Word of the Game: Submissive

Pronunciation: /səbˈmɪsɪv/
Adjective:
Ready to conform to the authority or will of others; meekly obedient or passive.

If you watched the game you know that this definition is an appropriate description of the night. The Oilers having battled hard the night before against a very good Boston Bruins team came into Vancouver and appeared to be running on fumes. The effort was limp from the forwards and even worse from the defence but Devan Dubnyk, even though he allowed 4 goals, actually had a decent night, not great but decent.

Highlights

The Higgins Goal

I picked this goal for one reason and one reason only. What the Canucks, specifically Ryan Kesler & Chris Higgins, demonstrated here was how a back pass below the faceoff dot should be done. When Kesler passes the puck back it's directly into the slot. Why? Because he knows someone will be there to get a shot off and sure enough Chris Higgins was there to bury it.

The Oilers need to watch this video over and over and over again. When the Oilers defence decides to activate in the future they need to be in the slot. Be where the highest chance of scoring will occur.

The Tweet of the Night

This one comes from the Oilers Official Twitter account and is a direct quote from Dallas Eakins in his post game comments to the media.

"It's hard to get a shot on net from your own zone." - Coach Eakins on #Oilers inability to generate any offence tonight vs. #Canucks

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 14, 2013

Oh yah and this one was pretty good as well.

Maybe the reason Oilers' D can't play one-on-one is that all they see in practice is toe-drags.

— Chris Chanter (@chrisdchanter) December 14, 2013

Thoughts

Devan Dubnyk

I think Dubnyk's fate with the Oilers is already sealed. He could've come into this game and stopped every single shot that came his way tonight and it wouldn't have changed a thing. After the "soft" goal against the Bruins last night I truly believe Dubnyk is not long for this team. It's not something that I want to happen but with Ilya Bryzgalov on the mend this may have been one of the last games we've seen Dubnyk in net.

Power Play Positives

Hey the Oilers didn't give up a short handed goal! So that's a positive I guess.

Canucks Fans

Seriously Canucks fans drive me insane. Do they not realize that their team isn't really that good. This is the first season where 24 of their games are against bottom feeding teams like Edmonton, Calgary, Colorado and Minnesota and they are barely in a playoff spot. As an Oilers fan I don't really have a leg to stand on but in the modern NHL only one of our teams have won a cup or five.

Star of the Night?

Another tough night for stars in the game. The closest to a "star" of the game was Dubnyk and really that was only for 2 periods because of a 3 goal 3rd period. Beyond him only 2 other players could be given an effort mark and those were Jesse Joensuu and Ryan Jones for not getting totally obliterated by their competition. Both were even for Corsi on the night. But I'm not really in the mood to pass out participation ribbons to everyone for a job well done.