THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Connor McDavid came out flying and he opened the scoring on what seemed like his second or third big chance of the first period. His fifth goal of the season was a beauty as he flew in on a half break and got the puck up and over Bishop’s shoulder.
• Pat Maroon scored his third goal of the season off of a bank shot that went in off of Marc Methot’s skate. That’s the kind of lucky goal that the Oilers weren’t getting earlier and I hope it opens up the floodgates. Patty Maroon now finds himself on a four game point streak.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his third goal of the year on a quick little play at the side of the net where he pulled the loose puck out from behind the goal line and tucked it in on the short side before Bishop could get there. Nice show of hands by Nuge on this one. RNH followed this goal up with another on the back of a hell of a shift, during which he won the faceoff cleanly and finished off the play with a perfect wrister from the high slot.
• Matt Benning hadn’t scored in over 20 games but he came up with a huge goal tonight. His seeing eye slapper from the point beat Bishop late in the third period and gave the Oilers a hard fought win. This was easily his best game of the season so far.
• The Lucic-Nuge-Strome line looked really good after McLellan pulled Letestu off that trio. This was their best night as a group and I’m hoping that it can give them a little bit of confidence moving forward.
• Another shout out to Darryl for making smart plays with the puck and finishing his night with two assists on the board. He’s taking huge strides forward here. Watch and enjoy it.
• I know people want Leon Draisaitl to play at centre but how can you not love the magic he and McDavid create together? Draisaitl finished the night with three assists and was once again making magic anytime he had the puck on his stick.
• For the fourth straight game, Cam Talbot was really steady in net for the Oilers. I know he allowed four goals, but I would argue that he didn’t have much of a chance on any of them. Frankly, he probably deserves more wins on the season but it’s tough to get Ws when the team in front of you is shooting blanks. But the offence won this for him tonight. Despite what the score might have you believe, Talbot played very well and finished the night with 28 saves and a .875 save%.
• Eric Gryba absolutely tuned up Antoine Roussel in the second period. I could be wrong but I think Gryba punched him in the face at least 65 times. Nearly a flawless victory for the bearded defender that you’re going to want to watch again. Check it out on Gryba’s fight page over at Hockey Fights.

THE FACE PALMERS

• How did Jamie Benn beat two guys to the slot on his goal? Gryba looked like he was waterskiing as Benn flew past him on the inside and Nuge wasn’t paying attention which allowed the Stars captain to put the centring pass behind Talbot from in close. On his second goal, Benn got away with a blatant high stick to Mark Letestu that the refs apparently didn’t see despite the fact that it happened at the faceoff. As per tradition, the refs screw the Oilers.
• Radulov scored on a perfectly placed one timer that came off of some nice puck movement by the Stars on their power play. Seguin set the puck up on a tee for Radulov and he made no mistake of smashing it home. Not a lot Talbot could have done on that one. That said, I’d like to see the PK be a little more aggressive on Seguin than they were — they gave him too much time to make a play.
• Lindell’s goal almost gave me a heart attack. Not only was it the Stars’ third power play goal of the night, it also gave Dallas their first lead of the night. There was a lot of swearing going on at the Castle Milk when that one went in.
• I completely get what Todd McLellan meant when he said he trusts Mark Letestu enough to play him a top six role, but that still doesn’t make him a top six player. That’s not a shot at Mark Letestu, either. That’s a knock on Peter Chiarelli for leaving the right side as wide open as it is, where the only real plan was to give a spot to one of two teenagers that may or may not be ready for primetime.
• Always nice to see a guy that the Oilers developed for years playing for another team. Tyler Pitlick sure seems like he would be a nice fit in the bottom six, doesn’t he?
• I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the refs missed about 50 penalty calls on McDavid alone. If you add up their game total it’s well over 1000 probably. Apparently, calling the game by the rulebook was a pre-season only kind of thing.
• The Oilers allowed two power play goals, which was something they didn’t do throughout their entire three game road trip. Need to get those kills.
• Edmonton also took way too many penalties and gave the Stars the chances they needed to get themselves back into the game on two separate occasions, and even gave them a temporary lead. Not good enough.
• Tough night in the faceoff circle as the Oilers finished the night at only 41% on the dot.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

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