GDB 53.0 Wrap Up: Ban Future All-Star Breaks

7 years ago

Wha? Final Score: 2-0 Predators

After Tuesday night’s craptacular at Rogers Place, I was looking forward to seeing the boys get back at it and putting forth a better effort than what we saw on Tuesday. Like I said in the Wrap Up that night, there were things to like in that game against the Wild but those positives were grossly outweighed by ~~eye gouge-worthy mistakes~~ questionable life choices and leaving the hockey equivalent of moose turds scattered around the ice. If the Oilers were going to beat the Predators on this night, they needed to be better than they were on that night. What can I say? I’m a dreamer.

With the way the game started, I thought that we might be in for another round of lightning the dumpster on fire and roasting hot dogs over top of it in hopes of catching a high off of the garbage fumes. It’s a meal we’ve eaten before, but I wasn’t really in the mood for another serving. Unfortunately, what we want and get don’t always match. The first period was a mixture of weird reffing calls, giveaways, and some excellent goaltending from Cam Talbot that kept the Oilers in the game. While Edmonton was able to settle down in the second period, they weren’t able to do much in the way of preventing the Predators from pumping shots at Talbot from prime scoring locations, resulting in two uncontested goals.

With the Preds in the lead, things looked grim heading into the third period with the Oilers down by a pair. Frankly, they hadn’t been generating many chances or pressure to make a comeback seem like it was going to happen so there wasn’t much to look forward to going into the third. While the Oilers were able to outplay the Predators in the final 20 minutes they weren’t able to beat Pekke Rinne and, brace yourself, winning is tough when you can’t score. More troubling than the lack of scoring was the ‘roll over and tickle my tummy’ attitude from early in the game. Aside from a few bursts and rushes the Oilers couldn’t get much done for the first two periods and that’s a problem they’ll have to figure that out before they get to Carolina tomorrow.

We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

After getting pulled against Minnesota, Cam Talbot bounced back with a big night for the Oilers. He was one of the few Oilers to actually show up for tonight’s game and if it hadn’t been for him then the score would have been much more lopsided. Talbot finished with 25 saves and a .927 save%.
Andrej Sekera played a team high 23:12 tonight and had four shots on net. Sekera has been jumping up into the play more often these days and it’s been giving the Oilers a new angle on the rush. He’s easily been the best defenseman for Edmonton this season.
Drake Caggiula led the team in shots on net with five and he always seems to take a shot when he has a chance. Something I think a few of his teammates could learn from.
The boys needed a boost and Patty Maroon was the one that wanted to give it to them. The people’s champ decided to start the lawnmower on Cody McLeod’s face and it was one of the best scraps I’ve seen all year. As always, you can see the fight on Pat Maroon’s fight page over at HockeyFights.com.
The Oilers had a good third period when they outshot the Preds by a margin of 13-4.
Edmonton was perfect when down a man, killing off all three chances they gave up.
The Oilers play a winnable game tomorrow that will hopefully get them back on track.

THE FACE PALMERS

The Oilers only had four shots on net in the first period… and two of them came in the last couple minutes. Not much else needs to be said, really.
Leon Draisaitl tried to force a cross-ice pass and got caught badly. Viktor Arvidsson intercepted the pass and walked it all the way down to the Oilers zone where he blasted a clapper past Talbot.
Adam Larsson went looking for a big hit in the defensive zone and he ended up knocking Draisaitl out of position instead of hitting Forsberg as he intended. After that, the wheels fell off completely and the Preds passed the puck around perfectly until Ryan Johanson was able to sink the cue ball in the corner pocket.
Kris Russell had another tough night despite not being caught for a goal. He was giving the puck up and making a habit of passing to guys that weren’t looking. He needs to be better especially since he doesn’t put up points.
I wish Connor would be more selfish sometimes.
The Oilers got killed in the faceoff circle. They finished the game at 42% which is actually an upgrade on the 39% they were hovering at for most of the game.
The NHL page has the Oilers with eight giveaways but I don’t buy that for a minute. They were turning the puck over at the blue line like they were pastries at a bakery.
How many times can I complain about the reffing? Every night? Alright then.
I hate Pekke Rinne

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
01:26	Nashville	Viktor Arvidsson (13) ASST: Ryan Johansen (29)	0-1
19:21	Nashville	Ryan Johansen (9) ASST: Viktor Arvidsson (19), Filip Forsberg (18)	0-2

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

BEST OF THE TWEETS

Talk to me, Twitter. Tweet at @OilersNation and @jsbmbaggedmilk for your chance to land in the Best of the Tweets.

BOOK A TRIP. GET A PIN. ENTER TO WIN.

There’s three incredible Grand Prizes to be won as well as hundreds of Instant Prizes. All you have to do is book your travel with AMA. Visit AMATravel.ca to learn more.