Archive for the 'Oilers' Category

2/27 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 27, 2008
in Brad Stuart, Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries, Jonathan Ericsson, Niklas Kronwall, Oilers, Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula
. 2 Comments

Update (10:26 AM): The comments on IwoCPO’s response to Drew Sharp are worth reading, as usual. Particularly Baroque’s from 8:36 AM. - Matt

Update (10:04 AM): Brennan at Gloveside has a great discussion on the Wings’ breakout troubles here. The post includes what has to be the line of the week at the end of third paragraph. I won’t spoil it for you.

As for the solution to the breakout issues: Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, and Chris Chelios. As talented and impressive as Derek Meech, Kyle Quincey and Jonathan Ericsson have been, they can’t measure up to the masters of that particular art form.  - Matt

Update (8:35 AM): IwoCPO responds to Drew Sharp’s column here. - Matt

… The Wings lost last night in Edmonton, 4-3 in a shootout. They overcame a two-goal lead in the third and then gave up a goal in the final minute of the period as the Oilers forced overtime. Robert Nilsson scored the only goal in the shootout to give Edmonton their 13th shootout win this season.

I was not able to watch the game, but judging from the highlights, it was an exciting one.

… Good news: Valtteri Filppula scored last night and now has two goals in a little over a week. That’s closer to the correct rate of scoring, Fil.

… More good news: Jonathan Ericsson notched his first NHL goal to put the Wings on the board. Hopefully that’s just the first of many, many more.

… Anyone else want to see Pavel Datsyuk shoot the puck like that more often? I love it when he breaks out that rocket snap shot of his.

… It was nice to see Henrik Zetterberg try something a little different in the shootout. That brings the number of shootout moves in his repertoire to a grand total of about 4. Maybe someday he’ll come across a goalie that hasn’t seen the Forsberg Deke™ and he can use that one again!

… Post-game links

… The papers are understandably stocked with stories about Brad Stuart today:

Helene St. James has a straightforward piece about the new defenseman, complete with quotes from Ken Holland. It looks like he won’t join the team until tomorrow, though he is expected to play Friday. The man slated to be his defensive partner, Niklas Kronwall, is expected to return that night as well.

Ted Kulfan’s lede says it all:

The Red Wings found out last season a team can’t have enough defensemen during the playoffs.

Very true.

Drew Sharp, of course, second-guesses the move and wonders why Ken Holland wasn’t able to land a forward when guys like Martin Lapointe and Sergei Fedorov went to the East for a song. Two words Drew: Central Division. Two more: Eastern Conference. Put them together and you have a simple concept: the Wings are in the same division as Chicago and Columbus, and those teams aren’t looking to do the Wings any favors. And vice versa.

The Caps and Senators, on the other hand, are in the Eastern Conference and therefore not immediate threats to the success of the franchise. Do you get it? Sure, it’s disappointing that the Wings were able to bring in some scoring help, but the simple fact that the Jackets and Hawks are in the Central meant the asking price was too high for them.

Also, Martin Lapointe, Drew? You’re upset that they didn’t bring that loser back?

John Niyo has a refreshingly positive look at the move and makes a great point. Whereas teams like Dallas, Colorado, and San Jose are placing their hopes in their new acquisitions,

… teams like Anaheim and Detroit, the presumptive Cup favorites before Tuesday’s wheeling and dealing, are banking on something else: Themselves.

When Jiri Hudler’s turn came up at the shootout last night, Ken Daniels said a goal there would have be a much-needed boost to his confidence. He didn’t score, but you have to think that his not being traded was a boost of sorts. The same goes for the other struggling forwards. The management showed faith in the current squad and that counts for something. Whether the guys will honor that faith remains to be seen, of course, but it’s hard to believe that they won’t.

Niyo also points out that the Wings did not give up any of their “kids.” That will pay off in the future and, with the team they have at the moment,  shouldn’t hamper their chances now.

For another blogger’s perspective on the trade, see Gorilla Crouch.

