travel_dude

Ruzie and Dube created that one.

The glass and out isn't a great idea all the time. That's what you do as a last resort.

They keep tinkering with it. Mangiapane replaced Toffee or someone halfway through with Johnny etc still on. Well before the 2nd unit.

Dube, no 5 hole dude.

Good blocking of the net. Darth...

The line changes are to help manage minutes. And, the CAPS are a different team. No one line is the dominant line, they have depth.

Slight change to lineup: Lewis to 4th line. Dube to 3rd line. Toffee to 2nd line

So are you saying that you think this is a fair deal for both side (Mange and Flames)? I know there is some hints that Mangiapane might take a deal to get to UFA. But, to me that is if he gets lowballed with $3m for term.

The eye test is enough to show that Monahan is not producing. Stats have a way of obscuring the reasons. If we were to look at the p/60 for each game Monahan has played, would his linemates in each game look any better? I don't think you can say that unless you looked at individual numbers for each game. Don't get me wrong, we need a fixed Monahan or a new version. We can't afford to use a top playmaker with him to get him on track, if there is any track left. The best we can hope for is that he finds chemistry with Dube and Lucic. Or picks up on his PP scoring. Neither of his linemates have done much this year. Lucic has been fortunate to beat goalies with his mysterious 5-holer.

I'm not really sure what the answer is. Monahan scores more on the PP by the looks of it. Unless he is on the PP, his linemates have not bee close to elite or even that good. Probably the best he's had is a combo of Mange and Dube for a limited amount of time. Mange dipped a bit then and a bit from increased shutdown minutes with Backlund. There's no real answer with Monahan in the lineup. Can't really play him with better players because he squanders that time. Flip of the coin for top PP unit time. At least I think that was the case, but with Toffoli up there Monahan perhaps belongs on the 2nd unit. Think he's a better option than Backlund. I would actually like to see someone other than Hanifin on the 2nd unit. Maybe it's Zaddy or Guddy. Missing a big point shot with Hanifin and Kylington rarely gets square at the point. He's all over the place. Yeah, I know I am talking about a few things here. Ideally, we replace Monahan with a solid 3/4 C. We don't have anyone like that.

You know, I didn't even realize he was 35. Maybe that's why he's not as big a scoring threat. He skates like a guy much younger.

Sutter was asked about this. He said we have Russians on our team (one Russian, one Belarussian) and they are ours. They are our family. He won't comment on Ovi's connection with Putin. He said the CAPS feel the same way about Ovi, that he is their family. As far as the lines go, I am happy that we are sticking with the guys from last game. Vladar won against the CAPS, and Marky played last night, so Vladar starting is a no brainer. But this is a deeper team than EDM. Can't just shut down one or two players. Wilson is a bigger threat than 90% of EDM's lineup.

When your top scorers are not on a shutdown line, you can shelter one of the lines. Yeah, I thought that the Backlund line contained the top lines from the Oilers, depending on how they rolled them out. Defense basically neutered the big guns. I felt like this was one of the best lineups we have had so far, if not the best. Every line had a role. Every line had speed and were capable of scoring goals. No line was a defensive black hole. Sutter never looks happy. Didn't feel either side played well, blamed the schedule on the teams looking tired.

Did it look like EDM was even playing well? McD got one chance where he was stripped by Hanifin. Draisaitl sits in one spot on the PP and barely moves. I think Lucic skates better than him, just doesn't protect the puck as well. The one goal they scored sure looked offside to me. It may have been close. No way Sutter would even think about challenging it, not in a 2-1 game where we have had a ton of penalties. Nope, he says to the team, tough break, now go finish the game. The post game comments were rich. Didn't read any from McD, but the other guys and coach suggested they were playing well. I saw Markstrom makes some great saves, but I didn't see a team having their way with us. The score flattered them. The coaching bump is over. He makes some valid points about not focusing on the standings and working on details. But the team is going to tune him out if they fall further out of the Wild Card race. When you get 4 PP's or so and the best you can do is have the ref kick the puck to an open forward to score, you have bigger issues than just working on some details.

Sutter mentioned they got in at 4 in the friggin' morning (Sunday or today?). Said his top guys were tired. Concentration is the first thing to go. Guys got tunnel vision at times. Yeah, I think Mangiapane is going to need some time to adjust to a guy like Ruzie. He's has the look of a power forward in the early stages, which is 180 degrees from Backlund's game. Toffee is that versatile wnger we have been looking to add for some time. Shoots from the off wing? Oh my. The 4th line is what the line should have been ages ago. It was called the 3rd line before. Doesn;t really matter, it's not the 2nd scoring line. That's the Toffee-Bread line. Ruzie played the fewest minutes, mostly due to not having any special teams time. I think Sutters leaves them together next game since they may be still fresh. Might see them keep Dube in against WAS or sub in Ritchie, due to the bigger team. Not a slight to Dube, but you don't want him getting creamed by Wilson.

Discusion thread on Oilers Nation....

For this team? Only 1 that they are showing. He does have 10 points in 10 games.

Now 11 up on Oilers with 2 games in hand.

Stage 3 Complete. Begin Stage 4.

Love GOA games in CGY. "Let's go Oilers". "Oilers suck".

Toffee tried that but Johhny has quick hands.

What a freakin' goal.

Kostco has trouble hanging onto shots to the glove.

Come on Ras, shoot at the net

PP time. Begin Phase 3.