Oilers Continue Devil Of A Road Trip In Jersey
And if that’s not enough to leave the Edmonton Oilers wondering if this whole National Hockey League gig is worth it, there’s this:
When the Oil finishes its seven-game road trip with the Sunday nighter against the New Jersey Devils (7-4-2) and Monday in Manhattan with the Rangers, they will have played seven games in 12 days.
During that stretch Edmonton lost in Nashville, came east to beat Carolina and Philadelphia, went west for 5-4 losses in Columbus and Pittsburgh and have now come back east to wrap things up.
Such is life in the Pacific Division now that a more balanced schedule has arrived, and you can ask the Vancouver Canucks about that (six of the first seven games on the road).
The Oilers are 2-3 while on this forced vacation (6-6-1 overall) including those one-goal losses against the Blue Jackets and Penguins.
“It’s tough losing two games by a goal,” said defenceman Tom Gilbert. “You keep thinking back to plays that could have made a difference.
“We just have to go back and keep playing the way we want to play. We have to try to put a full 60 minutes the next game.”
Falling behind 5-0 to the Penguins on Thursday before falling short of a comeback was the case in point, and Edmonton was coming in to the Garden State with Martin Brodeur as a door prize, the worry would be greater.
But Brodeur, of course, suffered one of the most publicized arm injuries in recent NHL history back on Nov. 1 (torn left bicep) and he’s out until well into the new year.
That leaves career backup Kevin Weekes, who had expected to put in the same kind of season so many Jersey second stringers before him had done (not playing, ever), in the crease and under the spotlight.
Weekes has played well in a 2-0 defeat against Buffalo, won a shootout with Tampa Bay and lost to the Red Wings 3-1 on Saturday night.
Oilers coach Craig MacTavish is focusing on his own goaltending right now.
Starter Dwayne Roloson is 2-1 on this road trip but gave up five goals to the resurgent Blue Jackets. Thursday, MacTavish went with Mathieu Garon and he gave up five goals before leaving in favour of rookie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers.
This is a trend for Garon, who has given up 18 goals in his last four starts after winning his first three on the year.
There is one player enjoying road cooking, and that’s Ales Hemsky, who came into game 11 of the season with no goals and now has four to tie for the team lead.
Tags: bicep, craig mactavish, defenceman, dwayne roloson, edmonton oilers, game road trip, goal losses, goaltending, kevin weekes, macta, martin brodeur, monday in manhattan, national hockey league, new jersey devils, nhl history, red wings, stringers, tom gilbert, vancouver canucks
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Sunday, November 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm under