At least we're playing another winless team tonight, so one of us will be going home happy. The Oilers host the Devils today and Montreal on Thursday. Then it's trippin time! They will hit the road for 8 of their 9 next games so a good showing in the next 2 home games is crucial to righting the ship.
The Nuge is back and hopefully the big 3 can rekindle some of their offensive chemistry against a traditionally stingy team. Brodeur/Schneider aren't going to just roll over.
Unexpectedly there will be changes to tonight's line-up. Hamilton is in while Smyth and Jonesuu are out. Grebeshkov was skating at practice with Davidson so he's getting close to healthy. Also with RNH's return, Hall is moving back to wing. He's been struggling a bit at center so I'm not against the idea. He did show promise during the pre-season, but we need to get people into comfortable roles and play as a cohesive unit before attempting anymore experiments.
After 2 shaky appearances in net Dubnyk will make way for LaBarbera as tonight's starter. He didn't get a lot of help last game and had a few highlight reel goals against, but a couple were a bit soft. Nice to have a reliable #2 that doesn't sweat profusely.
Eakins is rightly furious with the varying compete level at different times of the game. One headline exclaimed he couldn't sleep after the Canucks game. Apparently he didn't follow us last season, but I'm glad he's not tolerating it.
No he's not #72, but it's a decent pic of a fully functional shoulder.