The name of the game tonight is regression to the mean, as after a red-hot start to the year, the Oilers have lost eight of their last ten, all eight in regulation, and have generally been losing lots of games since Thanksgiving (ours, not theirs). As such, they've plummeted from the thick of the Western race to a no man's land beneath the fringe teams but ahead of the stunningly horrible Ducks and Jackets. The Oilers got out to their hot start due to an untenably high save percentage from Nikolai Khabibulin and an ability/willingness to create Eisenhower Expressway-esque traffic in front of their own net. They've stopped creating that traffic, and Khabibulin has increasingly given way to Devan Dubnyk, a player described by many as "remarkably goaltender-like."

Still, I don't think the Oilers have been quite as bad as their December would indicate. A lot of their recent losses have been one-goal losses, two of them to Cup-contending teams in the Wings and Sharks, and they still manage to score at a decent clip. Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, and Hall are all dangerous offensive weapons, and Ryans Smyth and Jones have been contributing nicely, though they still have ridiculous faces. Any defensive brainfarts, of which the Hawks have many, will be summarily pounced upon by these guys. We should know this by now from Jordan Eberle's penalty box breakaway goal, and that 9-2 drubbing up in Edmonton.

Hawks lineup should be the same as the other evening.

EDIT: it's not, Scott and Lepisto on the third pairing. I referred to Montador and O'Donnell as "the clusterfuck brothers" during Friday night's Wings game, but this pairing presents peril as well. I like that we have eight defensemen on the active roster and still cite "a #6 D-man" as a trade-deadline need.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Carcillo boarded a guy so hard he bounced back and took out Carcillo's knee. I wonder if the Hawks can pre-empt the Shanahammer by placing him on LTIR immediately. If he doesn't come back this year, it's just as well.

EDIT: Missed a high stick so blatant that Hjalmarsson was down for quite a bit. Terrible call.

EDIT2:
Sharp and Stalberg, a winners are you!

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CH what did you think of that kid they brought up the other night, Jimmy Hayes. I thought he looked pretty good, good size , seemed to be able to handle himself ok.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

He plays like a more inspired Bickell. He's had a few nice shifts so far. I can never remember which Hayes is supposed to be really good and which one is supposed to top out at fourth-liner/organizational soldier, though.

EDIT: and there's a goal from Ben Eager. Another bad defensive play; Edmonton will get you every time. Emery should get the next start. These guys are really playing like shit tonight.

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three black holes of the game:

1) Crawford - 4 goals against
2) Carcillo - 17 PIM, forthcoming suspension
3) Sharp - dumb penalty, generally floating like a turd

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2 weak goals by Crawford, their penalty kill sucks as usual and is going to kill them in the playoffs, bunch of guys hung out the not interested sign tonite. Carcillo's play was one of the cheapest hits Ive seen , hope he tore his ACL doing it and goes bye bye for the rest of the year. All in all not a very inspired performance tonight.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I had hopes that he would flourish on a finesse team. Even set Toews up tonight! But nope, still an idiot. I hope his radio career takes off. He's just blocking prospects at this point.

Best thing they can do is IR him immediately and get him off the 23-man roster so they don't have to worry about carrying a mandatory scratch for the impending Philadelphia/Detroit games. He probably is, after all, pretty hurt.

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The day the carbomb honeymoon officially ended? Didn't see the game but it must have been a filthy play if it has you guys up in arms... Crawford taking steps back so soon? That blows, figured him to be solid for at least a month after his last slump.

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

you forgot his lack of defensive coverage on the Sutton goal, although I guess that can be covered under the "floating like a turd" comment.

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Sharp didn't seem real interested in playing hockey last night. Definitely not the only one but it was certainly noticeable in his case.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Well that sure was awkward...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Seven games for Carcillo. I hope they put him on the IR in time to delay the suspension; I'd really prefer not to play the Flyers and Wings down a man. This could start a serious slump.

And yes, I know they can still dress 20 players, but it'll suck if they have to carry him on the roster for all seven games. Kruger and Montador are off the active roster, Dylan Olsen and Andrew Shaw are up to replace them, and suddenly you're fielding an AHL team against contenders. Lovely.

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