Edmonton Oilers 5, Wild 2
Posted on October 16th, 2009 – 11:46 PMBy Michael Russo
Honestly, with four key forwards out of the lineup, you’re not going to get a much better effort from the Wild.
And like I said in my gamer, they still lost 5-2.
If you watched this game, the old line, “Every mistake we make ends up in our net,” certainly came true tonight. The Wild put forth a solid effort, but every time it screwed up, red light.
The Oilers didn’t have a shot the final 13 1/2 minutes of the first period. They were being outshot 20-8 at one point. At the end of two, they had 11 shots and three goals. At the end of the game, the Oilers were outshot 31-19 and won 5-2.
As Pat Quinn often says, coaches count one thing, chances, but like Todd Richards said after the game, I couldn’t concur more. The Wild outchances the Oilers by maybe a 2-to-1, or as Richards believed, a 3-to-1 margin in the second and were trailing 3-1. In fact, in my mind, they had three chances to score and did every time.
To cut and paste from my original play-by-play that I chopped from final edition story:
After a great opening period for the Wild (the Wild had fallen down 3-0 in three of five games this season), Mike Comrie gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead 1:49 into the second. After a long shift by the Mikko Koivu line, defenseman Greg Zanon blocked a Comrie shot. The puck stayed in the zone, Comrie jumped over a sliding Andrew Brunette and then one-timed Robert Nilsson’s beautiful feed.
The Wild didn’t give up another scoring chance until 10 minutes later. After Derek Boogaard creamed former Wild prospect Patrick O’Sullivan, O’Sullivan returned the favor by not only checking Boogaard in the defensive zone, but taking the puck.
O’Sullivan skated around the net and sent a no-look, cross-crease feed to the other side of the net for Dustin Penner, who scored his fourth goal for a 2-0 lead.
But the Wild made it a game again after defenseman Nick Schultz forced a turnover in the Wild end. Marek Zidlicky fed Eric Belanger, who took a shot more meant as a pass for Benoit Pouliot in front. Pouliot, who played a strong game, cut the deficit in half.
Back to me live 
Gilbert Brule’s goal made it 3-1, and it was a killer two minutes later and with 43 seconds left in the period. As Richards likes to say, when you get tired, your mind goes first. Schultz proved it here. He was dead tired, and as his teammates went to the bench gassed for a change, he fired an errant pass by them all for a turnover.
Regardless, J-F Jacques took a harmless shot that Harding just dropped. Brule scored for the backbreaking goal.
Still Brunette made it 3-2 and the Wild make a couple more huge mistakes in the third.
Wild works hard. Gives up 19 shots. Gets an inspired effort from players like, say, Pouliot, who was tremendous. And it still can’t win. I mean, what can you do now?
I don’t want to make excuses for them, but you get four injuries like the Wild has, there’s just so many third- or fourth-liners that you can play. Wild has to work so hard to score that you better be squeaky clean everywhere else.
The Wild says it still has to take the positives out of this, but that can’t be easy when you lose 5-2. And that’s where the concern lies. At some point, when you exude so much effort and continually don’t get rewarded, the effort will disappear. It always does in every hard-knock team I’ve covered (and few have covered more, incidentally).
James Sheppard, don’t mean to pick on him, but minus-3 tonight and for a power forward, he just brings no power when driving the net. He’s got to be better than tonight.
Schultz is struggling. Brent Burns minus-3 and a league-worst minus-10 now.
1-5 overall. 0-5 on the road.
And Vancouver waiting. Talk to you Saturday (Wild might not skate, so maybe Saturday night).
Big question is do the Wild make a claim at Anaheim’s Andrew Ebbett? I believe they were at least debating it. Maybe you just sub the 5-9 Ebbett with the 5-9 Hilbert. Problem is Wild’s waiver priority is still where it ended last year until, I think, Nov 1. Have to confirm that fact though.
105 Responses to "Edmonton Oilers 5, Wild 2"
I wonder if Sheppard still has his Christmas tree up.
Where can we find information re: scoring chances stats?
love Pouliot’s effort. I think the kid still has a lot of potential. I’d love to see him tap into that.
Sheppard is NOT a powerforward. He’s a slower skater than Nolan and Sykora. He’s got no forecheck, and no hustle.
Nice to see Boogey in the lineup!
Anyone missing Lemaire yet? 
Great another moral victory!!!
W L OTL MV
1 5 0 3
awesome!!!!
This loss not even close to a moral victory.
But if you say so…. how many moral victories will we have before we get a real victory?
C’mon Russo…one throw-away line about Burns’ putrid play? I know he’s your boy and all, but how about some objective critique about his brutal play so far, but no, you choose to focus it on Shepp. Sheesh.
