Edmonton Oilers at St. Louis Blues, Game 46 Breakdown

Edmonton Oilers
@ St. Louis Blues

Thursday, Jan 19, 2012, 6:00 PM MST
Scottrade Center

St. Louis Game Time

T.J. Oshie Scores Blues' Goal Of The Year (So Far) - St. Louis Game Time
The amazing part is that Oshie got a mental picture of what he wanted to do, he twisted his body moving at high speed in traffic and did it exactly as he saw it in his head in that split second. Well, that's what he told McGuire. On semi-national cable television, he could have just been talking out of his ass. But I don't want to believe that.

The Great Ref Conspiracy - St. Louis Game Time
I've never been a fan of NHL officiating. You can say as much as you want that hockey's a high speed sport and that you can't possibly catch everything. While that's true, the things that you do see could at least me consistently called. Interference called on Matt D'Agostini last night apparently looked different than a Stars player interfering with T.J. Oshie (NBC tried to state that the ref's back was turned, but the replay I saw showed the ref looking in that general direction the whole time). Phantom calls like the extra two on Scott Nichol after his fight were a bit odd. On top of that, you have what appear to be great discrepancies in the number of penalties called between the Blues and their opponents. It's enough to give a conspiracy theorist a happy.

Blues Shut Out Stars, Tie Best Record in League - Blue Note ZOne
The St. Louis Blues have the best record on home ice in the NHL and they put it to the test against the Dallas Stars. Another bruising game was decided by one goal. It came off the stick of TJ Oshie. The win for the Blues jumped them into a tie for first place in the league.

Edmonton Oilers @ St. Louis Blues GameThread - St. Louis Game Time
Before they came here to St. Louis on Jan. 5, Edmonton lost super rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with a dislocated hyphen. He still hasn't returned to the lineup. Since that game where the Blues were down 3-1 in the third and scored three consecutive goals for the win, the Oilers have gone 1-3-1. One of those losses was a 4-0 shutout to Anaheim. How the hell does any NHL team lose to Anaheim by that margin? That's not bad luck, that's effort right there.

G46 Oilers at Blue - Lowetide
John Davidson had a couple of solid seasons for the Blues after being a high draft pick in 1973. Blues offloaded him when they drafted another WHL goalie (Ed Staniowski) and thought they’d snagged another top drawer goaltender. Identifying goaltenders is like finding starting pitching: you’re rarely covered even when you think it’s all fine.

Edmonton @ St. Louis - Oil On Whyte
Photos surfaced today of Taylor Hall’s injury. If you haven’t yet seen, be warned, it’s not going to help your appetite. Taylor Hall is one of our favourites, and I’m glad to see he’s at least up and moving around. To quote David Staples, that accident could have killed him. Rumours are swirling the Internets that say he might be ready on Saturday. We’ll see what happens.

Oilers VS Blues "It's all about the future" - Oilers Jambalaya
The injuries just keep getting stranger as the days go by. Never in my life (and I am 41 years old) have I seen so many injuries to key players let alone freak injuries these past few years. Instead of looking at these latest injuries as a sign of a curse or some theory that our trainers are not preparing the players properly, I am looking at this as a blessing in disguise.

Oilers at Blues – Game 46 - Putting on the Foil
Holy mother of all forehead zippers, Hall. That thing is nasty. Corey Potter just aged him 10 years by receding his hairline back a fair bit. That thing is going to leave a beauty scar. The ladies will give him some sympathy love, not that he needs the help. Hall will definitely miss this one, but he was quoted as saying: "I’m feeling better. I’d like to thank our trainers & the Columbus medical staff." He also convinced (not verbally) the rest of his teammates to don buckets in pregame warm ups now.

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