GameDay: @ Edmonton (28-30-5, 61 Pts) 9:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 26, 2008
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Oilers
. 1 Comment

Update (3:45 PM): According to the official blog, Kris Draper will play tonight after all, thus sparing us the misfortune of having to watch Mark Hartigan play for at least one more game (assuming Aaron Downey dresses). - Matt

Update (3:42 PM): Bruce MacLeod confirms that Jimmy Howard has been returned to Grand Rapids, which in turn confirms that Dominik Hasek will sit on the bench tonight in just his skates, leg pads and jersey over a T-shirt. - Matt

Update (12:25 PM): The official blog reports that it’s a sore groin that will keep Kris Draper out tonight. - Matt

Update (11:49 AM): Ansar Khan reports that Kris Draper will sit out tonight with an undisclosed injury. Mark Hartigan will play instead. Khan also says Dominik Hasek will back up Chris Osgood. As he points out, that means Jimmy Howard has been returned to the Griffins. - Matt

Update (10:06 AM): The Oilers’ official site has their usual excellent preview posted here. Compare it to the Wings’ cookie-cutter AP preview.  - Matt

Tonight is the fourth and final meeting between the Detroit Red Wings and the Edmonton Oilers this season. The Wings lead the series 2-1 with wins wins October 8th (4-2) and October 30th (2-1). The Oilers won the December 13th meeting, 4-3 in a shootout.

Edmonton is 5-5-0 in February. They began the month with a loss at home to Dallas, 4-1, but shutout the Flames 5-0 on the 4th.  Two nights later, they defeated the Blawkhawks on home ice, 4-1. The Flames got some revenge for their earlier loss by beating the Oilers in Calgary on the 9th, 4-1. The Oilers rebounded with a 4-2 win over Minnesota and a 3-2 win over San Jose on the 12th and 14th. They then dropped three straight, beginning in Vancouver (4-2), continuing in Nashville (5-4), and finishing in Dallas (5-2). On Sunday, they halted that skid with a 3-2 win over Colorado at home.

The Oilers’ 61 points are good for last in the Northwest Division and 14th in the Western Conference. They are all but out of the playoffs.

According to the Freep, Edmonton will be without Ethan Moreau (tibia), Shawn Horcoff (shoulder), Sheldon Souray (labrum, biceps), Tyler Spurgeon (undisclosed), Raffi Torres (knee), and Ladislav Smid (ankle).

Horcoff is the Oilers’ leading goal-scorer with 21. Dustin Penner is the active leader with 18. Ales Hemsky (15), Andrew Cogliano (10), Jarret Stoll (10), and Kyle Brodziak (10) are the only other Edmonton players to hit double digits in goals-scored. Hemsky is the points leader with 52.

It looks like the expected starter tonight is Mathieu Garon.

For the Oilers’ perspective, see The Battle of Alberta,  Covered in Oil,  Lowetide,  mc79hockey,  always on the road,  Black Dog Hates Skunks,  Irreverent Oiler Fans,  Nothing 2 See Here,  Oil Country, Ontario,  the real deal hockey, SportsGuru, and  Talkin’ Hockey.

The Wings fell to 4-7-1 in the month of February with a 4-1 loss to Vancouver Saturday night. The loss was a continuation of a skid that began February 7th against LA and continued with losses to Toronto (OT), Anaheim, Nashville, Columbus, Dallas, and Calgary.  The one bright spot over the past nine games was their 4-0 win over Colorado on the 18th, though the game had plenty of negativity to it as Nick Lidstrom went down with a knee sprain in the first period.

The easy explanation for the skid is the injury-depleted blueline, but the fact is the young defensemen called upon to fill in have played quite well. The Wings’ real problem has been up front. With the exception of the Avs game, they have not been getting the necessary scoring from their forwards.

Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals against Colorado, but has just two other goals over the course of the Wings’ skid (both against LA).

Mikael Samuelsson has not scored a goal since February 9th in Toronto.

Jiri Hudler is goalless in 17. His last goal game during the Wings’ 3-game skid last month.

Tomas Holmstrom is goalless in 12.

Johan Franzen has two goals in the last nine games and has not scored in five.

Valtteri Filppula scored a goal against Colorado, but it was his only goal in his last 13 games.

Pavel Datsyuk has four goals over the course of the skid, but just four assists. His usual ratio is a little over twice as many assists as goals.

Of the five remaining regular Wings forwards not necessarily expected to score, Tomas Kopecky, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Dallas Drake, and Aaron Downey, only Tomas Kopecky has a goal over the course of the skid (against LA).