“No excuses, Richards says: ‘We have to find a way’ ”
Or how about this instead:
“No excuses, Richards says: “I’m in way over my head” …I think that’s closer to the truth.
This is going to be a long season. Thanks DR for gutting us!
…and Heatley isn’t here because they didn’t want to trade Brent Burns?
….and Olli Jokinen isn’t here because they didn’t want to trade Shleppard?
Will TR be having a short history with the Wild? Not saying that he’s to blame, but plenty of other teams in the past have gotten rid of coaches after a dismal record.
It is going to be a long season, you got that right. Even if Sykora, Clutterfluck, and Sally Bouchard are healthy this team still stinks. For this team to get better it needs about 5 really bad losing seasons first. Then hopefully they (the Mild) can get some nice assets (draft picks) and miraculously land a guy like Crosby, Malkin, or Ovechkin. Let’s be honest, the Timberwolves immediate future is considerably brighter in terms of winning and being competitive than are those of the Mild. It’s that bad for the “Team of 18,000…..(Oooo, yay, were the team of 18,000! Woo Hoo !! Pass the kool-aid !!)
Fritsche’s Math Teach:
What is your love affair with Shepp??? He’s more than had his chance’s!!! Dude let go!! He’s not NHL material! Back to square one!!!
For those of you who are already wishing Lemaire was back, please realize that if he were to have had a better start, it just would have delayed the inevitable. The team with or without Lemaire is not a cup contender. And another year of mediocrity around 8-10 would get us another mid 1st round pick. Plus, I am sure anyone wanting Lemaire back would be screaming for change half-way through the year because no progress would be made and we would still be watching a defensive, no fore-check game with us only getting 19-23 shots on net.
Does losing suck? Yea
Does seeing half of our team, especially guys like Burns, play horribly? Yes.
But the truth is that everthing Russo has written lately is true; we have no prospect depth, we are learning a new system and it is going to take awhile for Fletcher to be able to turn around the team in a cap era. He cannot simply overpay every free agent to magically turn it around. He has to gather assets and turn them into prospect depth, then that prospect depth all has to come up around the same time, then he has to add the missing elements via trade by having that extra depth or by free agency.
It’s going to be awhile.
We’re still better than the Maple Leafs (0-5-1). Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the worst NHL record I could find is the 1974-75 Washington Capitals who went 8-67-5. Note it was that franchise’s first year.
Is it too early to start talking about Taylor Hall?
Ben, you’re being way too reasonable and freaking me out with the big picture stuff here.
Pouliot was the Wild’s best player against Edmonton Friday. Koivu & Burns, not too good. Sheppard, REALLY not too good. Everyone else is struggling at best. What the hell is going on and what has changed since last year?
Oh yea, Lemaire is gone……it is that simple.
There are a lot of Lemaire bashers here but the fact is, he was able to do more with less.
I agree with Mike. I am even more Pssd-Off at Risebrough now. This season should have happened last year. Gaborik should have been traded, Brunette and Nolan never signed and we could have finished near the bottom and gotten a taveras, hedman, evander, etc. It sucks losing but like Mike said we need a few really bad seasons to build our prospects back up.
Granted I only saw the third period but is too much to ask Josh Harding to make some big saves? 14 saves on 19 shots in totally unacceptable and if the team is trying to showcase him for a trade then right now Harding is not worth much at all.
Sorry that should read is IT too much to ask..too early in the morning to type right =)
Why is Shep. even on the ice? There has GOT to be someone in Houston who would/could put forth more effort than this clown, isn’t there? God, the cupboard must REALLY be bare if this stiff is still dressing..
This is all DR’s fault. He destroyed this team from the inside out. It will take Fletcher years to fix this mess.
I was observing the game again on dvr, and have to admit the effort was there… But after looking at the Aero’a roster i think we are stuck with the team we have
Sunshine is making solid posts about the Wilds performance
Defensively they played better as they restricted the Defenses pinching problems. In their own end is where the Wild need to spend time on
I must be missing something. Desperation to win does not = Harding at the MOMENT. This team does not have time to wait for him to play better
Bad coaching is causing a problem. Pouliot should be playing with Sheppard. Those two can be buds and figure it out together
I do think the Wild will win at home more
What has happened to Koivu? Wow. A shell.
Burns? I don’t know how a guy can look so good and so bad. I think it’s that these guys must be a collection of weak minds. They need some grit. 3-4 more Clutterbucks. Toughen up boys.
It’s a long season….tough road trip to start, but still….act like adults.
Does anyone have the scoop on petr kalus? I seem to remember him working his but off in camp, but there is never any mention of him getting called up. He should be just as good if not better than pouliot isnt he? he may even work harder than shep! looks like he has a handfull of goals for the season isnt offense what we need?
Fast one, I’ve been thinking the same thing. If this time is 1-15 or something like that, there is a good chance of a change.
