Game Thread: Edmonton Oilers at Winnipeg Jets - The Return of Adam Pardy

If there is one thing that you can depend on with the Oilers - besides more losses than wins, of course - is that they will never let you get too carried away with the team's successes, no matter how few and far between those success might be. As soon as you start thinking that they're good, they make sure to bring you back to reality.

The latest example came on Friday night when the Oilers, winners of three games in a row, landed in Columbus and played an ugly game from start to finish. The Oilers were down by two goals before most fans had even turned the game on, and then every time the Oilers managed to score they allowed the Blue Jackets to score almost immediately. It was the type of frustrating performance that we've all become far too accustomed to seeing, and a friendly reminder that this team still has some significant holes that need to filled.

Before the Columbus game the Oilers had been playing some decent hockey. As already mentioned the team had won three straight, and in the losses prior they hadn't looked anything like what we saw from the Oilers on Friday. Perhaps it was just a blip. The second of back-to-back road games, the third game in four nights, with a rookie netminder in goal, basically a schedule loss and nothing more. We'll see tonight how the Oilers rebound in Winnipeg when they take on the Jets.

One player who is likely looking forward to tonight's game is Adam Pardy who spent the last three seasons in Winnipeg, and played 129 games for the Jets, before being placed on waivers last Sunday; the Oilers claimed him the next day. Small sample size and all that, but so far that waiver claim has worked out quite well for the Oilers. In three games with Edmonton Pardy has two assists (one more than he had in 14 games with the Jets this season), is +1, and has a CorsiFor% above breakeven. You can't ask more more than that from a third pairing defenceman.