Friday 18 November 2011

Ottawa at Edmonton: The Rundown


Final
 
5 - 2





Oh boy.

Oh boy, oh boy.

What else can you say about that game?

First a breakdown: The Bold are things that we did that were good. The Awful are things we did that were just awful. The Horrendous were things that happened to this team that were not under our control. The Beautiful are things (not necessarily from the Oilers) that make the highlight reel.

The Bold
Well, those first 8 minutes were glorious.

Rushing up, we looked like a balanced attacking team. Balanced as in all-out attacking team. RNH should have had at least a goal there, hacking and slashing.

Anton Lander also had a very visible and fantastic overall game. Yeah, it was 5-2, but he scored that one where we could have made a difference*!

The Awful
Our legendary goalies Nikolai Khabibulin and Devan Dubnyk finished the game with a 0.571 and 0.778 save %.

I'll give you a second to ogle those numbers.

To be quite fair, the defence mis-played goal 1, and Khabibulin could do nothing about that sublime shot from Colin Greening. The Daugavins and Michalek goal (especially that Michalek goal, out of position and  caught not going down fast enough) were out of character for this year's Khabibulin.

Both goals Dubnyk let in were ones he'd like to have back. Although that Winchester goal off the non-call was pretty darn exceptional, the bang-and-slash goal in the third period was one that needs to be stopped. Okay, it didn't matter, but still...

And, as a goalie myself, I don't blame them for those bad numbers. You can't win with what happened in the horrendous part of the game. Which happens when you scroll down.

The Horrendous
We finished the game with 4 defensemen. This Oilers blogger expects there to be some serious injuries. We are, after all, the Oilers, and we are blessed with our innate ability to get injured at opportune moments.

Sutton, who's been a pleasant surprise with his defensive abilities, just got back from a suspension, only to tweak his groin in practice.
And Corey Power-Potter Play hurt himself in the second, ill-advisedly played again in the second, and hurt himself worse in the third. You're hurt, brother. Its better for the team if you just got out of there**.

The Beautiful
Craig Smith obviously felt extremely bad for Patrik Stefan all those years ago.

He must have saw his despair, a former first overall pick unable to pot a puck into an empty net and watching it go all the way for another goal across the ice.

And of course, because he felt so bad, he stopped a puck already going in because it was shot by a teammate and roofed the puck into the netting.
Two feet away from the net.


Next game is against the Blackhawks on HNIC tomorrow night at 8. Be there.

*No, no he couldn't, but he tried.
**My personal favorite is Arnold Schwarzenegger's desperate attempt to sound in desperation. 

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