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Chicago Fire

Blackhawks trump the Oilers 5-23

By OilFanInYYC
Jonathan Daniel

There was a time, not long ago that facing off against Chicago was almost a guaranteed 2 points. In fact the central division at the time was so weak that Detroit, like Vancouver in the Northwest division over the past few years, would get almost 50% of their points in a season against their weak division rivals. I point this out for those of us losing faith in the Oilers rebuild. Chicago missed the playoffs 9/10 season and 10/11 years if you count the lockout. In that time they were able to draft the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook all cornerstones of their team today. They also went through 8 coaches before the found Joe Quenneville. So the next time someone tells you that Edmonton's rebuild is more like the Islanders than the Blackhawks just point this out to them.

With all of that being said the Oilers played a bad game against a team that had lost the night before in a game that was pushed to overtime. From my stand point it looked like the Oilers had just come off of a double header the night before. There was very little drive or push and Chicago controlled the puck for most of the game. The Oilers played poorly but there were still some highlight reel plays that showed us what the Oilers can be with some good acquisitions, decent trades and the right coaching.

Highlights

Hemsky!!!

It's become the norm that after a loss I point out what the Oilers could have done different on a certain goal against but tonight the honours belong to Ales Hemsky and the first goal of the game. Hemsky recieves a pass from Jeff Petry and undresses both Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook to sneak a beautiful goal past Antti Raanta.

Another interesting point is that Hemsky was moved to the right wing for Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins later on in the game because Sam Gagner was just brutal all night.

Own Goal

I had to add this one just because its the first Oilers best SHG of the season and if I didn't how could I live with myself.

What Twitter was Saying

Pre-Game

During the Game

These ones just speak for themselves.

Post Game

Three Stars

  1. Devan Dubnyk - I'm pretty sure Dubnyk has hired either Ron Hextall or Pete Peeters as personal trainers because he has been feisty lately. He made some great stops today even if he allowed 5.
  2. Martin Marincin
  3. Jeff Petry

Up next the Dallas Stars this one should be fun.