THE BRIGHT SIDE

• After the Blues opened the scoring with that garbage luck goal, Ryan Strome tied things up only moments later on the power play. Not only did he tie the game up, he did it with a hell of a wrist shot that Jake Allen had absolutely no chance on. With that goal, Ryan Strome finds himself on a three-game point streak — bet you didn’t see that coming.
• I can’t blame Cam Talbot for this one. He was one of the few players that actually showed up to play for 60 minutes and even though he allowed four goals I defy you find anyone that would hang all four on him. The team in front of him didn’t offer much help. Dadbot finished the night with 35 saves and a .897 save%.
• The Year of Nuge rolls on. My boy added another assist to his total and was one of the better Oiler forwards tonight.
• I thought Mike Cammalleri played well in his first game with the Oilers, considering he hasn’t had much of a chance to practice or anything like that. This morning, I wondered if he would even play because of the short turn around but props to him for holding his own in a new system with new teammates. New guy played 15:30 in his Oilers debut.
• Shout out to Zack Kassian for trying to get the boys going by dropping the mitts early in the first period. The fight ended prematurely but is always worth checking out a second time. As always, you can find the scrap on Kassian’s fight page over at HockeyFights.com.
• The Oilers were effective in the faceoff circle, winning 53% of the faceoffs on the night.
• The power play went 1/3 on the night which is an encouraging sign. I mean, they would have needed to have all three goals to get to within one goal of tying the game, but you know what I mean.

THE FACE PALMERS

• Vladimir Sobotka opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal that was basically a lucky gift after the puck bounced out in front of the net when Talbot was behind the net. It was one of those lucky goals that always seem to go against the Oilers, but never for them.
• Alex Steen gave the Blues their second lead of the night with a second period power play goal. Steen was parked in front of Talbot and was able to get the puck past him, effectively punishing the Oilers for the weak call on Kassian that gave St. Louis the power play.
• Brayden Schenn scored a pair of third goals but by then it almost didn’t matter. The Blues had completely taken over the game and the Oilers couldn’t really get much of anything going.
• Edmonton’s breakout was a mess in the second period. I don’t know how many times the Oilers needed multiple tries to get the puck out of the zone but it was far too many for my liking. I know St. Louis did a good job of putting pressure on the outlets, limiting the options for a clean breakout, but the Oilers needed to have a better plan than just blindly throwing the puck to where they think it should go.
• Actually, the Oilers were a mess as a whole for the last 40 minutes. They just didn’t look like the same team as the one that seemed evenly matched in the first period. I can’t overstate how annoying that is.
• Zack Kassian is getting so many scoring chances but he just can’t bury one. He got another (partial) breakaway tonight and, once again, came up short. I don’t know what kind of curse is on his sticks this year but we need to find some kind of sacrifice to help the dude out.
• How many odd-man rushes did the Blues get tonight? 2000? More? Probably more.
• I really didn’t want to eat beets tonight and I’m annoyed that the Oilers are making me do this again. As always, get the updates on my Twitter.
• The NHL site has the giveaways as 15 for Edmonton and five for the Blues. Those numbers seem right but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a little bit light for Edmonton.
• Did the Oilers allow a power play goal for the Blues? Yes, the Oilers allowed a power play goal for the Blues.
• Do I feel like a broken record for having to complain about the refs in every single Wrap Up? Yes. Will I keep doing it until they improve? Yes. I mean, what is a penalty anymore? Because I really don’t know what counts for two minutes on a night-to-night basis.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT