GDB 73.0 Wrap Up: Blues @ Oilers

8 years ago

As my friend the Towel Boy would say: Who saw this coming? Final Score: 6-4 Oilers

Before tonight’s game, the Oilers and Blues hadn’t played each other since the first week of October. Is that weird to anybody else? They played twice in the first week of the season and not again until March. Weird, right? Just me? It’s probably me. Anyway, since those two meetings back in October, both teams have resumed their rightful places in the NHL standings, with the Blues nearing the top and the Oilers re-occupying their usual spot in the basement. Until the Oilers can beat teams like the St. Louis Blues with any regularity they are not going to be a playoff team, and tonight’s game was another big test of where they’re at as a team. It was a test they passed.

With the way this game started I thought that the Oilers had actually set themselves up to look good against a very solid St. Louis hockey team. The home side was able to score early and gave themselves the lead, something they never seemed able to do in the first couple meetings between these two teams (that’s moral victory territory in itself). Although scoring first is important (it really is) the big story of the night, for the Oilers, was the ~~reemergence~~ ‘turbo mode engage’ feature on the power play. The Oilers were actually able to score power play goals (with an “s”)! Not only did they score one, they scored FOUR goals on the power play (five if you count the disallowed goal to Draisaitl, which I do). I mean, if you can’t win when your PP puts up four real goals and a ghost goal you probably deserve to be relegated. Simple as that.

As nice as it was to watch the Oilers win this game, I have a confession to make. If I’m being perfectly honest with you guys I’m a little bit shocked at how this game played out. Before I sat down I was thinking about all the other things that I would rather have been doing than watch another likely loss. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of my favourite shows in the history of pictures on screens, and there’s a new episode on FXX tonight. I wanted to watch that. With the way the past few games had gone, I was trying to figure out if I could post one of my last Wrap Ups from a game against the Blues to see if anyone would notice. I bet I could have gotten away with it, but I’m happy I didn’t. Luckily it’s 2016 and It’s Always Sunny will be there waiting for me, and I got to watch what ended up being a ~~nerve racking~~ very entertaining win for the Oilers.

If you set the bar low enough sometimes you get pleasantly surprised. Tonight was one of those nights.

The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

The Oilers were 4/6 on the power play. For a team that can never score on the power play those numbers are ridiculous.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his first goal (ninth of the season) since returning from a broken hand, and you know he had to be pumped about that one. Nuge hadn’t scored a goal in 19 games, and since it felt so nice to score one goal he followed it up with another (his 10th) in the third period. If you’re keeping score at home, that was two power play goals for Nuge. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Nuge? Keep Nuge. Forever. Thank you.
Nail Yakupov got two assists on both of Nuge’s goal which were his first two helpers in 29 games. That is a crazy stat.
Connor McDavid may have rockets in his legs. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Let me write this down as something I have to look into. I’ll get back to you guys. Until then, let’s just add another two assists onto Connor’s scoring totals. The kid is amazing.
Taylor Hall scored his 23rd goal of the season and some people were complaining about his body language. Everyone is an expert. It really is amazing that planet earth has any issues whatsoever considering the level of expertise, on all subjects, that is walking around among the general populace.
Shout out to Leon Draisaitl for scoring two power play goals on the same power play. Yes, I’m counting both. I refuse to acknowledge the coach’s challenge any further. Leon Draisaitl: Only man in NHL history to score two goals on the same two minute power play.
Mark Letestu scored a power play goal tonight for his ninth goal of the season and added an empty netter to seal off the win. When Mark Letestu scores a power play you know the PP was rolling. Personally, I like Letestu more than some people and he sneakily found his way into double digits for goals. Pretty solid production from a bottom six guy. Three point night for Letestu!
Two more points for Patrick MAROOOOOOOOON!
Another solid game for Jordan Oesterle. Once again, he played some big minutes (22:52), moved the puck effectively, and put an assist up on the board on Hall’s goal. It’s been a very small sample size but he’s looking better and better.
Andrej Sekera was actually getting shots through to the net!
Welcome back, Darryl!

FACE PALMERS

So I guess allowing the other team to score immediately after the Oilers score is kind of their thing now? Is that what we’re doing? I guess that’s what we’re doing. Alright then.
Three goal lead going into the third period? No problem. Unless you’re an Oilers fan. When you’re an Oilers fan your team can find a way of turning a three goal lead with 20 minutes left to play into a rollercoaster ride from hell. Maybe I’m just being emotional, but the Oilers got absolutely pumped in the third period.
I hate the coach’s challenge so much. The Oilers had another goal called back tonight for an offside that happened minutes before the goal was scored.
The refs tonight were a trip, man. You never knew what would or wouldn’t be called. It was like the world’s weirdest mixed bag of whistles and penalty calls. Very odd.
I hate to take a shot at the power play but they didn’t get anything done on the five minute major to Troy Brouwer. That being said, taking a man away from the Blues was a blessing because the Oilers were hanging on by a thread.
It wasn’t a great night for Cam Talbot, but he still played well enough to get the win. He made some big saves, especially in the third period, that allowed the Oilers to possibly steal two points from the Blues. It wasn’t his best night, but the offense picked him up and got him the win. For as often as Talbot bails the team out it’s nice of them to return the favour. Talbot finished with 24 saves and an .857 save%.
The Blues went 59% in the faceoff circle. Brutal. The only Oiler at 50% was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD
08:00	EDM	PPG – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (9) Snap shot – ASST: Patrick Maroon (12), Nail Yakupov (11)	1 – 0 EDM
13:32	EDM	Taylor Hall (23) Wrist shot – ASST: Iiro Pakarinen (5), Jordan Oesterle (2)	2 – 0 EDM
14:17	STL	David Backes (18) Wrist shot – ASST: Colton Parayko (22)	2 – 1 EDM
2ND PERIOD
06:00	STL	Jaden Schwartz (6) Tip-in – ASST: Joel Edmundson (8), Jori Lehtera (22)	2 – 2 Tie
07:42	EDM	PPG – Mark Letestu (8) Backhand shot – ASST: Andrej Sekera (20), Connor McDavid (23)	3 – 2 EDM
15:05	EDM	PPG – Leon Draisaitl (18) Tip-in – ASST: Connor McDavid (24), Mark Letestu (12)	4 – 2 EDM
18:09	EDM	PPG – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (10) Snap shot – ASST: Patrick Maroon (13), Nail Yakupov (12)	5 – 2 EDM
3RD PERIOD
00:58	STL	PPG – Patrik Berglund (8) Wrist shot – ASST: Jaden Schwartz (13), Vladimir Tarasenko (29)	5 – 3 EDM
05:48	STL	David Backes (19) Snap shot – ASST: Alex Pietrangelo (24), Dmitrij Jaskin (9)	5 – 4 EDM
19:42	EDM	EN – Mark Letestu (9) Wrist shot – ASST: Matt Hendricks (7), Jordan Oesterle (3)	6 – 4 EDM

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