SB Nation - Jeff Deslauriers

Recap: Caps 4, Oilers 2

David M. Getz — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:42:09 -0000

[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Having the best hockey player in the world on your team is a wonderful thing. Frankly, the Capitals don't have much business heading back to D.C. with the two points they picked up in Edmonton tonight, no matter how good that third period was, and those two points are going to show up in the standings tomorrow because Alex Ovechkin stood up and carried the team on his back for the third period and a rookie goaltender kept the team in the game when the rest of the team wasn't doing much to help itself.

Still, you have to give credit where credit's due. The Caps could have easily gone in to the locker room at the second intermission, considered that they were on the last game of a Western Conference road trip and were down two goals and decided to mail it in for the third and get on their plane back to Washington (eventually). It might have taken Ovechkin to get things started, but the rest of the team followed, and that's a positive sign.

Ten additional thoughts on last night's game:

Despite the win, the Capitals' powerplay went 0-for-4 for the second consecutive night and, as was the case in Friday night's loss, didn't put nearly as much pressure on the opposition as it should have. The biggest problem was simply too much standing around. A lot of the time all five guys looked like they were waiting on someone else to create a chance. It just doesn't work that way.
Part of what's so great about Karl Alzner's game is the fact that he not only does everything so well, but he's under control at all times. One of the ways that manifests itself is in shot attempts. Rather than trying to blast away with a ceiling-scraping slap shot, Alzner just concentrates on getting the puck to the net. It might not mean as many goals for him, but it almost certainly means more goals for the Capitals because it makes the opposing goalie work and it creates chances in front of the net.
For a team at the end of a road trip that covered a pretty fair amount of distance and undoubtedly tired after having played the night before, the Capitals were remarkably disciplined, taking only two minor penalties.
There were six Capitals on the ice for the Oiler's first goal and exactly one of them, Michal Neuvirth, did their job on the play. Between the turnover by Jeff Schultz and the lackadaisical backchecking of Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Mike Green it's impressive Neuvirth stopped the first shot, let alone the second one. Hell, he deserves credit for even coming close on the rebound.
I'm pretty sure the delay of game penalty called on Tom Glibert was a lucky break for the Capitals. I'm more sure I'd know whether the delay of game penalty called on Tom Glibert was a lucky break for the Capitals if the game had been broadcast in HD. Just sayin'.
Question of the night: was Jeff Deslauriers' glove hand in the game's first two periods the result of some kind of dark magic or was it simply that the Capitals' shooters simply couldn't resist their primal urge to shoot at the big, fiercely orange target?
Speaking of Deslauriers he seemed to be getting awfully upset about the contact the Capitals were making with him, which makes me wonder why he didn't tell his defensemen to stop pushing Washington players into him.
Obviously this is a Cap-centric blog, but great effort deserves to be recognized no matter who's wearing the uniform. With that in mind, the way Steve Staios repeatedly threw himself in front of Alex Ovechkin slap shots deserves praise from anyone who loves hockey.
No Capitals player finished with a minus rating on the night.
Early in the second period I became exasperated with Comcast Sportsnet when they missed a faceoff because they were talking about the Caps' upcoming schedule and decided to keep track of how many they missed the rest of the night. I stopped keeping track at a dozen (this was also more or less when the game started to get really interesting) but that's way, way too many. Especially when you're missing draws to show Hilary Duff sitting in the stands or to do a close up of Jeff Deslauriers' face.

Joe Beninanti and Craig Laughlin noted on the telecast that Pat Quinn had referred to Ovechkin as "a gift" to the game of hockey. I don't think anyone in Edmonton's going to be disputing that any time soon.

Game highlights:

Edmonton - Nashville post-game: Back to the drawing board

Bruce McCurdy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:02:47 -0000

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

An unmarked Patric Hornqvist scores the game-winning goal on Jeff Deslauriers during the second period of Nashville's 6-3 win in Edmonton on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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So much for the 5-game winning streak. The Oilers have returned home with a mighty thud, 2 straight regulation losses. They are now a very Oiler-like 5-4-1 in the last 10 games which is not even going to tread water in Gary Bettman's NHL, let alone gain ground on the top 8 in the West.

More disturbing still is the team's inability to win on home ice. This was a problem last year that Pat Quinn addressed as a priority matter, yet after a promising start the team's home record stands at a desultory 8-7-2, or as some might put it, 8-9. That's four straight losses at Rexall, with only one of those (San Jose) garnering so much as a Bettman Point.

Nashville Predators became the latest team to walk into our building, have their way with us, and walk out with all the points. If there's one team in the league that has the ability to make Oilers look bad, it's the Preds. Tonight they had a bit of hiccup as the hosts roared out of the gate to a quick 2-0 lead, forcing Barry Trotz to play both of his major cards -- calling his time out and giving his starting goalie the hook-- just 5 minutes in. His team picked it up after that and Oilers wilted badly, getting outscored 6-1 over the last 55 minutes.

The Preds were full value for the win, as were the Oilers for the loss. Jeff Deslauriers had a tough night and didn't get a lot of help either. All three defence pairs were exposed on first period goals-against that extinguished that early lead, and the forwards were no hell in the defensive zone either. A harsh night all around.

A few stats after the jump:

Faceoffs (2 or more):

Cogliano 3/3 = 100%
Penner 6/9 = 67%
Potulny 8/13 = 62%
Stortini 4/7 = 57%
O'Sullivan 1/4 = 25%
Gagner 2/9 = 22%
Stone (?) 2/10 = 20%

Oilers 27/57 = 47%

Four guys held their own, the others got owned.

* * *

Corsi by line (listed in order of EV TOI):

Stone -8, Nilsson -13, Horcoff -15
Gagner +7, Penner +6, Brule +6
Cogliano +3, Moreau -1, Potulny -5
Stortini 0, Jacques -5, O'Sullivan -8

Visnovsky -5, Smid -8
Souray -2, Gilbert -4
Grebehkov -1, Staios -2

Oilers -11

Not quite sure how come the Horcoff line got more EV time than the Gagner trio.

