Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks, Game 49 Breakdown

Edmonton Oilers
@ Vancouver Canucks

Tuesday, Jan 24, 2012, 8:00 PM MST
Rogers Arena

Nucks Misconduct

Canucks welcome back Salo - Nucks Misconduct
They'll be fully healthy for the first time in ages, as Sami Salo is returning from his concussion (at least, that's the word at the moment, don't screw me over scheduled blog post!).

Tanev Sent Back Down To Chicago - Nucks Misconduct
The Canucks have announced this afternoon that Chris Tanev has been sent down.

Pumping Roberto Luongo's Tires - Nucks Misconduct
OK, so I had to throw a dig at Roberto in the title for his unfortunate comments in the Cup Finals, but in all seriousness I want to give him some praise in a hockey market that is hard on its goaltenders. I really don't know why Roberto comes out of the gates slow in October but he sure has a way of making us forget about his slow starts by some point in December. Two months into the season Roberto's stats were in the bottom half of NHL goaltenders. His goals against average were over 3.0 and his save percentage well below .900. People wanted his head on a platter and trade rumors / desires were rampant. Much of the media cab be wankers. Yeah, I questioned him too. He was struggling to find his game. He did not look sharp. He looked unnatural between the pipes.

Break It Down! - Nucks Misconduct
How bad are the Oilers on the road? Answer: they have lost 5 in a row away from Rexall Place. They have lost 13 of their last 14 on the road. Terrible. If there was ever a chance for the Canucks to pound on somebody it would be now. If there was ever a time for the ice-cold Sedins to snap out of their funk it would be now. NOW! Don't play mediocre hockey against a mediocre team. Blow these kids out of the rink and send them off crying.

Taylor Hall - Sam Gagner - Jordan Eberle
Teemu Hartikainen - Shawn Horcoff - Ales Hemsky
Ryan Smyth - Eric Belanger - Ryan Jones
Magnus Paajarvi - Anton Lander - Lennart Petrell

Ladislav Smid - Jeff Petry
Theo Peckham - Corey Potter
Andy Sutton - Taylor Chorney

Was the Brian Elliott Extension a Good Idea? - Driving Play
After all, should Elliott keep form through the end of the season, another team would probably have to pay more than $3.6 million for his services. The biggest problem with this, however, is that Elliott's current form differs quite a bit from what we've seen over his career (numbers via NHL.com):

G49 Oilers at Canucks - Lowetide
I thought Hartikainen played well enough to earn another night on a veteran line with skill, here’s hoping he gets a long look over the next 30 games. If the Oilers spend some time getting to know Hartikainen, Omark and find a role for Paajarvi then this club will have accomplished quite a bit during a season from hell.

A Question of Depth - Oil Acumen
"Every team goes through injuries," said Ladislav Smid back on January 18th. The problem with the Oilers is that they lack the ability to replace the players that they have lost, and they're still a number of years away from being able to. Until that changes, this team will continue to lose.

Today's Frustrated Edmonton Fan: OvenChicken8

Today's Delusional Edmonton Fan: DKatz

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