THE BRIGHT SIDE

• My pizza just showed up!
• The game is finally over. At least we won the Corsi! Anybody? 
• Connor’s Calder crusade continued (check out that alliteration!) tonight as he scored another goal (his 13th) and added an assist on Taylor Hall’s goal. He’s the best rookie and it’s not close. Give him the trophy and maybe a sash. 
• Taylor Hall was one of the few Oilers that had some jump tonight, and he was rewarded for it with his 22nd goal of the season. He was standing in front of the net, tipped a point shot, and scored a goal. Good things happen in front of the net.
• Early in the game I tweeted that I’d like the see Draisaitl stand in front of the net more to look for rebounds and deflections. He’s got the size to cause a ruckus and would be damned near impossible to move. Blogger coaching aside, Leon scored a big goal (his 17th) early in the first period to get the Oilers back to within one goal. The Oilers Oiler’d after that but Neon Leon scored nonetheless. 
• Who knows whether or not Adam Pardy will be back with the Oilers next year, but I do like how he’s played in the last few games, apart from his giveaway on the fifth Columbus goal. Is there really a difference between Pardy and Gryba? Gryba actually has more offense, hilariously. 
• The Oilers were 64% in the face off circle tonight. 
• The Oilers had a brutal start, and then Matt Hendricks went out looking for a scrap. How can you not love this guy? 
  

THE FACE PALMERS

• That start was awful and it carried over throughout the rest of the game. What else can you really say? Apart from the fact that Brossoit allowed two goals on three shots. Certainly doesn’t help. 
• The Oilers scored three goals tonight and on all three occasions the Blue Jackets were able to come back and score within a few minutes. That’s embarrassing. Any time they started to get something going they shot themselves in the foot. 
• I don’t think that Laurent Brossoit was to blame for all of Columbus’ goals. I really don’t. That being said, he wasn’t nearly as good as he was in his previous two starts and he didn’t make the saves they needed. I’m sure that even Brossoit would tell you that he was bad. To his defense, he didn’t get a lot of help. Brossoit is a fresh NHL goalie and sometimes these kind of nights will happen. Unfortunately for LB, tonight was a night off for Talbot and I think McLellan wanted to give his starter some rest. Brossoit finished the night with 22 saves and a .786 save%.
• Pretty much every Oiler apart from a few looked tired and run down. The decision making was off and they always seemed to find themselves a step behind. 
• Fedor Tyutin hadn’t scored a goal in 65 games. Scored one tonight. Perfect. 
• I know I’ve been complaining about the refs a lot lately, but I don’t think I’m wrong. I can think of the lame call on Letestu in the second period when Korpikoski had to forfeit his wallet in a mugging moments later and there was nothing. 
• Speaking of refs, what does Taylor Hall have to do to get a penalty called in his favour? He was in alone and got stick work from the Columbus defender the whole way. No call. No goal. Why do refs hate Taylor Hall?

SCORING SUMMARY

BEST OF THE TWEETS

THE NORTH X NORTHGRETZ PODCAST

PREVIOUS EPISODES

• Episode 7 – The Brownlee Christmas Spectacular 
• Episode 8 – Return Of The CTI
• Episode 9 – NxNGretz Holiday Special
• Episode 10 – An NxNGretz New Years
• Episode 11 – Is There A TV Doctor In The House?
• Episode 12 – Making An Interner
• Episode 13 – Guilty Pleasures
• Episode 14 – All Star Weekend
• Episode 15 – Disaster In Jasper
• Episode 16 – Contagious 
• Episode 17 – Story time with Pat Hughes