If you can't take the heat, stay out of the Saddledome - Oilers Lose

Written by Jay

Thursday, 31 December 2009 23:41

ryan_potulny

The Edmonton Oilers lose again to the Calgary Flames, this time on New Year's Eve. This season, the Oilers now have five-consecutive losses against their rivals from the South. With this loss, the Oilers remain in last place in the Western Conference and 29th overall in the NHL. The halfway point of this season has now been reached and the Oilers are 13 points behind the 8th placed LA Kings and out of a playoff spot.

At this point, these Oilers game recaps are getting repetitive. It's the same old story of the Oilers having difficulties with their special teams, getting outshot, and ultimately registering another loss. Again, Dustin Penner was held scoreless while only managing one shot on McElhinney during the game. Dustin Penner's now gone five straight games without a point.

Game Recap:

First, I did watch the game on Sportsnet West. I'm not sure exactly who the person was who provided the game commentary. However, his maritime accent was pretty thick. I was pretty much waiting for him to say, "Where ya to?" throughout the game.

Losing more than half their faceoffs... Ineffective special teams... Difficulty breaking the cycle or breaking out of their zone... Lack of talent or finishers... Can't find a shooting lane if it kicked them in the ass... Trouble getting possession in the offensive zone on the power play or passing in around the perimeter until they lose possession... All of these things pretty much sum up most of the Oilers recent losses. Repeating them over and over is making me feel like a broken record. Yet, these are your 2009 Edmonton Oilers.

Lubomir Visnovsky left the game tonight with an undisclosed foot injury. It's uncertain what the status of his foot injury actually is, but it could be anything from a bruise to a broken bone.

During this game against the Calgary Flame's backup goaltender, McElhinney, the Oilers managed just 22 shots for. In contrast, Deslauriers faced 39 shots and stopped all but two of them. For the Oilers, they won just 20/51 (39%) of the faceoffs with Dustin Penner going 1/6 along with the same result of Cogliano. The Oilers powerplay went 0/3 while their penalty kill went 1/2. Surprisingly, Robert Nilsson played the most of any Oilers forward with a total of 18:51 during the game.

Craig Conroy opened the scoring for the Flames with just 11 seconds left in the second period on a goal assisted by Rene Bourque. Calgary scored again on their 2nd power play of the night during the third period. Sheldon Souray took a senseless offensive zone interference penalty with just over ten minutes left in the game. This time, it was former Oiler, Curtis Glencross who beat Deslauriers.

Shawn Horcoff managed to get the Oilers on the scoreboard with just over a minute left in the game with the extra attacker on the ice. Gagner and Nilsson had the assists on Horcoff's goal. He beat McElhinney with a high backhand over the glove hand.

It's the end of 2009, but this season just can't end fast enough for these Edmonton Oilers. I'm not gonna lie. Repeatedly getting run over by the Calgary Flames just plain sucks.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

Game Video:

Comments (2) Add Comment

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written by DuffMan, January 01, 2010

I hope that the Oilers manage to dump Moreau and Staios. If not, they should Gatorize Moreau.

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written by Jay, January 02, 2010

Hey, apparently the Oilers are shopping Moreau and Staios--well, at least that's the rumor. If they do manage to trade either one, it would likely be at the trade deadline.