THE BRIGHT SIDE
- Under two minutes after the Wild got on the board, Zach Hyman tied the game (1-1) with a power play goal after he found a rebound in front of the net and fed the loose puck up and over a fallen Marc-Andre Fleury. For some reason, the Wild challenged the goal for goalie interference — it was very obviously not — but the funny part was that it marked the third straight “goal” by Hyman that has gone to review. Thankfully, this one finally counted.
- Stuart Skinner is so good at hockey that it makes me infinitely happy to know that he’s a local kid that grew into being a starting goaltender for his hometown team. While none of that matters in the moment, it’s hard to forget as you see Skinner making big saves and giving his team a chance to compete, which is exactly what he did tonight against the Wild. Skinner finished the night with 28 saves and a .933 save%.
- I love the Oilers’ power play so much that I consider writing poetry and sonnets to express my affection. Even though we obviously needed more against the Wild, the boys still went 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
- JEREMY COUPAL FOREVER! The guy is really good at watching hockey.
- I can’t even enjoy that the Oilers won 61% of the faceoffs.
PRESENTED BY BETWAY
THE FACE PALMERS
- Matt Boldy opened the scoring (1-0) on the power play with a redirection in the slot that came off of a perfect shot-pass from Kaprisov along the boards. A set play to be sure, the Wild only needed seven seconds of power play time to get this goal done.
- Freddie Gaudreau restored Minnesota’s lead (2-1) on a beautifully executed play that saw he and Matt Boldy execute a give-and-go in tight before raising the puck up and over Skinner on the blocker side. As much as you have to tip your cap to the Wild on the execution, Connor McDavid looked lost on defending the play and that is not something you see very often.
- I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s less than ideal to stand around for most of the second period and register only six shots by the time the buzzer sounded.
- The Minnesota Wild scored one goal on three chances with the power play and I’m not even surprised anymore. Our PK is going to be the Achilles heel this season, I swear it.
- The Oilers didn’t have a single line that was rolling. Not one. It was like none of them had any mojo to speak of and it was almost inexplicable after the way this same lineup performed on Friday.
- I don’t know how the NHL site has the Oilers listed with three giveaways but I’m thinking the stat taker was snoozing.
- Not really a big fan of basically getting outshot by a 2:1 margin, ya know? Tonight it was 30-21 for the Wild, which is a season-low in output for Edmonton. The Oilers mustered only six shots in both the second and third periods.
- The Oilers were outhit 15-11 and normally I wouldn’t mention that stat but I felt it was a good one to bring up given that Edmonton rarely had the puck and thus had plenty of opportunities to use their bodies.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD | EDM | MIN | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
12:36 | Minnesota | Matt Boldy (11) (Power Play) Assists: Kirill Kaprizov (18), Mats Zuccarello (20) | 0 | 1 |
14:01 | Edmonton | Zach Hyman (10) (Power Play) Assists: Tyson Barrie (15), Connor McDavid (30) | 1 | 1 |
2ND PERIOD | EDM | MIN | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
9:39 | Minnesota | Frederick Gaudreau (5) Assists: Matt Boldy (10) | 1 | 2 |
3RD PERIOD |
---|
No Goals Scored |
#GOODCONTENT
Shoutout @zjlaing! pic.twitter.com/uqNSPmyckS
— Jake (@FatDad_) December 12, 2022
At 2011 draft… pic.twitter.com/No4Z6f6jod
— pizzeriva (@TheOldBoysClub) December 13, 2022
This picture of Nikitin is my sleep paralysis demon
— Ban-dashing through the snow (@AdamsOnHockey) December 13, 2022
That guy is so much better at watching hockey than us
— Patrick (@OhNoNotPatrick) December 13, 2022
coupal every time the other team has the puck in the oilers zone pic.twitter.com/ihi3CxALEo
— maX (@puljujarvi_) December 13, 2022
Because he is Creed Bratton. Apparently he hates the comparison. One of the Wild guys brought it up during a Chiclets interview
— Elon Musk's Wasteland (@DJ_wij) December 13, 2022