Lines Change

Horcoff Out Against Canes Tonight...


With Horcoff out due to an injury to his leg, the lines have been shuffled. the new lines look like this according to Gene Principe of Rogers Sportsnet:


Hall-Gagner-Hemsky
Penner-Cogliano-Eberle
Paajarvi-Brule-Jones
MacIntyre-Fraser-Stortini


It will be interesting to see if Ryan Jones will be able to keep pace with Brule & Paajarvi. Without a call up from the farm, I think this was the most reasonable choice for line-ups. I'm not sure I would've put Cog's on the second line, I believe he's better suited to third line minutes, but I am not a coach nor do I profess to be one. Tom Renney knows what he's doing, I'm just calling it as I see it from the cheap seats.


It's nice to see Steve MacIntyre back in the line-up no matter how it happens. He brings a presence like no other, when the opposition knows he's on the bench. I tend to agree with Bob Stauffer of Oilers Lunch and the Oilers radio network. Bob thinks Big Mac should get 60-70 games this year. I would like to see that as well.


Cam Ward has a .918 SV% vs. Nikolai Khabibulin's .905 SV%. If Kahbibulin can play like he did in the last two games, he can be a game breaker. Khabibulin's record to date is 4-6-1 with a 3.10 GAA in 11 games. I do not follow the Hurricanes very much and therefore cannot comment on Ward's performances. I will say that since I have seen him play here in Edmonton, other than the cup run in 2006...he's not what I would consider a high-end goalie. His record thus far is 7-5-0 with a 2.90 GAA. Better than Khabibulin thus far.


Hopefully it'll be a good game tonight and I am calling a 4-1 Oilers Victory. Hall & Paajarvi will both score.


GO Oilers GO!