GDB 57.0 Wrap Up: First shot goal ends up being the winner, Oilers lose 1-0

6 years ago

Make it six losses in a row. Final Score: 1-0 Coyotes

Seeing an Arizona Coyotes matinee doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of excitement these days, does it? I mean, who doesn’t love watching two lottery teams go at it while the rest of the league continues on with their playoff race? For the Oilers and Coyotes, this game was virtually meaningless apart from jockeying for draft lottery position and Connor McDavid’s pursuit of a second straight Art Ross Trophy. For Oilers fans, games like this give you an acceptable excuse to start day drinking. As much as it hurts to say it, the season is over despite the remaining games on the calendar and all we have left is to look forward to the draft and trying for silver linings in a season full of black clouds and disappointment.

Despite our thoughts and prayers, the Oilers found themselves down by a goal almost immediately after the opening faceoff after they allowed yet another goal on the first shot of the game. For some reason, the Oilers love nothing more than spotting their opponent an early lead and they also love to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. Being extremely generous is the only explanation that makes sense as to why this keeps happening. With that first goal out of the way, Cam Talbot actually went on to be the best Oiler of the afternoon and the fact that they lost again shouldn’t fall on goaltending. Had it not been for him, this game would have been done, wrapped in a bow, and under the tree long before the first period was over. The fact that they were in it until the end is Talbot’s doing, but that doesn’t matter in the end. The first-shot gift win happened anyway because the Oilers hung another goose egg on the scoreboard, and it’s really tough to win when you don’t score any goals. Gotta love those coach’s challenges.

See you tomorrow.

The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Season high, six game loss! Wait, that’s bad.
It goes without saying at this point, but Cam Talbot needed to be better if the Oilers had any chance of winning the hockey game. When these teams last met, Talbot allowed two early goals which ended his night before the game was even five minutes old. This time around, Talbot allowed a goal on the first shot of the game, though he didn’t really have much chance on the play. From there, Dadbot was rock solid and he single-handedly kept the Oilers in the game for longer than they probably deserved. He finished the day with
It was really good to see Adam Larsson back on the ice for the Edmonton Oilers in today’s game. He’s dealing with some personal hell right now, and it was good to have him back playing hockey and keeping his mind busy. Welcome back, Adam.
As they have all season, the Oilers did another fine job in the faceoff circle tonight, winning 52% of the draws. Good thing it mattered.
The Oilers killed off all four penalties they faced tonight, making the home vs away PK stats even more strange.
The Oilers got 40 shots on net. Normally, that’s a good thing.

THE FACE PALMERS

For the 11th time this season, the Oilers allowed a goal on the first shot of the game. ELEVEN. TIMES. Christian Dvorak opened the scoring for the Coyotes after deflecting an Oliver Ekman-Larsson point shot past Talbot. Happy day.
This was a sloppy game for the Oilers. They had a hard time breaking out of their zone, their passes rarely connected, and everyone was either a step too fast or a step too slow in getting pretty much anywhere. The boys weren’t on the same page today and it show in all three zones on the ice.
Make it 21 games without a goal for Milan Lucic. He needs some kind of emergency exorcism or something. Is that a thing? It should be.
No shots on goal for Leon Draisaitl today and actually that first line was quiet for most of the game.
How’d the special teams do? Fine, power play excluded.
- PP: 0/2 with not a whole lot going on.
Add another challenge that went against the Oilers to make them 0-18 in the last year+ as Pat Maroon’s tying goal was called back for goaltender interference.
What is a penalty anymore? Both sides had some really weird calls go their way and the refereeing is a strange trainwreck to watch.
Jujhar Khaira is having a great season but I really wish the Oilers wouldn’t try to put too much on his shoulders so fast. He was playing at 2C today and that’s too many minutes for a guy that isn’t ready for it yet. Why must they insist on making guys fight above their weight class so soon into their career?
I wish people would stop talking about how the Oilers lead the league in hits as though it’s a good thing. Remember, you can only hit someone when you don’t have the puck. It’s all good to play physical, but if you’re leading the league in hits then it may suggest that you have other problems… which we do.
The beet goes on with my horrible #BeetCast. Thanks to a poor effort and the Arizona Coyotes, I will be powering through my 26th can of beets of the season. As always, you can follow along and join in over on my Twitter.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
03:26	Arizona	Christian Dvorak (10) ASST: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (21), Christian Fischer (15)	0-1

2ND PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

3RD PERIOD

TIME	TEAM	DETAILS	SCORE
No Scoring

#GOODCONTENT

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Source: NHL, Official Game Page, 02/17/2018 – 4:30pm MST

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