OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA
GDB 52.0 Wrap Up: On to the Next One
alt
baggedmilk
Feb 1, 2017, 00:12 ESTUpdated:
The break was over, boys. Knock the rust off and we’ll see you Thursday. Final Score: 5-2 Wild
After having five days off for the All-Star Break, I was excited to have the Oilers get going again tonight. At first, I didn’t even care that the game was against the Wild either. That’s progress, right? I think I can honestly say that this was the first time that I’ve ever been excited about watching a game against the Minnesota Wild, a nonexistent phenomenon since the dawning of man. Frankly, I almost didn’t care how the game went because I just wanted to watch the Oilers play. Saying that I’m stoked for an Oilers game at the end of January (lockout aside) for the first time in years is both hilarious sadness and also Gord damned beautiful. That was until the hockey started.
For as positive as I was feeling before the game started, the Oilers successfully killed my hockey boner with their sloppy defensive work and Santa Clause-esque giveaways that allowed the Wild to take a three-goal lead without really facing much push back. There were a few too many guys that weren’t ready to play and the mistakes that were made always seemed to end up with the puck in the back of the net. The most frustrating part was that there were also plenty of moments when the Oilers looked good, but those tiny slivers of NHL sunshine were too often replaced by awful mistakes and missed saves.
At the end of the day, the things that the Oilers did well were vastly outweighed by the mistakes they made with the puck. From where I blog, this looked like a team that hadn’t quite returned from holiday mode and they’ll need to get their minds right for the game in Nashville on Thursday. It goes without saying that the team we watched tonight looked nothing like the one that beat both Anaheim and San Jose last week. Even though it might be normal to have an off night it’s not the best recipe for wins, especially when it happens against the first place time. Like I said, there were things to like but the mistakes ended up being the nails in the coffin. 
Flush this one and move on.
We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • Adam Larsson scored his third goal of the year after smartly throwing the puck into the traffic that was in front of the net and having it deflect in off a defender. The goal was originally credited to Anton Slepyshev as he was one of the players causing a ruckus in front of the net but was changed to Larsson in the third period. 
  • Leon Draisaitl scored his 20th goal for the first time in his young career and it gave the Oilers some hope headed into the third period. Potentially more exciting than the goal was the fact that Draisaitl’s 20th landed him a $212,500 cheque for a Schedule A bonus. 
  • Laurent Brossoit was solid in relief of Talbot and very sharp when he needed to be. It’s not always easy to come off of the bench but LB was obviously prepared and handled the task admirably. Brossoit finished the night with 15 saves and a .938 save%.
  • Anton Slepyshev had a solid night tonight and I was happy to see that he still got a point on the Larsson goal that was taken away from him. Slepyshev keeps getting better as he continues to get games in and here’s hoping that he can continue to progress. 
  • Oscar Klefbom continues to get better and better as the season goes on. He finished with one assist and a team-high 22:39 on the ice. Equally as impressive is how we’re 52 games into the year and he doesn’t have a penalty yet. 
  • The power play came through with a goal and was able to produce quality chances all night long. With a little bit of luck, the Oilers would have had more than the one goal on the night. The PP finished a 1/3.
  • We won the Corsi!

THE FACE PALMERS

  • The Oilers got caught out of position on Tyler Graovac’s first-period goal and he knocked it into a gaping net. On his second goal of the night, Kris Russell lazily threw the puck up the boards and had the Wild turn it around and beat Talbot for the fourth and final time. 
  • Talbot got beat cleanly on Jason Zucker’s late first-period goal but the bigger problem came from the horrible giveaway and attempted… swarm?… by the defensemen in front of him. Normally, Dadbot makes that save but Zucker shouldn’t have been alone in the slot like that anyway. 
  • Zach Parise was wide open in front of Talbot and had enough time to take to take a couple whacks at the puck with the second shot beating the goalie. It was just another instance of the Oilers being a step behind.
  • Chris Stewart came in on a 2-on-1 and sold Laurent Brossoit on the pass before burying the puck through the five hole. 
  • This wasn’t a banner night for Cam Talbot but he wasn’t alone. Normally we see Dadbot being the glue that holds the ship together but he didn’t play like himself. That said, I wouldn’t put all four goals on Talbot because there were some horrible errors and giveaways by his teammates in front of him. A forgettable night for Talbot as he finished the game with 15 saves and a .789 save%.
  • Gross night for Kris Russell as he ended up throwing grenades all over the ice in his own end. Russell wore the green jacket after finishing with a team worst -4 on the night. The runner ups were Sekera, Draisaitl, Pouliot, and Maroon each with a score of -3 in their respective column. 
  • The Oilers got killed in the faceoff circle, winning only 43% of the draws. Lather, rinse, repeat. 
  • Too many giveaways and missed passes coming out of their own end. The breakouts were a mess all night as the forwards seemed to fly the zone early and the d-men would try to force the pass anyway. Those are details that they didn’t miss last week in Califonia. 

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
13:09
Tyler Graovac (5)
1-0
19:56
Jason Zucker (15) ASST: Mikko Koivu (21)
2-0

2ND PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
04:15
Zach Parise (9) ASST: Jason Pominville (18), Nate Prosser (3)
3-0
11:08
Adam Larsson (3) ASST: Oscar Klefbom (11), Anton Slepyshev (4)
3-1
12:44
Tyler Graovac (6) ASST: Mikael Granlund (31)
4-1
16:47
PPG – Leon Draisaitl (20) ASST: Milan Lucic (19), Andrej Sekera (18)
4-2

3RD PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
04:36
Chris Stewart (11) ASST: Jason Zucker (20), Darcy Kuemper (1)
5-2

BEST OF THE TWEETS

Talk to me, Twitter. Tweet at @OilersNation and @jsbmbaggedmilk for your chance to land in the Best of the Tweets.

VOTE FOR TEAM NUGE!

 
Head over to Please go to hockeyhelpskids.com to vote Team NUUUUUUUUUGE to help win $25,000 for our friends at Sport Central. Vote daily & vote often.