Oilersnation watched in frustration, and some fear, when the Oilers played without Connor McDavid. It didn’t paint a pretty picture, but thankfully for the Oilers he will return to the lineup tonight.
The St.Louis Blues aren’t as lucky. They are tied for last place in the NHL and tonight they will be without five regulars. Their best defenceman, Alex Pietrangelo has a hand injury and might need surgery, Alex Steen has concussion like symptoms, Robbi Fabbri is out again, this time with a separated shoulder, while Carl Gunnarsson and Jaden Schwartz are out with upper body injuries.
The Blues were picked to make the playoffs by every pre-season prognosticator, but 25 games into the season they are struggling with a league-low nine victories.
The Blues made a lot of changes in the off-season, via trade or free agency, bringing in Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Patrick Maroon, Tyler Bozak and Chad Johnson. It hasn’t worked out how they’d hoped.
Starter Jake Allen is 7-7-3 with a .896sv% and a 3.24 GAA, while Johnson is 2-6 with a .889sv% and 3.51 GAA.
The Blues’ offence is 25th in goals despite the new faces, and they have the seventh worst GAA at 3.40. They planned on having a balanced offensive attack, but so far it hasn’t transpired.
O’Reilly has been very good with 12 goals and 28 points in 25 games, and Perron has eight goals and 15 points, but Bozak only has three goals and Maroon has one. Their biggest challenge is they can’t keep the puck out of their net. They’ve been dominated at 5×5, being outscored 61-46. They’ve allowed the second most 5×5 goals/game this season.
The Oilers are far from an offensive juggernaut at 5×5, but tonight presents a rare time where they should be able to score a few. If they can is another story. The Oilers are 29th in 5×5 goals with 41, and only Los Angeles and Arizona have scored fewer.
Tonight we see a team struggling to score at 5×5 v. a team struggling to defend at 5×5. With Pietrangelo out of the lineup, and McDavid returning, in theory you’d think the offence at 5×5 would have an advantage, but as we’ve seen too often this year that hasn’t been the case.
Ken Hitchcock is hoping some depth players can find their offence. Ryan Spooner and Jujhar Khaira have each scored recently, and maybe their goals will give them a boost. The Oilers desperately need someone not named McDavid, Draisailt, Nugent-Hopkins or Chiasson to produce.
LINEUP…
Oilers
Chiasson-McDavid-Draisaitl
Khaira-RNH-Puljujarvi
P.Russell-Spooner-Rattie
Lucic-Brodziak-Kassian
Klefbom-Larsson
Nurse-Russell
Gravel-Benning
Talbot
Khaira gets a bump in place of the injured Drake Caggiula. Caggiula has a hand issue. McDavid and Spooner return to give the Oilers some more speed. Khaira scored his first of the season, and the reason he gets bumped is because Milan Lucic hasn’t scored in 26 games. He hasn’t scored in North America this season. Ouch.
Cam Talbot gets his first start in ten days and will be looking for his first win since October 28th. He has lost his last six starts allowing 23 goals on 159 shots. He has a .855sv% in this rough stretch. He needs to find his game. Kevin Woodley from In Goal Magazine said this about Talbot: ” He is getting caught making one or two bad reads every game and that has cost him. He looks hesitant at times. Making better reads is on the goalie and once he eliminates those his game should come around.”
Talbot needs to find his game, as much for him as for the Oilers. With every rough start he is costing himself millions on his next contract. It is the harsh reality of pro sports. We often hear about players having career years in the final year of a contract, but there are just as many players who struggle in that final season. Talbot doesn’t need to be all world tonight, he just needs to be steady, and as Woodley points out, make the right reads.
Blues
Sanford-O’Reilly-Thomas
Perron-Schenn-Kyrou
Maroon-Bozak-Tarasenko
Nolan-Barbashev-Sundqvist
Edmundson-Parayko
Dunn-Bortozzo
Bouwmeester-Butler
Allen
New interim head coach Craig Berube is switching up his lines due to injury, but also to try and get some players going. They’d love Tarasenko to be better. He has 20 points, but has given up a lot. It is interesting to see O’Reilly flanked by Thomas and Sanford. Will they stick with that all game?
In the odd-stat-of-the-day the Blues are leading the NHL, for the second time in three seasons, with the most too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties. They have 26 over the past three years, tied for the most with the Ottawa Senators.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…
The 2018-19 season marks the worst start for the Blues in over ten years. You have to kick it back to the Mike Kitchen post-lockout Blues to hear this kind of sad music coming from 14th and Clark. Every home game should be accompanied by a few bottles of Abita Purple Haze ale down the street at Broadway Oyster Bar where a bluesy guitar is played until three in the morning.
