Quinn went up on a mountainside and called a closed-door meeting for his most important players.  He appointed six - designating them as leaders - that they might be with him and that he might sometimes ask them to preach his message of commitment, heart and rolling lines, giving them authority over those demonic teams from other cities like the Blues, Wild and Canucks.  These are the six he appointed: Penner (to whom he gave the name "the Flying Fridge" after reading one of those on the Oilogosphere), Moreau, Horcoff, Staios, Khabibulin and Ales Hemsky who would betray him by faking injury... just as he had betrayed MacTavish before him, as it was written by Slipper the prophet:

I get told to shoot, so I shoot. I get told I should score more so I go and score more. I go end to end to score more. I am point per game palyer and I get a fat guy to skate with. He tell me he grew up in Manitoba wearing burlap dresses and can't give me blood transfusion if I needed one; I get stabbed in the neck with broken bottle once, this serious consideration to me. I score. I pass but that two coloured eyed witch just flubs puck. I get hit but nobody does fuck all for me, no matter that I score and they don't score.

My name is Ales Hemsky. I am rat.

St. Louis Blues (15-14-5) @ Edmonton Oilers (15-16-4)

Rexall Place, 7:00 P.M. MST
Television: Sportsnet West

Visiting Team Scouting Report:  Well the Oilers just played the Blues in St. Louis and, to be totally honest, not much has changed.  They're still struggling for offence, sitting last in the NHL in goals for (84, three behind 29th place Minnesota).  Those other young teams (Los Angeles, Phoenix) have maintained their pace while the Blues have gone 2-2 since they lost to the Oilers at home. And they're still struggling on special teams, though a perfect  night on the penalty kill and a power play goal helped the Blues over the Canucks last night.  Which brings us to tonight.  For the second game in a row, the Oilers are playing a team on the second half of a back-to-back coming in off a flight from Vancouver.  The Oilers weren't able to capitalize against a very good Washington team; we'll see how they do against the Blues.

Expected Lineups:

Edmonton Oilers (15-16-4):

Penner - Horcoff - Nilsson
O'Sullivan - Gagner - Brule
Moreau - Potulny - Cogliano
Stone - Stortini - Strudwick

Gilbert - Souray
Smid - Visnovsky
Grebeshkov - Staios

Dubnyk

St. Louis Blues (15-14-5)

Kariya - Backes - Oshie
Boyes - Tkachuk - McDonald
Steen - McClement - Winchester
Perron - Berglund - Crombeen

Jackman - Polak
Colaiacovo - Weaver
Johnson - Sydor

Mason

Behind the Numbers:

• Andrew Cogliano is going to be playing in his 200th career game tonight.  That's a lot of experience for a player still looked at as a young guy who's learning on the job.
  
• The Blues shut-down pairing of Roman Polak and Barret Jackman are even combined at even strength so far this season.  With a combined cap hit of under $5M, they're also a fantastic bargain.
  
• The Blues' leading scorer is Brad Boyes with only 22 points which is tied for 93rd overall.  Eric Johnson is second in team scoring with 21 points, tied for 10th among defenders against medium competition this season.
  
• Looking at the Blues record in games decided by two or more doesn't leave one too excited about their prospects going forward; they're 8-13.
  
• A back-to-back for the visiting team, again, bodes well for the Oilers pulling out a win this evening but bodes poorly for those excited to see... Boyes?  Oshie?  Kariya? have an incredible offensive performance.  These aren't the Washington Capitals.