| 
Oilers lose game and Ales Hemsky - Kings 3 / Oilers 1 Oilers' Ales Hemsky left the game during the second period following a cross-check from behind courtesy of one Michal Handzus. From the replay, it seems probable that Ales Hemsky may have injured his shoulder or suffered a concussion. At this point, the only information released is that Hemsky left the game due to an upper body injury. For Michal Handzus, the disruption to his game was nothing more than a few minutes in the penalty box. As for Ales Hemsky, the key question remains as to how many games he might miss due to injury. Georges Laraque recently recieved a five-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit with Niklas Kronwall. My guess is that even Hemsky has a serious injury that Handzus has already served his time. Enough to infuriate you? Hell ya! After this recent loss, the Edmonton Oilers are just 4 points ahead of the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are currently the last placed team in the Western Conference. Of note, the Wild also have two games in hand. It's uncertain how long Ales Hemsky will be out, but if it's for a prolonged period of time, it could spell disaster for this already struggling hockey team. Ales Hemsky and Dustin Penner have been the Oilers two best forward players this season. Game Recap: Overall, the first period was not a pretty period for the Edmonton Oilers who for the most part were outplayed and outshot. The officiating was sub par as well with Lubomir Visnovsky taking a hard hit from behind which went uncalled. Conversely, Sheldon Souray went to the box on a questionable penalty which was called a cross-check. Ryan Potulny opened up the scoring with a nice tip-in from a Souray point shot while on the powerplay. For the kings, Kopitar, Brown, and Frolov were creating chances and looking dangerous during this period and for the rest of the game. Ethan Moreau had some extra jump during the first period and his line was one of the more effective Oilers' lines on the ice. Wayne Simmonds answered back to even the game for the Kings. It wasn't a particularly dangerous looking shot, but he floated a low shot through traffic that Deslauriers apparently didn't see. It's certainly one he would have liked back--it's not often you see a weak wrist shot from near the blue line beat a goalie. Both Sam Gagner and Patrick O'Sullivan went to the box on somewhat soft calls by the referees. However, the Oilers were largely outplayed during this period and the shot total reflected this (13-7). The Oilers' powerplay was a complete mess and it only got worse when Hemsky left the game. Pat Quinn decided to reward the Moreau/Potulny/Cogliano line for their good play and he gave them some powerplay minutes. With the man advantage, this line was just unable to get possession in the Kings' zone. During the third, things just went from bad to worse for the Oilers who's play continued to struggle. Sam Gagner missed the net with shooting the puck off the crossbar and over the net. Penner had a couple good chances, but he wasn't fast enough to beat Jonathan Quick. Matt Green put the game away with a shot from the point that beat Deslauriers (high). Today, the sale of his house in Edmonton finally closed, so that left the former Oiler with two things to celebrate. Frolov scored the empty-netter to close the game at a final score of 3-1. Final shot totals were 35-23 in favor of the Kings despit the Oilers having won 58% of the faceoff draws. Losing close hockey games is becoming all too familiar for Oilers fans. As Jim Matheson wrote in today's Edmonton Journal, is likely that the Oilers just don't have the horses to get the job done this year--even without the injuries. Though the Oilers already have an incredibly high number of man games lost to injury, at this point, the number is driven upwards primarily by a combination of injuries to depth players, an AHL callup, and Fernando Pisani who's had a very unfortunate pre-existing medical condition prior to the start of this season. For example, Marc Pouliot himself accounts for 24 of the Oilers 138 man games lost to injury. JF Jacques and Ryan Stone have combined for 23 man games lost while Pisani has missed 18 and counting. If you include Taylor Chorney who's technically an AHL callup, the previously listed players account for 72/138 man games lost. The loss of depth players certainly has had an impact, but should Ales Hemsky be out for a prolonged period, his absence will be not be replaceable. Dennis Grebeshkov and Mike Comrie are currently out listed as indefinitely. Already, Ryan Stone and Robert Nilsson have returned to practice. Their current status is listed at "day to day" along with Nikolai Khabibulin. Here's the game video:
 | 
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!
On the Hemsky front that should have been more than a minor. It wouldn't have mattered because without 83 our powerplay is ugly but it still should have been more. We're 25 games in now and the playoffs are looking farther and farther away every day. If Hemsky misses any real time I think we're done.