Chest Pain

Two heart breakers in a row, tough time to be an Oiler fan. Few things about the game tonight that caught my attention. I once believed Grebeshkov could be a player in this league, that ended tonight. Early in the first its a 2 on 2 rush for the Preds and Grebs takes Gilberts guy, leaving his guy wide open for a nice shot that Grebs recovers barely by laying his stick on the ice to tip it. Then we can talk about the two goals he was on the ice for. Has talent but seriously lacks hockey sense. The experiment of him and Gilbert as our answer to the other teams best line needs to stop. Very good post at IOF that backs up the idea Grebeshkov doesn't belong. If anything makes for a good read for us stats junkies. I liked the game Gilbert brought tonight, and if he wasn't babysitting the Russian Pylon he'd have been better than -2 tonight. MacT's post game comments? "If you can't score you can't get scored against. Especially if your trying to make a living in the NHL". Souray can't come back soon enough.

TOI for the Oilers D tonight:
Gilbert - 27:05
Grebeshkov - 25:40
Staios - 25:00
Smid - 19:23
Tarnstrom - 18:41

I don't understand MacTavish's hate on for Tarnstrom; plays a solid game (as he has most games) yet can't be a consistent starter and ends up with the least amount of ice time on a night when Grebeshkov clearly struggled. Are we playing the rookies hoping to turn them into players next year or the year after? or are we trying to be competitive and at least give the fans something to cheer for? Better question: Does MacTavish even know? is Lowe on the same page cause he's signing guys to win now (Penner, Souray).

Team toughness is an issue for this team. We have more skill then they do but got pushed around, specifically our defenceman. This is only proven by out injury parade on the back end. Our D is getting pushed around and our forwards weren't hitting anything. Losing Roy contributed but we need to be better in this area. We had the goaltending and we had offensive pressure was decent, we just fell apart defensively for a couple minutes. Also the kids weren't a factor tonight aside from a good rush from Cogs and some crease crashing by Gagner.

This team is not a playoff contender and if we are trying to turn the rookies into future players who contribute to wins, games like tonight will be as regular as a Raisin Bran diet.

I'm starting a campaign:

Vote for '08