Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 37

MONDAY, MARCH 4. 2002 HOCKEY IDMOSTOS JOL'RSAl D3 Comrie big weight off Oilers' shoulders rest of scoring punch plaing below par tioned Hecht and Reasoner. They're not the only reason the Oilers' playoff hopes are going down the drain in the West if they don't win (not tie, WIN) four of the six games on this road trip, they can probably kiss it goodbye with Dallas and Vancouver rolling but Hecht and Reasoner are a large part of it. They were billed as players who could wheel and deal. Instead, there's been little from Hecht, who looks like a player, bullying his way out of the corners, but the last terrific game he played was back on Jan.

6 (four points against Montreal). Since then he has two goals. Reasoner has sat for as many games as he's played (33) and has points in four of them. That's probably not what GM Kevin Lowe had in mind when he traded for them. When Weight left, pretty much everybody figured the Oilers woukiberiardpressedtornakethe playoffs.

They confounded people for the first two months of the season. Now? They're on a road trip that'll make or break them, and they only have one road win in their last 12 games (in Phoenix). The only thing the Oilers fans have to hang their hat on today, after two wins in the last 10 games, is the great play of the kid who has had to try and be Weight, Mike Comrie. Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish should be digging up clips of Comrie scoring (nine goals in the last 14 games) to show the other players how it's done. Economically, too: nine goals on 30 shots.

We Ve been down this road before, but here it is one last time: Anson Carter, one goal since Jan. 2. Ryan Smyth, five goals since he came back from his broken ankle, also on Jan. I Iecht, five goals in 2002 How about Tom Pod? He was hacking and whacking and hitting guys in the St Louis game Saturday, and rushing the puck, but he has one goal in 48 games. What's up with that? The other offensive defence-man, Janne Niinimaa, is struggling, too.

Well leave the checkers, like Todd Marchant, Ethan Moreau, Rem Murray and Mike Grier alone. We've beaten that one like a dead horse. The Oilers' big guns have to start being big guns. Like Comrie is but he scores close to the net, where you can get hurt He's uncanny. "He's got an innate sense said MacTavish.

"His skill level has come back after a stretch of 10 games where he struggled, but for a first-year guy it's aston- ishing he has been as consistent as he's been He scores big goals, late in games. He's making good decisions with the puck, but he puts himself in good position to grab a rebound when he doesn't have it. "He's got great anticipation," MacTavish continued. "Mike has a similar sense to Gretzky when it comes to empty nets, too. You wonder how Mike can have the puck on his stick with a wide-open net after a goalie's pulled, but Gretz did that a million times and Mike's done it too." But the Oilers can't afford to be a one-trick pony.

Somebody other than Comrie has to score. Remarkably, he could hit 30 goals. "He's got 19 games to get six," said MacTavish, not the least bit worried. And the others? Like Hecht. Like Carter, who missed on two great chances in scrambles against the Blues.

Like Smyth. Like Niinimaa on the blueline, who has to do more. It's been a grind for them. "Everybody wants to score goals it's not a case of guys consciously not wanting to put the puck on the net But everybody's putting pressure on themselves," said MacTavish. "We're just not getting it done, even though we're moving the puck better and generating more speed.

We have to get Smytty (Ryan Smyth) scoring. He's going harder on the forecheck and he's starting to win more battles like he does when he's on top ofhis game. I see signs he's coming on. Anson? Jochen? We need them scoring and more out of Janne on the back end. "It's not like we can't do it.

Early in the year we had A.C. (Carter) in the top 15 in scoring in the league. Smytty was right up there, too, then he got hurt." JIM MATIIKSON journal llmkev riter Bt FFAI.O If ex-Oilers captain Doug Weight is feeling blue as he lies in his bed in St. Louis, trying to figure out how a hockey player sprains his pelvis, how do you think Oilers fans are feeling? Jochen Hecht has 31 points; Marty Reasoner has five. That's a long way from the 90 that Weight had last year as an Oiler, before the team's 37 owners decided he was too rich for their blood and handed him over to Wal-Mart heir Bill Laurie, the Blues owner, for the aforemen GAME DAY SHARK SANDWICH OILERS AT SABRES THE ESSENTIALS Oilers (26-24-11-2), 10th in the Western Conference, vs.

the Sabres (24-27-8-1), 11th in the East. Game time is 5 p.m. at HSBC Arena. TV: SportsNet. Radio: 630 CHED.

LIFE JACKET? The Oilers, trying to keep their heads above water, usually come out of games in Buffalo swimmingly. They haven't lost there since Oct. 18, 1995. Only two current Oilers Todd Marchant and Ryan Smyth Tnrwm I Saturday. He was the first player at the airport for the Sunday charter to Buffalo.