It’s not pretty or something that fans should be happy with. After all, August gave many fans around St. Louis the feel-good vibes. It wasn’t just the arrival of Ryan O’Reilly or the return of Pat Maroon to his hometown; the Blues carried some genuine excitement. However, sometimes a great trailer is simply camouflage for a bad movie. That’s the case with this team.
While the special teams for this team STILL rank in the top ten in the NHL, just about everything else is less than mediocre for the Blues. Outside of O’Reilly’s dazzling start, which includes 12 goals and 28 points in just 25 games, the entire roster is either a disappointment or not good enough.
TONIGHT…
GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid’s streak of 222 games played ended on Monday. He hates not playing and with his father in the crowd he picks up three points in a 4-2 Oilers win.
OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Nolan and Kassian drop the mitts as both players try to get their teams emotionally involved.
NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Khaira picks up his first career goal and point v. the Blues. He scores in consecutive games for the second time in his career.
Month of Giving
Thank you to Trent and Glen for their generous bids and to Mr. Derk for the awesome suit package.
Day Three:
Package #1:
- Pub party for 10 at On The Rocks. Includes meals and beverages for all.
- $400 GC from On The Rocks as well as a Crab Boil (for eight)
- Pair of tickets (row 23) to the Oilers/Flames game this weekend.
You can bid by calling 780.444.1260 or text 101260 between 2-6 p.m. today.
Package #2: Tee It Up.
- 10 rounds of golf at the Ranch Golf and Country Club (hole 8 above) with a power cart for each round and use of driving range before every round.
- One round of golf for three people with their Head Pro Shawn Piercey.
- One round of golf for two with GM Murray McCourt and Kevin Karius from Global TV. This is a spirited match and usually involves some friendly “wagering.”
You can bid by calling 780.444.1260 or text 101260 between 2-6 p.m. today.
Thanks in advance. All proceeds will help out the Christmas Bureau and Brightfield Elementary breakfast program (A Rotary Club of Edmonton Mayfield initiative).
Recently by Jason Gregor:
- GDB Game Notes: Don’t look at me — I’m hideous
- Random Thoughts: No Depth, Go For It, A Rare Winning Streak
- Streaking Stars
- Banged Up Stars
- Injuries, Laine on fire, great starts and more
- GDB Game Notes: Oilers @ Ducks
Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 12/05/2018 – 11:00 am MT
Well no ****ing kidding. When your confidence is low, no doubt do to this bipolar fan base we have, you’re gonna stink up the joint because youre trying to do too much. As a goalie myself, I know what he’s going through. When you’re trying to force yourself to win, you make easy mistakes, often resulting in a loss. Cam just needs to play tall, play smart. I actually think his game against LA was pretty decent. Without him, we’re down 3-1 after 1. But, as usual, people don’t like to view that as a positive.
Idk why this dude gets so much vitriol for understanding a position i’m sure most of the commenters here don’t.
In the summer regarding Lucic you were all “wow were so bad for running pros out of town we need to be better” and now you’re blaming your starter for the teams defense. It’s ridiculius.
The same team defense Koskinen plays in front off?
Or does Talbot got his own group?
Koskinen has had more offensive support & the team plays better in front of Mikko than they do Talbot and tonight it showed.
“As a goalie myself, I know what he’s going through.”
Your save percentage is near worst in your league as well?
Wonder if this will work…
Alex did you trash me?! LOL
[img]https://i.imgur.com/iAHRWi4.png[/img]
Cam needs to stay on his feet once in a while. He has been feasted on by players who know he’ll drop to his knees before they even shoot. Hasn’t the Oiler goalie coach pointed this out to Talbot?
The problem isn’t that he’s on his knees all the time, Gibson and Luongo play half the game on their knees but they have better reflexes and far better glove hand reflexes. Pay attention to that tonight and it becomes more painfully obvious. Koskinen is down a lot, goalies have to cover the bottom part of the net and trust instincts and reflexes to take away the top part when needed especially with traffic and screens in front of the net. A lot of goals are being scored on goalies now when waist high shots or higher are being tipped down.
My OGDP, Patrick Maroon notches a goal. And by golly, I hope he gets one. Love me some Big Rig
Alex,
I bet you can’t get enough Big Rig!
Too bad he didn’t get his big pay day this off season. He’s doing good on powerplay but even Lucic is out pacing him at 5 by 5.
Perhaps we could amend that to “Maroon inadvertently tips in a Klefbom point shot, realizes where he belongs, and asks for a trade to Edmonton following the games conclusion”.
I cant imagine what our team would look like without McDavid? Scary thought!! Leon has only proven that he can’t drive the play with any consistency.
