Game Thread: Oilers vs Stars

With the Oilers once again at the bottom of the league's standings it's fitting that Ales Hemsky, now playing with the Dallas Stars, is back in Edmonton. Hemsky was a very good hockey player for the Oilers, a player whose biggest fault was playing on terrible hockey teams. When teams are bad the reaction of some seems to be point fingers at those who are perceived to be the problem, those who are less than a superstar and lack something that the team is supposedly missing. Look at what's been said about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle this week and you see that the more things change in Edmonton, the more they stay the same.

On paper tonight's matchup between the Oilers and Stars appears to be a mismatch. Well, maybe not just on paper. The Stars and the NHL's best team, the Oilers are the worst. The Stars have more than twice as many points as the Oilers - 41 versus 20. And for some reason I have a good feeling about the game tonight. I actually think that the Oilers can do okay tonight and might even win. That might be because I've had a couple beers, but it's a fun feeling to have all the same.