Jani Rita only played 6:09 minutes on Saturday, but he'll stay in the lineup. He almost scored on his first NHL shift, and did a nice job when he didn't have the puck. WHO'S OUT? Probably Marty Reasoner, who didn't do a bad job as the fourth-line winger, playing 12 minutes; but he didn't get anything done offensively. Shawn Horcoff only played six minutes, but Oilers coach Craig MacTavish will play him and try to get him more minutes because he thinks he's an opportunist. WHO'S HURT Sabres winger Slava Kozlov (partially severed achilles) is out for the rest of the year hardly a great return on the Dominik Hasek trade with the Red Wings.

Richard Smehlik, who played on the Czechs' defence in Salt Lake City, is out another week with a bad shoulder. They may deal him because he's unrestricted at the end of the year. He's also Hasek's buddy, so keep the Wings in mind. Domenic Pittis (concussion), who once played for the Sabres, didn't make the trip. WHO'S HOT Mike Comrie has seven goals in his last 10 Oiler games.

That's it for the offensively challenged Oilers these days. WHO'S NOT The Sabres are still trying to find somebody to take Chris Gratton off their hands. He scored in Toronto on Saturday, but that's only three goals in the last 43 games. Buffalo's power play is also ranked 28th in the league. HOW BAD IS IT? Pretty sad.

The Oilers haven't given up more than three goals in any of their last 10 games (21 goals in all) and they've only won twice. SOBERING FACT The Sabres were an average team with a great goalie when Hasek was standing on his head in Buffalo. They're still an average team with a fairly good replacement in Martin Biron. Little wonder they're not in the Top 8 in the Eastern Conference. were on the team back then.

That loss was at the rundown Buffalo Auditorium, not the HSBC. They're 3-0-2 since '95, and, taking it farther, they've only dropped one game there in the last 10 years (4-1-3). WHO'S IN? Oan Cleary will likely be back after sitting out his first of the year against the Blues on OILERS NOTES carrying it," said MacTavish. Staios lucky blue-liner Oilers defenceman Steve Staios escaped serious injury when his right leg wishboned in the second period Saturday night after a hit by Jamal Mayers. He twisted his ankle, but it Demitra hit painful Smith was breathing fire after Pavol Demitra's knee-on-knee hit Saturday.

"I haven't seen the tape, but is games (Tampa Bay on Wednesday and Florida on Friday) It's new ground for Principe, who'll have to memorize names and numbers because Kevin Quinn, the regular Oilers play caller, is working a SportsNet game in Phoenix against the Canucks. "I don't think I've got a style." I've never done a pro game be could have been much worse. "It was about 10 feet from where Smytty (Ryan Smyth) broke his," said Staios. "Their guy apologized for the hit." He's 50-50 to play tonight. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 'Happy feet' for Janne Janne Niinimaa had a rough that not intent to injure?" said Smith, who skated right over to Demitra in the penalty box and yelled at him through the glass.

Smith has been playing through a painful hyper-extended elbow for the last few months. Ruffhaspalin GM Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff has taken some heat, but he's there for a long haul unless the Rigas family, who pay the bills, doesn't want him. GM Darcy Regier, in the first Dallas Stars' Jamie Langenbrunner, centre, crashes into San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov, right, and Mike Rathje in Dallas on Sunday. Sharks defenceman Bryan Marchment was given a game misconduct and faces a mandatory two-game suspension after receiving his third fight-instigator penalty of the season. Lowe ready to shuffle deck to shake ud listless Oilers fore," said Principe.

What are friends for? Eric Brewer's big hit on the Blues' Daniel Corso 15 seconds into overtime on Saturday dislocated the kid's shoulder. Brewer also rocked Canadian Olympic team defence buddy Al Maclnnis once. "We weren't having a very good shift and I think Al knew he was going to get buried," JL listen and be involved in conver scoring? He has one goal in his last 20 games. "He's not playing very well, said Lowe, who deft night against the Blues. He's had a few of those lately.

He's got his "happy feet" back, where he's bouncing around and not moving the puck decisively up ice. "Jaime's trying to do too much," said Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish. "His game all emanates from his hockey sense. He has to make good decisions, and when he's decelerating into open ice and accelerating into traffic, you know he's not on top ofhis game. He hasn't made good decisions from the back end on our power play, either." MacTavish had captain Jason Smith back there against the Blues.

