A depth goal from Shore saves the streak. Final Score: 3-1 Oilers
After pulling out another big win over the Senators yesterday, I was wondering how much gas the boys would have left in the tank, especially when you consider that Tippett didn’t make any lineup changes apart from swapping Haas in for the injured RNH. In the early going, I thought both sides looked sluggish as neither squad was really able to get much of a rhythm going. That’s not to say that there weren’t chances — there was a handful of quality looks on net at both ends of the rink — but I also think you’d be hardpressed to find many people that thought the ga,e had much flow. Even so, the Sens were easily the better of the two clubs and that’s not exactly a great spot to be in. Not helping matters much, the Oilers also took a couple of penalties that helped the Sens build some momentum for themselves and ultimately outshoot our boys by a 2:1 margin by the period’s end, which is a stat that I can’t imagine anyone in the dressing room was overly pleased about. I mean, that trend on the shot clock didn’t change much in the end but I still assume they were unhappy about it.
Moving into the second period, the pace of the game didn’t really pick up all that much but if I was going to hand out sunshine stickers for effort then they would easily go to the Senators. Even though a bunch of Ottawa’s chances and shots came from the outside of the ice, at least they were actually doing something whereas the Oilers often looked like they moving through quicksand. It was rough to watch, folks. And if I’m being honest, I thought Edmonton was incredibly lucky to be finishing the middle third with a tie game rather than in a hole. Thankfully, the Oilers were able to pick it up a little bit in the third period but even that seems generous despite it being true. Don’t get me wrong, the boys were by no means anywhere close to perfect, but the fact that they still managed to wrestle away the lead for a second time and found a way to win a game they didn’t deserve was a nice way to wrap up. Call it luck or call it whatever you want, the important part from this night is that the Oilers wrapped up their season series against the Senators with 18 of 18 possible points.
The Oilers may not have deserved to win, but they made it happen and for that, I salute them.
The wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • @Kailer Yamamoto opened the scoring on the powerplay after he found a loose puck in the crease and smashed it through a scrambling Anton Forsberg, registering his first goal in 12 games. Today on the Real Life podcast, we talked about how much Yamo needed a goal after going a stretch without and I could not have been happier to see him get one.
  • Midway through the third period, @Devin Shore restored the Oilers lead with a beautiful deflection on Caleb Jones’ point shot. Shore has played well over the last couple of weeks and I was happy to see him get rewarded for his efforts.
  • @Jesse Puljujarvi not only nailed the coffin shut but also made me a bunch of money tonight after he picked up the empty-netter to extend the lead to two goals. Not only did I bet on Puljujarvi to get a point but I also had him going over 8.5 goals on the season. All in all, that’s a nice little result for your boy.
  • Speaking of empty-netters, the Oilers got one in TWO STRAIGHT GAMES!
  • @Mike Smith was back in the crease and looking for his 14th win of the season, and from start to finish, he was easily the best Edmonton Oiler tonight. Not only did he make the saves we’d expect from our starter, but I’d also argue that the veteran was one of the only reasons his team was able to keep things close at all let alone win. Smith finished the night with 39 saves and a .975 save%.
  • The Oilers got a goal on the lone powerplay chance they got, which was the exact special teams boost they needed to win. I don’t know how the Oilers got only one powerplay all night but I guess I’m not going to complain about it too much.
  • I will also give credit to the penalty killers for handling both of Ottawa’s powerplay chances with relative ease.
  • I’m going to give @Gaetan Haas some props for filling in admirably on the second line even though he probably doesn’t have any business playing that high in the lineup. One thing I noticed as a result of the increase in ice time was just how good his wheels are, and I wonder if there would be any appetite to try him on the wing from time to time.
  • I really like @Ethan Bear’s game again tonight and I will never stop pumping his tires.
  • @Caleb Jones is looking more and more comfortable in my eyes and I was happy to see him pick up an assist on the game winner. Jones played 13:35 and finished with one shot, two hits, and a block.
  • @Adam Larsson is playing some of the best hockey he’s played in quite a while and I will argue with anyone that suggests otherwise.

THE FACE PALMERS

  • @Connor Brown continued his heater with his sixth goal in his last six games towards the end of the second period, which knotted up the score at one apiece. As we’ve seen far too often lately, the goal started with a turnover in the Oilers zone that the Sens were able to turn around before Brown eventually ripped a shot through traffic and between Smith’s legs.
  • Why do the Oilers pass up on so many chances to shoot the puck? I know they weren’t playing all that well, by no means am I debating that, but I still think they have too many stretches where they look to pass rather than firing the puck and hoping for some chaos.
  • The bigger problem, though, was the fact that the Oilers were widely outplayed by the Senators and it wasn’t really close apart from what actually made it onto the scoreboard.
  • I maintain that @Tyson Barrie has to be playing hurt because he doesn’t look to be moving right. It’s like he’s lost a step.
  • The Oilers were badly outshot by the Sens by a 40-23 margin and likely angered the Corsi gods. WE’RE SORRY, CORSI GODS!
  • I regret to inform you that the Oilers won only 45% of the faceoffs. I’m so sorry.
  • Did anyone else laugh when they saw that RNH was out of the lineup but that Dave Tippett would be keeping Connor and Leon together anyway? Back to Nuge, the highlight shown before the game of his last shift from yesterday made it seem like he got his bell rung a little bit and I hope this is more of a precautionary thing than a serious issue.
  • If @Evan Bouchard couldn’t get into the lineup in a back-to-back situation against Ottawa then I’m starting to think he will never play again.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

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