Needless to say, the team offense that carried the Wings to 200 goals-for has not been getting the job done for most of this month. You can bet that Ken Holland will look to address the scoring problem before today’s trade deadline.

It’s easy to point to the young defense as the source of the problem, given the fact that they aren’t as smooth on the breakouts as Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Chris Chelios, or Niklas Kronwall are. However, guys like Meech and Ericsson are fine puck-moving defensemen, so the drop-off isn’t what it might have been. That excuse only goes so far and by this point it seems somewhat empty.

The Wings will be without Chris Chelios (leg, chipped bone) for the second full game . Garrett Stafford will get his second game in the NHL.

Niklas Kronwall (clavicle) will sit out once more. Derek Meech will continue to fill in.

Brian Rafalski (groin) also will not return. Kyle Quincey will cover for him.

Nick Lidstrom (knee sprain) is out as well. Jonathan Ericsson will play in just his third NHL game.

Dan Cleary (broken jaw) will miss his seventh straight. I expect Aaron Downey to remain in the lineup.

Projected lines (via Khan):

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Franzen-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Hudler-Draper-Kopecky
Maltby-Drake-Downey

It’ll be interesting to see if those are more than practice lines. There isn’t a natural center on the fourth line, which is a bit of a problem.

Projected pairings:

Meech-Lebda
Ericsson-Lilja
Quincey-Stafford

We can expect better gelling between the young blueline and the forward corps tonight as the team was able to practice with everyone for the first time yesterday. According to Helene St. James, they spent time working on breakouts. That should help the offensive situation somewhat.

Chris Osgood will get the start tonight for Detroit. It’s possible that Dominik Hasek (hip flexor) will be the backup.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, Red Wings Brasil, and Winging It In Motown. OklahomaWingNut’s GDT is here.

The Wings could really use a win tonight. The Oilers are injury depleted  themselves and are vulnerable on paper. That said, they remain a young and speedy team that could cause the Wings fits if they aren’t on top of their game. The forwards are flat out going to have to have a better game tonight than they’ve had lately. The young defensemen have proven to be reliable and it’s time for guys like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson to back them up.

Wings 3, Oilers 4 (SO)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 14, 2007
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Oilers
. 4 Comments

Update (2:41 PM): George Malik has posted his Wings-Oilers wrap-up at Snapshots. - Matt

The Wings lost to the Oilers 4-3 in a shoot out last night in one of the least exciting games of the season. Neither team played all that well, but Detroit looked particularly flat and were lucky to get a point. Edmonton played a high-energy, physical game and the Wings were unable to do much of anything on their own terms. They did outshoot the Oilers 42-25, which I suppose is something.

… Dominik Hasek made 22 saves, but I didn’t think this was his best game.

On Edmonton’s first goal, he was too far out of the net and he gave up just enough of a rebound off the Sheldon Souray lob that Ales Hemsky had an easy time of it putting the puck in.

He had no chance on the Joni Pitkanen goal, which was just a nice play and an unstoppable shot.

On the third goal, however, he was not holding the post when Sam Gagner made a nice pass to Fernando Pisani out front. Despite the fact that Brett Lebda was draped all over him, Pisani had a relatively easy time of it putting the puck over Dom’s right shoulder.

In  the shootout, Dom made a solid save on a tricky Gagner, but was beaten blocker-side by a straight-up shot by Hemsky. I don’t blame him for the loss, not by a long shot, but it looks like he’s still got a kink or two to work out.

There was a bad moment in the third period when Shawn Horcoff drove to the net, lost his footing, and slide skate-first into Hasek’s chest. It was immediately evident that Dom was hurt on the play and when FSN zoomed in on his face, he looked to be in some serious pain. Chris Osgood immediately got ready to go in and was about to step on the ice when Hasek got up, seemingly none the worse for wear.  Even with Chris Osgood playing as well as he has, an injury to Hasek is one of the last things the Wings need. They dodged a bullet there.

