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Oilers Beat Ducks; Regret it |
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Hey, so tonight's Oilers/Ducks game. Considering both teams are completely out of the playoff race and the game was meaningless, they gave us lots to talk about.
- Teemu Night in Anaheim. The Oilers Teemu Hartikainen got two goals, and looked great playing on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. The Ducks Teemu Selanne got a goal and looked dangerous all night. Teemu in Finnish means "guy who scores lots".
- This could have been Selanne's last home game as an NHL player. Not likely though. Word is, he's sticking around one more season. The Ducks will give him four million reasons to do so. Hard to say no to that.
- Nuge got an assist, and moved into a tie for the NHL Rookie scoring lead with Gabriel Landeskog (51 points). Still hard to see how Nuge will win the Calder Trophy for top rookie, even though he reached 51 in 21 fewer games. Landeskog is a ridiculous +23, as a rookie on a bad team, and he's played the PK and the PP.
- Of course, ice time was handed out stupidly. Nuge's line played around 16 minutes; Belanger and Horcoff's lines played 18 and over. Why oh why would we want out best players on the ice? Does Tom Renney even keep track of how he hands out ice-time during a game?
- Devan Dubnyk was ridiculous in goal. This game should have been an easy win for the Ducks, but Dubnyk was having none of it. The more Dubey plays, the more he looks like a quality starter for the Oilers in the future. Thank goodness for that.
- Ales Hemsky left the game with a shoulder injury. It sounds more like a sore shoulder than an "injury". He left half way through the game and didn't return. There's no news on his status, but if the Oilers are smart, they'll shut him down for the season. No reason to risk him at this point.
- Cam Barker played for the first time since Moses, and had a decent game. Emergency call-up Colten Teubert also played a spirited game for the Oilers.
- With the win, the Oilers move past the Montreal Canadiens in the standings to 28th place. Dumb. I mean, why do we want to move up now, exactly? Worse draft pick position, and a smaller chance to win the lotto.
- Linus Omark continued to not play for the Oilers. With Hemsky out, you'd think Omark will draw back in. The question is, will he give a fig when he does? Omark and the Oilers should be signing the divorce papers about two minutes after the season ends. Ugly, ugly relationship.
- Oilers outshot 33 - 15. Which speaks volumes about how good Dubnyk was, how stupid Oilers coaching is, and why Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins need to be on the ice more often.
- Speaking of Nuge and Eberle, Oilers Top 6 next season should look something like Hartikainen - Nuge - Eberle and Hall - Gagner - Hemsky. Gagner could be gone if the Oilers end up drafting one of the big Russian centers in June. Hemsky could be gone instead of Gagner if the Oilers take Filip Forsberg or if they decide to give Magnus Paajarvi a real shot at playing in the Top 6.
- If Eric Belanger is still an Oilers player next season...
- Seeing the Ducks play reminds me how bad Andrew Cogliano is. Very fast skater, but has very little else too offer. Too small + bad hands = Yuck.
- Why exactly was there a scout from the Chicago Blackhawks at the Ducks/Oilers game tonight? Checking out Sam Gagner is my guess. Maybe someone wants to put Kane and Gagner back together next season?
Oilers next game is tomorrow night against what should be a motivated LA Kings team. If Tom Renney is smart, he'll start Nikolai Khabibulin and allow the Oilers to lose by a field goal.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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