There are few things that were notable in this game that I would like to comment on.
Dubnyk played well against one of the premiere teams in the NHL, and got us the victory 2-1 in the shoot-out. Good call to put him in! I was hoping that he would get the start after Nikolai Khabibulin's brutal season last year. I think Dubnyk should get at least half the starts this year if not more, and I would like to see him start to move into the number one role in Edmonton.
A great second effort by Hopkins to put it past Brent Johnson who was in goal for the Penguins! All in all, I thought RNH had a solid game and didn't look out of place at all in this league. We will have to wait and see how the next 7 games go to judge if he should stay up or go back to his Junior team in Red Deer.
Four years after the above picture was taken at Ryan Smyth's press conference when he was traded, Smyth played his first game as an Oiler again. As usual, we got a blue collar hard work effort from Smytty. He even through an old-school elbow on Chris Kunitz in the dying minutes of the third period and got a 5 min game mis-conduct for it. Fortunately our PK looked good all night and saved the game with Duby's help to get the game to OT and bail Ryan out.
In the shoot-out Jordan Eberle & Ales Hemsky both scored and Omark tried his YouTube sensation move, to lob the puck over the back of the Goalie when he goes down. Unfortunately missed the net and Dubnyk stopped Steve Sullivan's next shot to win the game.
A lot of people on twitter and radio, criticized Omark for trying that shot. Here's how it looks when successful... (sorry for the Swedish!)
Had he made that work in the game on Sunday, he'd be a hero and people would have been praising him as they did last year with that wicked spin move he scored against Tampa Bay.
Great and exciting game that had some momentous occasions to it, and an awesome game to be at if you are a fan of the Oilers!
Game Two: Thursday October 13th vs. Minnesota...
Going into this game there were some line-up changes made by Tom Renney. Omark was out as a healthy scratch for Lennart Petrell. This was touted as a move made due to the turn-over that Omark had in game one. There were quite a few. Not Omark's best game. I was upset about this as I feel that Omark gives ou PP a much fresher and creative look than when Hemsky is running it.
Omark aside, there was a bigger story unfolding with Khabibulin getting the start in goal, and the fact that we hadn't won a game in Minnesota sine 2006, the media was all over this in the pre-game interviews.
The game was going really well in the first period! it looked like the Oilers were going to dominate. Ryan Smyth scored his signature goal from two feet in front of goal, his first as an Oiler since his return.
Then the inevitable happened. Ales Hemsky was injured (again) and would not return to the game. Should we be surprised? Or should we start talking about how the injury bug continues to plague this team? After Hemsky's injury, the team seemed to revert to their playing style of the lat couple of years. No offence (one shot in the third period), lack of effort, etc...
I will say this, in two games our PK has looked outstanding! A total difference from last year. Hopefully this is a sign of improvement for the rest of the year.
We hung on to take the game to OT again, and another shoot-out. we lost the game but got a point.
Oilers fans should be happy that we have 3 points in two games! Think about it...Vancouver has played four games for a possible 8 points and are tied with us! I've said it before and I'll say it again, Vancouver Sucks
Go Oilers GO!
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