Gagner Greatness

All right, there is no way I could let this one slip through the cracks. Sam Gagner, one of my favorites on an Oilers team full of young talent, had a night to remember, to say the least, against the Chicago Blackhawks last night. He was in on all 8 Oiler goals, (an impressive total on it's own against a solid Hawks team) scoring 4 and assisting on all the others. What makes this feat so remarkable is what he had done previously this season which was, well, nothing really. He had 5 goals and 22 points in the 43 previous games. So, for those who hate doing math, he nearly doubled his goal total for the year and passed a whopping 90 players (more then four full teams worth) in the scoring race. Now the question is, does this speak more to his early season struggles or his abilities? Gagner has always had talent, since his days lighting it up as a junior with Patrick Kane (@88PKane) as a member of the London Knights. He is not a big guy at 5' 11", especially for a center in the western conference, and lets face it, has shown flashes but never truly excelled in the NHL. This outburst was clear evidence of what he was capable of when playing with top end talent like Taylor Hall (@Hallsy04) and  Jordan Eberle (@ebs_14). His 8 points tied an Oilers record held by Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey, (company I guess he doesn't mind) and nobody since Mario Lemieux in 1988 had put up 8 points in a single game. Gagner wasn't even born then!! This is a feat that should be commended and he was rewarded with 1st, 2nd and 3rd star honors in last nights win. So what do you do for an encore? Well, I think he'll be getting every opportunity to do something special tomorrow night against Detroit, though if you betting on whether or not he'd match this performance, I'd take the under.