Colorado Avalanche at Edmonton Oilers, Game 50 Breakdown

by Derek Zona on Jan 31, 2012 6:00 AM MST in News and Notes

Colorado Avalanche at Edmonton Oilers, Jan 31, 2012 7:30 PM MST

Next Game

Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012, 7:30 PM MST
Rexall Place

The importance of a guy like Jay McClement - Jibblescribbits
Jay McClement makes the avs a better team. He is so solid in his own zone (along with Daniel Winnik) that it allows the Avs to move Ryan O'Reilly up to the second line, and this season (as opposed to seasons past) he is finally getting to start shifts in the offensive zone. It's no wonder his point totals are rising.

How the Avalanche Can Win the West (Or at Least Make the Playoffs) - Mile High Hockey
So, what's working and what needs fixing? Well, let's take a look at how the Avalanche compare against the 14 other Western Conference teams. Colorado is 11th in the conference in scoring, averaging 2.43 goals a game. And they are 13th in goals allowed (2.82). And if that doesn't put you in a happy place, consider that the Avs have allowed 20 more goals than they have scored; only one Western Conference team - Columbus - has a worse goal differential. Okay, the Avs have an anemic offense and some inconsistent goaltending. Not news.

Will The Avalanche Be Buyers, Sellers, or Idle At The NHL Trade Deadline? - Mile High Hockey
If you go back and look at the rosters of our team from the first season until the lockout, you could literally fill half of an All-Star team roster with the players in Burgundy and Blue. They all couldn't play forever no matter how much we wished they could. I really feel the team actually started it's decline following 2002-03, Patrick Roy's last season with the Avs. All of those years with trading away draft picks was going to come back and haunt us. It wasn't entirely known, at the time, to what extent though.

Avalanche at Oilers, Game 52 Preview - Mile High Hockey
The Avalanche currently sit in 9th place and just 3 points separate 5 teams between 8th and 12th. All 5 of those teams are in action tonight, none against each other; this means the Avs could be anywhere between 8th and 12th when the dust settles tonight. With that in mind, I feel comfortable declaring tonight's game a Must-Win game. Please update your calendars accordingly.

Phil Cornet - Sam Gagner - Jordan Eberle
Taylor Hall - Shawn Horcoff - Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth - Eric Belanger - Ryan Jones
Ben Eager - Anton Lander - Lennart Petrell

Ladislav Smid - Tom Gilbert
Andy Sutton - Corey Potter
Ryan Whitney - Jeff Petry

The Cult of Stu - mc79hockey.com
Outside of this, it seems to me that a lot of the case in support of MacGregor is the idea that the Oilers have a bunch of awesome prospects coming. While this might be the case, I’m not sure why the default is that the drafting is going to be awesome.

Cult of Stu II - mc79hockey.com
So, basically, a new approach means that we throw out all of what history tells us. I should point out that Stauffer makes a point that I agree with – you throw ice time at your kids. He was, in effect, a bit critical of the idea of letting genuine NHL prospects play behind guys like Ryan Keller and I couldn’t agree more. Of course, you might have more losses then and you wouldn’t have the famed winning atmosphere. I’ll take TOI over winning atmosphere for developing hockey players any day.

G50 Avalanche at Oilers - Lowetide.ca
Oilers are at home where they play fairly well (12-8-3) for a basement team but they are playing Colorado and that’s a problem. The Avs are a good team (holy hell what a future) but the Oilers only play well against the truly good times like Vancouver or San Jose. I kid, but only a little.

Today's Frustrated Edmonton Fan: Phoenix9917

Complete Coverage >

Colorado Avalanche Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Ryan O`Reilly	other-illness	01/26/2012

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Matt Duchene	knee	12/30/2011

Edmonton Oilers Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Ben Eager	back	01/31/2012

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Tom Gilbert	knee	01/03/2012
Cam Barker	ankle	11/11/2011
Taylor Fedun	femur	10/03/2011
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	shoulder	01/03/2012

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Gilbert and Barker both listed as playing in your game-day line-up, and “out” under injury report. Status?

Oilers fan through thick, thin and anorexic. Writer for The Cult of Hockey.

by Bruce McCurdy on Jan 31, 2012 10:55 AM MST reply actions

The injury report is auto-generated by SBN’s stats provider, taken from the official league injury report, I believe. Both players were in full contact drills today and Barker did the vaunted fitness test with Renney.

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Jan 31, 2012 10:56 AM MST up reply actions

what about whitney? team twitter account lists him on the 2nd PP unit.

by Oi on Jan 31, 2012 11:10 AM MST reply actions

Apparently Cornet is playing tonight with Gagner and Eberle, that line is going to need some serious protection.

The Edmonton Oilers, keeping opposition fans happy for the last 6 years

by OilLeak on Jan 31, 2012 1:59 PM MST reply actions

Hall, Horcoff, and Hemsky is also a nice line. Eager, Lander, and Petrell not so much.

The Edmonton Oilers, keeping opposition fans happy for the last 6 years

by OilLeak on Jan 31, 2012 2:03 PM MST up reply actions

Well, if you’re team is having trouble scoring goals, and you are going to call up a goal scorer, you might as well put him on a scoring line. Putting him on the 4th line would be a waste. Should have called up VV or House if that was the plan.

Its audition time (sigh, already) and so might as well see if the kid can generate some offense at the NHL level.

by gcw_rocks on Jan 31, 2012 2:23 PM MST up reply actions

Or, here’s a shocker, called up Kytnar since he did well in 4th line duty before the break, rather than ship him oversees

by gcw_rocks on Jan 31, 2012 2:24 PM MST up reply actions

Now is not the time for rational ideas, we need more crazy, useless, pointless moves to right this ship now.

The Edmonton Oilers, keeping opposition fans happy for the last 6 years

by OilLeak on Jan 31, 2012 5:51 PM MST up reply actions

Hey All

good luck tonight, here’s to at the least, a good game.

I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

by ProfessorOak on Jan 31, 2012 3:51 PM MST reply actions

The Oilers are playing, I’m pretty sure good games are not allowed, unless your watching from the opposition point of view.

The Edmonton Oilers, keeping opposition fans happy for the last 6 years

by OilLeak on Jan 31, 2012 5:54 PM MST up reply actions

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Oilers Schedule

Last 5 Games

@ Vancouver Nucks Misconduct	Sat 04/07	L 0 - 3
Anaheim Anaheim Calling	Thu 04/05	OT - L 2 - 3
@ Los Angeles Jewels From The Crown	Mon 04/02	L 0 - 2
@ Anaheim Anaheim Calling	Sun 04/01	W 2 - 1
Los Angeles Jewels From The Crown	Fri 03/30	L 1 - 4