That was emotional. Final Score: 7-5 Oilers

Was anyone else nervous about how the Oilers were going to play on ceremony night? Before the game, Jason Gregor tweeted that the Oilers were 3-3-2 on nights with banner raising ceremonies and tonight’s ceremony happened to be a long one. As I was watching it, and listening to Glen Sather talk about being lucky, all I could think about was how I must have missed out on a hell of a ride. Being 30 years old I barely remember the fifth Stanley Cup win, and Gretzky was already gone by that point, so it’s hard to imagine the glory days. I remember getting ladder match bunged up in 2006 so I can only imagine what the 80s were like. To have all of those players on the same team was some kind of miracle.

With how this game started it seemed like the Oilers were getting plenty of that luck that Glen Sather was talking about in his speech. Putting three goals past Henrik Lundqvist is a wish at the best of times let alone putting three past him in one period. As far as head starts go this was about as good as you could get, for the Oilers. Unfortunately, the tricky part always seems to be hanging on to that lead. In the second period, the Rangers bounced back (like all good teams seem to do) and erased a two goal deficit to tie things up, all the while pushing for more. I might even suggest that the Oilers were lucky to take a tie game into the third period. 

Speaking of the third period, I thought I was going to have a heart attack and die (pantsless) on my living room floor. That had to be the most exciting period of Oilers hockey that I’ve watching a long, long time. The Oilers rebounded from a mediocre second period, reclaiming their two goal lead only to give it up again. I’m not going to lie, when the Rangers tied things up for the second time I was half expecting the Oilers to find a way to lose this one. Giving up two two-goal leads in the same game and still winning? I’m not used to it. I guess the rebuild has us all feeling a little bit antsy.

Lastly, could there ever have been a better homage to Glen Sather than a game with twelve goals scored? Talk about a throwback to the time when the Oilers were putting up goals in droves. Great game. Great win. 

We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Props to the Oilers for the Glen Sather tribute ceremony. I thought it was beautifully done, and his speech was heartfelt and well written. My only complaint is that creepy painting they gave him. I’m not sure who thought that thing was a good idea but it weirded me out. 
• Lauri Korpikoski must read the weekly Report Card. He got hammered in this morning’s rankings and he responded with his first career hat trick. I admit that I down-voted him in the Report Card and, therefore, take some of the credit for his offensive outburst. Either way, this was a great night for the boy named Lauri. 
• Teddy Purcell’s goal (his sixth) was a thing of beauty. Draisaitl’s cross ice pass to Taylor Hall shows the kind of vision that kid has, and it was perfect. From there, Hall threw a quick pass towards the middle and Purcell finished off the tick tack toe. 
• Is it good when you register four points in a game? Taylor Hall keeps producing offense at a wizard like pace and is in the midst of a four game point streak… again. In that time, he has five goals and four assists.
• Another four point night (four assists) for Neon Leon. Draisaitl is quickly becoming Big Sexy 2.0 and I’m not even sorry about it. My apologies go out to Sheldon Souray as I imagine it would be painful to be replaced in sexiness. 
• Darnell Nurse scored his second goal of the season on a quick wrister, coming in from the point. With the way Darryl is progressing I’m wondering if the Oilers haven’t already found their #1 D-man. It may not happen this year, or even next year, but Darnell Nurse is going to be a rock on that blue line for years to come. 
• The Oilers went 1/3 on the power play.
• CONNOR MCDAVID WAS ON MY TEEVEE! 
• My friends, we’re looking at a five game winning streak. 

