POWERPLAY WOES...

Game Thoughts...

All in all I thought we played ok last night against the Ducks. I was starting to worry once Selanne scored his second of the night to make 3-0 Ducks. Incidentally...that was Selanne's 1300th & 1301st NHL points. 


I figured their 3rd goal was the going to the end...then we scored 2 quick ones (only 36 seconds apart) to end the second period 3-2.


The only thing that we couldn't do, is get our powerplay off the schneid. 


Powerplay Worries...


We went 0-5 on the PP last night! We have not scored on the PP since late December. Our PP% is 12.6! That's good for 29th in the league. We are only ahead of Florida.


One of the things that boggles my mind is that we had a 6-on-3 powerplay last night and didn't generate a shot. This is unreal and totally unacceptable. The Coaching staff's only job at this point is to fix this. Our PK has been much better (although they let in 2 PP goals last night) and doesn't need to be focused as much. We need to start to focus all of our attention on the PP now.


I will say that Taylor Hall won a few key Face-offs as did Penner last night. This allowed us to at least keep the puck in their end for the bulk of the PP which is a start.


Omark-Gagner-Paajarvi Line...

This line has solidified itself as a bonified 2nd or 1A type of scoring line. These kids have a lot of chemistry together! Omark has the vision and skill to setup the play, Gagner has the two-way game to keep them grounded, and Paajarvi can skate like the wind and has the hands needed to be the finisher. Omark and Paajarvi could both be finishers on this line, if they both learned to shoot a little more often. I definitely don't want to be frustrated watching these guys like I have been with Hemsky over the years. 


Even though he didn't score...Omark tried that little cheeky move to shoot the puck from behind his back through his legs. He was in tight on McIlhenney and manged to get the shot on net, but the fact that he tried it was what blew my mind!


GO Oilers GO!