Now to Not Beat the Canucks

There is generally considered to be a way to beat Roberto Luongo and a way to not beat Roberto Luongo.

The former is shots. Lots of them. Quality shots.

The latter is the course the Oilers followed tonight, and the results largely speak for themselves.

The Oilers managed only 24 shots on Roberto Luongo tonight, with only one of them -- a wrist shot by Sheldon Souray -- making it into the net. There was no shortage of shot attempts, but far too many of them were fired wide.

In particular, if Jordan Eberle wants to be a full-time Edmonton Oiler this year he'd better start cashing in on more of his opportunities. Like in his last game against the Islanders, Eberle missed the net on two glorious opportunities. Pre-season jitters or no pre-season jitters, players who pass up their scoring opportunities don't get many to play.

It's as simple as that.

As for other players quickly playing themselves out of a roster spot, Robert Nilsson took an early penalty on the Canucks blueline which resulted in a goal by Alexander Edler.

With the Oilers top six looking awfully crowded, Nilsson may have effectively played himself out of a job by now. There appears to be significant chemistry between Mike Comrie and Patrick O'Sullivan and with Shawn Horcoff looking as if he may return to offensive form, Ales Hemsky, Sam Gagner and Dustin Penner just might squeeze Nilsson out off the top lines.

Once one considers playing Nilsson on the third or fourth line they can safely rule it out -- Nilsson's defensive play doesn't justify playing him ahead of Fernando Pisani or even Zach Stortini.

Even if Eberle makes the team at this point it will likely be as a spare forward. This simply leaves Nilsson without any role on this team -- and perhaps, very quickly, a spot on the trading block.

Jeff-Drouin Deslauriers' full 60 minutes of play (minus whatever time the Oilers played with an empty net) may indicate that he's edged out Devan Dubnyk to be the Oilers backup goaltender.

The Oilers power play tonight was as bad as its ever been. The old habit of being handed an extended power play only to waste it chasing the puck around in their own end seems to have reemerged -- the tuteledge of Pat Quinn seems to have done little to end this particular habit.

At the very least one can hope that when the two rosters are merged and the wheat separated from the chaff that a full complement of offensive players will make for a better power play.

On With the Show, This Is It

The Edmonton Oilers will face their first real test of the pre-season tonight as they face off against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Oilers will deploy a lineup featuring Ales Hemsky, Ethan Moreau, Dustin Penner, Ladislav Smid, Sheldon Souray, Robert Nilsson, Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner and Denis Grebeshkov against a Canucks lineup loaded up with Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo, Mark Parrish, Ryan Kesler, Alex Edler, Darcy Hordichuk, Mikael Samuelsson, Brad Lukowich, Kyle Wellwood and Roberto Luongo.

In other words, the pre-season shoe may finally be on the other foot. The Oilers are facing a lineup loaded with more regular NHLers, not to mention the man who could be the best goaltender in the NHL in any given season (Luongo's playoff collapse against the Chicago Blackhawks notwithstanding).

Whether the Oilers win or lose tonight, this game will finally give Oilers fans a better indication of wether or not Pat Quinn's presence behind the Edmonton bench is making a difference for this team so far.

To date the Oilers have enjoyed the luxury of playing teams featuring mostly AHLers and third- or fourth-line NHLers. Tonight marks their first foray against serious competition in the Pat Quinn era.

Hopefully, they're up to the challenge.

Post-Futility

Coming into tonight's game against the Vancouver Canucks, many Oilers fans probably could have been forgiven for viewing the Oilers season with an overwhelming sense of futility.

With the Oilers dropping three straight with a playoff position on the line -- and particularly, only needing to win to maintain a 7th place finish in the Western Conference -- Oilers fans had very little reason to continue to be patient with this team.

No doubt this is one of the many things that led to the planning of an anti-Craig MacTavish rally today, demanding his termination of head coach.

Accustomed to getting their way in regards to players they become disenchanted with -- Mike Comrie, Cory Cross, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Joffrey Lupul have all felt the sting of this tendency -- Oilers fans seem genuinely perplexed by Darryl Katz's recent declaration that firing MacTavish is not on his agenda.

Even if keeping MacTavish is, arguably, a bad decision fans have to admire Katz's will to stand up to the fans.

With the Oilers chances of making the playoffs extremely slim and their fate no longer in their own hands, many Oilers fans likely expected very little going into tonight's game.

But the Oilers themselves knew what was on the line in this game tonight: the chance to prove that this season, and the two seasons previous, were not futile.

That task isn't over yet, and won't be over until the Oilers deliver on an inspired, passionate playoff drive. But tonight's game was an important first step. Three more wins -- better yet, a playoff spot -- and they have an opportunity to make an important statement.

But they have to play with the passion and determination that they played with tonight.




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