A Heart-Breaking End to a Heart-Pumping Season

The Edmonton Oilers' hopes of making a miraculous recovery and enter the playoffs with guns blazing came to a grinding halt last night after being defeated by the Calgary Flames at home, 3-2. 

The Calgary Flames dealt the killing blow at 16:16 of the third period, leaving just four minutes for the Oilers to attempt a tying goal.  They failed, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.

Kyle Brodziak and Curtis Glencross put on a show in the dying seconds of the game, getting off at least three or four shots before Calgary cleared the puck out of their zone. 

The crowd, while wild for most of the game, especially the third period, became subdued and a little melancholy as the puck glided towards the end boards and the Calgary bench started to celebrate. 

Despite the heroic efforts from their fourth line, the Oilers were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race last night.  It was a heart-breaking finish, but one the Oilers can be proud of.

A month and a half ago, the only race the Oilers were running was that to stay out of the bottom five draft lottery group.  With their first round pick going to the Anaheim Ducks from the Dustin Penner signing, the last thing the Oilers wanted to do was hand over a high first round choice to a conference rival.

Things turned around though, and slowly the Oilers gained enough points to keep things interesting all the way to the second to last game of their season. 

14-6-1 in their last 21 games.  That's an impressive record and if Edmonton had been able to play like that from the beginning of the season, they might still be in the race.

But they didn't, and they're not.  Now, the Oil can look forward to '08/'09.

Kyle Brodziak, Curtis Glencross, Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Robert Nilsson, and Tom Gilbert have all secured their positions on the team for next season.  The big questions are Raffi Torres, who missed 50 games due to injury, and Jarret Stoll, who ended the season with a club low of a -23 +/- rating. 

If they have chemistry, the two make an amazing, skillful, agile line, but more often than not, either Torres or Stoll are having an off night and their line can't get anything done. 

Stoll's slow season might be due to his concussion last season, so it might be worth it to give him another chance.  At least wait until December to send him packing, lest he turn into another Joffery Lupul.

Lowe will have to lock up his restricted free agents because there is a large likelihood that he started a fad last year, and players like Nilsson will be receiving offer sheets come July.

And there's the future.  July will solidify where the Oilers can imagine going.  The late June draft might see a trade to get a first round pick (Stoll's name could make a headline here), and then when July 1st hits, offers will fly and there's no telling who will be packing their things for a cold winter in Edmonton.