Last night the Oilers played a decent game. It wasn’t enough to win but an all round better effort throughout the affair. Something isn’t sitting right with me though, mainly because of this.
I have to give credit (reluctantly, he’s a flames/bruins fan) to a friend of mine. He tweeted me about this hit and compared it to an incident in a Boston game back in 2011. You can see that video here (29 second mark is the hit). There are marked differences in the two situations. Ott is a known scumbag and Eller is far from it. But the Oilers’ reaction to the hit left, and leaves, me wondering and a little steamed.
On the ice at the time were Petry, Belov, Arcobello, Yakupov and Hall. Montreal had Briere, Eller, Pacioretty, Subban and Markov. Not exactly murderer’s row on either side. But what transpired, or didn’t, was a little shocking.
As and aside, can we please put to rest the notion that guys who are on the a team primarily to fight prevent dirty plays? The Eller hit is more evidence that it doesn’t matter. It just plain doesn’t prevent it. If these type of dirty plays are to be prevented it is going to have to be a team response. The cliche team toughness MAY be the only route to respect and reducing the number of dirty runs taken at skill players.
Back to my point. The players on the ice did absolutely nothing in response. Montreal had just scored a goal to go up 2 and your best player gets pasted in the numbers and goes face first into the boards. It would have been a prime moment to galvanize their reputation as a team that is going to live and die together regardless of what comes at them. And yet they did nothing. They tentatively skated in after the whistle, let the refs sort it out, off Eller went to the box unscathed and Hall went back to the bench to be jawed and laughed at by Brian f**king Gionta.
I am completely puzzled as to who this team is. Why don’t they get pissed of and do something about dirty plays like that. Grab someone and send a message. I’m tired of watching them get pushed around and laughed at and if they don’t start to respond in kind it is only going to continue. Hall is your #1 player and you can’t let him be victimized. Stand behind him and push back a little.
I’m disappointed in the losses to this point in the season, but more so in the lack of fire. Something has to change.
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