The only logical explanation for his inability to play at a high level, is that he is hurt. Most of the time he looks like he is skating in sand. We need to find som top six forwards and fast!
Well thank god you’re not the GM. We’re not trading Draisitl. Move on
The problem is the turkeys that surround McDavid Drai and Nuge. Chia did a poor job building around them.
Wow. How original from you.
Just as original as pretty much every other post around here. But really why expect “originality” in any posting on here when the result is the same and the GM that wrecked things is still at the helm.
Hall won the Hart Trophy last year (93 points) and he only had a season like Draisaitl is on pace for this year (91 points).
Just not appreciated until they’re run out of town.
And then Drai WILL win the Hart Trophy, kind of like he won the Memorial Cup MVP like Hall also did.
Wait until Drai is in his 8th season like Hall was last year, look out!!!
Hall didn’t win the Hart Trophy, he was gifted the trophy. There was 5-6 players more worthy of it than Hall.
The media gave it to him to have a story.
Only reason Hall won the trophy was because MacKinnon and the Avs didn’t make the playoffs, McDavid and the Oilers didn’t make the playoffs, and Kucherov played on one of the top scoring teams.
Had the Oilers or Avs made the playoffs, I guarantee McDavid or MacKinnon would have won
Avs made the playoffs numbnuts.
When Drai puts an entire team in his back and his back alone and takes them to the playoffs then maybe he can sniff Halls Jock.
Without McDavid the Oil are a lottery team and in other sports would be relegated to lower tiers.
Isn’t Draisaitl a top 6 forward? Addition by subtraction= zero; and would you trust Charelli to make that trade?
Put a board in the net with the top 1 ft open and you have Talbot.
Hitch 5-2 with 4 OT/SO wins. This still is a shytty team. Homers will pump up hitch but he’s just delaying the inevitable blow up.
Tonight’s game is as close as it gets to a “gimme” in the age of cap-induced parity.
Currently the oil will have to climb over three other teams to make the playoffs.
Losing the easy ones is not the mark of a solid team.
Oil win 3-1
The Oilers are the “gimme” game in today’s league
I have been saying Talbot has been making bad reads for over two years but hey what do I know.
you don’t know enough to coach in the NHL.
Unlike the rest of the writers and their brownnosers on here, they know enough to be the coach, the GM, any player and PoHO.
Neither does the guy who works at Quickie Mart on the Simpson’s, but with the rate of expansion, I wouldn’t rule anything out.
Curious to hear people thoughts on having McDavid, Drai, and Nuge, each centre their own line? With the glut of “complementary” wingers right now, perhaps it makes sense to go for a balanced attack. Obviously, mid-game Hitch can stack the top line again with McD and Drai if needed.
Something like:
Chiasson – McDavid – Rattie
Caggiula – RNH – Puljujarvi
Spooner – Drai – Zykov
Khaira/Reider(IR) could obviously slot in anywhere too. Just spit balling here.
Peter wants Spooner and Lucic to have more playing time. Kelly Hrudey recommends RNH play the third line. This should work.
Lucic-McDavid-Draisaitl
Khaira-Spooner-Puljujarvi
P.Russell-RNH-Rattie
Chiasson-Brodziak-Kassian
Looks like a playoff line up to me.
Lucic on the top line with McD? Hard pass. Kelly Hrudey has always disliked the Oilers, it seems … and that carries on with his constant negativity on RNH. RNH is a #1 centre on several teams in the NHL, and does not belong on the 3rd line with P. Russell.
Wow. Let’s plan the parade
Reider will make a huge difference too. I’d put Chiasson right, Reider left, and see how the identity line does with Khaira in place of Kassian as all Zach has done this season is take bad penalties haha
Can’t go the three centres approach without having some wingers that can put rubber in net.
Fair point, but part of me feels like some of these guys can’t produce right now because they are putting 3 of them together and asking them to go out and score. Combinations of Reider, Spooner, Caggiula, Rattie, Chiasson, and Khaira aren’t going to consistently drive a line together. They need some skill to play alongside.
Not like they are filling the net right now
McD/Leon are combined for 1 goal, -6 in the last 5
Glut of complementary wingers?? Lol
I dont see PC surviving the month of december. No way in hell. The only solace in this shyte of a season.
I cannot see Katz/the Oiler braintrust firing Chia before the seasons end.
He will survive with all the undeserved OT games. Unfortunately.
All the negativity on here and the Oilers come back and win. Love it. Connor and Nuge with killer moves
They are in a playoff position?
They didn’t win it. The refs did. Let’s be real here. This one was a gift. Should have been 3-1 after the second.
Not to mention the hold by Klefbom late in the OT
The Klefbom play on O’Reilly is exactly how other dman play Connor every night. I agree it should be a penalty but that doesn’t get called consistently.
