THE BRIGHT SIDE

• I don’t care what anyone says or how bad the Oilers are doing at any given time, Connor McDavid is worth every single second that I’ve spent watching this hockey team. He picked up his 100th point on Nuge’s first period goal after making a perfect pass right onto his stick for a tap-in. Moments later, RNH returned the favour with a beautiful saucer pass that put Connor in alone where he made no mistake of finishing. Despite the horrible loss, it was a good night for the Art Ross chase as McDavid finished with another three points on the pile.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring with his 22nd goal of the season, which was one of the easier goals he’ll ever score. As I said above, Connor set Nuge up with a tap-in and he made no mistake. Not to be outdone, RNH fed Connor with a filthy saucer pass that gave him a wide-open look that ended up in a goal. These two are magic together and I really hope that this is the combo that’s planned for the start of next season.
• Drake Caggiula scored on the power play! And I really mean it! Leon Draisaitl set the Drake up with a patented backhand pass and the Toothless One made no mistake of burying it for his 13th of the season.
• Shout out to Laurent Brossoit for stepping into the game in what mustn’t have been easy circumstances. With Montoya out due to illness, Brossoit has been backing up Talbot but it didn’t seem like he was ever going to play. To his credit, LB did his best with a tough situation and was mostly able to patch up the holes in the dam long enough to get through this thing with single digits still up on the scoreboard.
• The special teams were actually effective tonight, as the Oilers killed off all three penalties they took and scored once on three chances with the man advantage. Coincidentally, both special teams units were two of the few things that didn’t go wrong for once.
• I MISS YOU, LETESTU! Thank you for not scoring.

THE FACE PALMERS

• Thomas Vanek got the Blue Jackets on the board… well, kinda. He ends up with his name on the scoresheet because he was the last Blue Jacket to touch the puck before getting a lucky bounce into the net of Nugent-Hopkins’ chest. On the bright side, if there is one, Nuge is so hot that he’s scoring on all nets. Vanek added another one only four minutes later which completed the comeback with a third straight Blue Jackets goal. By the time he finished off his hat trick and gave the Blue Jackets six goals on the night, I had completely checked out aside from hoping for more McPoints.
• Less than a minute after Vanek’s lucky bounce goal, 46-year-old former Rookie of the Year, Artemi Panarin, added a second goal for the Jackets. Larsson lost Panarin in the slot just for a second but that was all the time he needed to get the job done. In fairness to Larsson, the shimmy-shake used by Panarin to ditch the defender was pretty impressive.
• Boone Jenner scored the fourth straight Columbus goal early in the second period as the Oilers continued to look lost in their own zone. I don’t know what was going on tonight but the Oilers looked like they were running with the swarm again.
• Cam Atkinson scored the fifth straight goal just as a CBJ power play was expiring, and if you listened carefully you could hear the last wheel fall off. Atkinson’s goal was the final nail in Talbot’s night, a result that seemed more and more likely as the game progressed.
• Markus Nutivaara scored Columbus’ seventh straight goal and… *farts loudly*
• The NHL site has the giveaways listed as 23-9 against Edmonton and I believe it. The Oilers coughed up the puck almost every time they touched it and it gave the Jackets all kinds of extra possession time, scoring chances, and resulting goals. Horrible puck management by the Oilers tonight.
• I don’t think I’m talking out of school when I say that Cam Talbot will want to have this one back, or maybe he’ll want to move on from it — whatever works. Allowing five goals on any night isn’t a great look, but when those five come off of 18 shots then you know the goaltender wasn’t good enough. Actually, I was almost surprised that McLellan waited for a fifth goal to give him the hook because it looked like something that was coming sooner or later. Dadbot finished the night with 13 saves and a 722 save%.
• The Oilers had another mediocre night in the faceoff circle, winning only 47% of the draws, which is a real bummer considering how well they were doing earlier in the year.
• Doing another #BeetCast at this point of the season is like adding salt to an open wound that won’t ever seem to heal. Up until Sunday night, I was having a really nice break from the red death known as beets but now I’ve had two cans after the last two games. As always, you can follow along and join in over on my Twitter and you should because I would love the company.
• Thoughts go out to linesman, Steve Barton, as he took a nasty spill in the first period after getting caught up with McDavid along the boards and falling straight onto his head. Barton had to be stretchered off the ice and transported to the hospital as a result of the collision, but the good news is that he was moving all of his extremities as of the last report.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

NATION 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

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