GDB 50.0 Wrap up: Blame the All-Star break

6 years ago

4-1-1 in the last six games isn’t bad, right? Final score: 4-3 Avalanche.

We haven’t seen a lot of Oilers hockey lately. This was the first game in seven days for the Oilers and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for us. We’ve silently won four out of the last five games but due to the long gaps in our schedule it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

The first period wasn’t anything special. We got outshot 10-8 however the Corsi ruled in our favour. The Oilers came out playing pretty solid and got a couple decent scoring chances on Jonathan Bernier. It seemed like both teams weren’t taking too many chances out there as the Oilers were playing their first game in seven days and the Avs were trying not to lose their fourth straight.

We had ourselves a much more entertaining period in the second thank god. Granted we finished it down 2-1, the Oilers still played well 5v5. Special teams on the other hand…. is worthy of a whole other article. Connor McDavid and my new favourite backup goalie, Al Montoya, were the highlights of the period and if you ignore the minor giveaway at the end of the 1st, they did wonderful things to my eye holes. Unfortunately the giveaway happened, and we left the ice down 3-1.

The third period was bitter sweet in my opinion. AMAZING that we made the two goal comeback and sent the game to overtime… but I can’t help to think of all the missed chances we had by choosing to force a pass instead of shooting. I feel like that’s been one of many themes this season for the Oilers. McDavid’s late game heroics are also a great theme this season but unfortunately we couldn’t finish what he started in overtime. The OT goal was pretty hard to watch. It was a combination of confusion and awkwardness, and I wish I could erase it from my memory.

The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

You got to hand it to Al Montoya who started his first real game in Edmonton since November 4 when he played for Montreal. He hasn’t had the easiest year being traded and then getting thrown into three games after Talbot gets pulled, but he started the game off really well tonight. Anyone else curious how he would have played if he WOULD have talked to the media this morning? ?
Montoya made a hella nice diving save in the second period after the Avs had sustained pressure for a few minutes in our zone. That’s good backup goalie entertainment right there.
The first period wasn’t the most entertaining game but the fact that we got through it without any goals makes me pretty satisfied. Especially since we’re playing a relatively hot team (minus the last three games and the fact that their star player is injured) and that we haven’t played in a week. I’ll take any positives the hockey gods will throw at us right now!
Connor freaking McDavid with another highlight reel goal in the second period to cut the Avs lead in half. He deflects a Draisaitl pass on net and then bats the puck out of mid-air into the goal with such ease. Scoring insanely difficult goals and making it look so so easy is just the Connor way to do it!
Zack Kassian was on an absolute rampage in the third period and levelled Comeau from behind at the beginning of the third period. I’m putting this in the bright side because I love when Kass gets wild and throws his weight around, but he’s REALLY lucky he didn’t get a penalty there.
After getting his first goal taken away, Drake Caggiula potted his 7th of the year early in the third period to cut the Avs lead in half. He continues to be one of my top two favourite Drake’s in the world.
The LOOOOOOOOCH train came flying at full speed in the third period where he absolutely destroyed Lindholm with a clean body check. Watching Lucic come at you in full speed is something I hope I never have to see in my lifetime.
It’s always great to see Nail Yakupov again. He’ll always be one of the most entertaining Oilers to play on our team and I will forever miss him. AND to boot, he didn’t even score on us!
CONNOR MCDAVID, my gord. I was just thinking about how I’m going to finish up this article and BAM! McDaddy ties the game with seconds left to send it to overtime. What a roller coaster this third period has been.

THE FACE PALMERS

The Oilers had a tough start to the second period and were unable to clear the zone. One blind pass up the boards from Andrej Sekera later and the Avs put themselves up 1-0 after an unassisted goal from Zadorov.
The penalty kill strikes again. After Darnell Nurse took a cross checking penalty in the second period, it didn’t take long for Sam Girard to score his first goal of the season on a screened shot from the point….breaking yet another scoring drought. #JustOilerThings
Drake Caggiula scored a goal in the second period. After what may have been the strangest sequence of reviews ever, it was ruled no goal because Drake directly pushed Bernier’s glove into the net when he had it covered. Bold tactic, I like it, but unfortunately that’s never going to count. I STILL BLAME THE REFS THOUGH!
I might have praised Montoya a little too quick. A tough giveaway by him in the second period led to a breakaway for Blake Comeau who potted an insurance goal shorthanded. *spits*
I’m not saying that McDavid would have scored if he chose to shoot the Draisaitl feed in the slot instead of passing it to Cammalleri in the third period…. but I would have like to see him try.
Man the third period was frustrating as hell. We absolutely deserved to tie the game up but how many times did the Oilers have opportunities to shoot at a high difficult area, but chose to pass instead? So hard to watch when you’re down by one and we’re giving up all these gorgeous chances by trying to pass through two defenders.
BOOOOOO to overtime losses! Not sure what happened with that goal… everyone just got caught watching the puck and until it found it’s way to the back of the net. Wish that overtime would have went a little better.
Get this, we only took one penalty tonight! Cool right? WRONG! We ended up getting scored on it. Better yet, is that we ALSO gave up a shorthanded goal! Not sure what that does to our special teams stats… but it can’t be good.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
03:04	Colorado	Nikita Zadorov (4)	1-0
07:52	Colorado	PPG – Samuel Girard (2) ASST: Mikko Rantanen (33), Gabriel Landeskog (20)	2-0
09:11	Edmonton	Connor McDavid (16) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (29), Michael Cammalleri (11)	2-1
19:31	Colorado	SHG – Blake Comeau (10)	3-1

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
06:52	Edmonton	Drake Caggiula (7) ASST: Ryan Strome (13), Matt Benning (7)	3-2
19:32	Edmonton	Connor McDavid (17) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (30), Kris Russell (14)	3-3

OT PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
02:28	Colorado	J.T. Compher (10) ASST: Tyson Barrie (25), Gabriel Landeskog (21)	4-3

#GOODCONTENT

THE SECOND HALF NATIONDRAFT

The first regular season NationDraft is coming to an end, which means we’re ready to introduce our mid-season NationDraft! This is your chance to put your failures of the first draft behind you, and pick a whole new team. The first half of the season is behind us and we have a pretty good idea of who the scoring leaders are and how the league is trending. If you’re one of the lucky ones who nailed their picks the first time, you can pick the same team and just make a couple adjustments. Then you’ll be on your way to one of our awesome grand prizes!

Sign up for the second half NationDraft today.

News

Post Game