Dallas vs Oilers

The easiest thing to do right now is pick on the on the little guys.  Those young Oilers who have given their fans a lot to talk about (both on a negative and positive level) will head into tonights match-up against the Dallas Stars.  Before any pre-game information is laid out, it is important to inform the readers that, GM Steve Tambellini spoke to his club to try to neutralize and/or ground the troops with a heart to heart meeting.

“He talked about about the big picture coming from the top. Obviously, he’s not happy. There’s no secret about the situation we’re in here and how it’s not looking good for us. He talked about how hard our coaches are working and how they’re giving us good game plans every night and how he wants to see the effort and intensity every night.It’s been frustrating. There are not a lot of positives. When you are lacking in effort and intensity, that’s never excusable. It’s about jobs and pride. Fans pay good money." said Shawn Horcoff.

“Obviously there’s excitement about the future. The skill level here is about twofold what it was last year. A big part of this is giving young guys a chance to see what they have."

Still the message was loud and clear and, Steve Tambellini reiterated what is most important for this club and it's not about lottery picks.  


Sorry fans.  Though Larsson would be a great pick up.

"He told the players it’s not about getting that top pick,” continued Horcoff. He said we have plenty of young guys and to ignore the media talking about picking first in the draft again, that he wants this team to be thinking about winning and winning now.”

Dallas comes into the match-up decimated with injuries which includes some noticeable players.  Barch, Burrish, Richards are Benn (to name a few) are out; all of whom gave the Oilers all sorts of trouble a month ago.

Due to the absence of some of the Stars' toughness, Steve MacIntyre will sit out again for this match up.  Tom Renney has formulated a high octane, offensive formation he hopes will give the Oilers their 1st win in their last 8 games at home.

Penner - Horcoff - Hemsky
Hall - Cogliano - Eberle
Omark - Gagner - Paajarvi
Jacques - Reddox - Jones

Fraser and Gilbert (flu) are the two noticeable players who are out for tonight's game.

Khabibulin will try and break his 14th straight losing streak.