I’m not buying the excuses about injuries against an Oiler team Hemsky, Souray, etc.
BP played well and hopefully he can continue that tonight in Vancouver.
I don’t like the defeated tone in Russo’s post, particularly when he says
“At some point, when you exude so much effort and continually don’t get rewarded, the effort will disappear.”
I hope you’re wrong on this one, Russo. I’ve said this before so I apologize for repeating myself: I really hope this Wild season won’t harm some good player’s careers. Motivation, you know? I guess getting paid decently does a part, but it always boils down to things that money can’t buy.
Next OG’s will definitely find me cheering for Finland.
It didn’t take long to find this blog, which evidences that Minnesota sports fans are the weakest around. You score big points for not realizing that your team had no hope at the playoffs this year due to a chain of events already in play when the new GM and coach were brought in. It’s easy to complain and I see your blogs are full of complainers. One game into the PRE-season and people wanted to fire the coach and GM. What a pitiful excuse for the “State of Hockey.” Most people have no hockey knowledge, and even better, some people are comparing an NHL team with the an NBA team. I have scoured the internet and have not found a larger collection of fair-weather, nay-saying fans. Congrats!!!!
>What is your love affair with Shepp??? He’s more than had his chance’s!!! Dude let go!! He’s not NHL material! Back to square one!!!
I dont give two sh*tz whether he is NHL material or not. The point of my comment was to suggest Russo wont go after players he “likes” or are popular, while having no time ripping on the lesser players…especially the ones that get ripped on the board.
honestly, these loses are sloppy and all, but at least if they losing at least it’s been entertaining. I can watch these last few games and enjoy myself much more then I could stomach another year like last year with frustrating 2-1 JL losses. I like the aggressiveness, hopefully they can figure it out for a whole 60 minutes.
So take a deep breath everyone, maybe they do suck, but lets give the new guys more then two weeks to find out.
I will rip 2 guys though: Sheppard, just looked gross. Can he move his legs? And Harding, that third goal, cover the puck! And the fifth, a sloppy rebound. Is he playing bad to stay here? Yikes.
Worst Fan Locator:
You say “fair-weather fans”. You’ve certainly read me!!! Aren’t you cute?
Edit:
…no PROBLEM ripping on the lesser players…
WorstFan? More like worst troll….
I think Russo is looking too hard at individual players. Russo, you should stop making excuses for the Wild. Right now they are bad, and not very enjoyable to watch.
Now, I was no fan of Lemaire’s style, but he made them play solid positional hockey. No matter what style you play, the team needs to support each other. I just don’t see the Wild playing as a team. I have see better team play from pick up games.
Richards needs to seriously re-evaluate how he is coaching, cuz it is not working.
Owen28:
What do you want Richards to do? Put lipstick AND eyeliner on this pig of a roster?
Richards needs to get everyone on the same page. We do not have the strongest lineup, but I think it is comparable to Calgary. One clear top line (if they were all healthy) and some not-so-familiar second, third, fourth line guys. It’s working for Calgary. It will just take a little more time for the Wild, and a couple of home games.
Nice to Let Penner run all over us last night. Can’t dress the one D we have to move him and cut him off from the net. But yet Plenty of Johnsson, Zitlicker & Schultz
Burns can forget about the Olympics, No way he goes now after the way he has played so undiciplined to start the season.
Trade Sheppard NOW….
Congrats math teacher. Within 10 minutes of my post you say the Wild has a “Pig” of a roster. And, just before that, someone calls out a new coach. Hilarious. Thank you for again showing why you whiners don’t deserve a hockey team.
sunshine says:
Where can we find information re: scoring chances stats?
***
sunshine, I guess we can’t find them in the widest sense (an account of every play that could have ended in goal), but the game stats are the closest thing out there.
Khabibulin made 31 saves last night and that sounds like he was pretty busy. I’m really sorry I missed the game.
Richards needs to get everyone on the same page
Excellent and agree with 100%
We do not have the strongest lineup, but I think it is comparable to Calgary.
What the..? Im going to pretend you didnt just type that….
It looks like we’ll get our wish of a high draft pick next year. Brodz is solid so I have some faith in cf and tr’s ability to evaluate talent. Now we just have to endure the next 70+ games.
AHHHH!!!!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!! BURN THE X!!!! FIRE EVERYONE WORKING WITHIN 3 MILES OF ST. PAUL!!!!!
WorstTrollLocated:
Go crawl back to the hole from which you came from.
