The Oilers won the game. That much is true.
It was an important game for the team to win—a 4-0 victory over the Coyotes on Monday—considering what's facing them in their schedule over the next two weeks.
Edmonton played almost two good periods of hockey and honestly played well enough to win, but the team chose to let its goalie, Jeff Deslauriers, bail it out in the third period with his first shutout of the season. As coach Pat Quinn put it, the Oilers got "fat and happy," and I'm not sure there is a better way to describe the shape of the Oilers franchise (no pun intended).
Since the Oilers made that magical run to the Stanley Cup in '06, they've been living off the residuals. The city fell back in love with a team that gave it hope for a winner, and from that moment on, it's been almost impossible to fully understand the continued and loyal foolish optimism.
Management tries to reel in the big fish. When it doesn't work, the Oilers grab a player like Erik Cole or Nikolai Khabibulin, and, amazingly, it's like an entire city forgot that the team is still a group of underachievers living off of the success of an almos ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Jim Parsons
Are the Edmonton Oilers Truly a “Fat and Happy” Team?
November 24th, 2009 by Jim Parsons Leave a reply »
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