The Bright Side

• Cam Talbot was fantastic. He made 31 saves, allowed just one goal, and then stopped all three skaters he faced in the shootout. His play this season is the best Edmonton has had from a starting goalie since Devan Dubnyk was in town.
• Hey, I finally watched a game.
• Mark Fayne scored his first goal of the year. He’s had a tough season in a lot of ways, including a brief trip to the minors, but he’s generally willing to shoot when he gets a chance and this time he picked his spot. Nice faceoff win by Hall, too.
• One of my pet complaints about the Oilers’ defence the last few years has been their inability to defend against two-on-one rushes (and they’ve seen a lot of them). Brandon Davidson played one perfectly in the third period; he took away the passing lane completely and then managed to block the shot. Against Johnny Gaudreau, too.
• The point Elliotte Friedman made about Taylor Hall going for a change when he could have charged the offensive zone late in the game was a good one; it was a mature play and the kind of play Hall doesn’t get enough credit for.
• Zack Kassian does jerk things, and I mean that in the best possible sense.
• Calgary’s power play is so bad that even Oilers fans watch it and think, ‘Gee, that’s pretty bad.’
• I’m a big fan of the old A&E detective series Nero Wolfe. So while all those Hyundai commercials are annoying, I’m always pleased to see that Richard Waugh is still working (as the American car executive). That’s not specific to this game, but I never write the wrap-ups so you’re stuck with this sort of observation.

The Face Palmers

• National television. Home game. Provincial and divisional rival. A win desperately needed to keep the team even remotely in the playoff race. And the Oilers start like that?
• Four penalties in a row to start the game, including two for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. We can quibble about the refereeing, but that’s not nearly disciplined enough.
• Darnell Nurse had himself a stinker of a game. He was a mess in the first 10 minutes fo the game and then saw his ice-time cut back dramatically; he had only two shifts in the back half of the first period and ended up playing less than 16 minutes altogether. 
• It would be nice to see some scoring from all of the Oilers gifted young offensive players. Todd McLellan has to wear some of the responsibility for that, because the moment he put Hall, Draisaitl and Purcell together Edmonton started generating chances. 
• Best ice in the league? Please. That shootout looked like it was being played in Miami in April. 

Scoring Summary

• 10:41: 1-0 CGY. Sam Bennett (11) Assists: Mikael Backlund, Michael Frolik

• None.

• 10:37: 1-1 EDM. Mark Fayne (1) Assists: Taylor Hall

• None.

The Twitter

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