—–Worst Fan Locator says:
October 17th, 2009 at 9:26 am
It didn’t take long to find this blog, which evidences that Minnesota sports fans are the weakest around. You score big points for not realizing that your team had no hope at the playoffs this year due to a chain of events already in play when the new GM and coach were brought in. It’s easy to complain and I see your blogs are full of complainers. One game into the PRE-season and people wanted to fire the coach and GM. What a pitiful excuse for the “State of Hockey.” Most people have no hockey knowledge, and even better, some people are comparing an NHL team with the an NBA team. I have scoured the internet and have not found a larger collection of fair-weather, nay-saying fans. Congrats!!!!—–
Well then, why don’t you just keep on scouring the Internet and bail off this blog, Troll.
Oh yeah…. And BTW, welcome back VDS, Alan, or whatever name you’re goin’ by now.
When the Wild play 5 on 5…
6 Goals For and 19 Goals Against.
I think we can all agree that the Wild players are not playing up to their ability, both as individuals and as a team. And when this happens, whether you like it or not, it falls on the responsibility of the coaches. Because that’s their job. I am not saying fire the guy. Just saying that he needs to do his job better.
Mr. Vavra:
First, it’s my opinion so I understand if you don’t agree. But, I encourage to look at the lineups. They aren’t exact, of course. They are, however, comparable. Calgary has way more experience with their system so they look better and are playing much better. In that sense, you can’t compare the two. But, in my opinion, if the Wild gets it together, we will be on par with Calgary, which is the best team in the NW.
Oh, and if guys like Shep and Pouliot stepped up like the younger guys on Calgary, that would certainly help.
OWEN28:
I still am waiting for your explanation about why you think our lines 2-4 are like Calgary’s….might that be because you’re typing out ur arse?
Owen28, exactly.
MessrHockey
Im willing to grant you that ours and Calgarys 4th line are comparable, but other than that, Flames are far superior to us, sad to say.
I think someone even wrote, even WITH Butchie, Buttercup, Sykora et al we are still just not that skilled. That isnt RICHARD’s fault, Hardings fault, or Johhnny’s…that is squarely on Doug-Im the worst GM in MN sports history next to McHale-Risebrough.
Thank you all for continuing to show why you are the weakest fans.
The best part is that you resort to third grade playground tactics when someone expresses and opinion you don’t like. Instant label as a troll, rather than truly considering what I have written. The second best part is you label me as someone else you don’t like. I have an opinion, which I have expressed. Because you disagree doesn’t make it any less valid.
Look at those posters around you. There are plenty of holes that should be occupied by whiners and those with no hockey IQ. These posters are making it easy for others to spot them. Rid yourselves of the nay-saying, whiny-baby nonsense and wake up. Get behind your team, you losers.
Worst fan, I’m going to enjoy watching our ham n eggers beotch the ca-knobs
I agree with you about previous regime causing the current situation, Fritsche’s math teacher.
But, outside of Iggy, and Olli (maybe Langkow) who are those guys on Calgary’s team? They are similar to they guys on our second and third lines, but our guys aren’t playing to their potential and Calgary’s are. That is my point. If our guys played to their potential, which many haven’t since they’ve been on the Wild (this is nothing new, but now it falls on the new coach for some reason), we would be comparable to Calgary.
We’ll table that discussion I suppose. I’ll bring it up again when we pass Calgary for first place in February.
I hate the Canucks myself. They are right up there with the worst fans. But there is far less whiny-baby, name calling from their fans.
Lost in all the doom and gloom surrounding last night’s game was the fact that our adversary for tonight….Bobby Lou…. got torched for FIVE goals in two periods last night on the way to VanSnoozer’s fourth loss. So tonight you have the 1-5 Wild against the 2-4 Canuckleheads.
Maybe this explains why the VanSnoozer trolls have been silent until this morning. When your team is 2-4, it’s hard to chest-pound, even for them. So they just try to agitate from a different angle, with new handles / names.
On a different note…..
I’m still am not a Dany Heatley fan and I think he will eventually end-up being the same lockerroom cancer in SJ that he was in ATL and OTT, so I’m glad the Wild didn’t give up someone like Burnsie for him. That said, I think that it’s time for the Wild to “take the gloves off” and let it be known that NO player is untouchable, not even Mikko, if the offer is right.
The OJ thing still burns me in that we could have him here right now if Smug was willing to part with….gulp….Shep. The “untouchable” thing that Smug had goin’ here is just one more example of how he screwed this team and this organization big-time.
I’m not saying this purely from a knee-jerk perspective, but I think that going forward, bold moves will need to be made along with smaller ones. Sometimes to get quality, you have to give up quality.
We’ll see down the road, I guess…..
WorstTrollLocated
Did you get picked on as a kid or something? Sheesh, someone is a bit insecure…
Honestly, being critical of a team that has started the year 1-5 does NOT make us fair weather, or whatever ignorant tag you are broadly trying to paint us all as.
So your solution is for all of us to praise our gifted and talented team regardless of its play? Lemme guess….you’re a Wings fan right?
Btw, still waiting on this alledged wealth of hockey knowledge you have. Seems to me the only thing you know a lot about is being a complete and total douche on a blog!
