Dear NHL, please ban all future backup goalies from this league. Thank you. Oilers lose 4-3.
When I first heard about the starting goalie for Chicago tonight I giggled and got excited. Then I remembered our record against backup goalies this year and then wanted to vomit all over the place. Jeff Glass is 32 years old and started in his first ever NHL game tonight and is just the third oldest goalie in the history of the league to play his first game. His story of sticking to the game and finally getting his shot at the big show tonight is inspiring and heart-warming.. but I still hoped we could have crushed his dreams.
As expected, the rookie goaltender came out of the gates playing strong and steady. His blood was probably pumping harder than ever. The Oilers came out strong too and threw 19 shots on him in the first period, potting one on the power play. It was nice to see the Oilers bounce back nicely after Wednesday’s loss and start the game like their strong selves. McDavid’s line looked the best as per usual, with Lucic, Poolparty, and himself all getting close chances. Draisaitl even had himself a breakaway and we ended up leaving a lot of chances out on the ice.
The second period was filled with more “dynamite” chances as Drew Remenda would put it. The Oilers peppered Jeff Glass and he turned everything away. The Blackhawks are not an easy team to play against and the Oilers held their own extremely well against them. Not only did they hold their own against some of the best combination of players in the world, but you might even say we outplayed them for most of the game. Now I don’t have to tell you how frustrating it is that we have all of this offensive firepower on our team and still can’t score a dang goal. 14 more shots were fired on net in the second period and we got nothing to show from it except for me having a couple of panic attacks.
What looked to be a complete bust of a third period turned into a pretty fantastic ending. The Oilers gameplay pretty much fell off the tracks in the final period thanks to giveaways, penalties, and bad defence. But the leaders of the team stepped up appropriately in the final two minutes and tied it up thanks to goals from Nuge and Draisaitl!
Unfortunately it didn’t take long for Patrick Kane to undress every Oiler on the ice in overtime to finish off the win for his rookie goaltender. A few days ago we were oh so close to a .500 record and now we’re slowly sliding away from it again. An overtime loss isn’t the worst case scenario, but I really hope the losing doesn’t get out of control.
We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • After today’s World Junior game, I was actually relieved to watch a hockey game being played indoors again. Seeing players skate on last-minute outdoor ice is too stressful.
  • The Oilers came out strong tonight throwing 19 shots on net at the old man wearing the pads. The McDavid/Lucic/Poolparty line looked solid as ever with all three of them having some solid scoring chances in the opening period.
  • As good as Glass looked for the Blackhawks in the first period, Talbot looked equally strong for the Oilers. He didn’t face too many shots but he looked strong and square on every one he faced. The first goal in this game is huge and Talbot did his part to help us out. Unfortunately getting the first goal didn’t get us the W, but Talbot definitely played a part in getting us that pity point. I’m sure he’d like that first goal back but it could have been a lot worse if he wasn’t on his game.
  • PoolParty breaks the backup goalie curse with a big first period goal! ALL of Twitter was calling for him to be added to the power play and tonight it finally paid off with his 8th goal of the season.
  • Friendly reminder that Jesse Puljuarvi is now fourth for goals scored on the Oilers roster. He’s played about 16 games less than everyone else also..
  • Connor McDavid is a magician and he was doing more amazing Connor McDavid things tonight as usual. There hasn’t been a night since we drafted him where I don’t dream about the man.
  • It was nice to see our boy Klefbom back in the lineup tonight. His slap shot on the blue line was surely missed and it was a nice feeling just knowing that those hard abs were out there on the ice ya know?
  • Darnell Nurse blocked like 25 shots on one powerplay in the second period. DIDN’T HE HEAR US BLABBERING ABOUT NOT GETTING HURT OUT THERE FROM BLOCKING SHOTS!? I’m sort of kidding, but you have to admire the sacrifice these guys have been making by just fearlessly throwing their horribly-protected bodies in front of flying rubber.
  • I have to tip my hat to Jesse Puljujarvi tonight. I think he played one of his best games both defensively and offensively. He seemed to be everywhere on the ice and was rewarded with another goal and more power play minutes.
  • Nugey!! Nuge’s wrist shot from the blue line in the last two minutes of the third period had eyes of its own and found its way to the back of the net, making it his team leading, 15th goal this season. The goal cut the Blackhawk lead in half and made for an entertaining final minute of regulation.
  • In the final minute of the period, Leon Draisaitl hops on the ice in exchange for Cam Talbot and ends up potting the game tying goal! This was Drai’s 10th goal of the season and extended his point streak to 6 games. I mean, we only played well for a handful of minutes in the third period, but we played well when it counted, right?

THE FACE PALMERS

  • The Oilers continue their goal of hitting every square inch of post possible this season with another few posts tonight… sigh.
  • So many gosh dang scoring chances on breakaways against these dumb backup goalies and we still can’t score! I’m looking at you… Leon Draisaitl.
  • Talbot had a real solid first period except I’m pretty sure he’d love to have that first goal back. He couldn’t handle a wrist shot from the slot in his glove and Hartman ended up burying the puck behind him to tie the game 1-1. To boot, this happened with less than a minute remaining in the period…. Todd HATES late period goals.
  • The last thing I want to do is complain about the refs (again), but you HAVE to admit there were some questionable calls tonight. Connor gets blatantly tripped by two guys in the first period and gets nothing called against him, but then Nurse gets called for holding during a tight battle for the puck on the backcheck.
  • Lil Nugey tried his best to clear the zone during the penalty kill on Nurse’s second period penalty but fails to do so. Took the Blackhawks no more than three seconds to turn the puck back and burry one past Talbot. Gotta get those pucks out at the blue line! I still love you Nuge.
  • I know we took 40+ shots tonight but it felt like we missed the net SO MANY times. Easier said than done, I know… but c’mon!
  • After taking a too-many-men penalty in the third period, it didn’t take long for the Blackhawks to pot their second power play goal. To make matters worse, this was the Hawks SECOND PP goal of the game and it was former Oiler, Jordan Oesterle who scored the goal.. making it the first of his career. BOOOO!
  • Leave it to Patrick Kane to make all of our two minutes of effort in the third period to turn into waste. If there’s anyone more dangerous than Connor McDavid in 3-on-3 OT it’s probably Kane, and he showed that with his OT winner.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
14:26
Edmonton
PPG – Jesse Puljujarvi (8) ASST: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (13), Oscar Klefbom (7)
0-1
19:05
Chicago
Ryan Hartman (7) ASST: Patrick Kane (22), Nick Schmaltz (15)
1-1

2ND PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
14:06
Chicago
PPG – Alex DeBrincat (13) ASST: Nick Schmaltz (16), Duncan Keith (18)
2-1

3RD PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
08:28
Chicago
PPG – Jordan Oesterle (1) ASST: Vinnie Hinostroza (1)
3-1
17:41
Edmonton
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (15) ASST: Jesse Puljujarvi (3), Andrej Sekera (1)
3-2
19:05
Edmonton
Leon Draisaitl (10) ASST: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (14), Patrick Maroon (12)
3-3

OT PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
00:50
Chicago
Patrick Kane (16) ASST: Duncan Keith (19), Nick Schmaltz (17)
4-3

#GOODCONTENT

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