About a week ago while watching Sportscentre, TSN’s Darren Dutchyshen disagreed with the NHL’s plan to have the Boston Bruins play the Ottawa Senators this evening. He recommended that the game be cancelled rather than rescheduled because of the traumatic events in Boston this month.
In the NBA, a game between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers was cancelled, and the game would have had seeding implications if played. However the NBA thought it was in their best interest, just to cancel the game.
However, I am very pleased to see that the game between Ottawa and Boston is played tonight. The Bruins will win the Northeast Division with a win, and the Senators will move from eighth to seventh with a victory. Not to mention, but the game has huge implications for thousands of hockey pools across the globe.
Well you can say the Edmonton Oilers are taking a deep breath today. They finally beat Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota. Backstrom, who was 17-0 against the Oilers in Minnesota prior to Friday, was pulled late in the first period, after Corey Potter put the Oilers up 3-0. Edmonton then went on to win 6-1.
The Oilers won despite being outshot 39-17 by Minnesota. Their play was simply opportunistic. They registered goals on less than one third of their total shots.
Potter and Nail Yakupov scored two goals each for the Oilers, while Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall had a goal and two assists each.
Jeff Petry meanwhile might have had his best game as an Oiler, as he went a +5.
For the seventh consecutive season, the Edmonton Oilers will not be playing in the postseason.
On Sunday evening the Oilers lost 3-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers needed to win their final five games and get an immense amount of help from other teams to qualify for the postseason. They simply didn’t get it.
How bad is it for the Oilers now? Well, the Calgary Flames beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 to pass the Oilers in the standings. To make matters worse, it was one of the Flames’ prospects, Mark Cundari, that led the Flames in scoring with a goal and an assist. Cundar was acquired by the Flames from the St. Louis Blues at the trade deadline for Jay Bouwmeester.
Also, the Oilers now have the longest current NHL streak of consecutive playoffs missed after the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched a playoff spot for the first time since 2004 after defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Saturday.
Edmonton has four more games left this season, and to many loyal fans the end of the season cannot come soon enough.
It looks more and more like the Edmonton Oilers will not make the postseason in 2013. However, there is a still a mathematical chance after their impressive 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
The Oilers played a complete hockey game Friday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Jordan Eberle scored one goal and two assists, while Justin Schultz and Magnus Paajarvi had multi-point games.
The Oilers are now eight points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets with five games to go in the season. The next game on their schedule will be Sunday night against the Anaheim Ducks (Sportsnet, 6:00 p.m.). It is basically simple. Their remaining five games, of which four are at home, are mandatory for the Oilers to win.
When the Edmonton Oilers hammered the Calgary Flames on April 3 at the Scotiabank Saddledome by a score of 8-2, it seemed extremely likely that the Oilers would finish ahead of the Flames this season for the first time since 2002-03.
At the time the Oilers were nine points ahead of the Flames and in a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
How times have changed. The Oilers have lost six straight contests and the Flames have now won four games after their 3-2 upset win over the Detroit Red Wings in Calgary last night. With the win, Calgary is now one point back of Edmonton.
It is unlikely that either the Flames or the Oilers will make the playoffs this season, as the Oilers are ten points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Flames are 11 points out.
In an interesting decision on Monday morning the Edmonton Oilers have fired general manager Steve Tambellini with former player and head coach Craig MacTavish being named as his replacement.
Tambellini took over from Kevin Lowe as the Oilers General Manager in 2008, and was present in Edmonton during the entire rebuilding process. Even though the Oilers showed some improvement this season, they are likely to miss the playoffs for a team record seventh straight year.
MacTavish was the Oilers head coach from 2000-2009 where he went 301-252-104. MacTavish also played with the Oilers from 1985-1994 and won three Stanley Cups for the Oilers during that stretch. Since MacTavish was fired by the Oilers, he has worked for TSN as an analyst, was head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the AHL for a year before returning as Tambellini’s assistant at the beginning of the season.