You know, now that it has been illustrated what a bunch of bad fans we are, I am truly shamed. I think I’ll just stop watching the Wild, no hockey altogether.
Thank you and God bless you, WFL, for helping me achieve enlightenment.
Now that your work here is done, I’m sure you’re looking for your next group of bad fans to save from themselves. I suggest pointing your google search at ‘boston red sox fan blog’ or words to that effect. There’s a group of sports fans that can really use your expertise.
We’ll table that discussion I suppose. I’ll bring it up again when we pass Calgary for first place in February.
I like your enthusiasm! But you are toally buying me a beer on March 1st when we will still be behind them
WFL writes too well for a troll. Perfect sentences, irreproachable spelling and pausing… come on, you’re a psycho or socio linguistic student doing an experiment. And you’re a regular of this blog too.
Just revise your notes on trolling, friend. You’re doing a very bad job of it. Bad spelling and excess of CAPEITALS
are needed. Otherwise we’re not taking you seriously.
Just that.
Fritsche:
You are partially correct. Being critical is not a bad thing. Being critical, and in many cases overly critical, about your team without realizing the true reasons for the slump is exactly the type of thing that reveals a lack of hockey knowledge. It’s not as though you have a Chicago Blackhawks caliber team to begin with. But, some idiots on here will blame that on the regime for not signing 8 top named players.
Label me how you will. I am not a Wings fan or from Vancouver. I am simply a person who knows weak fans when I see them. I will go down as a martyr for true Wild fans.
Thank you and God bless you, WFL, for helping me achieve enlightenment.
NINY for the win! lol
Don’t want to interrupt the whining but can I ask a hockey question here?
Can someone explain to me why the Wild can’t get a forward to camp out in front of the net in the offense zone? JL’s team didn’t do it and TR’s team seems to be taking the same perimeter based approach. It seems to me that if you get someone to the net it requires an opposing defenseman to come to the front too which creates problems for the goalie’s sightlines and opens up more space at the perimeter for our playmakers. I assume that there is a rational explaination for the current approach but what is it?
Rational:
The goal is to have a guy in front of the net. I think we have some weak players who simply cannot get there, or who are afraid to take the punishment that comes with being there. Pouliot was trying last night and got a goal from it. We need other guys to step up and do the same.
Imo Calgary is a far superior team, talent-wise and top-to-bottom, than we are. No, they’re not exactly four lines deep with scorers, but no one really is. We barely have a full legit nhl 1st line.
Their defense top four is arguably the best in the entire league and our goalie will be their goalie’s backup for Finland in Vancouver next February.
You can’t even say we are facing more adversity than they are with all the changes to our roster and coaching staff - because they’ve had changes too.
The only thing is they’re not as beat up at ‘key’ (relatively speaking) positions on the depth chart as we are right now.
But even healthy I don’t think we’ll be pushing the Flames for tops in the division.
The make-up of the forwards is similar in that we’re both sort of top heavy with a couple lines of grinders. Buti think their grinders are more established than ours.
I read that the final year of contracts are pro-rated so we are going to have to wait until the last second of the trade deadline to move Kimberly Johnssssson (5.4 million) and Zidlicky (3.5 million) I hope we can get a 7th rounder and some practice goal netting for those two stiffs. They should just shut down Board crawler Bouchard too and buy him out.
Can someone explain to me why the Wild can’t get a forward to camp out in front of the net in the offense zone?
You need a big, power forward body to fullfill that role. The last time I looked we havent had that “guy” on our roster in a long, long time…if at all!
Hey, Mikko!
Where have you gone?
Can someone explain to me why the Wild can’t get a forward to camp out in front of the net in the offense zone?
But the new rules don’t allow the D-man to inflict the type of abuse that they did in the old days. Why don’t they just send someone to the front to at least draw a penalty?
Cant resist adding a little salt in our wounds:
GP G A P +/-
7 6 4 10 7
Care of #10 in NYC…
Rational:
I think most of our guys are afraid to get down and dirty in front of the net. D-men still inflict plenty of damage in front of the net. I agree that we should send guys to the net. Perhaps the answer is that there is no answer; it should be being done but it isn’t.
“I will go down as a martyr for true Wild fans.”
Dang….it’s amazing how fickle ‘credibility’ can be.
Can someone explain to me why the Wild can’t get a forward to camp out in front of the net in the offense zone?
This has been answered already, we dont have anybody! If Benny-boy is our best bet, oh man is it going to be a looooonnnnnnggggg season.
D-men still inflict plenty of damage in front of the net.
Just not ours…..