… Mark Hartigan scored his first goal as a Red Wing in just his second game. It came as a bit of a surprise, as the play looked harmless enough, but Roloson dropped his shoulder and gave the AHL call-up just enough space to squeeze the puck through. It was more bad goaltending than anything else. I’m glad he scored, but I’m going to go on record as saying I don’t like Mark Hartigan. My fiancé and her best friend are experts on the Griffins and they have nothing good to say about the guy and because I’ve learned to trust their judgment on all things Griffins, I’m not signing up for the Mart Hartigan Fan Club.

… Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and tied the game up both times, but I did not think it was his best game. Too many poor decisions with the puck, in my opinion, not the least of which was his decision to rip a slap shot in the shootout. However, he was more noticeable than Pavel Datsyuk, who was mostly neutralized by the Oilers, though he did, at least, come close to beating Roloson in the shootout.

… The Eurotwins played some with Mikael Samuelsson last night, but had more success with Dan Cleary. Sammy’s hit one of the worst dry patches of his time here in Detroit. Valtteri Filppula finished with 19:45 in ice time, but remains all but completely ineffective. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get those two going.

… Aaron Downey was twice the victim of some Academy Award-worthy acting on the part of  Dwayne Roloson as he received two penalties for bumping the Edmonton goaltender. He made contact on both occasions, but was pushed into him by the Oiler defense each time. Still, it’s not characteristic of Downey to put himself in that kind of position, which is further evidence that the Wings were off their game last night.

… Even Nick Lidstrom looked a little off last night, as he was beaten by the Oiler speed at least a couple times and just did not look as smooth as he does normally.

… The Wings need to figure out a different power play strategy for times when Tomas Holmstrom is out of the lineup. No one else on the team can come close to doing what Homer does and when they try for the same plan of attack on the man-advantage despite his absence, that fact is never more obvious.

… I hate it when teams play for the shootout like the Oilers did last night. They hardly tried to score in overtime, despite the fact that they had a couple solid chances.  Their shootout record may look pretty impressive, but really it’s pathetic, as they’ve had to rely on a gimic to get nine wins. They have just six wins not tainted by the shootout, while the Wings have 19.

… The Wings have notched at least a point in each of their last nine games, but they were fortunate to get the last three. In Nashville, they barely held on and emerged with a win and at home last night, they were outplayed by the NHL’s youngest team. Hopefully they’ll fare better against one of the League’s worst, Washington, Florida tomorrow.

Links

GameDay: vs. Edmonton (14-16-2, 30 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 13, 2007
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Oilers
. 0 Comments

Update (1:57 PM): I wish the Wings’ game preview page looked like this. - Matt

Update (1:45 PM): Red Wings TV has added two pre-game videos, one with comments from Mike Babcock, the other with comments from Mark Hartigan. - Matt

Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the series 2-0, with wins October 8th (4-2) and October 30th (2-1).  The final game will be on February 26 in Edmonton.

The Oilers are 3-2-1 in December thus far, with wins coming in Anahiem, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. Their most recent game, a 5-4 shootout win over the Blues, cut off a three-game skid in which they lost to Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Dallas. The Oilers are at the tail end of a three-stop road trip and will be playing their third game in four nights.

Shawn Horcoff leads the team in in goals (15), assists (18), and points (33). He’s the only Oiler with double-digit goals, but Ales Hemsky has nine. He hasn’t scored since November 30th, however, though he put up three points in St. Louis Tuesday. Horcoff, on the other hand, has 13 points in his last 8 games.

Sheldon Souray returned Tuesday night after missing 25 games because of a shoulder injury and scored a goal. Unfortunately for Edmonton, he was not the only injured Oiler. Via the Edmonton Sun: “Ethan Moreau, LW, foot; Matt Greene, D, foot; Geoff Sanderson, LW, back.” Defenseman Dick Tarnstrom will return, however.

It looks as though Edmonton has something of a goaltender rotation going. Dwayne Roloson started in Dallas, but was pulled after he allowed three goals on six shots. Mathieu Garon, relieving Roloson, fared a bit better, giving up two goals on 24 shots. Garon then started the next night in St. Louis and made 24 saves. It looks, then, like Roloson will be back in net tonight.

For the Oilers perspective, see The Battle of Alberta,  Covered in Oil,  Lowetide,  mc79hockey,  always on the road,  Black Dog Hates Skunks,  Irreverent Oiler Fans,  Nothing 2 See Here,  Oil Country, Ontario,  the real deal hockey, SportsGuru, and  Talkin’ Hockey.