He's not as creative as Niinimaa, but he fires low, hard shots. "He puts the pucks on net, he finds open ice when he's year of a six-year deal, is as tight with Ruff as Oilers GM Kevin Lowe is with MacTavish. And Regier, who played and worked for the Islanders, remembers the symbiotic relationship between Bill Torrey and coach Al Arbour, too. "We're in this together. We're growing together," said Regier.

nitely thinks Carter is fighting it, not only around the net, but in making plays something he's normally been very good at. Even if Tom Poti only has one said Brewer. Maclnnis played 28 minutes still seven fewer than Chris Pronger Hungry Rita does job Jani Rita impressed MacTavish against the Blues, even with so litde work. "I liked his speed," said MacTavish. "He's hungry, he's got a real sense of urgency to his game and he's huge (a rock-hard 216 pounds).

He's going to be a player." goal and 15 points in 48 games sation, Lowe said. If there a way to do it (make a trade), I'm not afraid to do it." Translation: he's trying like the dickens to get a scorer, but so are 20 other teams. He'd rather not put a time frame on making a deal because "as soon as you do that you back yourself into a corner." But the clock's ticking. Loudly. While Lowe liked his team's effort against Nashville and St.

Louis at home, the bottom line is they only got one point out of those two games (atiewiththeBlues). And even though they haven't given up four goals in a game since Col- he's still the player most teams are asking about There was talka few Calling the shots SportsNet host Gene Principe months ago of a Poti-for-Kyle McLaren trade, but McLaren had wrist surgery. He's coming back will do the play-by-play for the two initial Oilers pay-per-view very soon, but he also has a histo ry of injuries. And he makes dou ble Poti's $950,000 salary. Still if an intriguing possibility.

Poti's from the Boston area; they need PAINSTAKING EFFORT a puck-rusher, and McLaren is a Carter, Grier, Poti potential trade bait? JIM MATHESON Journal Hockey Writer BUFFALO As the NHL general managers gather today in Naples, for 2 Vi days of meetings, Kevin Lowe says nothing's cooking yet but "everything isout on the counter." The Oilers GM would love to have a deal on the front burner, to nab another scorer with Anson Carter struggling mightily. But, even though Lowe can sense that the fans are getting itchy for a move with the Oilers sliding into 10th place in the West, he's going to the meetings with noth-ing imminent. Lowe may be toying with the idea of addition by subtraction making a trade just to shake things up but it would only involve a player he wasn't in love with; not one who's struggling. Take that any wayyou want, but if you were to assume that, say, Mike Grier could be on his way out because he's only got six goals, you might be surprised. All GMs like to deal from strength, and Lowe doesn't have any right now, not when his team is seven games under .500 in 2002, and has only two wins in its last 10 games.

That said, he knows he hard-nosed player with a big shot, a more mobile Derian Hatcher type from Western Canada. The Rangers are likely in the Poti mix, too, along with the Islanders and New Jersey. But McLaren wouldn't solve the scoring woes. Quick fixes like, say, an Adam Oates probably would be just that only a rental because he's an unrestricted free-agent What good would it do, say, if the Caps asked for Ales Hemsky for Oates? That's a losing situation for the Oilers. Sources in New York say the Rangers have been getting plenty of calls from clubs about winger Radek Dvorak but he's not available.

Centre Radek Bonk in Ottawa has never really been on the block Scott Gomez isout there; so, probably, is big centre Viktor Ko-zlov in Florida. He's definitely not one of Mike Keenan's favourites, but Kozlov has a rep as a lazy centre, albeit with a ton of talent. Lowe did say he's mildly intrigued by talk that winger Dino Ciccarelli wants to make a comeback: "Maybe he's another John MacLean (on fire in Dallas after they brought him back)." "If there's a way to do it (make a trade), I'm not afraid to do it." Oilers CM Kevin I. owe orado beat them 4-2 on Jan. 23, the Oilers have won just two games out of 10 since then.

"Maybe well have to play even better defence until the scoring comes around. Look at Colorado early in theyear'saidLowe. "I think we have to get into the same mindset as Phoenix and Vancouver. They got into one of just finding a way Co win somehow. We have to get the same psyche as they have." Maybe, but Lowe is worried about Carter in particular.

How much longer, can he go without might not be able to wait to change some faces before the March 19 deadline if the Oilers continue to stumble on this six-game road trip. They could be out of the playoff picture long before then, unless they win maybe four out of these six games that take them to Tampa Bay, Florida, Washington, Detroit and Ottawa after tonight's game against the Sabres. I'Tm going (to the meetings) to I Kit ASSOC IAT (-D PRISS Chicago Blackhawks winger Steve Sullivan puts his glove to his face after being hit with a stick in a game against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in Chicago on Sunday. Sullivan Ijad a goal and an assist in a 2-1 victory. ltr i-i inimi.

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