THE BRIGHT SIDE

- The Oilers had a fairly solid start tonight. I was wondering what they would be like after a few days off but they had legs and played with some jump off the start (outshot the Canucks 13-6 in the first).
- Mark Letestu walked into the slot and roofed his 4th goal of the season like he was some kind of offensive juggernaut.
- Matt Hendricks plays the game hard and it’s nice to see him get rewarded with an assist for his seemingly endless hard work.
- Darnell Nurse hasn’t played against the Sedins many times in his young career but he saw a lot of them tonight, and held his own for the most part. There were a few times Nurse’s decision making looked rushed as he gave away the puck on breakout attempts.
- Cam Talbot kept the Oilers in the game when they likely shouldn’t have been. That being said, I think even he would say he would like to have the overtime winner back. Talbot looks like he’s set to continue his run as the starter with another solid night. Talbot finished with 22 saves and a .917 save%.
- We’re having a Boxing Week sale on all NationGear where you get 20% off just for using the promo code. Check out the graphic for details and head over to nationgear.ca to pick up all the gear that Santa neglected to bring for you.
- At least we got a point?
THE FACE PALMERS

- Elliotte Friedman mentioned Edmonton as a possible landing destination for Zack Kassian. I don’t like it. I’ll never forget about what Kassian did to Sam Gagner and how he refused to answer the bell for it afterwards. It would feel too dirty. Dislike. Abort.
- Luke Gazdic made a bad play on the icing that got his line pinned in their own zone for an extended period of time. Rather than a quick bounce of the boards he sent it all the way and the team paid for it.
- Nikita Nikitin is an all world goat. Rather than walk the puck out of his own zone he makes a backhanded pass to nobody which results in zone time for the Canucks, and the Jannik Hansen goal. I’m dying to know what the Oilers would get for him apart from some kind of invoice.
- The power play was brutal again tonight. They couldn’t get anything done. They scored as much as I did in high school going 0/3 on the night.
- Speaking of the power play, Justin Schultz seems to be doing his best to recreate the Belanger triangle while on the man advantage. Not to mention the fact that Jultz played 27:12 tonight. HOW DOES HE DESERVE THAT MUCH ICE?
- It was a bad night for the Pouliot-Nuge-Eberle line. They were quiet all night, and often found themselves pinned in their own zone.
- How many turnovers did the Oilers have at their own blue line?
- The Gryba/Nikitin pairing gave me heartburn all night.
- Markstrom stole this game for the Canucks. He made some huge saves when they needed them and the Oilers couldn’t beat him. He finished the night with 32 saves and a .970 save%.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD | |||
---|---|---|---|
12:55 | EDM | 1 – 0 EDM | |
2ND PERIOD | |||
03:37 | VAN | 1 – 1 Tie | |
3RD PERIOD | |||
NONE | |||
OT PERIOD | |||
04:01 | VAN | 2 – 1 VAN |
BEST OF THE TWEETS
@OilersNation He’s Zack Kassian. #ZackKassianCharacterProblems
— Late Fiennes (@MrMikeEaton) December 27, 2015
Schultz just made one hell of a defensive play. This is not a typo nor am I on drugs. Great play.
— Ryan McByks (@IAmByks) December 27, 2015
Oilers power play still suffering from tryptophan.
— Rascal Gas (@rascalgas) December 27, 2015
Why is Adam Oates all over this telecast. He looks like Ray Liotta and I don’t trust either of them #HNIC
— Wanye (@WanyeGretz) December 27, 2015
@OilersNation I sure hope someone made a GIF of Friedman flicking that card at Kypreos.
— Higgs-Distortion (@Higgsdistortion) December 27, 2015
@OilersNation For the love of Gord, would someone just get Sedin a donut pillow so we can stop hearing about him standing? #Hemorrhoids
— David Smitten (@DavidSmitten) December 27, 2015
@jsbmbaggedmilk Of course the guy who gets his head busted open is the hero. Of. Course.
— Kyle Eldstrom (@KEldstrom) December 27, 2015