THE BRIGHT SIDE

• I’ve said it 1000 times by this point and I’ll say it again, Connor McDavid is worth every single second that I’ve spent watching this hockey team. At this point, I wish he could just play all 60 minutes.
• Cam Talbot took a lot of heat after Saturday’s loss and rightfully so, but he was great for the Oilers tonight. Actually, I’d argue that Talbot was one of the best players wearing white and had it not been for him then this game would have ended up way worse than a 3-0 loss (he allowed two goals). Dadbot finished the night with 37 saves and a .949 save%. The Oilers deserved to lose tonight but it wasn’t because of the goaltender.
• The McDavid line hasn’t looked the same since Nuge went down and they’re certainly not as capable defensively. Now that he’s missed the last couple game it really gives you a look at how important he is to this team.
• The penalty kill was perfect again tonight, killing off both chances they faced. Better late than never, right?
• Only two games left in this horrible, cursed season.

THE FACE PALMERS

• THREE. EFFING. SHOTS. IN. THE. THIRD. PERIOD. *spits*
• Were you surprised that Zach Parise opened the scoring less than five minutes into the first period on the fourth shot of the game? You weren’t, were you? Larsson bobbled the puck at the blue line, lost it in his skates, and Parise was off to the races on an uncontested breakaway where he made no mistake of beating Talbot through the five-hole. Parise added a second goal at the side of the net midway through the second period after the Oilers couldn’t clear the puck in their own end and the Wild were able to recover.
• Ericksson Ek added the empty net goal to really nail the coffin shut but I’m not even sure why McLellan pulled the goalie in the first place. The Oilers had three shots in the third period and weren’t really a factor at all.
• The Oilers lost both Andrej Sekera and Yohann Auvitu on the back end tonight and it seems like this nightmare of a season just keeps finding new ways to kick us while we’re down. Larsson took a high shot in the third period and for a moment it looked like he may be gone too. Fortunately, his balls of brass kept him in the game and the Oilers with four d-men for the rest of the game.
• You were waiting for that magical time in the Wrap Up where I look at the power play, weren’t you? I can sense through the screen that your excitement was bubbling over so I don’t want to make you wait any longer.
  • PP went 0/2 on the night and looked completely useless. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
• Another mediocre night in the faceoff circle for the Oilers as they won only 46% of the draws on the night. Again, this is a real bummer considering how well they were doing earlier in the year. Meh.
• I don’t even care about doing another #BeetCast at this point. Who cares? I’ll just go ahead and assume that I’ll be doing one for every game. As always, you can follow along and join in over on my Twitter and you should because I would love the company.
• I know some of you guys say that I complain about the refs a lot and there’s probably some truth to that, but I’m getting really tired of seeing Connor McDavid get absolutely mugged on the ice without anything being done about it. It’s ridiculous how many blatant penalties get ignored on him and the NHL should be embarrassed by their low standard of accountability with these referees.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

NATION 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

WHAT YOU GET:

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: