Excellent Effort, But Oil Come Up Short at Colorado

The Edmonton Oilers went into Colorado yesterday evening to face the hot 9-5 Avalanche club.

It was nice to see the Oilers bounce back after giving up yet another early goal to start off the hockey game. Roloson played another strong game with the exception of a weak second goal.

But this is what I don't understand, why is Roli getting so much of the blame for the Oilers dismal record? This guy is playing about as well as any goalie in the league right now, sure he gives up a soft one here and there but we can not forget about the big saves he makes at critical times to keep the Oilers in the contest for most of the games. Goaltending is not our problem!

Robert Nilsson played his best game of the season yesterday playing just over 20 minutes and making some unbelievably skilled plays at top speed, which is good to see from the kid. His pass to Brodziak was nothing short of spectacular and he also fed Horcoff a beauty pass through the seam where Horcoff ended up missing the gaping net. Some other players that really impressed me were Smid (+1, 2 shots, 23:10 TOI), Hemsky (1 goal, 2 shots, 21:44 TOI), and Torres (10 shots, shootout goal, 22:45 TOI).

Although they lost there were a lot of positives that can be taken out of the game. They played a tough game, out hitting the Avalanche 12-6 and won the faceoff battle winning 57% of the draws. The Oilers finished the game with 33 total shots on net and 16 that were fired wide meaning 49 combined shots were directed towards the opposing goal, a stat Craig MacTavish will be pleased with, I'm sure.

On a totally different note does anyone who watches TSN hockey telecasts also find Glenn Healy to be extremely annoying? It was a terrific game last night and all he managed to do was wine and complain, dissing as many people as possible. He can never give credit to a player for a nice move but has no problem when it comes to criticizing someone. It's as if he thinks he is on a pedestal for all other to look up to.

I don't know, maybe it's just me but watching the game yesterday it really made me angry as it takes a lot away from an otherwise very entertaining hockey game.