The Edmonton Oilers badly needed a win. Not just for a shot at the playoffs, but to build on something after they’ve given up the lead in the third period repeatedly.
Minnesota is a team they’re chasing in that ridiculously bad Wild Card race in the Western Conference. A loss in regulation would have put them eight points behind Minnesota, and that’s with St. Louis winning their game in overtime against Tampa. If they want to have any chance at the playoffs, this is a game they had to win.
This game was painful. Talbot performed much better after a catastrophic third period against Chicago, but how are two teams in the playoff hunt so boring to watch?
THE BRIGHT SIDE
- The first shot on goal went in. Good news: it wasn’t on the Oilers’ net. Darnell Nurse’s offensive game continues to develop as he scores his seventh goal the season.
- An early goal and a power play? Who are these guys?
- The Oilers weathered a storm when Adam Larsson lost his stick in the defensive zone. Alex Chiasson gave Larsson his stick, but luckily the puck stayed out of the net.
- The second period starting with some life. These Minnesota games can be dull, but the first few minutes had Minnesota and Edmonton trading a bunch of chances.
- Talbot had a good start. He needed to better in the third period of that Chicago game, even with the Oilers’ poor defensive play, but no goals in the first was a solid recovery period.
- Ty Rattie gets his fourth goal off a sweet pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He’s taken some punishment the past few games.
- The Oilers have some bad contracts, no doubt about that, but the Wild have Ryan Suter and Zach Parise signed for six years after this season. They’re still really good players. Suter plays an insane amount of minutes and Parise is on pace for 72 points, but they’re both 34 years old and have a bunch of miles on them already.
- The power play is running hot. Draisaitl scores after an iffy play on Kris Russell and the Oilers have some breathing room in the third period.
- The Anaheim Ducks lost 4-0 to the Ottawa Senators tonight. Randy Carlyle is still their head coach. Life is wild.
- Zack Kassian had two points. Keep building that trade value, Zack.
THE FACE PALMERS
- Ken Hitchcock was hit with a puck and left the bench during the Oilers power play in the first period when Erich Fehr cleared the puck. Ouch.
- Through 40 minutes the Oilers had 11 shots. That’s not enough, especially when you have the lead. You can’t sit on the lead. The Oilers should know this very well by now.
- You knew something was getting called after they let the Zack Kassian shove on Parise go. You’re up 3-1, you have to be more disciplined than that.
- The Oilers were outshot 35-22. They managed to pull out the win, but you’d like to see them control play more.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
2:15 | EDMONTON | DARNELL NURSE (7) ASST: CONNOR MCDAVID (48), ZACK KASSIAN (6) | 1-0 |
2ND PERIOD
TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
4:32 | EDMONTON | TY RATTIE (4) ASST: RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS(34) | 2-0 |
3RD PERIOD
TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
2:50 | MINNESOTA | JOEL ERIKSSON EK (3) ASST: JASON ZUCKER (14), LUKE KUNIN (7) | 2-1 |
5:35 | EDMONTON | PPG- LEON DRAISAITL (32) ASST: ALEX CHIASSON (9), RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS (35) | 3-1 |
18:40 | EDMONTON | ENG- ZACK KASSIAN (7) ASST: CONNOR MCDAVID (49) | 4-1 |
#GOODCONTENT
Setting up Darnell Nurse's 1-0 goal against the Wild tonight, Connor McDavid has already tied Jordan Eberle for 14th all-time on the @EdmontonOilers career assists list (217)
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) February 8, 2019
No Minnesota shots yet on Cam Talbot but this is the longest the Oilers have gone without giving up a goal since before the All-Star Break.
— Terry Jones (@byterryjones) February 8, 2019
No way Chia could have taken a direct shot that deflected into the press box like Hitch just shook off on the bench #grit
— Wanye (@WanyeGretz) February 8, 2019
Same pic.twitter.com/Kaun2sQf8r
— Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) February 8, 2019
Fun Dubnyk fact. I met him once in the Calgary airport bathroom when he was in between NHL jobs. I wished him good luck, and then we both washed our hands.
— Chris Scheetz (@ChrisScheetz) February 8, 2019
Oilers score first for firstbtime since at Vancouver, 7 games ago. A.k.a. the last game they won
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) February 8, 2019
Good evening @frank_seravalli. Zack Kassian has four points in his last six please. Please add him to your trade board and I will leave a Pepsi and a cheese steak for you and all your reindeer
— Dennis King (@DKingBH) February 8, 2019
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins FINALLY reaches 50 points.
— Lowetide (@Lowetide) February 8, 2019
#Oilers will start the 3rd with a two goal lead! pic.twitter.com/X8bKMZGps4
— Hernan Salas (@HernanDaMan) February 8, 2019
Edmonton expected to get hit with 10 cm of Oilers jerseys tonight https://t.co/EuoXbHxNfj pic.twitter.com/PTRS2tebR2
— The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) February 8, 2019
Miiiiiiight want to look at bringing Talbot back on a buy-low, show-me contract
— Cam Lewis (@cooom) February 8, 2019
Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 2/7/2019 – 9:00 pm MST
Softkinen fans where u at tho ?????
love the hate keep it coming doubting debbies & daves xoxo
shoulda quit while you were behind…
I like the way you try.
I would take that Zach Parise contract over Milan any day.
I predict this post game article to have a third of the comments when we lose.
Big win tonight boys! 2 points behind the blues and 4 points behind the wild.
Lets go!!!
Just like it does after EVERY win? Bold prediction cotton.
We’re back, baby!
Talbot’s gonna go on a run, then what? Koskinen remorse! O no.
No.
Then we trade Talbot’s inconsistent fluke play to someone for a decent pick.
Exciting hockey indeed , I believe the shots were 3-0 Edm at the 10 min mark of the first
Oiler fans b!thing about a win. I just don’t get why players do want to play here?
Boring game? I thought it was the fist game I’ve seen in a while that wasn’t boring.
that’s what this team has been missing all along: their ‘fist game’…
So often writers write after just looking at highlights and stats. Which is why the “Eastern Scribes” miss out or often mis-represent what’s going on out west. (prime example: “Muzzin-Love” in T.O.) Muzzin’s defensive prowess seems to be just discovered in T.O… I digress, but I wish analysts would rate a game on the pure entertainment value & not just the number of shots on goal, there is much more to the game than just scoring chances. In fact, the more scoring chances just shows the lack of D on the part of the other team, that to me is boring. You might as well watch an All-Star Game & call that great hockey…