I think Fletcher needs to trade one of these inept Defensemen just to let the rest of them know this type of play will not be tolerated in this new regime. They are way to comfortable and never any accountability. You can’t trade Johnsson because his cap # (4.8mil) is way to high. Schultz and Zidlicky are prime candidates though. Allthough maybe the full verbal no trade Schultz and Bouchard had with DR may still be in play with the organization. that we don’t know.
IGNORE THE CAP AND RESTRICTIONS ON TRADING OUR PLAYERS AND TRADE EVERYONE!!!!! DISMANTLE THE ENTIRE TEAM!!!! HIRE JL AGAIN AND FIRE HIM AN HOUR LATER!!!!!
I don’t know about first place, but this can be a good team if healthy. My call is they make the playoffs if they get healthy.
Plenty of reactionary posts, here. Definitely there have been painful games to watch lately, but for a “lousy” team, they sure can outplay their opponents for some long stretches. They just need to figure out how to do that for 60 minutes.
As time goes on, they will make fewer and fewer big mistakes. And Koivu and Burns are in a slump, but they did not become lousy overnight. First six games are not indicative of how the entire season will go.
Things will definitely improve (how can they not?). They’re decent, but the biggest factor for how this season goes is can they get healthy?
Didnt read every post but has anyone else noticed just how bad Nolan looks…he is soo slow, has made some terrible passes as of late just not looking good. Also Shane Hnidy looks bad as well, its like he has a brain fart everytime he gets the puck.
Agreed on Nolan, nary a peep from him on the ice, or in the paper = not good. Disappointing.
IF WFL has “scoured” the Internet looking at fan blogs and found us hockey-stupid fans here on Russoville to be the worst and most fickle ones around, then he / she must not have “scoured” very far.
Look no further than most of the Canadian markets, particularly Montreal and Toronto, where they (the fans) usually will want to fire the coach, hang the GM, and implode the organization when they hit a slump of…oh, about 5 or 6 losses in a row.
Your comments, why articulate in-nature, exhibit the very lack of “hockey knowledge” you accuse the fans here of having. This market and the fans in this area, while admittedly not always displayed at all times and by all posters / postings on Russo’s Rants, is / are probably the most “hackey savvy” and “hockey knowledgable” in the NHL. That is of course with the exception of just about all of the aforementioned Canadain markets, naturally.
Perhaps you need to get a better grade of steel wool and “scour” a little deeper or a little longer, and develop some of this so-called “hockey knowledge” you accuse others of lacking.
Bye-Bye……
That should say “HOCKEY savvy”…..
Ooops….
We should be grateful that Smug built this organization into the class of the NHL. /sarcasm
There were positives to be taken away from last night’s game. The biggest one is that my migrane meds knocked me out during the 2nd intermission…:)
Not scoring 5 on 5 is related to the lack of talent we already know about.
The Wild are not getting the same goaltending that JL enjoyed last year. The number of shots given up by the Wild are way down. Save pct for the goalies is way down too. Sometimes you need a quality save to cover for a defensive mistake. That isn’t happening.
I’m not ready to give up on it…the hockey (losing and all) has been more entertaining. At least for me. The expectaions now are different than they were under the previous regime. The rest of the NHL was right…the Wild talent is lacking in comparison. On a contending team, our 1st line would be a 2nd line.
It won’t make me stop watching, cheering or critiquing. I guess I am not a realist, I am a fair weather, bad fan.
Come on kj….. The Wild not getting the same goaltending that JL enjoyed last year??????
LOL! That’s BS!
Paraphrasing an old political saying
“Its the DEFENSE, stupid.” If the Wild just plays a semblance of DEFENSE, maybe they could win another game already.
And, the only goaltending difference is that Lemaire didn’t play Harding. Russo and some folks on the blog skewed him for not playing Harding enough last season. Maybe Lemaire just knew that he couldn’t play Harding much because he was shaky and needed Backstrom’s more solid goaltending to give the team a chance to win more games.
KJ: We should be grateful that Smug built this organization into the class of the NHL. /sarcasm
Mister Know it all: What changed ? The Wild were talked by the league as a MODEL. I enjoyed the hockey the Wild played. DR began to tire the last two years and I am sure that had to do with his cancer and the ownership changes that led to the increase in fog with his decisions.
No doubt Cliff Fletcher will bring an energy second to none just like DR did when this deal started
KJ: The Wild are not getting the same goaltending that JL enjoyed last year. The number of shots given up by the Wild are way down. Save pct for the goalies is way down too. Sometimes you need a quality save to cover for a defensive mistake. That isn’t happening.
Mister Know it all: I agree with what KJ is saying 100% but I will add that the Wild are not getting the coaching and this leads me to question Fletchers decision to bring a rookie coach on to a team that WAS good to begin with
KJ: I’m not ready to give up on it…the hockey (losing and all) has been more entertaining. At least for me. The expectaions now are different than they were under the previous regime. The rest of the NHL was right…the Wild talent is lacking in comparison. On a contending team, our 1st line would be a 2nd line.
