THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Oscar Klefbom and Jujhar Khaira make a very odd two-on-one combination, but it worked out really well for them! Klef becomes the first Oiler in history to score against the Golden Knights.
• Klefbom’s goal makes it the first shorthanded goal this season for the Oilers. Are our special teams becoming good again?
• Caggiula finally returned after missing a few games with a foot injury. I thought he played pretty well. It was nice to have him back, even if it was only on the fourth line.
• Bless the Vegas injury woes. If we can play against goalies like Lagace every night, I would be so happy.
• We definitely got some solid support from our bottom six, finally. They spent a lot of time controlling the puck in the offensive zone and even contributed to some goals. I’m REALLY hoping this is a sign of good things to come with them.
• NUUUUUUUUUUGE! Everybody’s favourite trade-bait player continues his hot start to the season with a power play goal. He added to that in the third period with a nice wrist shot to pad the lead. #DontTradeNuge
• MAROOOOON! What a play for his first goal in seven games! He came flying off the bench and went straight to the net. Draisaitl fed him from the give-and-go and he sniped it bar down. Two goals in 57 seconds for the Oilers makes for a good first period!
• Shoutout to our special teams tonight. The power play kept Vegas on their toes with some fast moving passing and our penalty kill produced almost as much offence as as the PP.
• Who’s the new Ryan Strome and what did he do with the old one? I thought Strome had his best game as an Oiler tonight. He was passing well, making good plays in the offensive zone, and skating hard on both ends of the ice.
• Did anyone else catch Puljujarvi casually breaking his stick and picking one up from the bench, ALL on the forecheck, without even skipping a beat? That was amazing. What a heads up play from the bench too. I love weird hockey plays like that.
• This was a night for slump busting. Matt Benning potted his second goal of the year after deflecting Oscar Klefbom’s shot from the point. What was Benning doing so low in the zone in front of the net? I’m not sure, but who really gives a care — we’re winning!
• I would also like to point out that several Oilers were caught tonight rocking a McTuft. I have photo evidence of this on my Twitter page. Now I’m not sure if Connor is making everybody rep one or not, but it seems to be working. The more #McTufts the better in my opinion.
• MOAR POWERPLAY GOALS! Connor fired the puck on net from the goal line and after bouncing off multiple Vegas pylons the puck found its way to the back of the net.
• MOAR CONNOR MCDAVID GOALS! Connor streaked down the ice and sniped another one past Lagace, putting the Oilers up by four. It doesn’t matter what goaltender you had in net for that shot, it was going in.
• Getting bored of me talking about all the goals we scored yet? The third period had goals from Nuge again AND Letestube! They’re really trying to make-up for all the games we didn’t score in, aren’t they?
• An offensive explosion was exactly what we needed to hopefully get back into the rhythm of winning again. We had everybody from our defencemen, to our bottom six forwards, to our all-stars contributing.
• I was also waiting very patiently to play the Golden Knights strictly to follow along with their Twitter page. These guys are a riot to follow on game nights and it was more fun against an Oilers who made them look like the expansion team that they are.

THE FACE PALMERS

• CAN’T BELIEVE the Oilers didn’t show a tribute video for the return of Brad Hunt to Edmonton. SMH.
• The Oilers got caught puck watching at the end of the second period and gave up a goal on a nice shot from Bellemare. I don’t even know who half these Vegas players are, which kind of softens the blow on that one.
• Also, what was up with James Neal taking a run at Matt Benning at the end of the second period? It was so random and unnecessary. Shoutout to the ref for calling a penalty immediately. It was so insignificant that no one bothered confronting Neal about it. Odd play.
• As I was calling out the Vegas defencemen for being pylons in my Bright Side section, Vegas scored immediately after the McDavid goal. BOO!
• The evilness in me finds it hilarious that Vegas has gone through four injured goaltenders, but you have to feel a little bad for the coaching staff and frankly whole Vegas team. I’m not sure if Lagace left due to the back injury he suffered after McDavid’s first goal or just because he straight-up let in seven goals, but either way it’s always entertaining watching a 19-year-old, fifth string goalie go up against an NHL team.
• BOO to disallowed goals! Granted, I don’t hate the call based on the climate of the game but still, BOO. Those are #McPoints you’re taking away from us, ref!
• Jujhar Khaira looked to get injured from a soft hit in the first period. He played the remainder of the game but didn’t look too hot afterward. Let’s all cross our fingers he’s not injured and nothing comes from this.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT