THE BRIGHT SIDE

• The game is over now and that’s the best thing I can say about most of it.
• How many of you had Brandon Manning as your guess for the first Oiler goal? Anybody? Not only was it weird to see Brandon Manning score a goal, it was a beautiful shot too I should add, but to have that goal be assisted by Connor McDavid is mind bending. It’s going to take many nights thinking under a tall oak tree before I’ll be able to figure out what it all means. If you don’t hear from me any time soon, that’s where I am.
• Leon Draisaitl scored late in the second period to put some Polysporin on the gaping wound that was this hockey game. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very nice passing play by Khaira and Draisaitl that led to the goal but I was still salty at the point when #29 got his first of the night. Draisaitl added a second goal on the power play that pulled the Oilers to within two goals. Given the way the first half of the game went, having the Oilers within two goals in the third period was enough to make things intriguing again.
• Zack Kassian got the Oilers third goal after he battled his way to the front of the net and got his stick on a Matt Benning’s point shot. The Oilers don’t score many deflection goals like that so I always get excited when I see someone get one.
• Add two more McPoints to the pile. I’m going to appreciate every single point Connor McDavid gets because you just never know how long we’ll be able to say that.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins extended his point streak to five games (2G, 5A) after he picked up an assist on Brandon Manning’s first period goal. Unfortunately, this horrible season is going to negate was has been a quietly awesome year for RNH.
• Despite the back-to-back games, it was another monster minute night for Darnell Nurse as he finished the game with a team-high 24:42, three shots, seven hits, and one block.

THE FACE PALMERS

• Nino Niederreiter got the Hurricanes on the board with a hard snapshot from the slot that beat Talbot on the blocker side. Would you be surprised to find out that the goal came on the first shot of the game? You wouldn’t be, would you? Niederreiter added an equally disappointing goal a few minutes later after he out-muscled a couple Oilers in the slot and buried a softy past Talbot that got him the hook.
• Andrei Svechnikov extended Carolina’s lead to two goals after he tipped home a Jaccob Slavin point shot that had to make its way through traffic before the youngster got a piece of it, beating Talbot on the glove side. At this point, the Hurricanes were in complete control of the hockey game and it wasn’t overly surprising to see them add another goal on the board.
• Brock McGinn restored the Hurricanes’ three-goal lead early in the second period, completely undoing any goodwill gained by Manning’s late marker at the end of the first. The sadness was real, by this point.
• Lucas Wallmark scored the Hurricanes’ fifth goal of the night after he finished off a nice little passing play with Andrei Svechnikov and perfectly placed his shot up over Koskinen’s glove hand. Nice play by the Hurricanes, shoddy defending by the Oilers. Wallmark added an empty-netter at the end of the third period to convert the touchdown and give Carolina seven goals on the night.
• By the time Jordan Martinook scored, all I could do was laugh and stare in awe at the train wreck that was unfolding before me. But hey, it wouldn’t be an ass kicking unless a local kid scored a goal, right?
• This was not a good night for Adam Larsson as he was too often in the mix for goals against. He was getting worked all over the ice and I don’t know that I’ve seen him struggle quite this badly before.
• Cam Talbot got the start tonight and the Oilers needed him to be sharp, especially in the first few minutes of the game as they worked to get their legs going. That didn’t happen. Nothing close to that happened. Light years from the start he wanted, Talbot got the hook midway through the first period after he allowed three goals on 15 shots. Talbot finished the night with 12 saves and a .800 save%.
• To be fair to Talbot, Koskinen didn’t fare much better after coming in in relief. Like Talbot, Koskinen was forced to deal with all kinds of high quality shots and chances and he just wasn’t able to lock things down to stop the bleeding. Koskinen finished the night with 15 saves and a .833 save%.
• Chiarelli still the GM? How about now? He is, huh? Damn.
• Who got killed on the shot clock? The Edmonton Oilers, as per tradition. (34-21)
• Oilers won only 46% of the draws tonight and that’s not good enough, especially for a team that’s struggling with their possession numbers like the Oilers are right now.
• I’m really starting to believe that Tobias Rieder may never score again.
• There is nothing worse than getting a Bronx cheer from the crowd, but I have to say that the Oilers deserved it after not getting a single shot on net until the first period was 10 minutes old.
• I can’t possibly think of anything worse than beets on back-to-back nights, but yet, here we are. Thanks, Oilers. As always, you can join in on the #BeetCast conversation over on my Twitter account.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

NATION DRAFTS

The Prizes:

• First Prize: $2500 pre-paid Visa
• Second Prize: $1500 pre-paid Visa
• Third Prize: $1000 pre-paid Visa