* * *

Nilsson 2-0-2, 6 shots, 1 hit, 1 block, -1
O'Sullivan 0-0-0, 1 shot, 2 missed shots, 1 hit, 2 giveaways, 1/4 = 25%, -3
Jacques 6:30 TOI, -2
Deslauriers 21/27, .778, 3 giveaways, L
Souray 0-1-1, 0 shots, 5 missed shots, -2
Visnovsky 1-1-2, 3 shots, 6 attempted shots, -1

* * *

Hornqvist 2-1-3, 6 attempted shots, 2 hits, +2

* * *

Watch the carnage below:

Next up: vs. Washington, Saturday, 20:00

Edmonton - Los Angeles post-game: Jon be nimble, Jon be Quick

Bruce McCurdy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:36:09 -0000

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

7 days ago: Los Angeles Kings' Matt Greene, right, sweeps the puck out from behind teammate and goalie Jonathan Quick during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,John Ulan)

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Haven't we seen this movie before? Oilers battle the Kings to a standoff for 55 minutes and then some big palooka who hasn't scored since before The Flood manages to find twine to decide things in regulation? Screw Hollywood and its corny endings anyway.

The good news is that the Oilers outshot, outchanced and even out-Corsied the Kings, and found a way to come from behind for the fifth consecutive game. The bad news was they started and finished poorly, and weren't even able to carry the tie to the 60-minute mark. Arrgghh, losses like that really hurt, especially in a year where Bettman Points are being given away like unwanted pennies on Halloween.

This was one game that you could put a little bit on goaltending. Jonathan Quick was outstanding in the Kings goal and Jeff Deslauriers wasn't able to match him. He didn't get a lot of help on the first two goals, both odd-man rushes after Denis Grebeshkov and Lubo Visnovsky, respectively, got burned at the exact same spot on the ice (the offensive blueline in the first period, the defensive in the second). The killer third goal came after a long possession in which the Oil couldn't touch the puck let alone clear the zone, but JDD got beat on a 60-footer along the ice, which is supposedly his strength. On a play like that the goalie needs to make himself big, and that didn't happen. Beaten by Sean O'Donnell, for Schremp's sake.

Stats of note after the jump:

EV Corsi by line (listed in order of EV TOI):

Penner +8, Gagner +6, Brule +5
Nilsson +10, Stone +9, Horcoff +6
Cogliano +7, Potulny +7, Moreau +5
Stortini -3, O'Sullivan -5, Jacques -6

Smid +7, Visnovsky +6
Souray +5, Gilbert +5
Staios +6, Grebeshkov +5

Pretty consistent outshooting across the top 3 lines and all 3 defence pairs. The "new fourth line" consisting of Stortini anchored by Horcoff's old linemates POS and JFJ had a tough night, especially O'Sullivan who committed a game-high* 3 giveaways, 2 of which were very bad ones in Oilers end. (* Worst among skaters but tied with JDD and Quick of all people) The trio spent the third period stapled to the bench, on demerit judging by those shots totals. They did create some havoc physically, or at least JFJ and Zorg did. I'm frankly wondering what it is Patrick O'Sullivan brings to this team right now.

* * *

Faceoffs (2 or more)

Stortini 5/6 = 83%
Potulny 7/14 = 50%
Horcoff 5/10 = 50%
Gagner 4/8 = 50%
Penner 2/5 = 40%

Oilers 25/46 = 54%

New faceoff ace? :)

* * *

Cogliano: 4 shots, 7 attempted shots
Potulny: 1-1-2, +1
Jacques: 3 hits, 5 PiM
Deslauriers: 23/26, .885, L
Souray: 1-1-2, +1, 4 shots, 7 attempted shots
Brule: 3 shots, 3 hits
Quinn: 1 profanity-laced post game outburst

* * *

Matt Greene: +1, 2 PiM, 6 hits, 2 blocks, 1 goal line save (see picture)

* * *

Next up: vs. Nashville, Thursday, 19:30 MST

Khabibulin Done?

Derek Zona — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:48:42 -0000

via cdn.picapp.com

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Message boards and blogs devoted to the Edmonton Oilers are ablaze with talk that Nikolai Khabibulin could be done for the year as he has surgery to repair a herniated disc. Having suffered through the same injury, if he's had to go the surgical route, it's severe. At this point, a surgery like this brings into question Khabibulin's ability to continue his career in the NHL. If that's the case, Steve Tambellini has caught an amazing break in the world of cap management. Of course, the injury leaves him with a significant hole in the lineup as Khabibulin was brought in specifically to be a big-game goaltender and a playoff workhorse. For a team like the Oilers, battling along in 10th place, Tambellini has two options:

a. Find an affordable goaltending option to split time with Jeff Deslauriers and hope that superior defense saves the season.

b. Let Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk split the work for the rest of the season and see if either one is a long-term solution.

Given the continuing state of the goaltending market, Tambellini shouldn't have to do anything major to land a serviceable goalie to help out the rest of the way. This is exactly why I think that Tambellini and his shadow management group will choose:

c. Go after a big name goalie and try to hit a home run.

Enter Tomas Vokoun. This weekend, Chris Botta reported that Randy Sexton is actively shopping Vokoun to anyone that will have him in what can only be a salary dump. He also falls into the light-thinking trap of reporting that Vokoun "...has the 2010-11 season left on his contract at a hefty $6.3 million..." even though his cap hit is $5.7 million. While the $6.3 million may matter to a somewhat cash-strapped team like Florida, the cap hit matters most to teams that fly close to the cap ceiling. Teams such as...the Edmonton Oilers.

If Khabibulin down and out for good, Edmonton will get cap relief to the tune of $3.75 million per season. The one way out of the ridiculous Over-35 Contract that the Oilers gave Khabibulin is contained in Article 50, Section 50.5 (PDF Warning) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement - AKA the Mike Rathje Section.

The Oilers have an over-abundance of small, skilled forwards that may be attractive to a Southeast team, especially a kid like Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano's speed has been dazzling scouts, personnel people, coaches and fans, but his game hasn't quite come together. He would be a perfect candidate to move to Florida as the central piece of a Vokoun deal. Edmonton would need to clear an additional $2 million in cap space to get Vokoun under the cap, space that can be provided by Ethan Moreau.