Mister Know it all: I dont know who the rest of the league represents saying that the Wild talent pool is down compared to other teams. With this many injuries JL would have had a hard time winning but even when the Wild did not have the injuries they looked like garbage. A JL team would have got a point out of Edmonton last night and Harding would have been pulled.
The system is fine but as we know it should and will be modified to make SENSE for this team and its players.
The Wild are doing some good things but they have some major discipline problems going on with its players that even a pee wee coach would pull his hair out from
If these continued defensive problems continue no way they can win enough to make the playoffs. Yes Backstrom will win them a couple and they will outscore some team with a bad goalie having an off night but not enough to keep the fans in the seats in March
One final point: Richards is a family fan and he has one heck of a huge job that requires all of his focus and energy to be tied up with the team.
Lemaire did not have any of that. Did Flecther look at the whole picture before hiring him ?
Another thing on goaltending — most of the shots seen last year by our goaltenders were from the outside. Our DEFENSE saw to that.
Now, because of lack of good defense, our goaltenders see less shots ie outside shots from opponents are down, and see more good quality scoring chances instead.
Just because I harp on defense doesn’t mean I want Lemaire back. Lemaire didn’t invent defense.
sunshine…
There have been weak goals to go along with the tap-ins. The defensive play could be a lot better. DOH!
I’m just saying that when a team is struggling defensively, sometimes a goaltender can help turn it around with a big save.
What I said was that the goaltending is not as good as it was last year. Whether it’s the system, or the goalies themselves, I said it was different.
I didn’t say it was the root cause of all their woes…like you’re trying to imply I did.
WTH MKVN? You say TR having a family is a liability as a coach? Um, what JL lived in a bubble with no relatives? My god that has to be one of the mot inane things you have ever uttered on this blog.
I still believe we won’t truly understand what we have either with the team or the coach until we are healthier and are several more weeks into the season.
IMO this team need’s to have ALL the player’s healthy and playing before we all pass judgement on how bad they or the coach is after all it’s only 5 game’s.Calm down.
YOU CALM DOWN! OUR PETS’ HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!!!
What?????????
[…] Russo’s Rants » Blog Archive » Edmonton Oilers 5, Wild 2 blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/wildblog/2009/10/16/edmonton-oilers-5-wild-2 – view page – cached Honestly, with four key forwards out of the lineup, you’re not going to get a much better effort from the Wild. — From the page […]
Nico in Chicago- Not everyone would agree with you. We will see
Armymom: Richards could have studied last years team better and if it was me I would look at how Lemaire got this team to get results. I get the feeling they snubbed how Lemaire did things. Some of his mistakes look preventable especially with how Lemaire ran the goalies. The team concept that was instilled by Lemaire and DR would be helpful for Richards to follow because it was developed by older successful management that have had a great deal of success.
Team discipline is whats causing problem. Some players not working hard for the team like Havlat who finds it ok not to work hard and not pay attention in the defensive end of the ice. That hurts the TEAM and so Richards needs to borrow The team model/compass developed by DR & JL and use it !
Richards and Fletcher has a system that is doing some good things and you can see they are modifying it which is pretty obvious they needed to do.
Armymom: Your right he needs time and I actually think the Wild will be a better home team then under Lemaire with Richards
He might figure this out we will see
Signed Mister Know it all
From what I have seen so far with the wild, We just as well trade off everyone for prospects and draft picks, finish dead last this year to get another good pick, and completely rebuild. This season is over, there will be no chance for the cup, so why not just start rebuilding right now?
Question and answer with Craig Leipold
Mister Know it all: Why did you paint over the memories section outside the players locker rooms.
Craig: I wanted to start my own identity and I did not think the former management had a good philosophy
Mister Know it all: So Honesty & Preparation & Hard work were bad things. It seems to me Craig, that Richards could have used that to explain to Havlat that he should be Honest to his teammates about playing for the team instead of himself.
Craig: I guess I thought “its in our Blood ” and Nordy would help us win the cup faster Mister Know it all and I still do.
Mister Know it all: So you still think that the words Preparation AND the players that help build the foundation of play should be painted over outside of the locker room and you should just rid yourself of the once model franchise ?
Craig: Yes, but I want to punch you just like KJ would like to. (Craigs face getting as red as a honeycrisp apple)
Thank you Craig, I have to go to the new movie Where the Wild things are
MKIA- ??????????
This season is over, there will be no chance for the cup, so why not just start rebuilding right now?
All those people on the ledge will certainly jump to their deaths. That’s why.
This place has been pretty weird lately. It seemed like there was a consensus that the Wild would struggle this year. Now that they are, people are freaking out.
