GDB Wrap Up 44.0: Welcome Home, TayTay

7 years ago

Big Sexy 2.0 with three points and the game winner. Back the Brinks truck up, Pete. Sorry, Taylor. Final Score: 3-2 Oilers in OT

I know the Oilers and Devils played each other last Saturday, but that still didn’t make tonight’s game any less strange for me. Obviously, this was the second time in a week that we’ve watched our former star try to make toe drags happen against the Oilers but that hasn’t made it any less odd to watch. Plays like when he backchecked to strip Connor of the puck made me remember how fast he is. I’m not mad about the trade anymore, but it’s going to take few more spins before meetings against Taylor Hall become the new normal. We’ll get there. Get over it, I know.

As for the game itself, the Oilers picked up right where they left off in Jersey. Edmonton was all over the Devils throughout the game, but, as we saw last weekend, producing chances and beating Corey Schneider are two completely different things. The Oilers had plenty of shots and chances throughout the first period but they couldn’t find a way to beat Schneider. As the story always goes, the Devils were able to capitalize on one of the limited chances they got and the visitors found themselves up a goal after 20 minutes. While Andrej Sekera was able to get a goal early in the second period to temporarily tie things up, New Jersey scored a second marker late in the period to give themselves a lead going into the final frame.

Heading into the third period the Oilers didn’t have to really change much of what they were doing. From the drop of the puck, they were heavily outshooting the Devils and the only reason the visitors had any chance at all was because of Corey Schneider. Without him, the Devils would have been a lifeless corpse waiting for the final buzzer. Edmonton nearly outshot New Jersey by a margin of 2:1, but even so it was starting to look like one of those nights where the opposing goaltender would steal it. That was until the white hot Pat Maroon tied the game midway through the second period. As he’s done lately, Big Rig threw the team on his back and he went out there and scored an ugly goal that got the game to overtime. From there, Connor and Leon got to work.

We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

The Oilers were down a goal until ol’ man Sekera walked in from the blueline and beat Corey Schneider cleanly down low. Sekera’s fifth goal of the year came only 16 seconds into the second period, and it was a goal they desperately needed to break the Schneider curse. Sekera had another solid night, and he is having a great year.
I don’t think there are enough words in my vocabulary to accurately describe my love for Pat Maroon. The Big Rig scored another huge goal tonight, tying up the game at two late in the third period. Maroon’s team leading 17th goal couldn’t have come at a better time.
Leon Draisaitl was money in the bank tonight. Big Sexy 2.0 finished with three points including the game-winning goal in overtime. It’s almost too bad he’s having the kind of year he is because this next contract is going to cost a fortune. Big Sexy 2.0, we salute you.
Speaking of Connor, he put up two more assists tonight, becoming the first player in the NHL to hit 50 points this year, and he did it only hours before his 20th birthday. Happy birthday, Connor. Oh captain, my captain.
Adam Larsson quietly got himself an assist against his former team tonight. Larsson played only 16:34 but he was mostly effective and played the quiet game we’ve come to expect.
Kris Russell was angry and Kyle Palmieri’s face paid the price. Maybe it’s because Russell is tired of blocking shots? Maybe he hates the Carbon Tax? We’ll never know for sure, but what I do know is that you can watch the scrap on Russell’s fight page over at HockeyFights.com.
Zack Kassian brings the kind of crazy (I mean it in a good way, please don’t hurt me) that the Oilers haven’t had for a long time. Every good team needs a wildcard. At first, I missed the elbow/high stick/whatever and I thought Kassian lost it to try and mix things up or something and I my mind was blown. Then I saw the replay…
You don’t see it often, but Ragin’ Nugent-Hopkins came out a couple times tonight. In the first period, Jordan Eberle got hit in the numbers (he turned a little bit) and Nuge was the first one to fly in there. I like chippy Nuge.
Shout out to the Nation for giving Hallsy a welcomed return in his first game back from Edmonton. Well, until the whole elbow Kassian in the face thing. More on that later, but I wanted to give a shout out to the fans for respecting a good soldier that was here during a dark time. Welcome back, Taylor.

THE FACE PALMERS

Travis Zajac gave Brandon Davidson a free lesson on the first goal of the game. Zajac gave Davi a quick outside-in move that gave him an open lane to the crease. From there, Zajac made no mistake on a nice feed from Palmieri and the Devils had the early lead.
Steven “Mankini” Santini scored his first NHL goal after deflecting Taylor Hall’s shot. Allowing a guy’s first NHL goal is a time-honoured tradition around these parts, and it was ~~nice~~ soul-sucking to see it continue tonight.
That elbow by Hall on Kassian was a garbage play and I thought it was hilarious that Kassian didn’t even end up getting a penalty after dropping his gloves and punching TayTay in the face. Zack Kassian, of all people, got a free punch. Hall said after the game that it was a dumb play on his part, but it was an ugly one at the time.
Tough night for Brandon Davidson. He played only 12:17 after his man ended up scoring both New Jersey goals. To be fair, the second goal was a deflection.
Jordan Eberle can’t buy a goal right now. He hit the crossbar in the second period and I swear that’s about the 6000th time that he’s hit a post/crossbar over the past couple weeks. The guy needs a bounce.
The power play went 0/3 but that’s not because they lacked chances. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t cash in on any of the opportunities.
Corey Schneider was all kinds of annoying again, as he basically carried them into overtime.
Oilers went 48% in the faceoff circle. Still an area that needs improvement.
I would have no idea how to make prison toilet wine. I don’t know when I’d need that skill but it might be good to know for camping or something? I’ll work on it.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
18:06	New Jersey	Travis Zajac (9) ASST: Kyle Palmieri (15), Michael Cammalleri (12)	1-0

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
00:16	Edmonton	Andrej Sekera (5) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (21), Adam Larsson (6)	1-1
19:09	New Jersey	Steven Santini (1) ASST: Taylor Hall (17), Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau (7)	2-1

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
12:36	Edmonton	Patrick Maroon (17) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (22), Connor McDavid (35)	2-2

OT PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
01:50	Edmonton	Leon Draisaitl (16) ASST: Connor McDavid (36), Oscar Klefbom (9)	2-3

BEST OF THE TWEETS

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

FOLLOW THE NATION NETWORK

Love the Nation Network but don’t want to go to more than one place? You’re in luck. Now you can get the best articles from around the Network all in one place. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.