Game 36: St. Louis Blues at Edmonton Oilers - December 21, 2009 - Rexall Place - 7:00 pm MT - SNET

For the third time this season, the Oilers will play a team that played the night prior vs. the Vancouver Canucks. If there's anyone to blame for the Oilers recent woes, I say blame the Canucks. They did a terrible job of softening up the LA Kings and Washington Capitals, didn't they? Last night, the St. Louis Blues defeated the Nucks by a score of 3-1. David Backes scored two goals including the game winner. Let's hope that our division rivals did a better job at softening up a team for us this time.

Though heading into Rexall Place with tired legs, the St. Louis Blues are an impressive 9-3-3 on the road. The Oil drop have lost three straight games while heading into this game with a 15-16-4 record. For the second time this season, the Oilers find themselves on the floor or the Western Conference. The last game the Oilers actually won was vs. the St. Louis Blues after rallying back from a three-goal deficit in the third period.

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Oilers - 15th Place in Western Conference

First, you know when you're growing up and you make a joke about one of your siblings in front of your friends, it's okay because you're family. When one of your friends joins in, then things stop becoming okay. I think it's the same the thing with hockey teams. Really, I am still a life-long fan of the Oilers, but when the going gets tough, humor's the best way to cope with the misery.

Last night, I went went out for dinner and a few drinks. I think that I might have ran into some Oilers at the bar. Here's a picture that I took before entering:

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Pre-game Rant:

Prior to the recent loss vs. the Capitals, I came across a website that pegged the Oilers' playoff chances at 19%. There's little question that the Oilers' playoff hopes not looking good this season. Usually, the good thing about hitting rock bottom is that there's nowhere to go but up. I hate to ever sound pedantic, but I remember reading about the principle of deferred gratification years ago. To illustrate the example, there was a study cited. In this study, they put 5-year-old children in a room alone for 2 minutes with a box of candy. They told the kids that if they didn't eat the candy, they would get three boxes instead of just one. Not surprisingly, the kids that were able to defer gratification were more successful later on in life.

Now, I would never suggest that the Oilers tank this season intentionally. However, should things continue to go awry and they do manage to get a lottery pick, it would be the opposite of win now pay later. It just might be construed as an example of deferred gratification too.

Next season, there will be plenty of things to look forward to as Oilers fans. First, there's the return of Ales Hemsky from his shoulder surgery. Along with that, we'll have plenty of kids who are getting their at bats this season including Sam Gagner, Gilbert Brule, Ryan Potulny among others, each of whom should be even better next season. Further, we should expect to see one or more of Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, or possibly Linus Omark on the roster as well.

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Pre-game Stats:

The only team worse than the Oilers currently at winning faceoffs is the Calgary Flames. With Shawn Horcoff playing with one arm and Gilbert Brule bumped up to wing on the top line, the Oilers faceoff struggles have been worsened. As for special teams, the Blues have a very strong penalty kill (85.6%) along with a mediocre power play (14.5%). Both teams are near or at the bottom of the Western Conference and consequently have negative shot and goal differentials.

The daily line: The money line favors the Oilers (-145/+125).