GDB 30.0 Wrap Up: Minnesodumb

7 years ago

At least I got to use the pity point dance gif on Twitter? Final Score: 3-2 Wild in SO

After last night’s craptacular loss against the Philly Flyers, the Oilers didn’t have much time to regroup before getting back on the ice. On one hand, the lack of waiting time gives Edmonton a chance to get back at it and not have too much time between games to dwell on giving up two separate two-goal leads. On the other hand, the Oilers haven’t exactly been world-beaters in the Minnesota so it’s not like today’s game was going to be a gimme anyway, even more so being the second game of a back-to-back. History aside, the Oilers needed to find a way to forget about last night’s game, get a good start, and find a way to beat Devan Dubnyk.

The plan started out well enough, with the Oilers playing some solid hockey which gave them the lead late in the first period. I was hoping that getting the first goal would help the Oilers find some confidence against their old friend that has been rock solid against them since being traded away from the organization two and half years ago. The lead didn’t last long, though. As per tradition, the Oilers allowed a few too many sloppy defensive miscues and the Wild erased the Oilers’ lead. Despite giving up the tying goal, the Oilers were finding a way to stay in the game, mainly on the back of some fine goaltending from Talbot.

With the game tied going into the third period, the Oilers, once again, gave themselves a chance to win the hockey game. One of the biggest problems they’ve had recently is the inability to close out hockey games in the third period, and tonight’s game gave them another opportunity to beat a demon. Unfortunately, that wasn’t how things played out. The Wild scored early in the final frame and the Oilers were forced to chase once again. Being down to the Wild is never good, and while the Oilers were generally ineffective in the third-period (only four shots) their power play came up big to save them and get the team into overtime, securing at least a point. Their luck, however, ran out in the shootout as they weren’t able to steal the win away from a team that wanted it more.

Not a bad result for the second game of a back-to-back set, but by no means great. I guess we could be happy with getting a point rather than heading home empty handed. It’s too bad that last night’s result seems to sour things a little bit.

Wrap we must so wrap we shall.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Leon Draisaitl continued his reign of terror tonight, scoring his 13th goal of the season on a beautiful passing play with Benoit ?liot. The pair passed the puck back and forth until Draisaitl put home his own rebound. The guy is hot fire right now.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a big power play goal (his 5th) to tie the game up with less than five minutes remaining. To that point, the Oilers’ PP had been struggling but it came up huge after Nuge won the faceoff back his d-man, got the puck back, and buried a quick wrister. Nice bounce back game for Nuge after a horrible night in Philly last night.
To his credit, Benoit Pouliot has played much better since his most recent trip to the pressbox. If he can find some chemistry with Draisaitl and start producing like they can than the Oilers could get a nice influx of secondary offense. That’s IF Pouliot can play consistently well.
Nothing will make you miss Cam Talbot more than a ghastly Monster mash, and he was a welcomed site for the Oilers tonight. He was fantastic all game long and he gave his team a chance to win. Dadbot was especially good in overtime when the Wild had the power play. He finished the night with 34 saves and a .944 save%.
Speaking of overtime, shout out to Andrej Sekera for the last second block he threw down to get the game to OT.
The Oilers got excellent results from their penalties killers again tonight. The one constant this team has seemed to have all season long is the ability to kill penalties, a skill that I hope they can continue to match with a developing power play. The PK killed off all four attempts they faced and an especially honourable mention goes to Talbot for his work in the extra frame.
Speaking of the power play, Edmonton got a big goal from their special teams unit as they were down by one with less than five minutes to play. To that point they had been able to get zone time but hadn’t been able to cash. Huge goal. The Oilers finished the night at 1/3 on the power play.

THE FACE PALMERS

Weak defensive zone coverage on the Matt Dumba goal in the second period. He was wide open at the point with all kinds of traffic in front of the net. Talbot couldn’t see anything and the puck found it’s way through for a goal that could have been prevented.
Connor got caught on a brutal giveaway in his own zone for the Wild’s second goal of the night by Jason Zucker. Connor tried to do a back pass but it was intercepted and the Wild put it back in the back of the net. He doesn’t give the puck away like that very often but that was a bad one. He knows it was bad and I imagined that he’s even more annoyed with himself that we could be. Connor followed up the giveaway by taking a tough penalty in overtime that caused some heart-stopping moments for the Oilers. Luckily, they killed off the penalty. Not a great night for the Captain and one he’ll like to forget. Maybe watch a movie or something on the flight home, ya know? Move on. See you Sunday, Connor.
Oilers were 44% on the faceoff dot. It’s been a while since they’ve been on the right side of 50% and it can be tough chasing the puck all night.
How can it be possible that the Wild go through different coaches and yet they’re still painfully boring to watch? HOW?! It defies logic.
Dead horse I know, but wouldn’t you love to know what goes on in MacT’s head whenever Edmonton is playing against Dubnyk and former Oiler looks like a brick wall? I’d be fascinated to know what goes on in his head. Dubnyk was solid again tonight and, if it were me, I’d be texting MacT a link to his stats page whenever the Wild play against the Oilers because he absolutely owns them. The streak of horror continued tonight and Dubnyk is 8-1 against his former team.
Lost the Corsi tonight as the Wild outshot the Oilers 36-17.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
19:04	Edmonton	Leon Draisaitl (13) ASST: Benoit Pouliot (2), Tyler Pitlick (2)	1-0

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
04:26	Minnesota	Matt Dumba (3) ASST: Nino Niederreiter (9), Jason Pominville (6)	1-1

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
01:19	Minnesota	Jason Zucker (5) ASST: Mikael Granlund (11)	1-2
15:21	Edmonton	PPG – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (5) ASST: Oscar Klefbom (7), Jordan Eberle (15)	2-2

OT PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

SHOOTOUT

TEAM	DETAILS
Minnesota	Goal – Jason Pominville
Edmonton	Missed – Mark Letestu
Minnesota	Missed – Mikko Koivu
Edmonton	Missed – Matt Hendricks
Minnesota	Missed – Zach Parise
Edmonton	Goal – Leon Draisaitl
Minnesota	Missed – Charlie Coyle
Edmonton	Missed – Connor McDavid
Minnesota	Goal – Chris Stewart
Edmonton	Goal – Jordan Eberle
Minnesota	Goal – Eric Staal
Edmonton	Missed – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

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BRAND NEW NATION GEAR!

If you didn’t get down to West Edmonton Mall for our game day viewing party tonight you would have missed the launch of some brand new NationGear. Well… Starting tonight at midnight, we will have some brand new designs available just in time for Christmas. The last time we did this the new gear sold out in only a day so you’re not going to want to wait on this. Get the new designs at 12:01am MST at NationGear.ca.