Living up to expectations can be a fairly daunting task for professional athletes and one that many have trouble ever coming close to achieving. Zack Kassian is an individual who has struggled mightily in fulfilling the promise that came with being a highly touted prospect but the Edmonton Oilers are hoping the 13th pick of the 2009
Entry Draft has the internal drive and strength to overcome both his on and off-ice troubles.
Despite heading into the Christmas break with a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets and having put together a 7-3 record over their previous ten outings, theEdmonton Oilers had not been playing fundamentally sound hockey for some time. While the occasional timely goal from their talented forward group and fantastic netminding from the tandem of Anders Nilsson and Cam Talbot helped mask many of this group’s shortcomings, everyone knew Todd McLellan’s crew was going to have to improve their overall game and do so in a rather timely manner.
While a large portion of this fan base were ready to throw netminder Cam Talbot to the curb following a rather difficult stretch of games mere weeks into his Edmonton Oilers career, my guess is they are likely singing a different tune after watching the 28-year old do his thing over the past seven days. Anders Nilsson may have carried the load for the better part of six weeks, but it looks as though No. 33 is ready to reclaim his job as this team’s go-to-guy for the foreseeable future.
We are now 34 games into the Edmonton Oilers 2015-16 schedule and one thing has become very apparent about this group. Be them good or bad, this is one heck of a streaky hockey club. After reeling off six consecutive wins to start the month of December, the Oilers have followed up their most impressive run in recent memory with three straight losses over a five-day span and are now trying to stop the bleeding before it gets out of control.
