So Luck lay down at the draft and blessed the Blackhawks with a son and named that son Kane. She said, "With Yahweh's help I have made a wonderful hockey player." A few picks later Luck smiled on the Oilers and gave them a son and named him Gagner. Over the course of time Kane brought his best deke to Yahweh as a deke offering. Now Gagner also brought his best pass as a pass offering. Yahweh smiled on Gagner and his offering but had no regard for Kane's. So Kane became furious, and his appearance was downcast.
So Yahweh said to Kane, "Why are you so angry? Why is your face red with rage? If you do something I like, of course I'll accept you, but why should accept your Rob-Schremp-rip-off dekes? So be careful, because all kinds of sin are waiting at your door."
So Kane went to his old teammate Gagner and said, "Hey, let's play some hockey tonight, your Oilers against my Hawks." So they did and it happened that Kane's Hawks absolutely slaughtered Gagner's Oilers.
Edmonton Oilers (19-37-6) @ Chicago Blackhawks (41-16-5)
United Center, 6:30 P.M. MST
Television: TSN2
More analysis after the jump...
Visiting Team Scouting Report:
Look, Chicago is a really, really good team and the Oilers are icing a defence that includes Jason Strudwick on the top pairing. They have Jeff Deslauriers in goal. The forwards aren't as bad as those other two positions but they're pretty bad. Chicago leads the league in shot differential (+9.6 shots per game) and some of that was accumulated without Marian Hossa in the lineup. I'm not at all convinced that the team the Oilers are icing tonight would be favoured to beat the Rockford Icehogs (36-23-5 in the AHL), a team that's having a "Cereal Bowl Night." And if you can't beat a team having "Cereal Bowl Night" you sure as hell can't beat the Chicago Blackhawks. If this isn't an embarrassing crush I'll be upset.
Expected Lineups:
Edmonton Oilers (19-37-6):
Penner - Gagner - Nilsson
Just Waive Him! - Horcoff - He's Still Here?
O'Sullivan - Potulny - Brule
Cogliano - Pouliot - Jones
Gilbert - Strudwick
Chorney - Peckham
Motin - Arsene
Backsides
Chicago Blackhawks (41-16-5)
Sharp - Toews - Kane
Brouwer - Bolland - Hossa
Versteeg - Madden - Byfuglien
Ladd - Fraser - Kopecky
Keith - Seabrook
Hjalmarsson - Campbell
Johnsson - Sopel
Huet
Behind the Numbers:
- The bottom four Oiler defenders have played 47 career NHL games combined. Taylor Chorney leads the pack with 24, followed by Theo Peckham with 21, Dean Arsene with 2 and Johan Motin with 0. Have fun in your NHL debut Johan!
- Johan Motin has been a healthy scratch in the AHL on more than once this season.
- The Springfield "It's a good thing they don't have a game tonight" Falcons have a record of 20-32-12 in the AHL. Their defenders will now attempt to defend against a team that has taken more shots and scored the third most goals in the NHL with Jeff Deslauriers in goal.
- The NHL record for most goals by one team in a single NHL game is 16 and was established in 1920 when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Quebec Bulldogs 16-3. But, as we all know, records were made to be broken.
- The Chicago Blackhawks already hold the record for most shots in a single game with 81. That record was established in a 1941 game against the Boston Bruins. The Hawks won the game despite scoring only three goals.