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18-33-9, .750 p/g | Ranks | 15-31-8, .704 p/g |
Western Conference: 14th | Eastern Conference: 16th | |
29th | P/G | 30th |
26th | ST | 29th |
28th | ES | 30th |
30th | Goal | 22nd |
Today, The Oilers Are Playing A Team With Less Points Than The Oilers
- I don't know how the hell this happened, either. Well, yes, I do, but more on that a little later.
- Ben Scrivens was unable to turn aside all of Boston's 41 shots, the Oilers were unable to score on any of theirs, and the win train had to make an unexpected stop at 3.
- Incredibly, somehow unbelievably, this team finds ways to make me wander around for minutes at a time with my mouth agape. The Oilers have allowed a hundred shots over two regulation time frames. Granted, both San Jose and Boston are pretty good squads, and take nothing away from Ben Scrivens, who has turned aside 96% of those shots.
- I'm absolutely shocked that new Oiler Mark Fraser's "growl" didn't do more to help the team.
- Hey, at least the team demoted Arcobello, am I right? *shoots self in foot*.
- What's that? Mark Arcobello is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, too? *shoots self in other foot*
There's No Way The Sabres Can Be Worse Than The Oilers, Is There?
Depends how you look at "worse", really. There's a couple of differences between the two.
- The Oilers can score a goal every once in a while. Seriously, stop laughing for a second. The Oilers aren't lighting up NHL arenas with their goal scoring prowess, but they average 2.54 goals per game. Over an 82 game season, that works out to 208 goals. That's not going to win you very many games, but it's not nearly the train wreck the Sabres are on. Buffalo averages just 1.83 goals per game. Over an 82 game season, that averages out to a whisker over 150 goals, which would be the lowest season total in the expansion era.
- The Sabres are getting career numbers out of goaltender Ryan Miller. Without Miller standing tall with a .925 SV%, the Sabres are much worse than their 15-31-8 record. On the other hand, if Ryan Miller is getting supported by league average production, the Sabres are likely flirting with a playoff spot in the Jekyll and Hyde Eastern Conference.
- FUN FACT: The Sabres have nine (9) regulation/overtime wins this year. Nine. Again, when you score less than 2 goals a game, this becomes an issue.
The Oilers are saying
"It's a new beginning, new opportunities for myself...I just hope I can come in and contribute"
That's Growlin' Mark Fraser (no relation to Stompin' Tom Connors) on getting traded to the Oilers and getting a new opportunity.
Is he better than Corey Potter? Probably not. Is he better than Phil Larsen? Probably not. Will he be in the lineup? You already know this answer.
The Opponent is saying
"I would be lying if I said no, of course, it's gonna be a fun game, I know a lot of guys on that team, so hopefully we can win"
- Check out our Sabres scouting report with Die By The Blade's Andy Boron, up at 11 MST.
- Jeff Petry is questionable after missing practice yesterday due to blocking a shot. Our pregame lineup calculator is set to include Petry right now, because I don't want to live in a world without Jeff Petry on this team.
- I've got Bryzgalov starting tonight for no other reason than I think Ben Scrivens has earned a vacation day after stopping 96 of 100 shots in the last two games.
- Jhonas Enroth is in for the Sabres. Enroth is the owner of both a .905 SV% and one regular season win.
- Four members of the Copper and Blue (@ryan_batty, @dawgbone98, @NewWaveOil and @OilFanInYYC) are in Buffalo to watch this masterpiece tonight. People actually got on airplanes, drove vehicles, and paid to see this event happen. Get ready, Buffalo.
The Edmonton Oilers
Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
David Perron - Sam Gagner - Nail Yakupov
Ryan Jones - Boyd Gordon - Ales Hemsky
Luke Gazdic - Ryan Smyth - Jesse Joensuu
Nick Schultz - Justin Schultz
Andrew Ference - Mark Fraser
Jeff Petry - Martin Marincin
Ilya Bryzgalov
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The Buffalo Sabres
Linus Omark - Tyler Ennis - Drew Stafford
Steve Ott - Cody Hodgson - Ville Leino
Phil Varone - Zemgus Girgensons - Brian Flynn
John Scott - Zenon Konopka - Matt Ellis
Henrik Tallinder - Tyler Myers
Christian Ehrhoff - Chad Ruhwedel
Jamie McBain - Mike Weber
Jhonas Enroth