Would a trade of Ethan Moreau and Andrew Cogliano for Tomas Vokoun be so far-fetched? In this case, I don't think so. Tambellini gets to blame the "unforeseen injury" to Khabibulin and gets to move Cogliano without criticism from most quarters. Florida gets to clear a huge salary from the books and gets a promising young center in Cogliano and only has one season of Ethan Moreau at $2 million.

As far as the optics go, Vokoun looks like a coup for the Oilers management team, as he's a world-class goaltender (a real one, not like the crumbling wall was purported to be) on a team that is "pushing hard for a playoff spot". Vokoun also falls into the whale category that the crew of the Pequod has been hunting for the last two-and-a-half years.

I know, I know - Vokoun seems like an unbelievable option. Martin Biron, Jaroslav Halak, Ty Conklin - they all make much more sense. Ask yourself this - over the last two years, what has the Oilers management team been, if not unbelievable?

Sometimes, the Oilers Aren't Killing Me

Benjamin Massey — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:30:15 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

11 days ago: Edmonton Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers makes a save in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, in St. Louis. The Oilers overcame a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

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Over my time at the Copper & Blue, I've developed a reputation as a bit of a ranting, negative lunatic. There's a very good reason I've acquired this reputation: it's accurate. That's pretty much exactly what I am. When the Oilers lose, I'll tear my face off with grief and when they win I'll settle for pulling my nose hairs out bemoaning how close they were to losing.

It's a stressful sort of fandom I live. One filled with black clouds of grim angst occasionally broken up by rays of bright sunshine which serve only to make the darkness seem all the more oppressive.

But in truth, I am not all despair all the time. Sometimes... just sometimes... the Oilers manage to surprise me in an astonishing little way. And so, for your viewing enjoyment and to give myself a break from a constant stream of negativity, gloom, and angst, I present to you six lovely little surprises for the holiday season that the Edmonton Oilers have provided me so far this year.

1) The goaltending isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. Early in the season, I gave Nikolai Khabibulin the nickname "Maginot Line" because he was big, expensive, immobile, outdated, and largely useless. Jeff Deslauriers I didn't give a nickname but, then, I didn't have to because he was Jeff Deslauriers so obviously he was going to be terrible. It would have been like kicking a puppy into traffic to pick on him any more.

Well, neither Deslauriers nor Khabibulin have been terrific by any means, but they haven't been bad. Nikolai Khabibulin's contract was terrible but, a few foibles aside, his play wasn't. With a .909 save percentage and an almost tolerable 3.03 goals-against average while playing through the worst of Edmonton's defensive injuries, Khabibulin wasn't shooting the lights out but was pretty much middle of the pack for NHL starters. He's being paid like an All-Star, but I'm trying to look at his play, not his contract.

Of course, then he strained his back reaching too far for the remote or something and now we're putting up with Jeff Deslauriers. Who's... actually been a bit better than Khabibulin. A .916 save percentage, a 2.61 goals-against average, and his first career NHL shutout. The sample size is small, but Deslauriers is fifteenth in the NHL among goaltenders who've played at least ten games in save percentage. He's tied with Henrik Lundqvist, for God's sake. He's ahead of Roberto Luongo! And he's playing for the Edmonton Oilers!

That's not shabby. That's not shabby at all.

2) Ladislav Smid is quietly becoming brilliant. Obviously, playing with Lubomir Visnovsky helps (more on him later). But the book on Ladislav Smid used to be that he's was a crappy version of Tommy Albelin. Then, starting last season, we started to see more of a physical edge in his game. He got into guys' faces, he didn't take no guff, he started to "clear his neighbourhood" as the astronomers say. Then this year, his strides have been palpable. He's still not a Derian Hatcher sort, but he's getting there.

It is an axiom, at least to me, that defensive defensemen take forever to develop. Defending is hard, guys. You can't just work on a big slapshot or some fancy stickhandling moves and still put up results while learning the game. Until you figure out exactly how things work in the show you are going to get run over. For a long time, Smid was getting killed, but more and more he's figuring it out. We saw the same thing with former Oiler Matt Greene, only to trade him just as the light was starting to go on. Every player in that mold goes through the same thing and the trick is figuring out which kids will eventually get it. Smid is starting to get it.

3) Who the hell are our forwards, and why are they doing so okay? Ryan O'Marra, Colin McDonald, Ryan Potulny, Gilbert Brule, Liam Reddox, Ryan Stone oh god I could keep going. No, it's not the second and third lines of the Springfield Falcons, it's a list of guys we've called up, plugged into the starting lineup, and told "surprise! you're NHL players!"

Well, the results could have been a lot worse, couldn't they?

Colin McDonald, that big palooka, scored a goal. Ryan O'Marra, who I ragged on so much he was on the verge of becoming a running joke, looked better in the NHL than he ever has in the AHL. Liam Reddox slumped towards the end but looked so promising at the beginning of his callup I pronounced him the new Fernando Pisani. Gilbert Brule is this team's fourth-leading scorer (seriously), and no matter what Derek says that's pretty damned impressive in any context. He has nine goals and twelve assists for twenty-one points in twenty-nine games. His previous career highs were nine goals and ten assists for nineteen points in seventy-eight games with Columbus in 2006-07.

Ryan Stone, meanwhile, has been getting positive notices for everything but his scoring. He's banged, crashed, made life miserable for opposing players, looked after himself in his own zone, and chipped in five assists in thirteen games. His return from injury immediately made our fourth line into a credible opponent, and that's been vital to the Oilers' recent success.

Not one of these guys were being counted on to be any sort of positive at the beginning of the year, and yet they've all helped the team, some in big ways, others in small ones.

4) There's a lot of try in this team. Much as I hate to resort to crappy colour-man clichés, it's true. Remember the doldrums of the last couple of seasons where the Oilers were just going through the motions? Crappy players playing a crappy game and afterwards Craig MacTavish would say things at the press conference like "I don't know what else I can say to these guys. They need to figure things out for themselves."?

Yeah, that's not happening anymore. We've had a couple tremendous comebacks already this season, and we've had a couple pretty ugly losses where the team kept fighting until the conclusion anyway. Losing is a lot more bearable when you can see the team cares about it.

