Oiler prospects shine

After circling the block a few times looking for a parking lot I noticed the line up getting longer and longer at the South Okanagan Events Centre. We made our way to the entrance hoping the line up was for ticket buyers, and not for the tickets in hand customers. It wasn't the case, we would have to get in the back of that atrocious line up and likely miss a good portion of the first period. As the wife and I were about to make the walk, security announced they'd be opening another line - we got in that line and no longer then 5 minutes were we in our seats. Luck was on our side.

Paajarvi, Eberle, Hall, Pitlick and Roy shined through out the game:

Paajarvi had a wonderful game; he's not as noticeable as one would expect as he doesn't dangle around the ice like Eberle. Instead, Paajarvi has one focus and that's to get the puck on net. Paajarvi scored his first goal of the game on a rebound 4:58 into the first period, then in the second Paajarvi moved into the high slot and and released a quick wrist shot in the top shelf. He had the third one in site that looked like a for sure hat trick, but in the final moments, with an empty net, Vancouver’s Kevin Connauton (son of one of Daryl Katz' lawyers) robbed him with a desperate stick save.

I notice when Paajarvi has possession it doesn't take him long to release the puck and make things happen. This is a very dangerous player who has a fast release, thinks the game very quickly and wastes no time. This is a great sign, as the Oilers have nobody like him in the system.

As for Hall and Eberle they certainly have themselves some serious chemistry. One knock that I should mention is that they could open their game up a bit more if they used the other 3 team mates on the ice. Kytnar, their centre, looked invisible for the majority of the game but it was partly from a case of Hall and Eberle working amongst themselves. They may get away with this for a couple of games, but it shouldn't be too long that other teams will notice they are only feeding off one another. I'm hoping in the next game the coaches will switch up these lines so we can see how they work with other players. With the two stealing the spotlight we were able to see clearly that Eberle is a true dangler, he has immaculate speed, is chill as a pill and looks miles ahead of his class. He plays the game a couple notches above everyone else and had no issue hitting Hall at full speed.

Taylor is a power forward, he doesn't dish out the hits but he isn't afraid to get into the mix. He rushes the boards like a bull and has a hunger for the puck. The general consensus on him is that he is fearless and tends to get hit too often. I too notice his fearless mentality, but he plays the boards so often he doesn't offer himself up to an open ice hit. From the one game I have seen him live, his energy level is very noticeable. You can see him trying like hell to get open so he can be fed the puck. One thing I would like to see him do is to use the open ice a little more, when he's rushing the puck he uses the boards a little too often. His rushes reminded me of Alex Ovechkin in these past playoffs where he would rifle his body down the boards only to be simply cut off by the defense. Luckily, in Hall's case, he wasn't afraid to move the puck, either at the net for a rebound or cross ice to his line mate.

Pitlick was picked in this past draft at 31st overall. He played a solid game, not giving up anything and used his big body well. This looks like a promising prospect that I will need to keep an eye on during his WHL stint. Pitlick put the 4th goal in on an empty netter.

Olivier Roy started the game kind of slow. He froze on one play where I thought was a for sure first goal by the Canucks, but the puck went wide. Not soon after, the Canucks did get their first goal on a rather weak shot that grazed Roy's upper chest and plopped in behind him. After his shaky start, Roy shut the door and looked stellar for the rest of the game. He played the game with a for sure sign that helped secure many opinions to why he is one of the best goaltending prospects the Oilers have had in decades. Oh, and NO Olivier Roy is NOT the son of Patrick Roy. I don't know how many times I heard that in the stands.

There isn't an Oilers game today, so I thought I'd have a peak at what the guys south on the QE II were looking like. I was able to grab pretty decent seats at centre ice for the Flames vs Ducks game today. Might not be as exciting as the Oilers were yesterday, but there is only so much to do in Penticton on a cool day. All of these games area available for view on the teams respected websites, so if you are wanting to watch these games for yourselves and weren't fortunate enough to make it to Penticton just check out the NHL team websites.