@
11-13-7 .94 p/g		17-12-2, 1.16 p/g
Western Conf: 13th		Western Conf: 7th

Top Story: If there's one thing Oilers fans have learned how to do since 2006, it's riding out a hopeless string.

The Oilers are saying:

For the 29th time in 31 games, the Oilers created less Corsi events than their opposition.

--Michael Parkatti, Boys On The Bus.

Possession doesn't matter though. It's all grit. And heart. Heartgrit. Mike Brown.

The Opponent is saying:

"I think one of the things that’s really becoming evident right now, is that we just can’t continue to burden Backes with every part of the game, and then expect him to score goals on top of it’s unrealistic."

--Ken Hitchcock describing David Backes.

Key Matchup: It really comes down to coaching. I know I've been harping on this all year and I know people continue to defend Krueger because he doesn't have the horses to run, but if the Oilers want to be competitive Krueger has to be perfect. That means not monkeying around with what's working in Magnus Paajarvi - Sam Gagner - Nail Yakupov. That means he has to stop putting his fourth line out after a commercial break. That means he has to do everything he possibly can to keep his third pairing away from tough competition and everything he possibly can to keep Justin Schultz in the offensive zone. If he's not going to at least try these things, there's no use playing the games.