5) How incredible is Lubomir Visnovsky? Really damned incredible, that's how incredible. He's been healthy, for the most part, which was a pleasant treat in of itself. But it gets better. His seven goals is tied for third on the team, behind only Dustin Penner and Gilbert Brule. His twenty-three points is second, although he's only one up on Ales Hemsky, the human incarnation of how much the hockey gods hate us. He's +12, which on a team this crappy is hard to do. Among Oilers to play at least twenty games, he leads in time on ice per game. His .767 points per game pace is right back at the élite level he showed from 2005 to 2007 in Los Angeles.

He's sixth in the league in defensive scoring and he's delivering surprisingly excellent defensive results. He's sixth in the league in plus/minus among defensemen, which sounds like I'm making it up. There's nothing not to love about Lubomir Visnovsky's season so far. Some say that he needs to shoot more. Maybe, but I'm reluctant to mess with an All-Star season on a non-playoff team.

6) Special teams haven't been useless. Considering the dearth of offensive creativity and the mediocre lot of defensive forwards we've dealt ourselves, you'd expect both the powerplay and the penalty kill to be completely dire. And certainly the penalty kill has been pretty bad, if not awful, with a 78.8% kill rate plunking them 23rd on the table. To tell you the truth, I'd have put us a lot worse than 23rd at the beginning of the year and that was without considering all the injuries we've picked up, so even that ugly number carries a glittering gem of consolation. If you can throw out guys like Steve Staios, Zack Stortini, and Jason Strudwick on an NHL penalty kill and come up 23rd, things aren't so bad.

The powerplay, on the other hand! Just as devoid of personnel, just as wracked by injury, so ill-conceived that people were trying to talk themselves into Mike Comrie as a legitimate powerplay specialist, and yet they're hitting at a 19.5% rate! That's fourteenth in the league! That's average! I am delighted with average. Whenever any aspect of the Oilers is average, considering what a below-average team they are, that's something. Particularly when the powerplay has been such a history struggle for the Oilers over the last several seasons. It's nice to see results improving even when the team is not.

Edmonton - Florida post-game : Scorecoff!

Bruce McCurdy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:50:32 -0000

More photos » by Alan Diaz - AP

15 days ago: Edmonton Oilers' Shawn Horcoff (10) scores the game-winning goal against Florida Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun in a shootout in an NHL hockey game in Sunrise, Fla., Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

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Some days I get tired of reading a bunch of negativist bullshit around the Oilogosphere about how the Oilers should just roll over and tank the season because it's obvious that they suck and have no hope. Today is one of those days.

Oilers have responded to their latest kick in the crotch -- a season-ending injury to their perennial leading scorer, Ales Hemsky -- by going on a little run, being unlucky to only get a point against the Sharks, losing early in Vancouver but bouncing back to win three in a row, all on the road. After soundly trouncing the mighty Wings 4-1 right in the Joe, the Oil have won a pair of tight ones, coming back from 2-0 and 2-1 deficits against Dallas and Florida respectively to get the games to overtime, then winning both in the shootout on a decisive "goal" by Shawn Horcoff.

Tonight the Oil were outshot 35-28 with the difference occurring entirely on special teams where the Panthers were shooting from everywhere, although in the end both teams score 1 powerplay goal. At even strength the score was also 1-1; shots were 21-21; missed shots were 9-9; and the Oilers blocked 7 shots to Florida's 6. Seems pretty even to me. There were nervous moments to be sure, especially anytime Jeff Deslauriers came out of his crease to handle the grenade, while the veteran defence pair of Staios and Strudwick had a difficult night. On the plus side Lubo Visnovsky had a sublime game, finding the scoresheet twice with a slick goalmouth pass to Horcoff for the game's first goal and then a seeing eye shot from the point that Dustin Penner tipped home to knot the count at 2 early in the third. JDD had a solid game between the pipes when he actually was between the pipes; Horcoff scored in the real game and then again in the ersatz one; and Robert Nilsson had his third splendid game in a row.

Stats of interest after the jump:

Defence Corsi
-------------------
Visnovsky +13
Smid +3
Gilbert 0
Souray -2
Strudwick -7
Staios -11

Forward Corsi
---------------------
Stortini +8
Stone +7
Nilsson +6
Gagner +1
Potulny -1
Jacques -1
O'Sullivan -2
Cogliano -4
Moreau -4
Penner -4
Horcoff -5
Brule -6

Ethan Moreau: 4 shots, 3 hits, 2 blocks

Sheldon Souray: 2 shots, 4 hits, 2 blocks

Zack Stortini: EV shots on goal ON: Oilers 6, Panthers 0

Lubo Visnovsky: EV shots on goal ON: Oilers 11, Panthers 2

Jeff Deslauriers: 35 shots, 2 GA, .943 Sv%

* * *

Next up: @ Tampa Bay, Friday, 17:30 MST

Stars Lose Yet Again in Shootout Against Oilers

Art_M — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:42:27 -0000

More photos » by Ralph Lauer - AP

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Afternoon games weren't exactly kind to the Dallas Stars last season as they went 1 and 4. This season's stretch of afternoon games didn't start much better as the Stars dropped a 3-2 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

The problem with afternoon contests most times - and this is true for almost any level of hockey, not just today's game or the NHL in general - is the players take a little bit longer to get into a groove and actually playing the game at their usual level. (And based on the bad officiating both ways for both teams, we can throw refs into that group as well.) Generally a key to winning these games is to be the first team to find your legs and get a jump on the scoreboard. Which is what the Stars ended up doing about ten minutes into the first as they started applying pressure low in the Oilers zone and cycling the puck well.

Their hard work was soon rewarded at the 15:51 mark as Mike Ribeiro got the puck from behind the Edmonton net, danced around dour different Oilers and then fired a shot from the slot that was saved by Oiler goalie Jeff Deslauriers but Jamie Benn was right in front of the net untouched to bang in a rebound that pretty much landed square on his stick for the 1-0 lead. Also of note, Brenden Morrow extended his points streak to seven games with a point on that play with an assist.

Less than four minutes later James Neal made it 2-0 after a nice pass from his landlord Brad Richards and suddenly it looked like the Stars were going to have a very good Saturday afternoon.