Gotta be our turn for a change. Roughly 20% of Oiler losses are directly related to poor (biased) officiating.
The ref won one for the Oilers for a very welcome change.
The shootout goals were truly magnificent.
When everybody’s healthy, I would try:
Caggiula/McDavid/Rattie
Rieder/Draisaitl/Chiasson
Spooner/RNH/Puljujarvi
Lucic/Khaira/Zykov
Extras: Brodziak and Kassian
I would do this because Cagg and Rattie both produced with McDavid and gives him two guys to get the puck, Drai had success with Rieder and Chiasson before Rieder’s injury, RNH and Spooner can work with Pulju, and a scoring 4th line with Khaira at C.
If Lucic didn’t have to play every game, I really liked the 4th line of Khaira-Brodziak-Kassian as a defensive line. Maybe even sit Kass a game to see what Zykov’s got.
You can’t sit Kassian….he will get Sluggish.
Not even 30 games in and that line combo is almost unrecognizable compared to the first game of the season.
What the hell was up with that anthem!!!
Yank, Extract, Pull….Talbot
As if it’s his fault guys are left wide open a few feet from the net time after time. I’m not a Talbot fan per se but fk this d and and fk this team and fk Chia hard with a hot curling iron.
And when myself among others said play Koski until the next back to back or out of need like an injury, this is why. Talbot recipe: let a goal in within the first 5 shots in net, under 10 minutes in the first, let two goals in the first period, let one in top shelf on his knees, deflate your team and out the game out of reach in the first 20 minutes.
I think playing Talbot was the right choice. Play them until they lose then out in the other guy. Repeat.
Dude without Talbot it’s 4-5 zip.
Literally without Talbot in the net yes, but with kosk in net no.
Dude stop licking Talbots nuts. He sucks. MAYBE he would be good in your league.
Come on. It’s only been 2 years now. Give the guy a chance. Isn’t this the give a guy a chance league?
#AlextheTalbotballtickler is making his trash rounds lol
Go sports! Go
This is just a horrible hockey team.
How is it possible to be so bad after 4 1st overall picks including a stroke of luck in the Mcdavid lottery?
The mismanagement and disfunction from top to bottom is astounding.
From the Yakipov disaster to Hall for Larsen, to the infamous Reinhardt deal to picking Poo who appears to be a bust, it’s just a stench that won’t go away……ever.
I smell an empty netter on the horizon
Hah! They showed me!
Yes but the Oilers got it
2 points a direct result of bad reffing. Thanks for the win.
Thank goodness for McDavid
Nuge scored a sick shootout goal as well.
Those were great shootout moves by RNH and McDavid. The game was kind of “low activity” compared to watching the 15 goal game last night, but it’s an important win for the Oilers. I hope they can push a California team out of the playoffs.
Nobody really want to trade Drai, We want him to wake the puck up! It is a bummer to see him dial in only when he is babysit by McD. Everybody know he can be a lot better.
Talbot will be letting in 3 goals against at least.
Looks like employing Coffey is sure paying off. This Katz guy is genius.
Katz is a little weird troll located in the far far away land that will not be caught on camera watching the team he owns. He cannot even stomach his own mess. But hey, keep on adding old Oilers to the payroll and increase 80’s Stanley cup propaganda. I dont care who disagrees, that man is the worst thing to happen to the Oilers. You have a shiny new rink presenting the most amateur professional team in sports, where the entire organization is riding on a 21 year olds back. Let the man free, he doesn’t deserve this crony, dysfunctional, incompetent downright disgrace.
Warm up the
How can they only get 5 shots? Don’t bother warming up Koskinen this is already over. If they choke tonight could be 6 losses in a row coming up.
I kind of hope so. Lets Cruise for Hughes. Too many teams to keep up with at this point. If McD isn’t carrying this team on his back we are lucky to even compete. Might as well let this ship sink this year, maybe reward some young guys in the last month or two of the season. Hope to get a legit draft pick and see if the new GM can piece Humpy Dumpty back together. With a top 5-10 pick along with some good young Bakersfield talent upcoming, next year should be exciting.
You and others talk as if the Bakersfield guys are a guarantee. They are far from it.
Larsson looks slow tonight – I wonder if he’s got the flu.
No…he’s just slow. Dumb as fk too. Lumbering skater at the best of times. He’s a cave man. Duh. Puck. Me chop! Uhhh. Hit guy. Dump puck. Duhhh.
Oil played well that period.. Play like that in the 3rd, they can win this.
You mean the period they had a good goal against called off and were gifted a pp?
I wasn’t thinking about how good the Oilers are… More like how bad the Blues are.
either Drai has the flu or……????
Doesn’t give a fk?