After seven weeks of trial, trouble, and turmoil, the Edmonton Oilers goaltending situation seems to have been resolved, at least for now. Tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Oilers will run with the new tandem of Devan Dubnyk and Ilya Bryzgalov.

By I speak to personnel, not role. The battle for starter/backup is very much with a proven NHL starter now here to push Dubnyk in his attempt to prove that he too is a true 1. So far in 2013 14 his claim has been undone by poor play, an ankle injury, and an undifferentiated stew of new gear / bad bounces / new coach systems but same old team. Factors that conspired to make his life on the ice fairly miserable.

Off ice could hardly have been much better. It started as off season musings by the GM about netminding and several highly visible but failed attempts at goalie acquisitions: Antti Raanta, Jonathan Bernier, Corey Schneider and don forget Ben Bishop just before the transition from Steve Tambellini to Craig MacTavish. This was quickly interpreted at the national media level to goaltending Authentic Malik Jackson Jersey isn good enough (Without a pause to take in the fact that the Oilers had allowed the second most shots in the NHL last season and the twelfth most goals.) When Dubnyk opened the season with a couple of epic fails on national TV on opening night and soon thereafter in Toronto said national media narrative crescendoed, while the confidence level of Dubnyk own fan base plummeted. He a level headed young man, but it not hard to imagine his own confidence taking a pounding in the process.

Jason LaBarbera was given the net for a couple of games (both losses), but failed to plug the leaks. Somewhere along the way, DD sustained a reported ankle injury (no telling how long he might have played with it) and eventually found himself sidelined for the first time in his career. With LaBarbera already out of favour, Richard Bachman took his turn between the pipes for three games (all losses) before he too got hurt. Dubnyk returned to the crease seven games ago and Authentic Julius Thomas Jersey hasn yielded it since, his game growing stronger all the while.

Here a graphic look at the fragmented state of Edmonton netminding, plotting each game by save percentage (starters only).

Oversized markers reflect Oilers victories (all five of them), while dashed lines indicate when the same man was given a run of games. The solid blue squiggle is the team running Sv% season to date, which has been steadily trending upward since a truly horrendous start. Just one last downward blip coinciding with LaBarbera last start, in Phoenix against his old team. JLB has since dressed as a back up to both Dubnyk and Bachman, but never got another shot. This morning, he cleared waivers and will report to Oklahoma City.

The smoothed curve is Dubnyk trend line, which indicates the arrows are pointing up and in the general direction of his established rate (.916, .914, and .921 the past three seasons). This is volatile data to be sure, but it somewhat encouraging that after the trio combined for a miserable three starts in the first 19 games, Dubnyk delivered three in succession the last week. 6 of 22 is still nowhere good enough one would expect one goalie to post a save percentage above the league rate in at least half of his games but last week for really the first time all season, the focus moved from goaltending to enough goal support absymal start for the netminders is further highlighted in this table:

Given the generally poor save percentages across the three netminders, especially in the early going, one wonders how much systems play might affect all this. Early in the season the Oil were doing much better by raw shots and scoring chances metrics, but when they did break down, a gold plated scoring chance for the bad guys was a frequent result. Not to say that problem has disappeared entirely because it hasn but by eye in recent games it seems that the Oil are generally doing better at containing the number of ten bell chances, even as their shot share has plummeted.

Dubnyk played what are still his three worst games of the season in his first four starts, and has been gradually begun to work his way out since. That .902 Sv% in his last seven suggests there is still plenty of work to do, though .938 over the last three is much more encouraging. His margin for error has been ablated away, and the lanky netminder needs to build off this solid run on a nightly basis. If he intends to keep the crease, there can be any letdowns.

Tonight DD gets the start while Bryzgalov will begin his Oilers career wearing the ballcap (or equivalent) on the bench. Dallas Eakins has wisely decided there is absolutely no reason to rush the new signee into action right away, not with his putative 1 actually playing like one. A smart decision in my opinion. One of Bryzgalov functions is to push Dubnyk, and it seems as if he already accomplishing that, even as I agree with Craig MacTavish take www.nflbroncosofficialstore.com/84_jacob_tamme_jersey_cheap that it more likely an accident of timing than anything. DD bounceback was as predictable as snow in November, it was (and remains) a question of degree.

With a legit 1 netminder now waiting in the wings, Dubnyk margin for error has ablated away to zero. If he wants to keep the crease next game, he needs to play well tonight, end of story. It a bit of statement game for Devan Dubnyk, and his performance will be key to not only tonight result but to the general bent of the team moving ahead.

Eakins is not only sticking with his starting goalie but with virtually his entire line up from Oilers 4 2 win in Calgary on Saturday.

Other than a new backup goalie, Oilers are making just a single line up change, as Justin Schultz replaces Philip Larsen in the D role, paired with Anton D Belov. Other lines and pairings remain intact, with Mark Arcobello and Ryan Jones still the odd men out up front. The old axiom, change a winning line up is surely the rationale that will be cited. If only it were that simple, that somehow one win could wipe out clusters of losses.

It a simple enough assignment for nflbroncosofficialstore.com/97_malik_jackson_jersey_cheap everybody from Devan Dubnyk to the fourth line to Dallas Eakins: just win, baby. With the Blue Jackets visiting tonight and Panthers Thursday, there won be a better opportunity to string some victories together and start the climb out of this mammoth hole.