Then the second period happened. Again.

Maybe what we're seeing here is a weakness of a Crawford coach team... Opposing team's make adjustments and the Stars fail to make adjustments or respond to the change in game's pace. Even worse today, the Stars let their typical sub-par play in the second period carry over to the third period where they seemed to play not to lose as opposed to playing to win.

Funny thing about playing not to lose... I've rarely seen a hockey team that plays like that actually not lose. More often than not playing not to lose will end up in a loss. It's like putting on a prevent defense in football with eight minutes left in the game when you're only up by six.

After outshooting the Oilers 18-10 in the first, the Stars were outshot 26-17 in the rest of the game. That's not to say that the Stars didn't have any chances to score after the first, but it is an indication of how much the Oilers stepped up their game compared to Dallas.

With no real sustained pressure from the Stars, the Oilers crawled back into the game. First with a goal from Lubomir Visnovsky that looked like it could have bounced off two players but upon further review didn't hit anyone and for as strange as it sounds, the lack of a deflection may have thrown Marty Turco off as he played the shot expecting a bounce or two.

The Oilers kept chipping away at the Stars defense (which for the most part was ok in the game) and Turco (who was outstanding) and with about three minutes left in the game finally got the game tied at two after a Ladislav Smid point shot went off Stephane Robidas' leg and past a surprised Turco who clearly wasn't playing for a deflection at that time.

That isn't a typo by the way... Laddy Smid... A member and president of the "I haven't scored since 2007" club not only had a goal but he also had an assist on the first Oilers goal. Maybe we shouldn't be stunned that the Stars did end up losing because honestly any team that allows Smid to have a two point night deserves not only a loss but also for Southwest Airlines to actually charge them to carry their bags on the next flight.

Cue overtime where the theme of the Stars not doing much offensively continued and Marty kept the Oilers at bay with some solid stops in the extra frame.

In the shootout it seemed to be more of the same that you've seen from the Stars... And not in a good way.

Richards comes in with speed and takes a wrist shot... only to be stopped.

Neal (who was by far the best Star on the ice today despite what I am about to say) is maybe taking after his mentor a little too much as he pretty much tried the same thing as Richards did and missed the net.

Loui Eriksson thankfully broke up the shooting party with a nice forehand / backhand deke to tie to extend the shootout... which ended two rounds later when Morrow clanged a shot off the post while the Oilers Shawn Horcoff fired a puck five hole on Turco that barely squeaked through his pads to win the game.

Yet another frustrating result to what after the first was a frustrating game for Stars fans... And I am sure for players and coaches alike. The Stars offense is as cold as the snow that has been in falling around Texas the last few days and special teams wise the powerplay is pretty much non-existent right now to go along with the anemic offense. At the very least the penalty kill efforts for the Stars have been quite good, but this team's defense isn't quite good enough to win these 2-1 games constantly which is what has been asked off them far too many times this past month.

Again there are positives to take way from this game. Neal is starting to return to his crashing, shooting form. Mark Fistric maybe had his best game of the season defensively. Jamie Benn is firing at will now and still crashing the net. Turco was great and the reason the game even got to an overtime and a shootout

Most of all, even though I know Stars fans are very sick of the one point losses and the shootout failures, at the very least the Stars are gaining points with these losses and not being left in the dust by not collecting loser points.

Defending Big D 3 Stars of the game

1st Star: Jeff Deslauriers (EDM) - Gave his team a chance to get back into the game with some great saves in the first that continued for the entire game.

2nd Star: Marty Turco (DAL) - Did everything possible to try and win a tight 2-1 game. His work in the third especially helped the Stars get to overtime.

3rd Star: James Neal (DAL) - By far the best player on the ice for either team. A goal and seven shots on net plus a handful of hits.

Edmonton - San Jose post-game: Movember can't end soon enough

Bruce McCurdy — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:09:44 -0000

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

25 days ago: Edmonton Oilers' Sheldon Souray, left, battles with San Jose Sharks' Dany Heatley, of Germany, during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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Well, shit. What a crushing day. We lost Hemsky for the season, and we lost a game we should have won. Not just a game, but The "Dany Heatley Game". Played well enough to titillate, but in the end, handed the Sharks the freaking game on a silver platter in a particularly discouraging manner.

It was a good game and I have few (but specific) complaints. A good friend I don't see often enough got a pair of freebies and was kind enough to phone me, we hit the Thanh Thanh for some excellent Vietnamese cuisine en route, and by anthem-time found our seats on Row 31 overlooking the faceoff circle in the Sharks end, players' bench side. Funny thing, the last year I had season tickets I moved up to Row 31 from Row 14 to reduce the per game damage from $31 to $17. Now it's 17 years later and those $17 seats now bear a sticker price of $107! Which is why I rely on generous friends and occasional good luck to get to my handful of games a year ... ducats are simply out of range.

31 rows is a long way from the ice, but not too far to see some of the wide open spaces in several of the Movember 'staches on display even after a month of "growth". That little visual brought home the fact that this was a battle of boys against men

The anti-Heatley sentiment peaked early, with one leather lung letting rip a harsh "You suck Heatley!" while Paul Lorieau paused for a breath in the Star Spangled Banner, which certainly brought home the fact that this was another Canadian** hockey star who had bolted stateside, turning his nose up at two Canadian teams in the process. So the loudmouth's timing was appropriate or classless or both depending on one's viewpoint.

(** Canadian unless you believe the photo caption, which I have left in its raw, AP form. For whatever reason they always identify non-North American players by what country they're from.)

After that the booing was more perfuctory than anything, more noise than anything heartfelt. The cheers rang when Sheldon Souray knocked Heatley on his overpaid butt 5 minutes in, but quickly died out when Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau instantly took advantage of the large hole Souray had left behind in the process to put the Sharks up 1-0. The lead held past the midway mark of the game and I began to wonder if the Oilers would ever score again. Out of the blue though, Ryan Potulny made a nice steal from Dan Boyle, outraced a half-hearted Thornton backcheck and went in alone to deke Evgeni Nabokov. The Oilers carried the 1-1 score to the intermission, another tight defensive struggle not dissimilar from Wednesday's affair vs. the Kings. Unexpectedly, the third period was the bipolar opposite...

