Although the Oilers were playing the basement dwellers of the Western Conference last night, it was a very important 6-3 victory for the team. The Oilers really needed to snap their losing streak and they did it with the help of Ryan Jones first career hat trick last night. It was really great to see the offense coming from different sources besides the top line. While Smyth had a couple of assists and Eberle and RNH each had a point, it was great to see goals coming from guys like Jones, Hemsky and even Smid!
I know it is only one game, but last night was a display of how the Oilers have much more offensive depth than they have had in quite a while. With Hall out of the lineup, and RNH and Eberle contributing just a point each, the team was still able to score 6. Yes, I know it’s only the Bluejackets, but it’s still a good sign.
Tonight the Oilers will be right back in action hosting their rivals from Calgary. Although the Flames are 13th in the conference and have looked anything but good this season, the Oilers somehow have saved some of their worst performances for the Flames in the past couple years. Iginla (who incidentally has 16 points less than RNH) somehow always seems to perform well against his hometown team.
There is always, however, a tipping point where things change. I’m hoping that happens tonight. I know without a doubt, if the Oilers come out and play their best game for 60 minutes, that they will be able to defeat Jay Feasters’ Flames. The question is whether or not they can put it together for a full 60 minutes. I expect at some point in the near future we will start to see the Oilers begin to dominate the battle of Alberta. Let’s hope tonight is the beginning of that.
Earlier this year, the Flames GM, Feaster, guaranteed that the Flames would make the playoffs. A win tonight by the Oilers would put Feaster a step closer to looking like a complete fool. Face it Flames fans, your team needs a rebuild. You have a core of ageing players that aren’t good enough to win right now and you have very little in the pipeline as far as prospects are concerned.
Go Oilers!
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