Transition is important to the Oilers right now, and no I’m not talking about quickly moving from defense to offense and creating odd-man rushes. I’m talking about the transition to becoming a respectable team. The Oilers are such a flawed group right now that winning is nearly impossible. All the talent resides in the Forward group while the Defense is made up of bottom pairing players, and the only hope in Net is Ilya Bryzgalov. Even if Dubnyk had played relatively well the club wasn’t really constructed to be competitive in the Pacific Division.
Recently the Oilers have been on a short losing streak but instead of the usual griping that we normally hear, now the message is different. Now we’re hearing that Fans, in large part, don’t mind losing as long as the team continues to play well. This coming off a few recent performances like the one against the Ducks in which the Oilers played a solid game but still lost. At first I thought to myself, “Losses are still Losses…, but I’ve changed my mind on that.
I am OK with losses when the team plays well. I’m OK with that because it’s part of a transition that the Oilers need to go through. Whether this team has the horses to win games or not they need to be competitive in games. Winning doesn’t just happen because this is year X (7) of the Rebuild and that’s when Wins start to come. The Oilers have been atrocious for years and barely competitive most nights. Some of that has to do with the Personnel, but there are other poorly constructed teams that have found ways to claw and scratch their way into games on a more regular basis than the Oilers.
Yes, the Oilers are still going to lose these games against good teams. They have nobody that anyone would consider a top 3 Defender on a competitive team. It all starts from the back-end moving out and that’s where this team is thin. However, that isn’t stopping the guys who are here from playing hard and smart hockey. These Oilers need to keep playing with good habits because eventually there will be real Defensemen inserted into the lineup, and then all these little things that they’ve started to do on a nightly basis will start to turn into wins.
This transition is very important for the likes of Hall, Eberle, Nuge, and Yak. These players need to learn how to play 200ft NHL Hockey now, even if it doesn’t translate to Wins right away. Instant success was a pipe-dream. Now I just want to see them learn from their mistakes and get on the right side of the puck on a nightly basis, even if that still isn’t enough to win games.
LINEUPS
Ales Hemsky, the warrior that he is, will return from a rib injury and get back in the lineup. This is a player who doesn’t get anywhere close to the love he deserves. This town loves tough players but the kind of toughness that Ales displays is maybe too subtle. Against the Canucks he hurt his ribs so badly that during the intermission the Trainer told Eakins he couldn’t play for the rest of the game. When the intermission was over the Trainer came back to Eakins and told him that Hemsky had overridden that decision and would indeed be playing. I don’t know how so many people still think this guy is soft.
These are the lines as per the Oilers website, as I see anything more official announced I will make changes. I’m wagering on a Bryzgalov start for now because at this point going back to Dubnyk seems like madness, but stranger things have happened.
UPDATE: The Lines now reflect the latest news from roughly 1PM. Bryz does indeed get the start.
Hall Gagner Yakupov Perron RNH Eberle Smyth Gordon Hemsky Jones Arcobello Gazdic
N. Schultz J. Schultz Ference Larsen Belov Petry
Bryzgalov
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) The Little Things. As we talked about above, it’s doing the little things that matter right now. It’s about being on the right side of the puck, finishing checks, and making the smart plays. Do them so often that it just becomes habit. Master the basics then the rest will come. This goes especially for Gagner, who is absolutely struggling right now. Nevermind about the offense, we know that he has an established level of offense that is much higher than what he’s shown. For him its about getting back to smart hockey.
2) Solve The Riddle Of The Kings Backup. Pick your poison with either Scrivens or Martin, both are playing incredibly well for Los Angeles. Scrivens has a .941sv% and a 1.66 GAA while Jones has a .967sv% and a 0.99 GAA. The Oilers are going to need to create a lot of havoc out there, a tough task against a really good LA team. Martin Jones will start tonight.
3) Dance Like No One Is Watching. I really just wanted to write that, but if I can twist that into anything remotely relevant it would be that the Oilers need to play their speed game and cant get caught up in Los Angeles’ game. If they do then they wont be nearly as effective.
Puck drops tonight at 8:38PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet. Game On!
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