The Edmonton Oilers sit dead last in the league with six wins in 25 games. A 10-game losing streak has decimated any hope of meaningful hockey this season and once again turned the conversation towards the draft lottery. All this before the tarp has been pulled off Santas sleigh. Conventional hockey logic suggests it is time for Craig Mactavish to fire Dallas Eakins. In most other markets, it probably would have happened already. Im here to tell you, its not going to happen. At least not in the near future. MacTavish still believes in Dallas Eakins message and he believes the players do, too. In recent days a number of them, including Taylor Hall, Andrew Ference and David Perron, have gone public with their support of the head coach. Hall went out of his way to make sure MacTavish knew that Eakins wasnt the problem in his eyes. This sense of support from within the room has resonated strongly with the GM. MacTavish must also know he hasnt iced a competitive lineup for a second straight season and making Eakins the fall guy for some of his miscalculations and mis-fires likely doesnt sit well with him. Last year it was a ragtag blue line - Denis Grebeshkov, Anton Belov, and Philip Larsen are now out of the league - and inadequate goaltending that sunk them. Sure, the rookie head coach made his share of mistakes, but so, too, did the rookie GM. This season MacTavishs inability to address a glaring lack of depth at centre and reliance on career backups in net have hamstrung his head coach. Eakins also doesnt have anything close to a true top defence pair and is nightly being asked to make lemonade out of lemons. This head coach is failing, the standings make that indisputable…but not with a quality team. Hes failing with a significantly flawed lineup. MacTavish is less than two years into his tenure as GM, too early to say he is the problem. He needs to be given time to untangle the numerous knots he inherited, and those he has tightened. Soon, MacTavish is going to have to clearly demonstrate he has some creative solutions that extend beyond high first round picks. Whether it costs him his job or not, Eakins bares a lot of responsibility for what is taking place. He is at the helm of this titanically sinking ship and regardless of weaknesses in his lineup, he shouldnt be clumsily smashing into every iceberg in his path. Surely a coach should be able to light the right fires at least once in a 10-game stretch of futility. Shouldnt he be able to find the critical buttons to push and snap his team out of its funk? Yet lines have remained mostly the same. Outside of painfully overdue healthy scratches, there have been no dramatic measures taken, no cold buckets of water dumped on anyones head, no slap across the face to shock a dressing room out its slumber. Instead, theres talking... and lots of it. A stale power play, poor starts and lack of accountability for repeat offenders of the mind-numbing mistakes are all failures laying squarely at Eakins feet. So too is the length of this losing streak. In 2013, Ralph Krueger had his Oiler team positioned for a run at the playoffs. The Oilers were ninth in the Western Conference, one point out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline and had just trounced the Calgary Flames 8-2. Kruegers Oilers then went on to lose nine of their next 10 games and were finished. During that skid, lines stayed the same, systems remained in place, there was no cold bucket of water back then either. It revealed a lack of creativity and problem-solving under pressure from the first-year head coach. That stretch cost Ralph Krueger his job. Dallas Eakins has yet to prove that he is any more creative or any more capable of problem solving than Krueger was. But hes going to get more time to figure it out than the last guy did. USA Soccer Store . Since coming to the big leagues in late May, La Stella is 6 for 7 with the bases loaded, driving in 13 runs in those at-bats. USA Soccer Shirts . The Philadelphia left fielder clubbed a tiebreaking, solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Phillies edged the Red Sox, 2-1, in the middle test of a three-game interleague series at Citizens Bank Park. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/. The flanker began his comeback from a right shoulder injury by coming off the bench on Saturday when Wales opened with a victory over Italy. Warburton replaces Justin Tipuric, one of three changes announced on Tuesday by coach Warren Gatland. Cheap USA Soccer Jerseys .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. USA Soccer Jerseys 2019 . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue.Andrew Johnston admitted he was frustrated by his putting as he ended his opening round level par at Baltusrol. It was an up-and-down round for the 27-year-old Englishman, particularly on the back nine as he recorded three birdies and three bogeys between the 10th and the 15th hole before recording his fifth birdie of the round on the last. Heres why Andrew Beef Johnston is fast becoming the one of the most famous golfers in the world. I made it quite tough, he told Sky Sports. I thought I drove the ball really good and hit some good irons but I thought I putted really poorly today. I had a couple of three-putts which was frustrating but I just kept going and battled because I knew I was hitting it well. I just tried to hang in there and get it back to somewhere near level. Johnston was well supported throughout his opening round Much in the same way as he did at The Open at Royal Troon, Johnston received plenty of support from the New Jersey crowd.ddddddddddddHowever, he insists that the added attention is not adversely affecting his game. Johnston got lucky with this bounce on the fourth hole Ive just done exactly the same as I did a couple of weeks ago, he said.Ive gone from greens to tees, a few high fives as people put their hands out and just acknowledge the crowd, but when I get to my ball, Im ready to go. Its been absolutely fine.Watch the PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage of the second round begins from 6pm on Friday. Or watch from £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV. Also See: PGA Championship leaderboard WATCH: Beefs lucky bounce Walker sets the early pace Fisher leads British challenge ' ' '