Gene Principe and Tambellini: Photo courtesy Sportsnet

The Oilers dropped a key divisional game to Minnesota last night, this time  by the score of 4-2.

It wasn’t so much the fact they lost to Minnesota, it was the high fashion in which they did so.

TANGENT

Where are we?  This team has missed the playoffs every year after 2006.  It’s now 2013.

But remember, this is a process.  Yeah, okay, sell it somewhere else.

Where are we in this rebuild?

The answer is: I’m not sure.

Every third or fourth game, I’m blown out of the water by the riches that this team has. Ales Hemsky zips to the net and puts one in with acrobatic fashion, or Nail Yakupov wires a laser behind the opposing goalie, or Hall leads the train to the net…you get the idea.  So on most nights, I’m encouraged by progress.

BACK

I wasn’t encouraged by much progress last night.  The Edmonton Oilers went an entire period without gaining a shot on goal.  That’s a third of the game, an entire 20 minute frame.  That’s not encouraging in the least.  At one time, they were outshot 35-8.  That’s over a 400% margin (it’s actually 437.5%) that the team was outshot by.  That’s a red flag.  Two red flags.

If you haven’t already, I’m encouraging you to check out Michael Parkatti’s site Boys on the Bus which breaks game numbers down in a simple, easy to read way. To break it down super easy, the Oilers are getting outchanced on a more than regular basis.  In 21 games this year, the Oilers have been the better team in just two of them.  Yes, they have eight wins (thanks, 40+35), but they’re getting housed in the scoring chances department.  Every game.

So, it won’t surprise you when you read the Oilers were again outchanced against the Wild, especially when the fourth line was on the ice.  If your team is driving the game less than 10% of the time, you’re relying on your goaltenders to win the game.  If the Oilers had average goaltending, I can’t imagine what this would look like.

BACK

The zero shots in the second period thing is going to stick in my craw for some time.  That’s really bad, it’s not good at all.  The Oilers even had a power play in the period, and still nothing got on net.

THE GAME

Ah yes.

So in brighter times, Magnus Paajarvi gets on the first line, and he scores a goal.  Crazy talk.  He also does the dirty work  in order to deliver the goods.  THIS is grit, this is the “toughness” that this team needs.  Not a marginal NHL guy on the fourth line that plays four minutes a night and plays the puck like a grenade on the end of his stick.

Pictures don’t lie.  That’s Paajarvi taking a punch to the head to get the job done.  Full marks. A+ on a night full of fart sounds.

NOTHING BUT NET

Sam Gagner got credit for Edmonton’s second goal, a goal that bounced off himself, Ryan Suter, and went behind Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom.  Somehow this brought the Oilers to within one goal with seven minutes remaining.  That’s as close as they’d get.

As this team gets ready for Tuesday night’s game versus Columbus (a team that outshot the Oilers 40-14 a few weeks back), think about throwing the puck on net a little more.  With no shots in the second period of last night’s game, it can’t hurt.

RANDOM NOTES

• The loss in Minnesota puts the Oilers are 1-2-1 on the current nine game road trip.
• Did I mention about the ‘zero shots in the second period’ thing?  Just checking.
• Sam Gagner’s pinball goal gives him his 20th point in 21 games.
• Can Taylor Hall come back to play on Tuesday?  What about Horcoff?

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Paajarvi should be in the lineup every night.   Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports

Magnus Paajarvi ended up scoring the game winning goal in Saturday Night’s five goal comeback against the Avalanche.

Not bad for a guy who was scheduled to be a healthy scratch until ten minutes before the puck dropped. Paajarvi wasn’t scheduled to play at all on Saturday, and he would’ve remained a scratch until Lennart Petrell took a puck to the melon during warmups, and remains day-to-day.

So why was Magnus Paajarvi getting scratched?  You’re telling me that the bottom six on this team was completely booked up without a room for Magnus Paajarvi?

Before Petrell’s injury, the bottom six looked like this

SMYTH / BELANGER / YAKUPOV

EAGER / VANDE VELDE / PETRELL

• Nail Yakupov is slotted in at 3RW.  While I’m not elated he’s on the third line, it’s got to feel good for him to get onto the right side with some regularity.  The guy’s going to see power play time, and I don’t think anyone’s going to hold 64 out for 91.
• Let’s assume Lennart Petrell doesn’t get clocked with the puck in each warmup.
• Ryan Smyth got back in the lineup after being held out of the Dallas game.  Smyth is a better player when he’s playing on the wing, and not filling in down the middle.   Smyth has been on a bit of a penalty taking binge as of late (five minors over his last two games played), and while I’m not enthused by that, he was rewarded with two assists (including the primary assist on the game winner).
• Which leaves us Ben Eager.  We all know what Ben Eager is particularly good at.  I beat up a lot on Darcy Hordichuk, and that’s not because I think Hordichuk’s a bad guy, it’s just that he offers little to the table when playing around 90 seconds on the fourth line.  Detractors would say that he’s there to ‘protect the kids’, and can’t point to a single time that this happened.  As a matter of fact, you’d have to consult the hockeyfights.com database to find Hordichuk’s last fight (much less his last fight victory).But, back to Ben Eager. At first blush, Ben Eager looks to have a home on the fourth line. Guy plays more than a couple of minutes a night, which was my big complaint with Hordichuk. No use in dressing a scarecrow if the crow ain’t on the ice. Next question: what does he do on the ice? Block shots? Effectively use his “physical presence”? PK? PP? Score goals?That last one was to see if you’re still awake.Let’s consult some numbers.
  

  Screenshot courtesy Gabe Desjardins’ Behind The Net

For every sixty minutes of 5 on 5 ice time Ben Eager has, 44 shots are allowed.  To quote Stephen Morrissey, that’s criminally vulgar.  Only one who has him “beat” is Darcy Hordichuk, who through eight minutes of ice time somehow found his way to project out to more shots allowed. 44 shots is over twice the number of shots allowed by Chris Vande Velde.

Add to the fact that Eager doesn’t PK, he doesn’t PP, and I’m not too sure he’ll be dropping the mitts anytime soon after what happened in the first game this season.

Before you think I’m dumping all over Ben Eager, his last game wasn’t too bad.  He did draw the penalty that led to the Oilers game winner that was scored by Magnus Paajarvi.  He also had four shots, which if it isn’t a record for Ben Eager, it’s got to be close.

There’s no good reason to scratch Magnus Paajarvi.  Not on this team.

Follow Oil On Whyte on the Twitters.

Jeff – @OilOnWhyte

Ian – @ibleedoil

Jonathan – @jonrmcleod

Troy – @heavyoilcountry

Dave – @rustyknuckler

Check out the Oilers Army!

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