In what could have been the most complete game the Calgary Flames have had all season long, the Flames defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Saturday night at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
According to TSN, rookies Sven Baertschi of Bern, Switzerland and Maxwell Reinhart each scored their first of the season. For Reinhart, it was also the first goal of his National Hockey League career.
Baertschi was one of three Flames to have multi-point games, joining Tim Jackman and T.J. Brodie. Baerschi notched a goal and an assist, while Jackman and Brodie each recorded two assists.
Defenceman Dennis Wideman scored the game winning goal for the Flames at 1:55 on the power play from Jackman and Brodie.
The biggest story heading into Saturday is Tiger Woods. According to CBS there was a possibility that Woods would be disqualified heading into the third round of the Masters (Saturday, CBS, 1:00 p.m.) for dropping his ball in an illegal area after his approach shot on the 15th hole hit the flag stick and went into the water. Woods apparently dropped his ball two yards back from where he should have dropped it.
However, according to ESPN, Woods was only given a two stroke penalty after officials reviewed the tape. Do you think Woods was given preferential treatment by officials because of his status or is a two-stroke penalty considered harsh enough? Please comment at www.anysportanytime.ca. One thing is for sure, and that is a major golf tournament with Tiger Woods boosts television ratings significantly more than a major golf tournament without him.
The Edmonton Oilers might have just blown their last realistic chance of qualifying for the postseason Wednesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.
In a 3-1 loss to Phoenix, the Oilers remain four points back of the Detroit Red Wings for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with eight games to go.
The Oilers were completely outplayed in the second period where Phoenix out shot Edmonton 12-7 and scored the first two goals of the contest from Boyd Gordon and Antoine Vermette.
The Oilers continue to struggle in games at home immediately after a road trip. So far this season, they are 2-5.
This week on 15MOF we look at the up-and-down Edmonton Oilers as they flirt with a playoff spot, the NHL’s Winter Classic announcement and we make our NCAA national championship predictions.
In the GABBYs: Traded NHLers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Prince Fielder, Mike Rice, Vuvuzela attacks and the Blue Jays. The Punchline this week is the LA Lakers!
Henrik Sedin (Orland Kurtenbach, Wikimedia Commons)
The Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames both lost on the road on Saturday. For Edmonton however, the loss was significantly more devastating as they try to qualify for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
On Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles, Jeff Carter scored a goal and an assist as the Kings defeated the Oilers 4-1. With the loss, the Oilers remain three points back of the St. Louis Blues for eighth place in the Western Conference.
After a five game winning streak, the Oilers have now lost their last two games.
Meanwhile in Vancouver last night, the Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 5-2. It was the Flames’ thirteenth consecutive loss on the road.
It was a milestone night for Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. In the second period, Sedin recorded his 600th career assist on the game winning goal by Alexandre Burrows. Sedin then added a second assist later in the second period on a goal by Alexander Edler, and a shorthanded goal with 11 seconds left in the game.
This weekend is an extremely significant one when it comes to the history of Canadian tennis. Team Canada is tied 1-1 with Team Italy in the quarterfinals heading into a key doubles match today and two singles matches on Sunday.
This afternoon (Saturday, Sportsnet, 4:30 p.m., joined in progress) Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver will take on the Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Daniele Braccaili. It will be interesting to see how much energy Pospisil has in the tank after he lost a five set marathon to Andreas Seppi on Friday afternoon. Canadian head coach Martin Laurendeau ridiculously went with Pospisil over Jesse Levine, who is overall a much better tennis player.
Sunday’s matches are right now Milos Raonic versus Seppi (Saturday, Sportsnet, 3:00 p.m.) followed by Pospisil versus Fabio Fognini.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The Edmonton Oilers are red hot. In fact, with five straight wins, they’re the hottest team in the Northwest Division. On Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome Taylor Hall scored one goal and four assists as the Oilers beat the Calgary Flames 8-2.
After believe it or not a slow start for the Oilers after Devan Dubnyk gave up two goals on the first two Flames shots to Matt Stajan, the Oilers tied the score before the end of the period and then scored three times each in the second and third period.
The Oilers, playing with a full lineup, also got two goals each from Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov, and a goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who also had three assists.
Loading ...
