Then someone called out from the crowd and said, "Teacher, please tell our owner to spend more money so that we can finally have some success!" Kevin replied, "My friends, just enjoy your pancakes! Besides, why would you think that I am the decider of such things? I will, however, say this: do not think more money will solve everything. Success is not measured by how much you spend."
"Let me tell you a story. There is a rich man in New York who is very wealthy. He has an unlimited budget, but is restrained by the cap and coming into the summer, had already bought too many things. When the summer began, he said to himself, 'What should I do? I have all these assets but nowhere to store them. I know! I'll send some of them to the minors to make more room! Now I can go out and get The Scariest Man Alive and he will intimidate us to victory! Once that's done, it's time to sit back, relax, and have a cigar.'"
"But God said to him, 'You fool! You've wasted your money on old players, bad players, and those always injured. Yes, many of them are under a curse, and that high-priced talent will be injured all year! Then how will your money help you?"
"So you see, a person is a fool to think that earthly wealth alone is enough to have success. Believe me, I should know."
Edmonton Oilers (4-8-3) @ New York Rangers (8-7-1)
Madison Square Garden, 10:30 a.m. MST
Television: Sportsnet West
More analysis after the jump...
Visiting Team Scouting Report:
In yesterday's more in-depth scouting report I noted that the Rangers will have (and have had) a couple of their best forwards out of the lineup for extended periods of time (Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal), which always makes it difficult to win. It certainly doesn't help that they're both centers (can you imagine the Oilers without their top two centers for a month or two... yikes). Fortunately for them, the line of Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, and Ryan Callahan have made hay with their increased ice time and have helped the Rangers to stay in the playoff hunt. The defense is also extremely thin. With Michal Roszival out of the lineup due to injury and Wade Redden hanging out in the minors, there are only two defenders that John Tortorella can count on to handle reasonably difficult opposition. With Horcoff coming back, there should be plenty of opportunities for at least one and maybe two lines who can avoid Marc Staal and Dan Girardi.
Expected Lineups:
Edmonton Oilers (4-8-3):
Hall - Horcoff - Eberle
Penner - Cogliano - Brule
Paajarvi - Gagner - Hemsky
Jones - Fraser - MacIntyre
Whitney - Peckham
Smid - Foster
Vandermeer - Gilbert
Khabibulin
New York Rangers (8-7-1)
Frolov - Christensen - Gaborik
Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Fedotenko - Boyle - Prust
Avery - Stepan - Boogaard
Staal - Girardi
Del Zotto - Eminger
Sauer - Gilroy
Biron
By the Numbers:
- After an OT loss to the Devils, the Oilers are now officially out of last place, tied in points with the Islanders but with two games in hand; with the Islanders in the midst of a ten-game losing streak, it looks like we've got ourselves some tough competition for 30th overall. Just remember boys, points count in November the same as they do in April!
- Tom Renney knows it's true. That's why he's putting Nikolai Khabibulin back in goal for this one. In thirteen starts so far this season, "The Maginot Line" has lived up to his nickname, allowing at least three goals ten times and at least four goals on eight occasions.
- Shawn Horcoff is also making his return to the lineup after missing the last three games with a knee injury. In those three Horcoffless games the Oilers went 0-2-1 and were outscored 17-6. Now, they may have lost all three games even if Horcoff was in the lineup (in fact, it's probable), but it probably wouldn't have been quite as bad. Horcoff's performance this season has been very impressive, especially his work at EV skating with two rookies. I know they're not (intentionally) being fed tough opposition, but he deserves big-time credit for helping a line like that stay close to even. I just hope he isn't coming back from his latest injury too soon. If he is, he's not going to be effective, and the Oilers really need him to be effective if they're hoping to win games.
- The Rangers have a mediocre power play efficiency (15.9%, 17th in the NHL), but they're also one of seven teams to have not allowed a short-handed goal, so by goal differential, they're actually slightly above average. They've also spent most of the year without Marian Gaborik, but he was in the lineup against Buffalo, and looked very good on the PP. Plus, they haven't had a chance to play the Oilers yet.
- Steve MacIntyre is going to be in the lineup to fight Derek Boogaard. Boogaard has a two-inch height advantage and a slight weight advantage as well, but MacIntyre isn't afraid to throw down, and after his devastating knockout of Raitis Ivanans, should be full to the brim with confidence. On top of that, the two players have actually fought twice before. The first was on January 30th 1999, and the voters at Hockey Fights declared that match a draw. The other scrap came on October 11th, 1999 when MacIntyre was with the Red Deer Rebels and Boogaard was with the Regina Pats. I don't know who won that fight, but considering MacIntyre was nineteen and Boogaard only seventeen, I'm thinking the Oiler enforcer may have gotten the upper hand.
TonightThis Morning, Boogaard looks to take his revenge.