What a period it was. Dustin Penner scored early on a Gilbert Brulé rebound, then Penner returned the favour with a goal mouth feed that Brulé swatted home. Two-goal lead in the third, our first chance to be home and cooled out. Instead it lasted exactly two shifts of the Marleau-Thornton-Heatley line, both of which ended with the puck in the back of Jeff Deslauriers' net. 3-3. Back and forth the game went for several pulsating minutes, with my pick to score the game winner, Ladi Smid, actually having a great chance only to be beaten by Nabokov's glove. Undeterred, Smid later served as the middleman between Ethan Moreau's determined rush and Potulny's finishing shot which put the Oil up once again, 4-3 with 5 minutes to go. Turnaround for what happened in the Kings' game Thursday. We just had to see it out.

The best/worst thing about it was that for the next 3½ minutes the Oilers played perfect hockey. They forechecked like demons, hemming the Sharks in their own end, consistently winning races to and battles for loose pucks, cycling, making crisp changes while still maintaining puck pursuit. It was a joy to watch. Until, of all things, Oilers forced a Shark mistake, a penalty with 1:40 to go.

Well that should have been it. Instead, the Oil fell completely asleep. The powerplay which had done nothing all night, did much less than nothing when it mattered most, allowing three great San Jose scoring chances and the tying goal on a completely broken play. Hard to believe that you can win a draw in your own end 5-against-4 and within 4 seconds have the play end with the opposing centre completing his hat trick from the edge of the crease without anybody around him including the goalie. Gagner broke or dropped his stick winning the draw and let Marleau go, Staios and Souray got crossed up, Thornton won a race to the loose puck and JDD went fishing for the pokecheck only to look silly when Thornton fished the puck to Marleau for the tap in. A complete fustercluck, with the game completely on the line. Stupid, stupid, stupid hockey.

Oilers conspired to give up another odd man rush on the same powerplay, very nearly losing the game in regulation. There was no further scoring in overtime either, despite a very entertaining 101 seconds of the ultra-rare 3v3. From there it was a shootout, and the only surprise was that it wasn't Dany Bloody Heatley who dropped the guillotine on another loss, perhaps the most disappointing, frustrating, and discouraging one to date.

The thing of it is, if you hang around long enough, there's not much new under the sun and no matter what happens, chances are you've seen something like it before. I remember three years ago almost to the day, attending The Chris Pronger Game in which the Oil blew a two-goal lead, the Ducks tied it with the goalie out and won it in overtime, prompting very similar emotions. I also recall the Oil blowing a game in the Boston Garden round about 1986 or so when they had the lead and the powerplay in the last two minutes, conspired to retreat all the way to their own end with the puck, and then Paul Coffey tried a long slow diagonal pass right through the middle of his own zone which the Bruins picked off and promptly put in the net. Then they won it in overtime. That time I was so mad I could spit ... tonight it was shocking in one sense but in another it was just another disaster in a disastrous season. Bad news always carries the day, so what's new?

***

Jacques - Horcoff - O'Sullivan
This threesome along with Staios and Souray was hard-matched against San Jose's big unit (Marleau-Thornton-Heatley-Murray-Boyle). They weren't up to the task judging by the -3 each of the three posted. Funny, cuz they did lots of things right. JFJ led the Oilers in hits (6) and POS in shots (also 6). Horcoff worked his tail off and made lots of excellent small plays, such as the second period sequence where he fended off heavy Sharks forechecking by two guys and finally worked his way out of the zone, only to have Souray inexplicably miss his soft breakout pass with the Sharks instantly turning it into a 2-on-1 the other way. Lots to like in JFJ's game, but defensive presence is not one of those things

Penner - Gagner - Brulé
Solid night's work from the trio, consisting of two former hot shot draft picks and the big man who took a very circuitous route to the bigs. They connected for two third period goals and showing some chemistry especially between Penner and Brulé who had it going earlier in the year. Brulé is no Hemsky obviously but I'm starting to think we might have an Actual NHL Player™ on our hands. He's showing some real intensity to go with a nose for the net and a quick release. As he has done most of the season, Penner gave the Sharks defenders fits with his bull-in-a-china-shop routine

Moreau - Potulny - Cogliano
Lots to like here. The trio generated 10 shots among them in a strong effort from all three men. Potulny too is doing a convincing impersonation of an Actual NHL Player™ and is getting stronger as his ice time and confidence grows. He notched a pair of goals with some real strong finish, threw his body around with some abandon, and contributed solid time to both special teams. Cogliano appears tp be finally emerging from the coccon that had enveloped his early-season play, skating hard and really getting his competitive juices flowing. The goals aren't coming yet, but he's been an effective player of late. Moreau too put in an excellent efffort, contributing a number of strong rushed including the one that led directly to what should have been the winning goal. He remains way too inclined to shoot from absolutely anywhere that he actually gets control of the disc, and the element of surprise is long gone.

McDonald - O'Marra - Stortini
A creditable performance from the young trio, who held their own in brief appearances (~5 minutes TOI). Stortini (4 hits) did a solid job chaperoning his inexperienced mates (combined 1 NHL GP before this one). O'Marra with a couple of nice hits, although for some reason he skirted a guy he seemingly had in the trolley tracks in the third. Guys like him need to hit at every opportunity to be successful. The raw rook McDonald had a couple of giveaways mixed in as he had a little trouble with NHL speed. I loved one sequence where all three of them consecutively hammered various Sharks who were trying to break out.

Souray - Staios
An awful night for the two vets, who were not so much hardmatched as overmatched against the "Olympic Line". Both ended the night with a sorry -4, burnt for three even strength goals with 22-10-19 and then the less forgivable SH goal that tied things at the end in which the two experienced defenders completely got undressed in front of their own goal. Souray had 3 giveaways and 2 bad penalties mixed in on a night where he seemed completely out of sorts, out of synch with himself and almost out of phase with the game. Everything he did was a split second ahead or behind the play. Staios got some time on the PP which spent more time allowing odd-man rushes against than creating anything in the good end.

