Quote:
Originally Posted by I wanna be like Miikka
While the thrashers have played the Jets a lot, to beat the oilers 7-3 is hard to do. Looking at his squad he has a solid offensive combined with almost a full lineup with good DF. They may have a slightly inflated record due to the opponents they have faced but I think they are a good squad and will compete well this season.
|
Well thank you for the kind words Ravi, but I could have predicted this score.
The Oilers defence has been decimated by injury, and before this game Hamrlik (again) and Salvador were placed on the IR, Rachunek was an unhealthy 96 conditioning coming off an injury, and Jackman was down to 99 after playing over 30 minutes in relief the previous game. Thus the Oilers' lineup in this one consisted of Rivet/Berard, Babchuk/St. Jacques (both injury call-ups), and Rachunek/Jackman (neither of whom was 100%). As I predicted precisely in the game results thread yesterday, Rachunek was reinjured today (on his first shift, the second game in a row a blueliner has left the game on his first shift).
Also, Brodeur was a bit tired and I intended to start Lalime (although for whatever reason Brodeur started anyway--I am sure the result would have been similar either way).
Thus, the team that hit the ice today was hardly a healthy Oilers squad, and against the top team in the league there was little question as to the outcome.