THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Brandon Davidson got the Oilers on the board with a spin-around wrister from the circle that beat Rittich and gave his team some life. Davy’s goal was his first in 66 games, and it couldn’t have come at a better time as the Oilers looked about as flat as they could get. Davidson wasn’t done there, though. He ripped a clapper past Rittich early in the third period to give the Oilers their first lead of the night. Davy had a great night.
• Zack Kassian was trying to mix things up in the first period and ended up landing himself a 10 minute misconduct. I’m guessing that he spent the time in the box visualizing how he would tie the game up because that’s exactly what happened. Kassian charged towards the net and had a rebound come right out to him, leaving him a wide open net to knock the puck into. A little bit later, Kass got into a scrap with Ryan Lomberg that ended up getting him tossed from the game.
• Connor McDavid said the other day that the Oilers need to do a better job at being prepared and he did his part to lead by example tonight. He was all over the ice tonight and used his speed to kill on almost every shift and the fact that he only got the one point (should have been two) is almost shocking. Personally, my favourite Connor moment was when he taunted the refs for calling the goal back after his shootout winner. The fact that he got an ‘Abuse of Official’ call for that just shows how big of a baby these refs can be.
• After being pulled against the Sabres, the Oilers needed to get a much better effort out of Cam Talbot. After having a tough start to the game, Talbot provided his team with enough saves to keep them in the game and give them a chance to win the hockey game. He was especially great in overtime as he made some huge saves late to get things through to a shootout. Talbot finished the game with 31 saves and a .919 save%.
• Oscar Klefbom played a team high 26:33 and had four shots on goal, was +2, had two takeaways, and blocked three shots. Great game for Klefbom.
• The Oilers finished the night at 56% in the faceoff circle and that advantage came in handy as the game went on and the pressure got cranked up.
• The Oilers haven’t had a perfect game on the penalty kill since December 21st, against St. Louis which was eight games ago. They did it tonight. The Oilers were a perfect 4/4 on the PK, which is something that happens at Rogers Place about as often as a lunar eclipse.

THE FACE PALMERS

• How many times have the Oilers given up the first goal of the game? 30 times. As if that’s not bad enough, they’ve also allowed that first goal on the first shot of the game an amazing eight times this season.
• Matt Tkachuk opened the scoring for Calgary on the first shot of the game after Milan Lucic completely blew it with his attempted breakout pass. Tkachuk was the beneficiary of another horrible Oilers turnover midway through the third period as Matt Benning couldn’t clear the puck from behind the net and had Backlund steal it from him. From there, Tkachuk planted himself in front of the net and tied the game at three apiece.
• Mark Giordano got the Flames’ second goal with a seeing eye shot from the point after the Oilers turned the puck over at the opposing blue line. The Flames were able to walk the puck right back down to Edmonton’s end of the ice and get them scrambling.
• That goal being called back in overtime for goaltender interference was absolutely awful. After Connor’s skate bumped Rittich’s he had a full two seconds or so to get himself set but that still wasn’t enough time for the NHL. I guess they just hate goals. Gregor may have said it best:

• Milan Lucic was absolutely awful tonight. He was directly responsible for the first goal and got caught passing the puck to no one in particular on several occassions. Frankly, he was handling the puck like it was a live grenade and it was a complete no show for a guy that is supposed to provide leadership.
• The Oilers, once again, got nothing done on their power play as they went 0/3 on the night. At some point, I wonder if they’ll start turning them down? Can you do that?
• Adam Larsson sat out tonight for personal reasons. Those reasons were not disclosed but I still want to send him best wishes anyway.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

THE SECOND HALF NATIONDRAFT