THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Darnell Nurse got the Oilers on the board with his first goal in 20 games, and it was a big one. Ol’ Darryl jumped up into the play and Zack Kassian found him alone in the slot, where Nurse quickly batted the puck towards the net and past Forsberg for his third goal of the year. Darnell Nurse has been a huge bright spot this year, and I look forward to seeing him continue to develop over the last 40 games.
• The Oilers successfully killed off all three penalties they took. I’ll take it.
• I wonder if Yohann Auvitu did enough at forward to get another look in Nashville? Clearly, Todd McLellan doesn’t overly trust Caggiula and Slepyshev and I wonder if that distaste is enough for this to continue. For a defenceman turned forward, I thought Auvitu was fine tonight and creates another option.
• Pink slips have to be sitting on a desk somewhere. It will be interesting to see who gets one.
• Say what you will, the Oilers are consistent.
• At least Twitter was fun.

THE FACE PALMERS

• For the 26th time this season, the Oilers gave up the first goal of the hockey game as Kris Russell got caught puck watching and Nick Schmaltz walked right past him, found the loose puck, and slid it between Talbot’s legs.
• Less than two minutes after they opened the scoring, the Blackhawks got another one after Alex DeBrincat threw the puck into traffic and it founds its way into the back of the net. It was a lucky goal that was generated by good puck choices and hard work, two things the Oilers are getting much of these days.
• The Oilers were actually playing quite well in the second period, but it was all for not as Brandon Saad scored the third Blackhawks goal with under 10 seconds left on the board. First and late goals are the Oilers kryptonite… along with many other things, it seems.
• Chicago was basically able to do whatever they wanted in the offensive zone and the Oilers didn’t really offer up much resistance as far as preventing it from happening. They were loose defensively, they rushed their breakout passes, and, worst of all, they looked genuinely disinterested in competing in one-on-one battles.
• Of course Jordan Oesterle scored. Why wouldn’t he? Two of his three goals have come against the Oilers.
• The defensive zone coverage was a nightmare today and it’s really no surprise that the Oilers lost the game. They basically let the Blackhawks do as they wished and the score reflected that.
• Blaming the posts is going to be one of the all-time horrible excuses for losing hockey games but I can’t help but think of how many the Oilers have hit this year. As far as puck luck goes, they are getting none of it. Hitting posts all the time doesn’t explain the lack of effort but it is certainly odd. For the record, I don’t actually think the posts are to blame.
• Back-to-back starts and back-to-back games of allowing four goals for Cam Talbot. Needless to say, this is not the start to the road trip that he was after, but, again, it’s not like he got much help in his own zone either.
• Once again, the Oilers could not score on the power play. This is not a recording, though it could be.
• Shout out to Patty Maroon for taking a penalty on his first shift back from suspension. I’m not going to laugh, I burst out laughing because that’s probably the last thing Todd McLellan needed from him right now. Fortunately, the Oilers were able to kill it off and we can all have a laugh about it. Kinda. Maybe? Nevermind.
• The Oilers got absolutely killed in the faceoff circle, winning only 39% of the draws they took.
• I can’t help but wonder how Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev feel after being replaced in the lineup by a defenceman?
• Back-to-back #BeetCast days? Why not. What a bet I made and what a moron I am. As always, you can check it out over on my Twitter and we can all rage together.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT

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