Edmonton vs. Colorado: Before and After

by Jonathan Willis on Oct 13, 2008 12:46 PM MDT

I did a couple of articles on the match-ups that MacTavish/Granato would be going with during game one last night, one before, and one after the game.

Other notes:

- Dustin Penner, by my eye, through one game, looks much better than he did a year ago. It wasn't just the two goals (although, those were good too); he was much faster (winning races to the puck, negating icing calls) and looked very good on the penalty kill. I think he moves up to the first line by the end of the month.

- Despite the number of saves, I was a little worried about Garon's play last night. He had a huge dose of luck, and looked frantic. Frantic is a bad thing.

- As worried as I am about Garon, if 77-37 haven't got things turned around by the ten game mark, I'll be very, very worried about the defense.

-And finally, one for myself: it's only one game. And, not trivially, they won.

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Comments

I'll agree Garon looked a little spastic. I'd like to see how he looks in a game with a few less grenades thrown on him by the defense before I get too worried though. I have to wonder what it's like to have a Luongo, and not have to constantly worry that our goalie suddenly lost his touch.

Of note though is that he seems to have finally been solved by shooters in penalty shot situations. I never thought he was a particularly great shootout goalie, just that shooters didn't play him correctly at all. How many times last year did we see someone dangle and then try to pound the puck low? He always has his legs covering the entire bottom of the net! You chip it up! It's not hard!

by quain on Oct 13, 2008 1:36 PM MDT reply actions

I'll agree Garon looked a little spastic. I'd like to see how he looks in a game with a few less grenades thrown on him by the defense before I get too worried though.

Yeah, that's the thing in his favour. Most goalies would look spastic in front of the defense that played last night.

by Jonathan Willis on Oct 13, 2008 2:00 PM MDT reply actions

Good breakdown. I saw Garon good but I was at the game and didn't have the luxury of replays.

Penner looked good on the PK and your probably right about him back with 10-83. If MacT is right on this one (using the PK to get his defensive game/foot speed up to par), he looks real good in my eyes.

Cole struggled but playing with Hemsky isnt the easiest adjustment.

Like you said one game lots of room for improvement.

by Sean on Oct 13, 2008 2:01 PM MDT reply actions

Jon: Drop me an email at mwhite.dking@nf.sympatico.ca.

I have an idea and/or some information for you:)

by Dennis on Oct 14, 2008 5:26 AM MDT reply actions

Maybe Garon looks frantic because 37-77 haven't got things turned around yet.

As noted above, it doesn't matter how frantic he looks till they get the shot count down.

Even just 5-6 shots per night could remove a goal every couple of games. They do usually allow a lot of crappy shots from the outside, but last night had far more quality scoring chances than I can remember over the last chunk of last year.

We shall see how they look tomorrow.

by spOILer on Oct 14, 2008 8:18 PM MDT reply actions

Honestly, Garon looked pretty much exactly the same as he did early last season. Tentative, panicky, and all-around shaky. I really don't think that it had anything to do with the amount of shots thrown at him. A good goalie will make stops like what he made look routine. Because they are. There are just a lot of them.

But like I said, he did the same thing early last season as well.

Regarding the shootout/penalty shots though, that's a different thing altogether. Last year he would have stopped those shots. He's not going out as far to meet the shooter as he used to, and he's skating in too quickly. That penalty shot doesn't go in if he's 2 inches further away from the net, period.

In short, I'm pretty sure he's just skittish and overthinking things, which is natural, given the amount of time before pro-level games. I mean, no amount of scrimmaging is the same thing as "You get paid 883 dollars per save, and every shot you don't stop will be taken out of next year's salary."

by Ender on Oct 15, 2008 3:42 PM MDT reply actions

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Northwest Standings

	GP	W	L	OTL	PT
Vancouver Nucks Misconduct	54	34	15	5	73
Colorado Mile High Hockey	56	28	25	3	59
Minnesota Hockey Wilderness	54	25	21	8	58
Calgary Matchsticks and Gasoline	55	25	22	8	58
Edmonton The Copper & Blue	54	21	28	5	47

(updated 2.11.2012 at 6:02 AM MST)

22 - 28 - 5

Streak: Won 1

Oilers Schedule

Next 5 Games

Toronto Pension Plan Puppets	Wed 02/15	8:00 PM MST
Colorado Mile High Hockey	Fri 02/17	7:30 PM MST
Vancouver Nucks Misconduct	Sun 02/19	7:00 PM MST
@ Calgary Matchsticks and Gasoline	Tue 02/21	7:00 PM MST
Philadelphia Broad Street Hockey	Thu 02/23	7:30 PM MST

Last 5 Games

@ Ottawa Silver Seven	Sat 02/11	OT - W 4 - 3
@ Detroit Winging It In Motown	Wed 02/08	L 2 - 4
@ Toronto Pension Plan Puppets	Mon 02/06	L 3 - 6
Detroit Winging It In Motown	Sat 02/04	SO - W 5 - 4
Chicago Second City Hockey	Thu 02/02	W 8 - 4