THE FACE PALMERS

• Despite putting One Direction as the lead image for the face palmers I do actually like a couple of their songs. I felt compelled to tell you guys. I have embarrassed my family, and I have embarrassed the Shaolin temple.
• I saw a lot of Ranger players running their mouth against Darnell Nurse but no one seemed willing to do anything about it. Darryl is a warlord. Our warlord.
• Why couldn’t the second period be as nice as the first period? In fact, the second period was the opposite of nice. The Rangers are rude houseguests. 
• I like the way the Oilers completely forgot that Mats Zuccarello existed on his goal. How did the guy get so wide open? Shocking. 
• I was hoping that Henrik Lundqvist had forgotten to play goal after letting in three goals on 15 shots in the first period. He almost had me fooled, in the second period. Seriously though, who would have expected the Oilers to chase Lundqvist tonight? I like to think it’s karma for when he laughed at the Oilers last season after shutting them out. Who’s laughing this time, Hank?
• Tonight wasn’t a great night for Anders Nilsson but he stopped enough pucks to get the win, and that’s all that matters. For all the times that Nilsson bailed the team out, in the past week, it was nice to see the skaters return the favour. Nilsson finished the night with 29 saves and an .853 save%. 
• Oscar Klefbom got hurt tonight and had left the game to get X-rays. There wasn’t much of an update at the time of posting the Wrap Up. 

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD
06:35	EDM	PPG – Lauri Korpikoski (4) Wrist shot – ASST: Iiro Pakarinen (2), Mark Letestu (5)	1 – 0 EDM
12:16	NYR	Mats Zuccarello (12) Wrist shot – ASST: Chris Kreider (9), Dylan McIlrath (1)	1 – 1 Tie
15:47	EDM	Lauri Korpikoski (5) Wrist shot – ASST: Matt Hendricks (3), Justin Schultz (3)	2 – 1 EDM
16:57	EDM	Teddy Purcell (6) Wrist shot – ASST: Taylor Hall (19), Leon Draisaitl (14)	3 – 1 EDM
2ND PERIOD
00:53	NYR	Chris Kreider (5) Backhand shot – ASST: Mats Zuccarello (12), Henrik Lundqvist (1)	3 – 2 EDM
08:44	NYR	Derick Brassard (10) Wrist shot – ASST: Rick Nash (11), Marc Staal (9)	3 – 3 Tie
3RD PERIOD
00:18	EDM	Taylor Hall (13) Backhand shot – ASST: Teddy Purcell (12), Leon Draisaitl (15)	4 – 3 EDM
02:40	EDM	Darnell Nurse (2) Snap shot – ASST: Taylor Hall (20), Leon Draisaitl (16)	5 – 3 EDM
06:28	NYR	Derick Brassard (11) Wrist shot – ASST: Rick Nash (12), Keith Yandle (14)	5 – 4 EDM
18:14	NYR	PPG – Rick Nash (9) Wrist shot – ASST: Dan Boyle (6), Ryan McDonagh (10)	5 – 5 Tie
18:26	EDM	Taylor Hall (14) Snap shot – ASST: Leon Draisaitl (17), Teddy Purcell (13)	6 – 5 EDM
19:22	EDM	EN – Lauri Korpikoski (6) Wrist shot – ASST: NONE	7 – 5 EDM

BEST OF THE TWEETS

Meanwhile….in the home of the @VanCanucks pic.twitter.com/zYSLcg3JnZ

— Scott Hood (@Hoodlum0404) December 12, 2015

@OilersNation “if you want to wear a skirt get an earring” – slats.

— Charlie Zulu (@Tuker79) December 12, 2015

Is this Oilers….
*checks temperature*
@OilersNation

— Greg (@greggers04) December 12, 2015

@OilersNation laugh now Henrik, LAUGH NOW!!!

— Ryan Lauder (@lauder16) December 12, 2015

I can’t be the only one secretly pretending the Sather patch is a playoff patch.. @OilersNation

— Adrian (@wolfe_adrian) December 12, 2015

@OilersNation these meaningful games in December are stressful.

— Nathan McLean (@nathanmclean0) December 12, 2015

@OilersNation i knew i should have put korpokoski in my hockey pool this week

— Scott (@sld87) December 12, 2015

Talk to me Twitter. Hit me up on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk for your chance at ending up in the GDB Wrap Up.

THE NORTH X NORTHGRETZ PODCAST

Get caught up on anything you’ve missed as we roll into Episode 7, on Monday. As always you can follow North x NorthGretz on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the podcast on ITunes! 

PREVIOUS EPISODES

• Episode 1 – Is This Thing On?
• Episode 2 – Where Are The Guests Bro?
• Episode 3 – Chip Wars 2015
• Episode 4 – Neon Leon
• Episode 5 – Ya Jinked It!