GDB 62.0 Wrap Up: Oilers @ Wild

9 years ago

Don’t worry — Buffalo and Carolina won too. Final Score: 2-1 Oilers.

It’s getting to be that time in the season where all any of us can wait for is the draft. It’s almost like the games are secondary. Judging from Twitter, tonight’s game seemed like nothing more than another move in the chess match of ineptitude. The problem is that ELPH doesn’t work if there’s nothing exciting about it. Frankly, that’s all I’m looking for at this point. I just want to watch a decent hockey game. I’m sure you can imagine my excitement when I looked at the schedule for this week: The Minnesota Wild. Awesome.

Draft aside, the narrative for tonight was obviously about it being another stop in the “Devan Dubnyk tries his best to make the Oilers look like assholes for letting him go” tour of 2014-15. Tonight, however, it was Ben Scrivens who stole the show. More accurately put, the dude stood on his head. Scrivens made some huge saves (the Vanek breakaway comes to mind), and kept the Oilers in it despite being badly outshot (34-19). You have to give the Oilers credit, they beat a hot hockey team with a severely depleted lineup. For a team with a lot of injuries, the Oilers played well on the road.

Strangely, tonight’s game is the only road game the Oilers play. Instead, they’ll fly back to Edmonton to get ready for the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Depending on whether you’re hoping for wins or losses, the Oilers schedule looks ugly going into the next five games (LA, Chicago, Carolina, Detroit, Pittsburgh). At the very least, those games may show how Todd Nelson matches up to some veteran coaches.

Tonight’s game may also be the last time that Jeff Petry plays in an Oilers uniform. I know that the deadline doesn’t fall until after the weekend, but it seems like teams are starting to make some moves already. One more game or not, I’m going to miss Jeff Petry. He was one of the very few homegrown prospects that the Oilers have that didn’t come in the first round. Unfortunately, Petry was placed in a position where he was playing a bigger role than he probable should have. That’s on management, not on Petry. Remember that when he goes and excels somewhere else.

We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Benoit Pouliot scored twice (his 12th and 13th) against the Minnesota Wild which means that it’s not just the Oilers that have former players score against them. It was proof! You all saw it.
The Pouliot-Nuge-Eberle line was buzzing all night. They continually produced chances, and were rewarded for their efforts with a couple of goals. Easily the Oilers best line of the night.
Both Buffalo AND Carolina won tonight. Arizona is coming in hot on the McDavid sweepstakes with their current seven game losing streak. They lost again tonight to the Islanders. The race for failure is a tight one, my friends.
Ben Scrivens was solid. He was there when the Oilers needed him, and made a bunch of big saves in the second and third periods. He finished with 33 saves and a .971 save%.
We’re only six more sleeps from deadline day! Although, I don’t expect the Oilers to do very much.

THE FACE PALMERS

This might have been Jeff Petry’s last game in an Oilers uniform.
Aside from the first line, there really wasn’t much going on for the Oilers tonight. I mean, it’s not surprising considering what the roster looks like, but you know what I mean.
Beating the Wild helped the Flames make the playoffs. Not cool for the McDavid lotto, and not good for my mental health.
The Devan Dubnyk quote from Gregor’s GDB is still bothering me. I felt bad for Dubnyk based on how he recalled his last season here. It was obvious that he didn’t feel like management believed in him, and I’m happy that he’s thriving somewhere else. The arrogance in this organization is astounding.
The #TankNation Edmonton Chapter will like be in for a sleepless night.

SCORING SUMMARY

From TSN.ca…

BEST OF THE TWEETS

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PHOTOSHOP FINALISTS

The time is near, my friends. Tomorrow I will be launching the photoshop finalists, and I am here to tell you that there’s some beauties in this lot. After a slow start, the entries started flying in, over the weekend, and we narrowed everything down to five heroes that will have their fate determined by you. Are you up for the challenge? We shall see. Tomorrow. Photoshop finalists. Be there.