In my opinion, the thing that I didn’t expect has been the lack of chemistry. With all the injuries during the pre-and early-season, there hasn’t been much chance to build chemistry with the new guys I guess. Havlat being benched is pretty weird. He seemed like such a competitor that I am surprised that TR thinks he is slacking. Same with Burns and Koivu. It seems odd that the doghouse is full of the best players on this team.
I know that the players will find chemistry with each other, I just hope that there isn’t a rift developing between TR and what should be the core of this team. It seems like there have been some decisions made that might piss a guy off.
Havlat, arguably the best player on this team gets benched, and is subsequently injured. Harding gets starts that seem more of a showcase campaign than a strategy to win. It’s funny that the young coach that was supposed to relate to players rather than “teaching them a lesson” is benching superstars. I’m not saying I mind if it’s deserved. Just weird.
Burrows sucks.
I think it’s refreshing that Owen Nolan isn’t in the paper all the time, especially after spending the summer reading about Andrew Brunette’s recovery. Personally, the Easter Seals and Jerry Lewis telethons are more inspirational.
Hey, MISTER KNOW NOTHING
How many playoff series were won by DL and JL???
So You like the old guard so much, How about Naegle taking the money for his share of the team when he sold it to Leipold/Falcone and paying income taxes on it in Florida. That was great for the State of Hockey too wasn’t it.
Giving Willie Mitchell away for two stiffs (Soula and Belle) that was ggod too.
How about that O’Sullivan guy last night and Roloson for a washed up baby Demitra.
Giving away draft picks like candy at Halloween.
Kim Johnsson 5.4 million this year
Schultz and Bouchard verbal full No trades in their contracts.
Backstrom 4 yrs 24 million full No trade clause for all 4 years of the deal.
Take a look at the roster who has been drafted and developed by DL & JL?? What 4 or 5 players?
Why do we have Tony Hrkac and Brian Lundbohlm at 50 years old leading our minor league teams playoff run??
I’d like to paint over your posts because you know nothing.
Oy! Amazing what a slow start can do.
Sunshine has it right. They’re just having way too many really bad defensive breakdowns. It *seems* to be getting better in some ways, yet in others… Ouch.
Goal #1, they were out too long, heavy legs, just sort of reaching and watching instead of moving. Comrie does a nice little give and go with Nillson and bingo.
Goal #2. Brutal. O’Sullivan goes around the net with Burns chasing him. Then both Zanon and Smith pick up the chase–sort of–when he comes around to the other side. They had three guys sort of half-chasing O’Sullivan with Penner sitting all alone at the far post. I’ve played in beer league games where there was better defense than that.
Goal #3. Harding. And it does need to be said that he’s absolutely got to stop this one AND make a big save once in a while. In his two starts so far he’s yet to do so.
Goal #4. There is just no way that Zidlicky should be letting Penner just bull past him like that. Matador.
Goal #5. Starts with Burnsie’s pass being too soft back to Schultz which lets Jacques get on top of Schultz. Still Schultz shouldn’t get his pocket picked like that. The Wild are in position to break out, and when he turns it over, they’re all out of position for coming back to defend the slot with Oilers swarming in.
The only one that wasn’t just a brutal defensive play was the first one, and even that one wasn’t great because they were tired and not moving.
Now I know for certain that I’m in a very small minority here, but I still think this team will be decent before all is said and done. With their totally depleted roster, they still outplayed the Oilers. True the Oilers were missing a couple of pretty key guys as well, but I think the Wild wins that face-off.
Havlat, Sykora and Bouchard are the Wild’s three best offensive players. I know FSM gets a lot of grief, and some of it is deserved, but he’s still a pretty good player. And at some point you have to think they’re going to start getting this defense thing figured out. Once that happens, and they start getting these key guys back, and maybe Harding makes a key save once in a while, and these games start turning the other way. If you keep outshooting your opponent the way the Wild have been, eventually things are going to turn around. Russo mentioning that not getting the results from their effort may indeed become a problem if they don’t start picking up some wins sooner than later, but it is so early right now and the hole they’re in just isn’t that deep. The Canucks are 2-4. Carolina is 2-3-1. Boston and the Lemaire-coached Devils are only 3-3.
It just seems a bit too early to be looking for bridges to jump off of. I mean I could be totally wrong and they’re going to be looking at a top draft pick come July, but it seems crazy to be looking forward to that before Halloween.
We are seeing about 3 less shots per game this year, but thats going to increase as more teams figure out that bombarding our goal will result in more goals since we no longer clear anything out from in front of the net. I used to get mad that we didnt clear the man out from in front, but now the puck seems to be hanging out far to long for comfort.
FIRE FLETCHER!!!! HIRE RISEBROUGH!!!! PAINT DIFFERENT WORDS ON THE X!!!! CHANGE IS TERRIBLE!!! I’M SCARED!!!!
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