Smid - Visnovsky
Solid night's work saw both post a +2. Smid delivered a tenacious effort which included contributions in the O-zone, as he forced a fine save from Nabokov minutes before he set up Potulny for the 4-3 goal. Visnovsky looked small and overmatched on a couple of occasions, and like a master in complete control much of the rest of the time.

Strudwick - Gilbert
Another pair with a sparkling +2 rating against lesser comp. One of Strudwick's stronger games in a while. Gilbert had a couple of horrendous giveways which led directly to glorious chances for the Sharks, but otherwise was looking more like his old self than I've seen for a while, using his smarts to win possession and his legs to rush the puck with authority.

Deslauriers
A number of decent stops to bail out various Oiler breakdowns, but I was less than impressed with his overall body of work. Seems to have a hell of a time tracking the puck, and allows rebounds in unexpected directions. He had his usual puckhandling misadventures (3 GV for at least the third time recently), freezing the puck much more often than necessary, especially given Oilers' issues on the dot. (See: tying goal against.) His attempted pokecheck on that faceoff situation was the exact wrong play, and led to Marleau having a wide open net to dunk the puck. Does not inspire confidence in this observer.

Edmonton - Los Angeles post-mortem: frustration

Bruce McCurdy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:43:24 -0000

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

Shawn Horcoff and the Oilers couldn't find any room against the Kings on Wednesday, suffering a 3-1 regulation loss on home ice and losing star forward Ales Hemsky in the process. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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It's a hopeless feeling when it's still bloody November and you're already resigned to your team being out of contention. But that's exactly how I feel right now. Frustrated.

Another night, another winnable game lost in regulation, another key player sidelined with injury. For at least the third time this year we saw an Oiler leave a game after being sent head first into the boards on a hit from behind. This time it was none other than Ales Hemsky, not only a key to Edmonton's offence but a key to making Oiler games fit to watch. This one certainly wasn't after Ales was helped off, a victim of Michal Handzus's cheap and dangerous crosscheck that catapulted him into the end boards. For which, predictably, Handzus was given a 2-minute slap on the wrist, returning to play a key role on the game-winning goal. Meanwhile, in Washington Alex Ovechkin was given 5 minutes for a much less dangerous hit on agitator Patrick Kaleta, who never missed a shift. But if it's an Oiler who is showing his numbers, it's open season out there. Frustrating.

It also hurt to see Matt Greene cap a splendid game by scoring the winning goal in the dying minutes. Greene became the third recent ex-Oiler to score a game-winner in Rexall in this calendar year, joining Raffi Torres and Marty Reasoner who also scored late tie-breaking goals to send the faithful grumbling into the night. If those bums had scored while they were here they might never have been traded in the first place. Greene was all over the scoresheet with 6 attempted shots, 4 hits, 5 blocked shots, +2, and of course that game winning goal. He was a much greater force in this game than Lubomir Visnovsky, the guy Oilers traded Greene AND Jarret Stoll to obtain. Frustrating.

Worse was that the winner came in regulation time in a game both teams seemed to be nursing to OT. But in a few seconds what was left of the first line lost their composure and their shape in Oilers' end, with all 5 guys being sucked over to Wayne Simmonds' side of the ice opening the door for Greene to walk in and blast the best shot of his Rexall Place career. So the Oilers came away with nothing, dropping a point to conference rivals Minnesota, Colorado, and St.Louis, all of whom were rewarded for managing to "lose" their games in extra time. Frustrating.

Oilers were once again dominated on the shot clock, allowing double digits in each period while never managing more than 8 shots themselves for a final margin of 35-23. It was another tough night for Liam Reddox, outshot 7-0 in his 7:18 at even strength with another atrocious Corsi of -10. In the last 3 games Reddox has been on the ice for just 7 attempted shots by the Oilers and a staggering 46 by the bad guys. After his recall Reddox showed just enough to make me care about him, but has not resembled an NHL player of late. Frustrating.

Jeff Deslauriers played moderately well, making many fine stops among his 33 saves but undoing his work by absolutely seiving in a long slider from Simmonds which tied the score in the second, then getting beat clean by Matt Greene of all people with the game on the line. Frustrating.

So now Oilers are 4/5 of the way through the home stand with an uninspiring 2-2-0 record, a tilt against the powerful Sharks looming. It's been five long weeks, 16 games and counting since the last time the squad won 2 in a row. Did I mention I'm getting frustrated?

DD or JDD? Doppelgänger Dilemma

Bruce McCurdy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:34:36 -0000

More photos » by Jeff McIntosh - AP

Devan Dubnyk

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Lowetide asked me an interesting question the other day: if I were building an expansion team, which one of Edmonton's young goalies might I pick: Deslauriers or Dubnyk? Let's rephrase it slightly to put an Oilers spin on the query: if there were an imaginary expansion draft, which one should we protect?

While there's hopefully no expansion to worry about, the Oilers will essentially face such a choice next summer/fall, or pay a premium to put it off. For now there is no hard overlap between the two, but that day is coming fast. Dubnyk is two years younger than Deslauriers and pretty much Exactly two years behind him on the career curve. In fact the two have a whole lot in common:

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (JDD) was born on May 15, 1984, the day of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals (Oilers 7, Islanders 2 :)). A long stringbean at 6'4, 200, he was drafted 31st overall in 2002, the first pick of the second round, acquired in the Jochen Hecht trade. (Pick #36, Jarret Stoll, also came courtesy of what turned out to be a pretty good trade.) He was the fourth goalie of his draft class to be chosen. The top 5 were #2 Kari Lehtonen, #25 Cam Ward, #29 Hannu Toivunen, #31 JDD, #34 Tobias Stephen. JDD appears to be a solid third in this group, behind Ward and the injury-plagued Lehtonen but ahead of the other two who fired and fell back.

Devan Dubnyk (DD) was born on May 4, 1986, when the hockey world was still trying to come to grips with Steve Smith's own goal. A longer stringbean at 6''5, 194, he was drafted 14th overall in 2004. He was the second goalie of his draft class to be chosen. The top 5 were #6 Al Montoya, #14 DD, #17 Marek Schwarz, #26 Cory Schneider, #37 David Shantz. A much less proven fivesome, befitting their younger age. Dubnyk is the fourth to get a cup o' coffee, but none have played as many as 500 minutes in the show. DD clearly ranks ahead of Schwarz and Shantz, and it's a toss-up among the others, with Schneider having the best hype. That said, today DD is the only one of the five in the NHL.

