THE BRIGHT SIDE

• @Oscar Klefbom opened the scoring after a very strong shift in the Leafs’ zone where the Oilers were firing all kinds of pucks on net before the sexy Swede was finally able to beat Andersen with a sneaky wrister from the left side.
• After going 32 games without a goal, @Darnell Nurse now finds himself with markers in back-to-back games after he roofed a beauty past Andersen to start off the second period. McDavid found Nurse trailing the play late and hit him with a beautiful cross-ice pass that ol’ Darryl made no mistake of draining.
• Only moments after Nurse put the Oilers up by two, @Kailer Yamamoto added a third goal as a result of being the business end of a beautiful passing play that started with Leon Draisaitl sending a wonderful backhand pass to Caleb Jones who then found Yamamoto wide open in front of the net.
• @Alex Chiasson restored the Oilers’ three-goal lead with a filthy little wrister that beat Hutchinson high on the short side. In my opinion, this was a shot that the goalie probably should have stopped but I sure as shit won’t be complaining about it.
• @Leon Draisaitl got his eighth powerplay goal of the season midway through the third period as he restored the Oilers’ two-goal lead with a sneaky little shot through traffic that beat Hutchinson just inside the post on the glove side. I know he’s taking a lot of heat around here lately, but I really thought that Draisaitl had another strong game as he looks to be playing his way out of December’s funk.
• @Connor McDavid was sensational tonight and really looked like his only goal was to put on a show in front of the Toronto hockey fans that so desperately wish they had him on their roster. From start to finish, he was electric and his highlight-reel goal that we’ll all be watching over and over again was an exclamation point on what was an incredible night for the captain. With four points in the game, McDavid was a force all night and it’s almost a shame that he wasn’t able to get even more done considering how well he played.
• @Mike Smith got his third straight start for the Oilers tonight as he looked to recapture the magic he showed against the Bruins on Saturday morning. To put it lightly, Smith was a major reason that the Oilers walked away with two points and it wasn’t exactly surprising to see Tippett go back to the veteran netminder to see if he could provide the same foundation for the boys as he did against the Bruins two days ago. To his credit, Smith was fairly solid again tonight and while the stats aren’t overly sexy, he made enough saves to outduel his opponents and close out the win. Smith finished the night with 32 saves and a .889 save%.
• Since they’ve been put together, I’ve really liked the Nuge-Draisaitl-Yamamoto line and I really hope that this trio sticks together for as long as possible so that they can further develop some chemistry.
• I like the way the Oilers started the game with plenty of shots on net. All season long, I’ve been complaining about wanting more shots so to see them come out firing over the past few games has been a source of happiness for me. Good things happen when you put pucks on net and I hope this is a trend that will continue as we move forward.
• The Oilers only went 1/5 on the powerplay despite having quite a few solid chances and it obviously would have gone a long way had they been able to get more than one done with the man advantage. I know you can’t score multiples on the PP every night, but it would have been really nice to see them punish the Leafs for their constant cheating.

THE FACE PALMERS

• @Jason Spezza got the Leafs on the board (3-1) only 39 seconds after Yamamoto’s put the Oilers up by three, bringing his team back to within two goals. Leading up to the goal, the Leafs moved the puck effectively in the Oilers’ zone and the play culminated with Spezza beating Smith up high on the blocker side.
• Freddie Gauthier got the Leafs’ second goal of the night after a nice little passing play that saw the Buds move the puck up ice very quickly before the eventual goal scorer found himself in all alone on Mike Smith. I need to see another replay but I feel like the Oilers got caught on the long change and the Leafs were able to take advantage of the delay in getting everyone back out on the ice.
• @Pierre Engvall pulled the Leafs back to within one (4-3) when he got his stick on a puck in the slot that found its way through traffic before eventually making it through Smith’s legs and into the back of the net. After being down by three goals on two separate occasions, the Leafs battled their way back into the game, even crowbarring the momentum back into their favour.
• @Auston Matthews got himself on the board with a powerplay goal (6-4) as a result of his brilliant release from the sideboards. Up until that point, I wasn’t even sure that Matthews was playing but, I guess, it was only fair to have him get a single point after Connor McDavid went out and put on a clinic.
• The Oilers were looking really good on the PK until Matthews got the Leafs on the board so I have to mention that here, but I will also give the boys the props they deserve for that massive 5-on-3 kill early in the game.
• We’re in year five of Connor McDavid’s career and it still feels like Toronto is just as stuck on missing out on the McLottery as they were when it happened. Even worse is how they continually try to compare McDavid and Matthews even though there really aren’t all that much alike. It’s weird, right?
• I was sad when Frederik Andersen got the hook. 😔

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

THE REAL STEAL SHIRT IS HERE