The Wings are 5-0-0 in December thus far and have gone seven games without a loss. They’re coming off a draining 2-1 win over Nashville on Monday, a game which came the night after a hard-fought 5-2 win over Carolina. Tonight is the first of a four-game homestand that will see them playing host to Florida, Washington and LA.

Three Red Wings (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom) have 10 or more goals, but Dan Cleary is just one away with nine. I’d say he’s due to cross that double-digit threshold.

Kris Draper (knee), Kirk Maltby (back), and Tomas Holmstrom (knee) are all out tonight. Matt Ellis, Aaron Downey, and recently-called up Mark Hartigan are filling in.

According to Mike Babcock’s phone conference yesterday, Dominik Hasek is slated to start tonight, while Chris Osgood will start Saturday versus Florida.

For more of the Detroit perspective, see  Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown. Nathan already has a bit of a preview posted at HockeyTownTodd and George Malik has a preview roundup at Snapshots.

The Wings looked drained by the end of the Nashville game, but they’ve had a couple days to rest up, so they’ll hopefully come out with good energy tonight. The Oilers are having a rough season, but they have youth and enthusiasm to go with grit and they’ll make life difficult if the Wings aren’t on top of their game. Hasek has looked solid in his last three starts and will hopefully continue his resurgence with a strong game tonight. With Tomas Holmstrom out of the lineup, the Wings’ power play may not be as effective at generating chances, but players like Mikael Samuelsson and Valtteri Filppula will have an opportunity to get on track offensively.

The Oilers are 8-1 in shootouts, so if the game ends up in one, it may have a disappointing result.

Wings 2, Oilers 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 31, 2007
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Oilers
. 0 Comments

Okay, I don’t have a recap of the game today. I didn’t take notes, and we were driving back from Holland during the third period. Basically, I remember it being very tightly-contested and that Henrik Zetterberg’s goal was sweet. For a recap, check out Dave’s at Gorilla Crouch. If you’re looking for entertainment, read the comments over at Abel to Yzerman’s liveblog post.

I do have some observations about things off the ice, though:

First: what is it with FSN’s amazement about this new fangled thing, the Internet? They’re enough out of touch with technology that they’re shocked to get so many emails from viewers during the game. John Keating joked that the Internet is “all the rage these days.” Um, yeah. That’s right. It is. As refreshing as it is to see FSN and the Wings discovering this “new” medium, it’d be nice if they’d drop the golly-gee-guffaw thing.

Second: Anyone else get a kick out of Niklas Kronwall’s Oxford don look? Seriously, he had a sweatervest on. Stylish.

Third: speaking of style, did anyone need to know that Mikael Samuelsson wears tight clothes? Draper dropped that one on us while discussing Henrik Zetterberg’s new clothing line. Drapes didn’t take the bait when Keating asked him about which Red Wing would do best on the runway. Too bad.

I wish I’d seen Filppula’s game winner live. Oh well. Hopefully he’s getting going now and we’ll see more of that. Nice timing on it, too.

GameDay: @ Edmonton (5-7-0, 10 Pts) 9:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 30, 2007
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Oilers
. 12 Comments

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 4-2 on October 8 in Detroit. The remaining games are December 13 and February 26th.

Since the 8th, the Oilers have gone 3-6-0, with their wins coming over Phoenix, Minnesota, and Anaheim. They beat the Coyotes to end a four-game skid, of which the loss to the Wings was the first. After that, they dropped two more before beating the Wild. Then, they traveled to LA and lost to the Kings before heading over to Anaheim the next night, where they beat the Ducks in their most recent game. Tonight is the first of a two-game homestand for the Oilers, who will face the Nashville Predators Friday before heading back on the road.

Shawn Horcoff leads the Oilers in goals, assists, and points with 4, 7, and 11 respectively. Ales Hemsky is just behind him with 9 points.

The Oilers will be without Sheldon Souray (shoulder) tonight.

Mathieu Garon started against the Ducks, but it was the second night of a back-to-back, so it’s no surprise that the backup would get the nod. Tonight, though, Dwayne Roloson should be in net for Edmonton.

