Edmonton Oilers at Montreal Canadiens, Game 14

Who Could Have Predicted? - Habs Eyes On The Prize
Turns out that retired NHL referee Kerry Fraser, one of the most respected officials ever in the sport (outside of bitter Maple Leafs fans), saw the Blunden/Rangers altercation from Saturday night the exact same way Habs fans did.

HW - Ranking the Habs
Meanwhile, my Final Thought examines something the Habs haven't had to deal with much of this year, what to do when players come back from injury.

A Theory of Ice: A Humble Game Preview
Five years ago, they rose within a breath of the Stanley Cup, only to be thrown back on the brink of victory by a Hurricane from the East. Defeated, they slunk back to their bleak tundra, bloodied and battered. There, they lurked in darkness at the very bottom of the League, eking out a few meager points by occasionally raiding the other vulnerable teams in their division. Occasionally a broken, terrified defensemen would be picked up fleeing south, half-mad with despair, but otherwise little was heard of them for many years, save in June when they would emerge briefly to kidnap any young men from the surrounding junior teams high-ranked and slow-witted enough to fall into their clutches. Many thought they were gone forever.

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

Ladislav Smid - Tom Gilbert
Cam Barker - Corey Potter
Theo Peckham - Jeff Petry

Nikolai Khabibulin

Lowetide: G14 Oilers at Canadiens
Based on latest reports, Barker is in (Teubert likely drawing out) and Hemsky could play. If 83 draws in, one of the forwards mentioned as a possible HS is Paajarvi. Talk of a "sophomore slump" showed up in a Joanne Ireland column in the last news cycle but I really don't think it should be a huge worry.

Something New On The Penalty Kill - Cult of Hockey
Between 2005 and 2011, 20 different members of the Edmonton Oilers have taken 30 or more shorthanded face-offs in a single season. Their combined record in that span includes 1551 face-off wins and 1926 losses, good for a 44.61% win rate in the circle. These weren’t incompetent players, either – among the players to finish below 50.0% over a full season are Shawn Horcoff, Jarret Stoll, Marty Reasoner and Kyle Brodziak.

Barker set to return – so who should go? - Cult of Hockey
Today comes word that three injured Oilers are getting closer to a return. Darcy Hordichuk skated with his teammates for the first time since his injury, meanwhile Ales Hemsky and Cam Barker took Tom Renney’s shift simulation tests. The return of these vets to the fray will further complicate what has been something of an overpopulation problem.

Black Dog Hates Skunks: Putin's Request
I am sorry Komrade. You deserve better friend than what I am providing. I should be cheery for you with great beginning to new season but then again who knew that Komrade Nikolai could still perform like he did in old days before he became like Cold War era tank, rusted and useless. And then this Potter fellow, he is big surprise, like Lenin coming in train to turn great Revolution on ear

Oilers at Canadiens – Game 14 – 2011-11-08 @ 5:30 PM MST – SNETW | Putting on the Foil
Magnus Paajarvi sits. That’s the story tonight. No wait.. the story is that Ales Hemsky returns to the line up. Both are big deals, in my opinion.

Oil Observations From Week 3

posted by dawgbone98 6 days ago