Back-Breaking. That's how I would describe a few of the goals allowed by Ben Scrivens against the Ottawa Senators. Without sounding like a carbon copy of the last game day blog, the Oilers got off to another abysmal start and yet again the goalie proved unable to keep the door shut long enough while Edmonton got up to gear. They aren't all on Scrivens, but a couple got through the armour that had no business fooling an NHL goalie, then the winning goal managed to go right past a goalie squared to the shooter.

Oilers undone again by sub .900 goaltending.

You know who doesn't have a sub .900 save percentage right now? Devan Dubnyk. Salt, meet Wound. The Coyotes goaltender is 3-0-1 on the year and just posted a Shutout in his last game to boost his sv% to .913 on the year. Why? Because Oilers, that's why. Now before we get all "The Oilers were so bad it was their fault not Dubnyk's" let's not forget that last season he failed out of 3 clubs. The Preds and the Habs couldn't squeeze blood from that stone either.

One difference in Arizona? The Coyotes have one of the best Goalie Coaches available in Sean Burke. He's a guy who specializes in big goalies like Dubnyk. I don't know how he did it, but he gave Dubnyk the confidence that he lost a year ago. I'm not going to say that in hindsight the Oilers shouldn't have traded DD, because they had every right to trade him and doing it was the best thing for the team and him. In a way I'm happy for him, but I must admit I'd be happier if the Oilers goaltenders were doing better too.

While we're on the Goalie and Goalie Coach discussion, one of the things Bob Stauffer mentioned on Oilers Now last week was that Edmonton's Goalie Coach Freddie Chabot was heavily involved in scouting and drafting prospects Olivier Roy and Tyler Bunz in addition to doing his regular duties. Unfortunately for both us and him, that's not looking like a great thing to put on the resume these days.

I'm not sure how fair it is to say that a failed goalie prospect falls on anyone since predicting how goaltenders develop is still effectively done by reading the directionality of birds flying overhead on Draft day. Alternatively the Andean people have come up with a method of Goalie prognostication that involves the sacrifice of Guinea Pigs which might be more accurate but PETA wouldn't like how that ends for the Guinea Pig. Nevertheless the Roy and Bunz picks essentially meant that the Oilers were left with an empty cupboard of netminders in the system.

Were there signs that they might not be great prospects? Well Bunz did particularly well his years +1 and +2 post Draft but fell back down once he reached Pro. One thing we can say for certain is that neither are "Big" goalies in an era when teams emphasize size in net. Both are close to 6 feet tall and about 185lbs. Additionally, despite decent W/L records both were below .900 in their Jr leagues when they were drafted. Today both men are well outside the NHL and only a miracle can bring them here.

"Fixing" the team's depth in net was one of MacT's first acts. Combine those picks with a complete reordering of the system and the simple fact that the team hasn't had competent starting since Roloson and you start to develop the keen sense that Chabot's job isn't particularly safe right now. Especially not when Oilers Now is telegraphing a potential change. The one successful Goalie Coach in the Oilers Entertainment Group's grasp is the Oil Kings skills coach who has managed to turn whatever kid the club brings to him into a WHL Star.

LINEUP

The Oilers aren't messing with a winning lineup, even are it has lost it's last 2 games. It looks like the lines are the same on Defense and Forward EXCEPT for the very likely addition of Taylor Hall. He has been skating with the team pain free, though with a knee brace, and has targeted tonight as a potential return. Like many observers, I hope they keep Hall away from RNH simply because right now the kid has found his high gear and I don't want to give him any reason to downshift. Plus, having a couple lines going is a good thing. It seems Klef and Marincin are sitting. Again.

Here's what I would do:

Pouliot RNH Eberle
Hall Arco Yak
Perron Drai Purcell
Hendricks Gordon Joensuu

Ference Petry
Marincin Schultz
Aulie Fayne

Fasth

Here's the projected lineup as we know it, without Hall:
UPDATE
Hall's back! Still don't know where though. Will update as more info becomes available. These lines are patchwork for now. Scrivens is getting the start. Not the call I would have made. Klefbom and Pakarinen have been sent back down to the AHL.

Pouliot RNH Eberle
Yak Arco Perron
Hall Drai Purcell
Hendricks Gordon Joensuu

Aulie Schultz
Nikitin Fayne
Ference Petry

Scrivens

OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME

1) The Curse Of The Ex-Oiler. It seems only a matter of how many Gagner will score against Edmonton tonight based on the existence of this curse. Gagner hasn't exactly lit the world on fire with the Coyotes, though he actually isn't failing completely either. He has 17GP, 2-4-6 and is 50.6% on the Faceoff dot. He is getting a high proportion of Offensive Zone starts and is a positive possession player (51.5% CF) for it. He's only shooting 5.1% so he's getting some looks but they haven't gone in yet. He isn't their most dangerous player, but that damned curse...

2) Yandle and OEL. The Yotes have these players in different pairings but combined they play roughly 51.5 minutes a game. OEL is the better defender at evens, rocking a 53.1% CF compared to Yandle's 46.6% CF. Where Yandle shines is on the Power Play. He already has 10 PP points on the season. That's tops on the Coyotes and only 2 behind Sidney Crosby. (Justin Schultz had 12 all of last year)

3) Fix The Starts. The bad start is beginning to be a trend here. I get that the last 2 games they were either 1) at the end of a long trip or 2) in their 1st game back from a long trip, but, to paraphrase Ted Nolan, this is a big boy league and those excuses don't cut it. Allowing another team to pepper the goalie because collectively the team decided a 7:45 start suits them better is not OK.

Puck drops tonight at 7:08PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Game On!

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