THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Connor McDavid opened the scoring for the Oilers with his 20th goal of the season after it looked like Ty Rattie had initially put the puck in the net. Upon reviewing the play, it was decided that Rattie’s shot did not cross the line and that the puck was not in until McDavid knocked it in shortly afterwards. The captain scored again when the game was already over and done with, which is a shame because he put on a wonderful display of hand-eye coordination to deflect the puck in out of mid-air.
• At this point of the losing streak, I’m looking for bright sides and I’ve gotta say again how much time I have for Caleb Jones and that I was thrilled to see him score his first NHL goal. Since being thrown into the mix, his numbers have increased and he’s looked more and more comfortable with each passing shift. He may not necessarily be ready for full time action right now, but the Oilers could have a player here if he can keep progressing as he has been so far. The only downside is that he wasn’t able to celebrate his first NHL goal more than he did because the Oilers were getting shit kicked by the time he put one home.
• Leon Draisaitl scored a really nice goal in garbage time to give the Oilers three goals on the day. He picked the puck up with speed, walking past the Sharks defenceman before perfectly placing a wrist shot in the top corner. Much like Caleb Jones’ goal, it’s a bummer there was nothing to celebrate at this point because the goal was a beauty.
• Ty Rattie had a nice game today and I thought he was one of the better forwards the Oilers had. He may not have scored the first goal like we all thought he might have, but he did finish the day with three assists and for that, I salute him.
• Welcome back to Jujhar Khaira. I’ve really liked the way the guy has been playing lately and it was good to have him back in the lineup after finishing up his two-game suspension.
• The Oilers looked good on the penalty kill tonight. The Sharks are very effective with the man advantage and I thought the Oilers did a fine job of nullifying the attack. It’s not often that we get to use the PK as a bright spot but today’s pickings are slim so I’m starting to reach here. Edmonton finished the day with a perfect 0/3 when down a man.
• The Sharks have an experienced team down the middle so I was surprised to find that the Oilers won 57% of the draws. I mean, it didn’t matter at all but I’m trying to look for positives here.
• The game is over now.

THE FACE PALMERS

• Only 16 seconds after Ty Rattie got the Oilers on the board, Donskoi finished off a beautiful beautiful passing play that had absolutely carved through Edmonton’s zone and in past Talbot. This goal could probably be used as a tic-tac-toe case study.
• Tomas Hertl gave the Sharks their first lead of the game after allowing them all the time and space they could ever need in the offensive zone. Once again, the Sharks moved the puck around efficiently and the Oilers weren’t able to gain possession before Tomas Hertl found the puck in the slot and buried it past Cam Talbot.
• Why is it that Logan Couture always seems to score against the Oilers? After Thornton set up behind the net, Couture was able to find some space at the side of the net and banged home a perfect pass through Talbot to extend the lead to two goals. It was a tough angle goal that Talbot got a piece of but wasn’t able to keep out of the net, and the hole got a little bit deeper. Couture added a second goal after the Oilers completely blew it in their own WHILE ON THE POWER PLAY which allowed Evander Kane to pick up a free puck and find his teammate open in the slot. Gross.
• Erik Karlsson put the Sharks up by three goals after his snapshot from the point found its way through traffic and past Cam Talbot. Unlike what the Oilers were doing by giving Jones all the sightlines he wanted, the Sharks were piling up the bodies in front of the crease to create havoc for the goalie and it worked to a tee on this goal.
• Melker Karlsson started the third period with the Sharks’ fifth goal that came as a deflection off of a Brent Burns point shot. I was mad enough when Karlsson scored his first, but when he added another to give the Sharks seven on the day I was just hoping for some kind of merciful death.
• How did the Oilers only get one power play chance in this whole game? Then again, they allowed a goal against on that chance so maybe that’s a good thing?
• Peter Chiarelli is still the General Manager somehow.
• The NHL site had the giveaways listed at 12 for the Sharks and 10 for the Oilers but I don’t buy that. Then again, the Oilers never really had the puck so I guess they weren’t able to give it away?
• On Thursday night, Cam Talbot replaced Mikko Koskinen after 20 minutes and shut the door against the Canucks so it wasn’t overly surprising to see him get the start in today’s game. I’ll be the first to say that he was not very good today, but he certainly wasn’t the only one that could be described in that way either. From the crease out, the Oilers were simply outmatched and it’s interesting that Hitchcock left him in for all seven. Talbot finished the night with 33 saves and a .825 save%.
• I bought cheap beets from Superstore and they’re awful. FML. As always, you can join in on the #BeetCast conversation over on my Twitter account.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT