ABOUT FORGIVENESS
I stood up, looking around around Rexall Place to be sure of what I was experiencing. Peter Pocklington, the man who sold Wayne Gretzky, the man who would have sold the Oilers to Houston, the convicted felon, the man who called some of Edmonton's citizens the unwashed not mere days before, was on the receiving end of a most unexpected standing ovation.
Ron Maclean introduced him on a panel that included John Muckler and Glen Sather. He was asked about 1984, the year his team won its first of five Stanley Cups. I sat in the crowd, anticipating this moment from the time it was revealed that Pocklington would be a part of this celebration. We were both unprepared for what came next.
It started as a smattering of boos, well deserved by my count. But then the boos stopped, or perhaps they were simply overtaken by the cheers of 17000 people. 17000 sons and daughters of Edmonton who had come that night to support the Stollery Children's Hospital and to share good stories with good friends came together at that very moment and extended a show of forgiveness to a man who scarcely deserved it.
But mercy to those who deserve it least is mercy in its most powerful form. As the cheers overtook the boos it was clear that Pocklington was completely taken aback. He looked out to a crowd he believed hated him and their show of support instantly took him to a place he surely wasn't prepared to go. He tried to hold his emotions back with a deep exhale.
"Oh my God", he said, as he looked out upon the people of this city and realized that for the first time that evening they had risen in applause. Unable to hold them back any longer, the old man began to cry. As tears started to gather in his eyes, Peter Puck gathered his thoughts for a moment and mustered words I imagine he had not practiced in his head while preparing for the night.
"Thank you, Edmonton."
ABOUT THE PROCESS
If I had told you on Thursday morning that the Oilers would outshoot the Flames 40-25, have points by all three 1st Overall picks, dominate the faceoff dot, control possession 2/3 of the time, and go 2/3 on the Power Play, how many of you would have guessed the final score would be 5-2 for the bad guys?
None of you.
And you wouldn't because that simply doesn't happen that often. It was relayed to me by Alan Mitchell (Lowetide) that the Oilers have had one other comparable game from a possession standpoint like that since 2007. Only one other time in the last 7 years!
The fact is that the goaltending let the team down in a big way. No team can win with an .808 performance from their stopper. He first 2 goals in particular were caused by mishandling and miscommunication from Scrivens to his Defense and never should have happened.
Perhaps this is the result of never playing a game together as a complete unit. Certainly it seemed as though the players were getting used to each other out there. If only there had been some kind of preceding season that didn't count that could have been used to prepare the team...
The Oilers played a fantastic game, powered by absolute dominance in the first 2 periods. It went completely unrewarded but if they play like that every night (they won't) then we can expect a lot more Ws than Ls on the season. Edmonton never came close to dominating the shot clock like that last year. It was one game but if we can focus on the process and not on the result then we can see signs of life there.
With Fasth in net after the preseason he had we can expect better goaltending. If the Oilers roll all 4 lines as they did in the first 2 periods we might be able to see the team MacT envisioned when he put together the squad.
LINEUP
I expect no change to the skaters from Thursday with the sole exception of Fasth going between the pipes. This, of course, means that Klefbom and Nurse stay in the press box. That is no doubt not the way the management had it played out in their heads when Marincin was returned to the AHL and Nurse was kept up in the NHL, but Hunt doesn't deserve to be taken out. He played a fine game and was one of the team's stronger possession defenders. If anything it was Schultz who made the most defensive errors on that pairing.
Hall RNH Eberle Pouliot Arco Purcell Perron Draisaitl Yak Hendricks Gordon Joensuu
Hunt Schultz Nikitin Fayne Ference Petry
Fasth
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Better Communication. Alluded to earlier, the Oilers gave up goals that looked like they resulted from jitters and communication breakdowns. The goaltender and the defensemen both go behind the net and the puck gets handled like its a grenade because nobody knows what the other guy is doing. Time and practice are the only cure for that.
2) Fayne Faster. Newcomer Mark Fayne probably wants a few moments from his oiler debut back. One play in particular stands out where Fayne was walked around like he was standing still in the defensive zone. He's a better player than that and he will want to prove it. I expect a better outing from him.
3) Fasth Reflexes. In stark contrast to Scrivens' .898 sv% in preseason, Viktor Fasth sported a .944 and was solid in every outing he played. Had preseason actually mattered then he would have been the opening night starter and we might be talking about an Oiler victory last Thursday. He can win the 1A job with continued stellar play. The team likes his athleticism. The team can't handle another Dubnykian performance.
Puck drops tonight at 8:08PM Mountain Time on CBC. Game on!
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