Teddy Purcell? TEDDY PURCELL! Final Score: 4-3 Oilers in OT. 
Another McDavidless night on the road…
The sadness of the McLoss hasn’t faded much for me, and the fact that the Oilers haven’t been winning isn’t exactly helping. Coming into tonight’s game against the Ducks, the Oilers found themselves back in the all too familiar Western Conference basement. Last place in the West and I’m not even joking. I will admit I do think the Oilers are playing better, but so many of the problems they’re having seem to be the same as always. The defense needs to be better as does the goaltending. It’s the same movie we’ve been watching for years now. 
For the Oilers it was crucial that they did not fall behind early, and to get a steady performance from their goaltender. The Oilers have been the Beatles of horrible starts lately and that has to change if there’s any hope of keeping up with the pack in the Western Conference standings. I’m sure McLellan has been harping on the need to be ready to play from the opening faceoff rather than when the opposition has already pulled ahead with a lead. Tonight, the Oilers looked ready to play and got the saves they needed to stay in the fight when things got rough. Despite a bad bounce goal on Corey Perry’s first, the Oilers had a passable start on the road against a hot Ducks team and were able to keep themselves in it all night long. 
After what was a fairly tight first 40 minutes of play the game really opened up in the third period. Despite having a lead on three separate occasions the Ducks were unable to close out the game. Anders Nilsson kept the Oilers in the game and gave his teammates the confidence they needed to get back in it. The Oilers kept clawing back, and digging themselves out of any hole the Ducks could put them in. On a night like this it’s almost strange writing about the win. Normally, getting a game like this to overtime would have counted as a moral victory in itself, but being able to close it out in OT was (almost) an unexpected bonus. These were two big points from a very good road game for the Oilers.
The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • Leon Draisaitl sniped his fourth goal of the season from one knee as he smashed home a beautiful cross ice pass by Benoit Pouliot. Draisaitl also put up an assist on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ goal in the third period. Much like Nurse, I don’t see how Draisaitl can be sent down to the Condors if he keeps producing like that. 
  • Darnell Nurse makes me happy in this time of McSadness. How about when Darnell was standing toe to toe with Ryan Getzlaf without even a hint of backing down. I don’t care what Peter Chiarelli’s plan had on it, Darnell Nurse is making it damned near impossible to send him back to Bakersfield now. 
  • Oscar Klefbom played better tonight than he had in the previous few outings and was rewarded with his third goal of the season off of a cannon from the point. 
  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his sixth goal of the season less than a minute after Corey Perry gave the Ducks a third period lead. Nugey’s sixth goal ties him for the team lead with Taylor Hall. Nuge is turning into a wonderful two way player and is quietly having a very good season so far. 
  • Anders Nilsson had a very good night. I assume that Cam Talbot will play tomorrow night in Arizona but it will be interesting to see if Todd McLellan goes right back to Nilsson again on Saturday, regardless of tomorrow’s outcome. Nilsson gave the Oilers a chance to win and came up with some huge saves. He is definitely putting up notice that he wants the starter’s job. Nilsson finished the night with 34 saves, a .919 save%, and an assist on the winning goal!
  • Great tilt by Luke Gazdic and Patrick Maroon. Fight courtesy of HockeyFights.com.

THE FACE PALMERS

  • Day eight without McDavid.
  • Unlucky bounce of Darnell Nurse’s skate for Corey Perry’s goal in the first period. Perry was trying to do a backwards pass and the puck banked in off ol’ Daryl’s skate. The Oilers can’t buy a bounce right now.
  • Anton Lander can’t buy a goal right now and I maintain that it has to do with his decision to shave off his pirate facial hair. 
  • Corey Perry scored his third and fouth goals of the season, both goals giving the Ducks short lived leads. Perry is one of those players that you hate to watch but would love to have on your team. His fourth goal of the season was also his 300th and it annoys me that he hit a milestone against the Oilers.
  • Of course Horcoff scored tonight. Is anyone really surprised? That was the second goal of the season for Horcoff and I bet no fans in Anaheim took their shirt off for him. 
  • At least Cogliano didn’t score!
  • The goalie controversy continues.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD
10:09
ANA
PPG – Corey Perry (3) Backhand shot – ASST: Rickard Rakell (3), Hampus Lindholm (4)
1 – 0 ANA
2ND PERIOD
04:23
EDM
PPG – Leon Draisaitl (4) Slapshot – ASST: Benoit Pouliot (6), Darnell Nurse (3)
1 – 1 Tie
3RD PERIOD
01:56
ANA
Shawn Horcoff (2) Tip-in – ASST: Cam Fowler (2), Chris Stewart (3)
2 – 1 ANA
05:38
EDM
Oscar Klefbom (3) Slapshot – ASST: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (8), Leon Draisaitl (5)
2 – 2 Tie
06:44
ANA
Corey Perry (4) Backhand shot – ASST: Rickard Rakell (4), Sami Vatanen (3)
3 – 2 ANA
08:19
EDM
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (6) Snap shot – ASST: Leon Draisaitl (6), Taylor Hall (11)
3 – 3 Tie
OT PERIOD
01:16
EDM
Teddy Purcell (1) Backhand shot – ASST: Andrej Sekera (1), Anders Nilsson (1)
4 – 3 EDM

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