Injuries, Wins, And The Swedish Connection

The Injuries...


In the game tonight against Minny, we saw three of our D-Men go down to injury. Taylor Fedun (right leg), Taylor Chorney (right knee), and Ladislav Smid (right shoulder).


When your infested with the injury bug, it seems impossible to kill the little bastard. Enough's enough already. It would be one thing if the injuries this team suffered were little things that lasted a few games and we could recover from them, but most of the injuries weve suffered in the last few years are of the season ending type. Case in point, Taylor Fedun tonight. 


If you haven't heard yet, Taylor Fedun broke his leg in a foot race with Nystrom for an iced puck. Nystrom managed to get his stick caught up in Fedun's feet and Fedun crashed heavily into the boards and had to be taken out on a stretcher as he suffered a complex fracture to the femur. The NHL seriously needs to implement no touch icing!


We actually finished the game with only three d-men and Ryan Keller who filled in due to the injuries.


The Win...


Anton Lander gets a penalty shot and absolutely lets a bullet fly past Wild net minder Backstrom, to start the come back. With the shortened bench and down 3-1, Linus Omark decided that it was time to take the game back. Omark sniped a goal after Lander wins the face-off in the offensive zone, with a one-timer to make 3-2. Then he blows the doors off the Minny defense from behind the net and finds Ryan Jones in front and made a great pass that Jones puts away to tie the game. In over-time, Anton Lander again with a bullet, rifles past Backstrom for the game winner. 


This finally ends the dreaded Minnesota curse where the Oilers haven't won a game since January 2007! Definitely a reason to celebrate. The positives that we came from behind against a team we have been snake bitten against on the road, and where they are playing basically their NHL roster...are paramount. Enough said.


Devon Dubnyk looked good again tonight and I can no longer find a good reason to let Nikolai Khabibulin get the start in game one on the 9th of October.


The Swedish Connection...


Anton Lander and Linus Omark were by far the reason we won this game tonight. Lander did get called for three penalties tonight and I was worried he was going to be the catalyst for losing the game. But in the end was one of the best players on the ice!


You all know how I feel about Linus Omark, tonight he made  everything I write about him true. I feel very justified now. He was protecting the puck with his body along the boards as usual. And he was creating dynamic offense with his skill and vision. My only concern is that it didn't seem to come for him until the middle of the game. What am I saying?? he got a star tonight and was awesome.


Final Thoughts...


I hope Taylor Fedun can recover quickly from his injury and that he will be able to get back to the level of game he was having this year in camp. Let's face it, he was on the cusp of making this team.


Tomorrow in Vancouver, I pray that the kids play together again and that they let both Lander and Omark into this one as well.


I personally feel that Gilbert Brule is probably done as an Oiler. He didn't do enough, consistently to make a case for himself.


Darcy Hordichuk scored (sort of). The goal was eventually called off due to a penalty that was taken by Brule. It would've been a nice goal too.


Cant wait for tomorrow!


Go Oilers Go!