At a glance DD and JDD are mirror images of each other with Dubnyk being the longer, stringbeanier, right-handed one with the slightly higher draft pedigree and the slightly less-bumpy career curve.

Both broke into major junior in 2001-02 so let's start there after the jump:

	JDD				DD
Season	League	GP	Sv%	Season	League	GP	Sv%
2001-02	QMJHL	51	0.900	2001-02	WHL	3	0.838
2002-03	QMJHL	49	0.888	2002-03	WHL	26	0.907
2003-04	QMJHL	50	0.916	2003-04	WHL	44	0.917
2004-05	AHL	22	0.888	2004-05	WHL	65	0.912
	ECHL	11	0.940
2005-06	AHL	13	0.897	2005-06	WHL	54	0.912
	ECHL	6	0.899
2006-07	AHL	40	0.908	2006-07	ECHL	43	0.921
					AHL	4	0.855
2007-08	AHL	57	0.912	2007-08	AHL	33	0.904
2008-09	NHL	10	0.901	2008-09	AHL	62	0.906
2008-09	AHL	5	0.906
2009-10	NHL	6	0.920	2009-10	AHL	18	0.924

Dubnyk was the hotter shot, played in the Dub as a call-up at age 15 and a backup at 16. By 17, however, both were starters (44+ GP) in Major Junior. So let's reorganize our data there, recognize that Dubnyk is two years (less 11 days) younger, and match up their seasons by hockey age.

	JDD				DD
Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%	Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%
17	QMJHL	51	0.900	17	WHL	44	0.917
18	QMJHL	49	0.888	18	WHL	65	0.912
19	QMJHL	50	0.916	19	WHL	54	0.912
20	AHL/ECHL	33	0.911	20	ECHL/AHL	47	0.918
21	AHL/ECHL	19	0.898	21	AHL	33	0.904
22	AHL	40	0.908	22	AHL	62	0.906
23	AHL	57	0.912	23	AHL	18	0.924
24	NHL/AHL	15	0.902
25	NHL	6	0.920

There are a lot more similarities than differences on those career curves. Thanks to the Oilers' inexplicable decision to suspend AHL operations for two seasons, JDD's development was more retarded -- using the word carefully -- than was DD's. Deslauriers was on the outside looking in especially in his 21-year-old season, whereas Dubnyk was still in junior that 2005-06 season, then got an everyday gig in the ECHL the next year which didn't hurt him a bit. By his own 21-year-old season he was backing up JDD in Springfield, and getting a reasonable split (37%) of the ice time, over which the Oilers had finally regained control. As a result DD has substantially more games in the lower league, all in one season, whereas JDD spent parts of two seasons in the ECHL and spent a little more time on the bench at whatever level. Thus even though Dubnyk has just begun his 23-year-old season, his pro experience is already a little greater than JDD's was at the end of his equivalent season. To summarize:

	JDD				DD
Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%	Age	Leagues	GP	Sv%
17-19	Major Jr.	150	0.908	17-19	Major Jr.	163	0.914
20-23	Minor Pro	149	0.909	20-23	Minor Pro	160	0.911

So Dubnyk appears to have a slight edge, with a little more experience at both levels and a slightly greater Sv%. While far from perfect, Sv% is the best single measure we have of goaltender performance. It seems probable that quality of team will affect that Sv%. The two only played on the same team for one full season (2007-08 in Springfield) and little pieces of a couple of others. JDD has the better Pts% ("winning percentage") of the two, .511 to .475 in their last 3 years of junior, .507 to .447 in their first 4 years of pro. Some would argue that JDD is therefore more of a winner; others would counter that DD played on worse teams and if anything that makes his superior Sv% that much more impressive.

Beyond that are the non-save effects, the "soft skills" which are so difficult to measure. I’m talking about game management skills, rebound control, puck retrieval and distribution. At the NHL level I estimate these skills or lack thereof might be the equivalent of a bump in a goalie’s Sv% by as much as ± .005. I’ve seen enough of JDD to lump him in the group I call "chaos goalies"; he better be a good stopper, cuz a sweeper he is not. We know less about this aspect of DD's game; what do the scouting reports say? If he’s a "control goalie" that’s another arrow in his quiver; if on the other hand he’s much worse than JDD, he won’t be able to play in this league.

For now Dubnyk faces two realities. He may be a little further than Deslauriers at the same point in his career, but in real time he’s two years behind. JDD has the 16 games of NHL experience, and the 90 games on the bench and all that accrues to that; he’s the NHLer. DD is where JDD was two years ago, called up for a cup of coffee but not guaranteed to even get a game. Last night we saw the two together in the NHL line-up for the first time, but come game time JDD responded to the challenge in a big way, posting a 36-save shutout. He wants to keep Dubnyk on the bench. (That said, if Khabibulin needs a few more days I personally would like to see the two split the upcoming back-to-back games.)

The other reality is that the club has committed to Nikolai Khabibulin who theoretically will be the starting goalie for the next 2.7 ± 1 years. If the idea – or should I say the ideal – is to gradually grow a youngster into the starting role à la Warren Moon and Tom Wilkinson, the timing may actually work in Dubnyk’s favour. JDD will enter his UFA years in 2011; Dubnyk is eligible to do so in 2013, just as Khabibulin’s hefty pact expires. If Dubnyk blossoms, the Oilers will be in position to pay him then.

Still, there’s precious little to choose between the two long stringbeans. By next fall Dubnyk will be in the exact same position that JDD was last year, out of options and needing to clear waivers. In JDD’s case we saw the undesirable result: a three-headed monster in the crease and a lack of roster flexibility elsewhere. As things shape up now, Oilers will face the exact same situation next fall.

In a perfect world, the organization will reach a decision over the summer or by the end of training camp. In a perfect world, they will deal one of the youngsters for an asset that will help the club elsewhere. And in a perfect world, they will make the right choice of which one to keep. My distant early guess is that will be Devan Dubnyk.