It can be frustrating to watch the Oilers at times, to say the least. At some points, there’s a slow start, followed by desperation towards the end of the game as the clock ticks down.

I’ve gotten used to it this year. You have to, or else you’ll be too frustrated to watch it happen. Last night, the Oilers had to pull their goalie for the extra attacker, but this time I was ready to throw in the towel and change the channel.

With 1:40 left in the third period, the Oilers had a face off in the offensive zone. Going with the common theme, they pulled their goalie with plenty of time left on the clock. The Oilers sent out Draisaitl, Klefbom, Nugent-Hopkins, Maroon, Sekera, and…Russell. Hold the phone — Kris Russell?

It floored me that Russell was out there. Of all the options, that was the guy TMac wanted out there? To be fair, the shift before had Benning and Klefbom out there, so having them out probably wasn’t going to happen. But what about Adam Larsson? I’m not really too sure what happened with the Swedish defender, but he didn’t play a single shift after there was 6:14 left on the clock in the third.

Now that we’ve justified why he was out there, let’s chat about what took place next.

With precious seconds ticking away and the Oilers in full-blown panic mode, they passed the puck around the attacking zone. With arguably the most dynamic player in the world on the ice, you’d think Connor McDavid would try to save the Oilers by firing it at the net. If you thought that was what would happen, you’d be wrong.

So who took the shot to try and tie things up? Nuge, the leading goal scorer? Nope. King Leon? Nope. By now you have to be thinking, it’s Nurse, he’s looked so good all year long! Wrong again. With the puck on Russell’s stick he fired it towards the net. It was easily blocked high in the slot and the Predators were able to ice the puck. In case you were wondering which – men were out there to finish the game after that, the Oilers went with five forwards and Klefbom on the ice.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m usually a pretty positive person when it comes to games. I’ll try to find positive in anything. Unfortunately, as our playoff hopes have slipped away, so has my patience. I love to watch the team, but this one was a head scratcher for sure. I can understand why number four was on the ice, but for the life of me can’t understand why he would panic and take that shot with time on the clock and options around him. If you were in TMac’s shoes, would’ve you sent Benning out there instead?

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