THE BRIGHT SIDE

• At this point in the season, Connor McDavid’s chase of a second straight Art Ross Trophy is one of the biggest reasons to get excited about an Oilers game. I hate to say it, but it’s true. And when he makes magic like he did on the first goal of the game where he left Rinne looking ridiculous in his crease, it makes all of the suffering worth it. Add two more McPoints to the pile.
• Leon Draisaitl scored his fourth power play goal of the season after he took the puck in flight and ripped a snap shot past Pekka Rinne on the blocker side. Big Sexy 2.0 has been hot over the past month and he kept the good times rolling… at least until the end of the second period anyway.
• Cam Talbot needed to have a bounce-back game after that Tuesday’s loss and he got it tonight… for the most part… maybe the first 35 minutes. Despite the finish, I would say that he will get more blame than he probably deserves after this one because he was solid and he got left out to dry on a few of those goals. Talbot finished the night with 37 saves and a .902 save%. Not good, not bad, just plain rice.
• What time is it? *crowd in unison* “Time to check on the special teams!” How did they do? *crowd* “Actually, pretty good this time!”
  • The PP went 1/1 on the night. I find it amazing that the Predators only did something worthy of a penalty once in 60 minutes but that’s another story.
  • The PK went 0/3 on the night. The Oilers have only allowed one power play goal in their last seven games.
• I thought Pontus Aberg had a nice game on the third line as he was probably the most noticeable bottom six forward. Aberg has some speed to his game, and it’s appreciated.
• Would you have guessed that Iiro Pakarinen had six shots on net tonight? That was tied for the team lead with Lucic despite only getting 10:24 worth of ice.
• I’m a big JJ Khaira guy.
• Big shout out to Ethan Bear for making it through his NHL debut playing against one of the best teams in the league. That’s a tall order for a guy playing his first game and even though there were definitely some hiccups (-3 on the night), this is still a massive accomplishment to be proud of. Congrats.

THE FACE PALMERS

• How many games in a row have the Oilers lost against the Predators? 12. Happy? Oh, and I should also mention that this win made David Poile the most winningest General Manager in history. Not only did the Oilers lose, they’re now the answer to a trivia question.
• Scott Hartnell got the Predators on the board after the Oilers blew a chance to get the puck out of their own zone and ended up turning it over. After the steal, the Predators moved the puck around for a tic-tac-goal that got them a goal and back into the game.
• Viktor Arvidsson tied the game up at two goals apiece with only 9.6 seconds left in the second period, completing the comeback on a completely avoidable goal. Why do the Oilers love early/late goals as much as they do? Can anyone explain it? Arvidsson added a second goal in the third period after Zack Kassian got caught on another turnover in the neutral zone that the Predators were able to walk down the ice for a goal.
• Auston Watson scored the Predators fourth goal of the night and was the final nail in the coffin for an Edmonton team that started off well but then let the wheels falls off.
• The Oilers were a turnover machine for the last half and it ended up costing them the hockey game. The NHL site had them listed at 22 on the night but I kinda think that’s being generous.
• We have now reached 28 straight games for Milan Lucic without a goal. As far as slumps go, this one could be one of the most ‘impressive’ in recent memory. At this point, Milan Lucic’s stick is where offence goes to die and I can only hope that some kind of sacrifice gets made or else he may never score again. To be fair, this was probably one of his best games in a while.
• The Oilers got absolutely KILLED in the faceoff circle, winning only 34% of the draws.
• When I saw it tonight’s game was against Nashville I could see #BeetCast 29 in my future. I knew it was coming, and here it is. Happy day. As always, you can join in the misery over on my Twitter.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT