THE BRIGHT SIDE

• The Oilers started the game very strong. They didn’t come out flying with a lot of scoring chances or anything like that, but they played very well defensively and didn’t give up a shot until 11:40 left of the period. It was a breakaway, so Mikko Koskinen had to be strong.
• Leon Draisaitl has been playing out of his mind lately. He scored the first goal of the game tonight after making some beautiful toe drags through the Leafs defence. It was his 39th goal of the season and he is well on his way to 50. Absolutely nuts! Draisaitl is now leading the league in goals during the month of February and has 15 goals in his last 15 games.
• Nuge scored! In a broken play with four minutes remaining in the game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins refused to give up on the play and tucked the puck home around the post. The play was challenged for goalie interference as Zack Kassian knocked down Andersen a little earlier, but the NHL let it stand. *blows kisses at NHL* This was Nuge’s 20th goal of the season and he has now tied his career high in points.
• Anthony Stolarz saw his first half game as an Oiler tonight and stopped 19 of 21 shots. Obviously, these aren’t the circumstances he wanted to have when playing in his first game but he played fairly solid throughout it. I’m curious who will get the start now tomorrow in Ottawa.
• Even though the top line was quiet tonight (all lines were quiet), seeing Gagner, Nuge, and McDavid together intrigued me. We never really got to see them play a normal offensive game, so hopefully, they’re back together tomorrow to see if they can piece together any further offense.

THE FACE PALMERS

• The Oilers first period was almost flawless, but with only a few minutes left in the period, Alex Chiasson took an unnecessary slashing penalty, and it didn’t take long for the Leafs to capitalize on the power play opportunity. An unlucky bounce in the slot made Mikko Koskinen lose sight of the rebound, and Patrick Marleau buried it.
• The Leafs began the second period with a hop in their step and the Oilers didn’t. It took them just over a minute for Mitch Marner to deflect a pass passed Koskinen giving them a one-goal lead.
• Just a 1:17 after Marner’s goal, the Leafs executed another beautiful passing play finished off by Andreas Johnsson to give the Leafs a 3-1 lead. I’m not sure what was said in the intermission, but it wasn’t enough, and we needed to come out MUCH stronger on the road than that. I sort of expected Hitchcock to call a timeout after the third goal to slow things down but we never got one.
• Just minutes after the Leafs third goal, Nylander sniped one up above Mikko Koskinen to give the Leafs a three-goal lead. This was an extremely sharp angle shot that Koskinen should have saved (especially being such a giant man). Sure enough, Koskinen was quickly pulled and replaced by Anthony Stolarz, who saw his first game action in an Oilers jersey.
• Brad Malone left the game in the second period after sliding hard into the boards. I’m not exactly sure what was injured but it was definitely a lower-body injury. Maybe an ankle or a knee? Thankfully he ended up returning to the game in the third.
• Halfway through the second period, Colby Cave took an accidental interference penalty in the neutral zone. I want to call it a soft call, but either way, a penalty was the last thing we needed after giving up four unanswered goals. As you probably can assume, the Leafs scored on that powerplay to make the game 5-1. As usual, we went from standing on top of a mountain to being buried alive in under ten minutes of gameplay.
• Aaaaaaaand surprise surprise, the Leafs score in the first minute of the third period. After running into penalty trouble at the end of the second, the Leafs began the third with a 5-on-3 where John Tavares slapped home a shot past Stolarz to make it a 6-1 game. *sighhhhh*
• Besides the first period, Connor McDavid was extremely quiet tonight and the Leafs did one hell of a job shadowing him and shutting him down. He was also a -3 on the ice which I’m sure McDavid won’t be happy about. Toronto has always done a good job of this and I only wish the rest of our team could have had a little more success for Connor.
• As always, the Oilers penalty kill was awful tonight and played a big part in the loss. They went 2 for 5 and took far penalties too many tonight.

SCORING SUMMARY

#GOODCONTENT