The Wings have posted a 7-2-0 record since the 8th, with the losses coming to Chicago and Anaheim. They’ve won their last five since dropping a penalty-filled game to the Ducks on the 15th. Their most recent win came in Vancouver Sunday night, a hard-fought 3-2 decision. Tonight’s game is the second of a three-game road trip to Western Canada. They’ll be in Calgary Thursday night.

Henrik Zetterberg, who is starting to get the recognition he deserves, leads the Wings in goals, assists, and points with 9, 12, and 21. Tomas Holmstrom is second in points with 14 and Pavel Datsyuk is right behind him with 13.

Dallas Drake (cheekbone) and Johan Franzen (knee) are slated to make their returns to the lineup tonight after missing 4 and 10 games respectively. They practiced on a line together with Tomas Kopecky yesterday. Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey get the shaft and will sit out.

Dominik Hasek was placed on the IR to make room for Franzen and keep the Wings at the 23-man limit. Obviously, he won’t play until Thursday at the earliest. Chris Osgood should get the start again tonight.

The Wings need to play better tonight than they did on Sunday, where they let the Canucks control play a little too often. The Oilers aren’t having the best season, but they remain a talented team and, as their win over the Wild demonstrates, can surprise another team. Hopefully the Wings will play their game and not become complacent.

Wings 4, Oilers 2

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 9, 2007
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Oilers
. 9 Comments

The Wings improved to 2-0-1 last night with their win over the Edmonton Oilers at home. It was an entertaining game and one in which the team played well, overall. A couple defensive breakdowns led to the Edmonton goals, but otherwise I thought the defense was solid. Dominik Hasek was very strong and would have easily had a shutout had the defense not allowed those two isolated plays and hung their goalie out to dry.

The big story of the game was the reunification of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. After going with the projected lines for the first few minutes of the game, Mike Babcock made the change around the 7:00 mark, ending up with a Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom top line and a Hudler-Filppula-Samuelsson second line.

Briefly:

… Mikael Samuelsson looked good last night. He scored a slick wrap-around-esque goal in the first period and made a nice pass to Chris Chelios later in the period to help put the Wings up by two. Chelios also had a strong game.
… 19 seconds after Chelios’ goal, Shawn Horcoff put a beautiful shot over Hasek’s glove from the slot with a Red Wing all over him. Even though it was a goal against, I couldn’t help but appreciate the skill he displayed there. Dom had little chance to make that save.

… Henrik Zetterberg and another hot-and-cold night. He notched two points and had a number of great scoring chances, but something was missing. I can’t really explain it, but he seems a little off. Obviously, it’s not a very big concern as he’s still producing, but if he can put up 7 points in three games playing like he has, imagine what he could do at full throttle.

… You get the feeling that when Pavel Datsyuk finds the back of the net, he’s going to keep finding it. He’s only got two points so far, but he’s been heavily involved in creating chances for himself and for his linemates. When he gets a break, watch out.

… I missed Homer’s power play goal at the start of the second, but it looked like a typical goal for him in the glimpse of a replay that I did catch.

… Dominik Hasek owes Brett Lebda some thanks after the puck hit Brian Rafalski’s skate at the end of a power play and deflected straight to center, where Raffi Torres had just left the penalty box. Had Lebda not been there to pick up the puck, Torres would have had half of the ice surface to himself.

… Jiri Hudler has looked strong so far this season, but there was one rush he could have done better in the second period. Rather than move his feet and keep up the pace, he slowed down and waited for someone in red to join him. Next time, keep going Jiri!

… Kind of a funny moment toward the end of the second: Pavel Datsyuk executed a beautiful takeaway just over the Red Wings blueline and turned to start a rush the other way. After a few steps, he somehow managed to overskate the puck and the rush fizzled out practically before it got going. Unfortunate, but I laughed, oddly enough.

… Late in the period, the Oilers scored on a pretty play. Robert Nilsson crossed the Red Wing line, made a nice drop pass to Joni Pitkanen, who sent it across to a completely uncovered Andrew Cogliano. The replay showed Dan Cleary gliding while Cogliano blew past him from the bench. Needless to say, Dom had little chance on that one, hung out to dry like that.

… At the start of the third, Pavel had a glorious scoring opportunity off a flurry around the net, but chose to pass the puck back to Zetterberg, whose shot was blocked by a defenseman. Right after that, Holmstrom was called for goaltender interference when Roloson backed into him from a good five feet in front of the crease. Hmm.

