Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Reversing fortunes?

The thank you cards are in the mail as the Vancouver Canucks sat close to their Sirirus radios or computers on Tuesday night keeping score as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Edmonton Oilers.

With Vancouver taking a whipping on Monday night at the hands of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks it all seemed lost by midnight of Monday, but as they say the sun comes up each day and offers all sorts of opportunity.

Opportunity this time came in the form of a struggling Edmonton Oiler team that can't seem to grasp vital points when they need them most. With a chance to put some distance between them and the desperate Canucks, the Oil found that the Western Division champs and now President's Cup winners weren't going to do them any favours.

Manny Legace shut them down making 29 saves on the way to the 2-0 victory. A loss that now leaves the Edmonton Oilers fate in the hands of the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks.

Edmonton with two games remaining can only sit back and hope that the Canucks and Sharks do some damage to each other, though truth be told they most likely are hoping for a Shark sweep in the home and home series about to begin Wednesday in Vancouver.

The Oilers are clinging to a two point lead over Vancouver, with home games remaining against Colorado and Anaheim. They have picked a horrible time to go into a losing skid having lost two of their last six games.

The eighth and final spot for the Western division is the spot of desperation this week, teams desperately trying to claim it and teams desperately not trying to lose it.

It's a playoff race for the inept it seems at times, with each team hoping only to survive to play again for real next week.

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