Post Game: September 29- Coyotes

                                          Game Summary:                                                                 
                                                                 

Oilers:		Phoenix
3.) Goal: Gagner, Assists: Smid & Brule		1.) Goal: Stempniak, Assists: Schlemko & Pyatt 2.) Goal: Turris, Assists: Prucha & Upshall
4.) Goal: Giroux, Assists: Reddox & Plante
5.) Goal: Plante, Assists: O'Marra
		6.) Goal: Upshall, Assists: Prucha

                 

Our Thoughts:  

This was an even played game. Back and forth, although Edmonton had the majority of the chances. It seems like they had 5 odd man rushes but they couldn't capitalize. This game wasn't offensively entertaining as the others, as the Yotes had a more NHL experienced roster. Bryzgalov had some brilliant saves and was one of the best players on the ice. He shut the Oilers top line down, completely robbing Gagner. Our top line of MPS, Gags, and Hemi had a great cycle throughout the game. Although they had many scoring opportunities, they elected to pass; especially MPS. He has a great shot as he demonstrated against the Bolts. With his speed and Gags/Hemi's passing abilities he will put a lot of pucks in the back of the net. Our skilled players were being pushed around a bit, because we were lacking in the toughness department. All together a solid effort as we improve to 4 and 0. Up next: The battle of Alberta!

Player Analysis:
                                                                               Orange= Player of the Game
                                                                                 Red= Goat of the Game
                                                                                 Blue= Warrior of the Game

Ladislav Smid: A solid night for Ladi. He did what a defensive defenseman does, makes the safe play and isn't noticeable. Although he did Derek Jeter the puck out of the net.

Alexandre Giroux: Was the best forward for the Oilers tonight. He could add some scoring to the 4th line this year. The question is can he be physical enough? Giroux is 6'3 over 200 lbs, so you would hope so. He showed his dynamic offensive side with some beautiful moves and a snap shot top cheese.

Andrew Cogliano: He fly's around the ice every night, but it doesn't seem like he accomplishes anything. He's got to stop working so hard, and just work smart. He could be a Todd Marchant player if he learns to play his own zone better.

Colin Fraser: Hopefully Fraser can come out of his shell. He seems to be timid and doesn't want to engage on the forecheck. He needs to play with grinders so that he gets back to his roots. Not what we were expecting from Fraz at this point in the pre-season.

Kurtis Foster: Threw his body around, and also got decked a couple of times. Whenever he took a shot, somebodies stick exploded. Scary quick release for all that power.

Dustin Penner: Looks to be getting slower and slower after every game. Hopefully this isn't 2008-2009 Dustin Penner. All the competition at LW will up his game though and he will re-assure the top LW on the depth chart.

Ryan Jones: This was a tough decision, we wanted to give him warrior of the game because he was playing pest perfectly, but that -3 was too glaring to ignore.

Richard Petoit: The best player on the ice tonight. He made the smart play every time the puck was on his stick. He was very impressive to say the least. He's putting together a pretty solid pre-season resume.

Taylor Chorney: Did Chorney just hit somebody? Wow, i hope you recorded this because it's going to be a while the next time it happens again. He followed it with his first NHL fight. For that ... he is getting warrior of the game.

Ryan O'Marra: O'Marra will be sent down after the next cuts. He has improved greatly over last year. He will be the 4th line centre in 2 years. Hopefully his conditioning will be up to par with the rest of the team.

Alex Plante: You could tell that Plante was a step behind everyone. But he makes up for it with his positioning and size. He will be pro in 2011, and will be OKC's best defenseman this year.

Colin Mcdonald: Was a sparkplug to start the game and then the fuse was slowly burning out. Like O'Marra, will be sent down after next cuts.

Gilbert Brule: Brule had some big hits, and made some very pretty finesse passes to Penner and Gilbert. He was back checking like crazy and seems like he could play either a top 6 role, or assume a bottom 6 role.

Tom Gilbert: Gilbert seems lost without Whitney. He jumped up in the rush and split the seam a couple times. He is the best passer on the back end but needs to be more consistent.

Ales Hemsky: Hemi actually played well in a pre-season game. This is comparable to Chorney hitting somebody. The puck stuck to his stick and he shot it often. We're sick of hearing that Hemsky doesn't shoot because he does. Him and M.P.S looked comfortable together.

Liam Reddox: Not the type of performance needed to make the team.

Sam Gagner: Doesn't play well with Ales because they are both puck possession players. He did however have a pretty little breakaway goal.

Magnus Paajarvi: Magnus Paarjavi seemed human tonight. But he drew 3 penalties by using his speed and driving wide. He seemed intimidated playing with Gagner and Hemsky. He passed up way to many shots and was being man handled by Derrick Morris on a few occasions.

Jeff Deslauriers: Deslauriers let in 2 quick goals, as he often does, albeit 1 wasn't his fault.  Both him and D.D are struggling right now and it's tough too judge who will remain on the team when the season starts.

Martin Gerber: A little part of us wonders if Gerber could be the back-up coming out of camp. He is currently the best goalie in camp, but the Oilers won't send both J.D.D or D.D through waivers.