Fernando - The Return

Oilers welcome Columbus to Rexall tonight and Fernando Pisani makes his return to the ice after sitting out for 14 weeks with a broken ankle. Pisani will be playing with Cogliano and Moreau on the third line.

Will he be effective after such a long lay-off? I'm sure they'll manage his ice-time carefully tonight and he won't play big minutes. It would be nice to see a strong return and someone who can help with the power kill which still remains near the bottom at 28th spot (did I see that right on nhl.com? Detroit is 27th on the PK? Gives me hope if that's correct).

The Oilers need some scoring, even strength AND powerplay (20th is not good enough) to get the team into the playoffs. A big game tonight (they are all big from now on) as a win jumps them over Columbus into possibly 6th place.

Make this easy boys.....WIN!!

Battle of Alberta

This picture basically expresses my sentiments clearly, non?

One thing needs to be said: STOP TAKING PENALTIES MOREAU!! You are a moron!!!! Try being the leader of this team, instead of putting them a man down several times a game. I'm going to suggest something radical....be the captain!! Shocking eh?

Oilers have won 2 of the 3 games so far with the Flamers so far, let's make it 3 of 4.

Down one d-man

When Lubo came off the ice, we all knew it was bad. It has been confirmed that Visnovsky needs surgery on his injured shoulder and is done for the season. That is really too bad. He was having a very nice season. The only good news is that we have three other offensive and puck-moving defensemen on the team. I don't think the Oilers can move any of them now. If Lubo was not hurt, I think one of them was going to be moved for either a left winger or a center.

Montreal is in town tomorrow night and they are floundering right now, losing 8 of 10. They held a players-only meeting following their loss to Calgary last night (6-2) so the Oilers need to show up in the first period and play the whole 60 minutes. They are tied for 8th place after going 2-4-1 since the All-Star break. Miraculously they are still in the hunt but they need to be better.

I've just renewed my season ticket for next year and signed up for playoff tickets. Now, get to the promised land boys!!!! Edmonton needs playoff hockey....

UPDATE: Jagr as an Oiler?? Rumor is out there that he is close to signing a deal. His stats for far for Omsk is 51 points in 48 games (25 goals, 26 assists). Not bad. Have we finally found someone to play with Hemsky? Don't tease us Oilers, don't tease us!!!

UPDATE: Yeah not happening this year at least. Jagr remains in Russia.