After finally realizing how little chemistry that Stoll and Torres have with Hemsky, MacT once again fired up the blender and changed his lines for the 18473625 time this season for tonights game against the Vancouver Canucks. He put back together Horcoff and Hemsky who have had marginal success for the better part of the year…but hey, at least its marginal success and not “no success” like most other line combinations that have been drawn together. Despite the constant insults and hacking Horcoff has received this season and last he continues to be our best and most consistent forward. While being two completely different players its obvious Horcoff is the only player right now that seems to have any chemistry with Hemsky.

So here we have…

Nilsson – Horcoff – Hemsky
Penner – Gagner – Cogliano
Torres – Stoll – Stortini
Sanderson – Reasoner – Brodziak

My immediate reaction is I finally like the idea of the first two lines, giving the players with the most offensive potential some playing time together. The only thing I dont like is of course Stortini. I’ve been reading all these comments about how people liked his game this past Saturday and that he served his purpose…what purpose was that? Talking a tough game? I don’t really recall but I don’t remember seeing anyone of the Flames taking penalties because of him or at the very least feeling intimidated by his presence on the ice. This guy belongs in the A.H.L there is no question and lets hope when we get a little healthier thats where he remains for the better part of this year. If the Oilers want to address there lack of toughness they should go out and trade for an actual tough guy. I hope for our sake Stortini is in the lineup because we are banged up and guys like J.F Jacques and M.A Pouliot are incapable of becoming NHL caliber hockey players.

Garon will get the start and rightfully so as he is been nothing short of spectacular in the last couple games. He let in three goals Saturday to the Flames anemic offense but you can blame a defensive breakdown as a result to all of them (and the referee threw a nice pick on the second goal).

My predicition tonight is another loss although I’m hopeful we show a little effort tonight. The Canucks have had our number for as long as I can remember and are on a little bit of a winning streak as of late so the Oilers will need to play an up tempo game with lots of shots if they are to withstand a chance…I’m sorry boys but under 20 shots on Roberto Luongo probably wont cut it tonight. Here’s hoping too that MacT doesnt have Gagner stapled to the bench for another whopping 6 minutes of ice time when he could probably use a little bit of powerplay time ahead of Torres.

The only other prediction for tonight…the lines last for two periods before the MacBlender is fired up for the third.

Walks