THE BRIGHT SIDE
- @Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the board (1-0) after a Koekkoek point shot was deflected right to his stick where he pulled a nice little dangle with the puck behind the goal line before tucking it into the empty net. Only a few minutes later, Draisaitl got a second goal on the powerplay (2-0) from his office near the net after the Jets found themselves on a little bit of a parade to the penalty box.
- Just over a minute after Ehlers got the Jets on the board, @Zack Kassian restored the Oilers’ two-goal lead (3-1) after picking up a perfect cross-ice pass from Draisaitl in the slot and lifting a wrister up and over Hellebuyck on the blocker side. I know a lot of us have been tough on Kassian for his play over the first couple of games, so I’ll be the first to credit him for his best game of the series by far. This was the exact type of game we need from him.
- @Jujhar Khaira gave the Oilers a second dose of insurance (4-1) after he was able to win his battle in front of the net just in time to perfectly deflect Larsson’s point shot past Hellbuyck. It was the kind of depth goal that the Oilers haven’t had all season, and I could not have been happier to see him get on the board with a huge third-period marker.
- A lot has been said about how quiet @Connor McDavid has been over the first couple of games of this series, but I don’t think anyone will be able to say much after the effort he put in tonight. All night long, the captain was everything we needed him to be and it was no surprise to see that both he and Leon were the ones to lead the charge.
- @Mike Smith was absolutely fantastic on Friday night and seeing him lose despite standing on head was a major bummer, and I hoped the boys used that dad disappointment as part of their motivation because they let him down in a huge way. This wasn’t Smith’s night but I’m not going to hang this loss on him. Smith finished with 32 saves and a .865 save%.
- I like the way Slater Koekkoek has looked on the third pairing since coming back from a broken collarbone. At first, I was annoyed that he was replacing Jones but I feel like he’s fit in nicely in that spot.
- Coming into tonight’s game, the Oilers hadn’t scored a powerplay goal on the four chances they’ve had in the series and I was hopeful that the trend would end here in game three. Thankfully, the boys were able to cash in one of three chances with the man advantage, which was certainly nice but not enough to get us back in the win column.
- The Corsi Gords have been pleased throughout the series as they love seeing the Oilers taking shots from everywhere, and they will be please again as Edmonton won the shot war by a 48-37 margin.
THE FACE PALMERS
- @Nikolaj Ehlers made an immediate impact in his series debut by getting the Jets on the board (2-1) with a snipe of a shot that beat a stickless Smith up and over the glove hand. Frankly, I was hoping Ehlers was going to look rusty in his first game back and it was annoying to see him as sharp as he was. Ehlers added a second goal in OT to close things out and I’m honestly so annoyed about it that I refuse to describe the goal.
- @Mathieu Perreault gave the Jets some life in the third period with a powerplay goal (4-2) that came as a result of a scramble near the net when his shot took an unlucky bounce in off of Bear’s skate.
- @Blake Wheeler pulled the Jets to within one with a late goal (4-3) after he was able to pick up a rebound near the side of the net and elevate the puck up and over Smith who was down in his butterfly.
- Only 16 seconds after Wheeler drew the Jets closer, @Josh Morrissey tied the game (4-4) with a sneaky wrist shot from the point that made its way through traffic and beat Smith on the glove side.
- I love Josh Archibald but that low-hit penalty he took could not have been dumber.
- If ever there was an example of how to not close out a game then the Oilers would have just shown everyone what that looks like.
- Why does Dave Tippett hate timeouts so much? I mean, you’d think the guy may call one in the third period when the wheels started to fall off but nothing. Not only that, but he also thought that giving the third and fourth lines defensive zone draws when the score was 4-2 would be a good idea, and I just don’t get it.
- The PK was a disaster tonight as it allowed two goals on three chances again.
- The Oilers couldn’t win a faceoff to save their lives, and while I normally joke around about this stat in the wrap up, seeing that they won only 37% of the draws fits right into the way this thing ended.
SCORING SUMMARY
#GOODCONTENT
Dearest Great One,
Please bless this game with many Oilers goals and give the team the strength to come back and prevail in this series like we know they can. In McJesus we Trust. Amen. #MISSION21 @OilersNation pic.twitter.com/8CqSUymTrB
— Custard Ferguson (@CustardFergus0n) May 23, 2021
— X-Kennedy (@kennedystrash) May 24, 2021
Mikko Koskinen just chilling there pic.twitter.com/dKYdnaJiNJ
— x – Adam (@OilersAdam) May 24, 2021
Kass is just one of those players who feeds off the energy of a wild crowd or a human can of seltzer
— x – Ryan (@IAmByks) May 24, 2021
just a short 30 years ago, 1 could pull a postage paid card out of a mag. check all boxes, including bill me…& have a 20+ volume of hard cover encyclopedias mailed to the address of your choosing.
— TheMediterraneanChicken (@TheMediterran10) May 24, 2021
I have a puke pail beside me
— Justin Leray (@leray81) May 24, 2021
#MISSION21 @OilersNation @KailerMemeamoto @jsbmbaggedmilk pic.twitter.com/LvSIJWY4Zo
— x – Bruce Wayne (@B_Balfour14) May 24, 2021
WRAP UP PRESENTED BY SHERWOOD FORD THE GIANT
