those things aside, and look at these standings? Hey, I know an anvil from the sky may cut your car in half and the neighbor’s tree could fall on your house and the Oilers could lose 10-0 today. None of those things have a thing to do with these standings. Enjoy. Please!
The theme today has to be injuries. No matter how good (or bad) the town team is, injuries usually tell a major story. Before yesterday’s game Kris Russell couldn’t answer the bell, and shortly afterward (like first period, early) Zack Kassian and Jesse Puljujarvi were down for the count. In a couple of tweets this morning, Bob described the carnage.
That is a fairly stark IR list (Hotel Yorba stark) and it would be easy to use that as an excuse. That said, Edmonton has a record of 8-3-1 and I maintain they left the train station wildly out of balance (backup goalie, RH defenseman who can help on the power play, Pisani). I felt Chiarelli’s answers (Jonas Gustavsson, Matt Benning, Anton Lander) were not good enough—and still believe that to be true. It is very difficult to argue my point against an 8-3-1 team. Perhaps another day, but the negative verbal doesn’t rhyme with a winning team.

ODE TO JOY

I spend less and less time on twitter these days, it is impossible to have exchanges with groups of people without falling into old and stale arguments. Let me give you an outrageous (but somewhat true) example of a typical exchange:
  • Tweeter No. 1: Nice goal by Lucic.
  • Tweeter No. 2: Doesn’t change the Hall trade, that was awful.
  • Tweeter No. 1: Sure, not really arguing that, just mentioning that Lucic goal.
  • Tweeter No. 2: He is slow, slow, slow. Can’t play. Already pulled him from McDavid line!
  • Tweeter No. 1: That happens dozens of times in a season.
  • Tweeter No. 2: That contract will be an albatross by Christmas.
  • Tweeter No. 1: If Edmonton wins a Stanley Cup in the next five years, would that change your mind?
  • Tweeter No. 2: Could have won more with Hall. 
Folks, you have to let Tweeter No. 2 go. If people are going to die on the Taylor Hall hill (I agree the trade was a poor one, btw, and that Edmonton may have won more than they will now) then you simply have to move past them and allow those folks to find their own way. When you frame all issues through a prism of rage and anger over things that cannot be changed, you are doomed to shades or grey and black and blue. Tweeter No. 2 can’t get past it, can you?
If people on social media talk past you, or refuse to indulge you by listening to your point of view, then you either let them go or allow yourself to fall under their spell, their view. This is important stuff. Seriously.

LINEUPS

EDMONTON
At the time of publication, it looks like Puljujarvi (knee) could be a game-time decision. 
DETROIT
Lineups (subject to change) provided by DailyFaceoff.com

NOTES

  • The lines and pairings could see a lot of moving parts today, that was certainly the case in Brooklyn. I thought Patrick Maroon fit like a glove on the McDavid line and the Leon-Lucic Railroad had some good moments.
  • Darnell Nurse is emerging as a bona fide NHL defender, and it is vital that the Oilers keep him in a third pairing situation. That restriction may prove impossible due to all of these injuries, so it is important to remember his good play through the first one dozen games of the year. He is over 50 percent in possession, making good decisions with and without the puck, and playing a rugged, effective style.
  • Matt Benning! Two assists last night and seems comfortable making quick decisions on the power play and battled hard in the other parts of the game. Is he a long-term solution?
  • I have been raging for a long time about the Oilers need for a Pisani—defined as a veteran two-way forward who can mentor, lead an effective checking line, and score 15 goals a season—but this Oilers team appears to be handling things pretty well. I am tempted to credit the LWs, partly because a player like Benoit Pouliot has those elements in his game. That said, the emergence of Anton Lander and Tyler Pitlick has given this team the kind of depth Edmonton has been looking for since the real Pisani left town. I would also give credit to the strength at center, something the Oilers also cast aside in the months after the summer of 2006.
  • Many of you will remember SpiderMable – the 6-year-old cancer-fighting superhero who had her wish granted by the Children’s Wish Foundation to fight crime with Spider-Man in the City of Edmonton. SpiderMable The Film want to tell this incredible story about one little girl’s transformation from cancer fighter, to superhero to charity ambassador, but they need your help. The filmmakers have launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to help raise the necessary funds to complete film. For more info on SpiderMable’s story and to contribute, go to igg.me/at/spidermablethefilm. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From WingsNation.com
The Oilers shuffled their lines prior to last night’s game and they seemed to work. It was the first time that Milan Lucic played away from Connor McDavid, but it resulted in a goal for both Lucic and his new linemate Leon Draisaitl. The Oiers are still a very young roster, but they have become a deep team—something that couldn’t be said about them over the last decade. McDavid is challenging for the right to be the best player in the NHL and he is very, very close. The explosive sophomore could cause a lot of problems for a Red Wings’ blueline that is not exactly fleet of foot.

TONIGHT

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers play Detroit even up in the game’s opening moments, but fade toward the end of the first period—taking a penalty with 20 seconds left in the frame.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION:  Mark Letestu scores shorthanded early in the second, giving Edmonton a lead and renewed life. Both teams have terrific chances, but no one scores—and goalie Jonas Gustavsson makes believers out of Oilers fans with some big stops. 
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Red Wings tie it on a disputed goal in the middle of the third period and then score on the power play with five minutes left. An empty netter makes the score 3-1 and the Oilers, despite playing well, drop a game in Motown.

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