… Another player who’s been a little off so far this season is Nick Lidstrom and if it continues much longer, I’m going to be a bit disturbed.

… While we’re on the topic of defensemen, I’ll mention Andreas Lilja. I want to know that Regular Season Lilja did with Playoff Lilja, because I want Playoff Lilja back. Regular Season Lilja seems to be particularly bad this year. At this point, I’m thinking the rookie Derek Meech would be a better top four choice than ol’ Andreas.

… At 18:36 of the third period, the play was stopped and the Oilers pulled Roloson. Babcock called a timeout. The Oilers ended up putting on some solid pressure for a minute or so, before Zetterberg made a nice play along the near side boards. He sent the puck to Datsyuk in the Detroit slot and from there it went up to Draper at center. While Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond were calling, “Give it to Chelios!” Draper sent a wrister under the crossbar to close out the scoring.

… I said yesterday that I’d like to see the game finish in regulation and it was definitely good to see. Next up: the Flames tomorrow night.

GameDay: vs. Edmonton (2-0-0, 4 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 8, 2007
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Oilers
. 0 Comments

Update (2:50 PM): I missed this earlier, but Bruce MacLeod included the “probable” Oiler lines and defensive pairings in the post linked to the 11:47 update:

Penner-Horcoff-Hemsky
Torres-Stoll-Nilsson
Sanderson-Brodziak-Reasoner
Gagner-Cogliano-Pouliot

Pitkanen-Staios
Souray-Greene
Tarnstrom-Gilbert

- Matt

Update (1:22 PM): MacLeod follows up his earlier post with one containing quotes from Mike Babcock, Matt Ellis, and Johan Franzen. Franzen and Ellis say about what you’d expect from guys in this situation: Johan is bummed about his injury, but thankful it came now rather than at the end of the season, and Ellis is looking to keep things simple during his time in the lineup.

The Babcock quote is a little more interesting: the main reason Filppula is being promoted is because he and Datsyuk gelled so well in the playoffs. I just hope Fil has become more of a finisher than he was in the postseason. That was frustrating. - Matt

Update (1:10 PM): The Freep’s Helene St. James verifies MacLeod’s report, but she hints at the fact that Babcock could change things up between the morning skate and the game itself. - Matt

Update (11:47 AM): Well, my guess on the new lines below was way off. Bruce MacLeod reports that Valtteri Filppula will move up to the top line, while Kris Draper will return to the middle to center the third. I was right about Matt Ellis, though, who apparently will center the fourth line. Here are the lines, which are presented as “probable” by MacLeod:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Cleary-Draper-Drake
Kopecky-Ellis-Maltby

It’ll be good for Fil to get that extra playing time. - Matt

Tonight is the first of four meetings between these two storied franchises this season. The Oilers won last year’s series, 3-1, with two of those wins coming in a shootout. These teams will meet twice more this calendar year, before finishing up with the fourth game in February.

The Oilers are 2-0-0 after beating the Sharks on October 4 and the Flyers two days later. Both wins came at home. In their home opener, against the Sharks, Edmonton were ahead by one going into the final minute of the game, but Joe Thornton tied it up at 19:49 and forced overtime, and then a shootout. The Oilers won it by holding the Sharks to one shootout goal to their two. In the second game, against Philadelphia, the storyline was the performance of former Flyers, Geoff Sanderson and Joni Pitkanen, who combined for 3 goals. The two had been traded in the off-season for former Oiler captain Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul. Pitkanen’s goal was credited to him after former Red Wing Mike Knuble inadvertently kicked the puck into his own net.

The Oilers now have an old friend of ours, Dustin Penner, a former Duck and member of that infamous PPG line. Penner put the Oilers up 2-1 against the Flyers and is playing on a line with another old friend, Ales Hemsky.

Dwayne Roloson will be in net for Edmonton tonight.

The Wings are 1-0-1, with both games finishing in a shootout. Jiri Hudler was the hero in Wednesday’s home opener against the Ducks, scoring the only shootout goal on the Wings’ third shot. Saturday night, the Wings were outplayed by a highly motivated Chicago team, but were fortunate enough to carry a two-goal lead into the third period. The Hawks came back, however, and forced overtime with a late goal by former Wing Robert Lang. After a heart-attack-inducing overtime period, the game went into a shootout in which the three Detroit shooters either missed the net or hit the post. The Hawks only needed one goal to win it and got it from rookie Patrick Kane.

