THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Shout out to the 50/50 winner! Winning over a quarter million dollars at a hockey game is ridiculous. Congrats.
• Finally, on his 9000th breakaway of the season, Zack Kassian scored his first goal of the year. Kass broke in alone on Wedgewood and made no mistake as he ripped one past the tender for a goal that was long overdue.
• Matt Benning (could be credited to RNH later) tied the game at 2-2 late in the third period on a seeing eye goal from the point that was not unlike OEL’s second period marker. Benning threw the puck on net and Wedgewood couldn’t see it through the screen, giving the Oilers a huge goal late in the game. Benning was a team high +3 tonight and easily had one of his best games of the season. Really solid effort by the sophomore.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins closed the game out in overtime after walking in alone from basically center ice. After settling the puck down, Nuge narrowed his eyes and fired it past Wedgewood to complete the comeback and give the Oilers a big win. Peter, if you’re reading this. Please do the smart thing and keep Nuge forever. Do what you have to. He’s 24 and only going to get better.
• After having a solid game in Boston, Cam Talbot followed it up with another and that’s very encouraging. When he’s on his game, he’s easily a top 10 goaltender in this league and that’s exactly what the Oilers need right now. As you’d hope, Talbot made some huge saves and gave his team a chance to win, and that’s all you can really hope for. Dadbot finished the night with another win, 29 saves, and a .935 save%. Really solid night.
• Darnell Nurse played a team high 25:13 and looked really good doing it. Once again, Darryl was jumping up into the play, contributing to the offensive pressure, and making his presence felt. Nurse almost had Caggiula for the winner but Wedgewood was just able to lock it down.
• I don’t think it will surprise you to say that Connor was fantastic again. It’s wild to think about Connor McDavid putting up points after losing 10 pounds to the flu. He may not have gotten on the board but he was flying tonight.
• Leon Draisaitl is starting to look more like the guy that carried the Oilers through the playoffs, and Gord knows how we need him. Once again, he was strong on the puck, found his linemates with regularity, and looked like the guy we’re used to watching.
• We’re having a free BOA watch party next Saturday at the Pint Downtown. It’s a FREE event to attend so if you’re looking for a place to watch the game you should probably do it with us. Get the details here.

THE FACE PALMERS

• That was WAAAAY too close of a hockey game against the last place team. Way too close.
• Christian Fischer opened the scoring by outworking Darnell Nurse in front of the net and slapping the loose puck past Talbot. The Oilers were sloppy down low in their zone and the Coyotes just outworked them. Simple as that.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson threw the puck on net through traffic on the power play and it beat Talbot high on the glove side. I don’t know what Talbot could have done differently.
• The Oilers breakouts are bugging the shit out of me lately. Part of it comes with the forwards flying the zone early, but the biggest part comes because of their inability to connect on 6-10 foot passes. What’s up with that?
• Another night, another round of losing the special teams battles. The Oilers went 0/3 on the PP and gave up one goal on two chances for the penalty kill. Could have been costly.
• I get that McLellan wanted to go with the same lineup that won in Boston, but I’d really like to see Puljujarvi back. You can’t tell me he’s playing worse than any of the RWs in the bottom six.
• The NHL had the Oilers with 18 giveaways and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a little bit light. They were having a hard time connecting on passes all night and it gave the Coyotes all kinds of unearned possession time. Find some eggs. Pass those around. Nice and gentle like.
• Pat Maroon had a brutal giveaway right at the start of the game that gave the Coyotes a wide open lane to walk in on Talbot. Fortunately, Dadbot bailed him out but that was a bad no looker from Maroon. He can definitely be better than that with his puck choices.
• What is a penalty these days? There were weird calls on both sides that didn’t always make sense. What’s up with that?

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT