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Oilers slide into desert for date with Dogs |
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Precariously clenching on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers have nine games over the next 17 days to demonstrate they deserve an invitation to the NHL’s post-season celebrations.
The footsteps, however, are growing louder and louder with each tie, with each loss, the latest coming against the league-leading Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at Rexall Place.
Taking a 1-0 lead into the third period, many in attendance were waiting for the other skate to fall, as it were, and to no one’s surprise, the Oilers didn’t disappoint. The Wings took command, rippled the twine on three occasions in the last couple of minutes of the contest to steal not one, but two points from a deflated Oilers squad.
So, the copper and blue will, once again, look to bounce back from another tough loss Thursday night, when the face off against Gretzky’s Desert Dogs in Phoenix, knowing full well that it’s not the Coyotes nipping at their feet, but the Wild, Blues and Preds.
Edmonton will catch a flight directly after the Phoenix tilt, and head for Anaheim for a huge contest against Ryan Getzlaf and the Ducks on Friday night. From there, they’ll return home for another nail biter against the Minnesota Wild.
The time is now Oilers Nation – it has been for some time actually – for players like Nilsson, O’Sullivan, Horcoff, Souray and, yes, even the apparently outspoken Ales Hemsky, to will this team to victory over the next 17 days.
Their netminder has been doing it for months now! So, who’s with him?
Head Coach Craig MacTavish has been asking that question for seemingly months as well, wondering which individual players would single-handedly step to the fore and show some leadership when the club’s team play disappeared.
There have been spurts; Hemsky, Souray, Cogliano and most recently, Gagner, who have temporarily found their respective games. Consistently, however, their have been more who have been passengers on a vessel floating aimlessly through the 2008-09 season.
Perhaps my hearing is selective, but does MacT sound like a man whose tank of explanations is running on empty?
Articulate? Absolutely. Full of BS? Absolutely.
It’s an observation, rather than a criticism of the Oilers’ bench boss. The guy has been around the league and the NHL’s most northern outpost for a long time now, and I’m certain, having stuck my tape recorder in his face once or twice, that MacT is in “sales mode” at the moment, both to save the season and his own hide.
Whether you’re buying what MacT’s selling is another question.
Can’t say I am.
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