This and that, Stalock claimed by Oilers, Kane nails 400!

[yave1964]

  Thing of Beauty goal by Kane last night in the blowout win against the Dead Things. 400 for a career of a player still going strong. The only thing that cracked me up was Nemeth dove across towards Debrincat to cut down the pass, everyone in the Nation knew it was going to be Kaner taking the shot. I think Nemeth just did that to get on television in the highlight shows, lol.

 

 Alex Stalock who has been injured and lost his starting job in Minnesota, has been claimed by the Oilers.Solid addition for the Oilers adding depth to a veteratn duo of Smith/Koskinen both of whom spend a fair share of time on the IR.

 

  Great Gut check game for the Leafs this weekend with Matthews and Andersen out backup Jack Campbell pitched a shutout against the mighty Oilers offense and they won 4-0. This is thge type of game that they folded their tent in years past.

 

With the Wild and Kings both playing damn fine Hockey in the West the Blues have to be doing a little standings watching. Picked by everyone as one of the 'big three' in the West, the Blues have underperformed this season and their is a real danger that if they do not get it together they may be a shocking team that misses the postseason. Taresenko is close to returning which will certainly be a huge lift.

[lynxrattle]

Stalock is a positive guy, thanks or him and all the best! It's going to be interesting to see if he can win games behind the Oilers' not so good defense.

[Math]

I'm a bit surprised the Habs weren't on the starting blocks to claim him: they are in some need of a good back-up goalie to support Allen.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Agree on St. Louis..... they are SUPPOSED to be top of the heap in that division...and I can't even quite put my finger on what is their issue.
Missing Pietrangelo more than they thought? Krug not quite up to par with what AP did for them?
Binnington thinking more about prize fighting than goaltending?
Brayden Schenn really was the "bad" Schenn, and not Luke?
Ryan O'Reilly, seeing his team going down, now wants out and will whine till he is traded?
Who knows....

But while St. Louis continues to hit the skids in the West, Chicago continues to surprise in the Central.
At this point, I thought for sure their carriage would turn back into a pumpkin.
Not so. They just keep finding ways to get standings points.
And all buoyed by longtime vets like the amazing Patrick Kane along with some upstarts like Pius Suter and Kevin Lankinen.

Leafs, Matthews, blah, blah, blah.....yea, we will see what they REALLY are come the post season and they run into a team that plays better-than-AHL-quality defense and is just as fast and gifted up front............. NEEEEEEEEXT story........

Alex Stalock.
Good luck to him in Edmonton.
No, really. Good luck to him.
The Oilers can be good....or they can be not so good at times.
They have 2 of the best players in the world at what they do in McJesus and Drai, and some other very good players like RNH and Darnell "Don't Put Me In the Trinity" Nurse.

But sometimes, that team trends the wrong freakin way. Still some areas that need to be shored up.
Like goaltending.
And I'm afraid 'sheltered' Alex Stalock won't be the answer for them.

Stalock liked his layered Minnesota defense as he poses with his glove out while a puck flew past him into the net.
He won't find layers in Edmonton.
Some raw offense to help him out, on some days some good defense...but for the most part, I think Edmonton says to their goalies, "Look, we gonna be busy scoring and hitting people....you need to stop all the crazy chances against, ok?"

So, again, good luck to Stalock.
Oilers best not check off "fixed goalie position" off their to-do list just yet.

Finally, the Kings.
I'm still not sold on them, but will admit, they are doing better than I thought they would and could possibly continue long enough to grab the 4th playoff spot.
@yave1964 was one of the ONLY people I knew about who were giving the Kings their due that they could make the playoffs before the season got underway.
Like I said...still not sold on them, but he could be right....