The Wings lost a key part of their top line when Johan Franzen went down with a knee injury in the second period Saturday night. Franzen will be out about a month, and, in the meantime, either Matt Ellis or Aaron Downey will fill in. Babcock will have to do some line juggling, but we won’t know what exactly he’ll do until perhaps after the morning skate. If I had to guess, I’d say that Ellis will get the nod to play on the fourth line with Tomas Kopecky and Dallas Drake, with Kirk Maltby moving up to take Dan Cleary’s spot on the third line with Valtteri Filppula and Kris Draper. In that scenario, Cleary would move up to the Pavel Datsyuk’s line to take Franzen’s place.

Dominik Hasek will be in net for the Wings again.

With one of their wins coming against a strong Sharks team and the other against a much-improved Flyers squad, the Oilers seem to be on a bit of a roll, even if it is only three games into the season. So the Wings will need to step it up from their performance Saturday if they want to come out on top. If they can shake more of their rust off, they should be in a good position to win tonight, but the Oilers aren’t a team to take for granted, whatever their problems. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like to see the game finish in regulation this time.

Norstrom, Smyth moved

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on February 27, 2007
in Islanders, Kings, Mathias Norstrom, Oilers, Ryan Smyth and Stars
. 1 Comment

The Los Angeles Kings have dealt their captain, Matthias Norstrom, to the Dallas Stars, according to TSN. Not sure yet what they got in return. Norstrom has 2 goals and 9 points in 62 games this season.

The bigger news is that the Edmonton Oilers were unable to resign their star. Spector’s cites Newsday as saying that Ryan Smyth has been traded to the New York Islanders for two prospects (Ryan O’Marra and Robert Nilsson) and a first round pick.

The Kronwall hit on Lupul

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 24, 2007
in Niklas Kronwall, Oilers, Opinion and Video
. 4 Comments

Update (25. Feb, 1:53 PM): Joffrey Lupul has been quoted in the Edmonton Sun as saying he thought the Kronwall hit was borderline dirty, but said he wasn’t going to complain. By contrast, his head coach, Craig McTavish told the paper,

“People have long memories at this level and it’s not something we’ll quickly forget. He’s got a history of that. When you blindside guys like that viciously, that says something and we’ll remember it.”

“He’s got a history of that”? When, pray tell, has Kronwall given a guy a concussion with a shoulder-to-head hit before, McTavish? It was not vicious, it was just unfortunate timing and placement. If you want a suspension because it was a headshot, say that, but don’t spew that kind of whining crap. - Matt

Update (9:47 PM): I’m obviously not the only one who wants the League to rethink their policy on hits to the head, but I think this is the first time a person in authority has spoken out against it.

The recent Senators/Sabres conflagration was kick started by a headshot on Chris Drury by Ottawa’s Chris Neil. Drury is out with a serious concussion now and Buffalo’s owner has written a letter to the NHL asking for change.

Neil’s hit was far more malicious than Kronwall’s hit, so the fact that he went unpunished is far more telling than the fact that Nik didn’t for his check, which didn’t demonstrate an intent to injure. - Matt

Someone has YouTubed a video of Niklas Kronwall’s hit on Joffrey Lupul. Dirty or not dirty? See for yourself.

Call me biased all you want, but I say more ill-advised than dirty. It was all shoulder and, though he did power through it with his legs, it wasn’t malicious and it would have just been a big open ice hit had Lupul not just dished off the puck and looked away.

Still, at the risk of being called a Red Wings heretic (but I’d rather be wrongly accused of being a heretic than rightly accused of being a hypocrite), I will say that it was not a safe hit or a smart hit, and almost certainly one deserving of a suspension as a head-shot. However, the League doesn’t punish hits to the head because of an irrational and ridiculous fear that it would make the game less physical. Like I wrote in November, I think it’s criminal of the League not to police hits like that more, regardless of whether or not a Red Wing is delivering them, and regardless of intent. Hits to the head should not go unpunished, period.