THE BRIGHT SIDE

• Connor McDavid. Everything about him. Chalk every single thing about him up on the ‘Bright Side Board.’ His speed. His puck skills. Marone. To cap it all off, Connor added his 14th goal of the season as a result of his rocket skates. 
• I liked seeing Zack Kassian playing with McDavid and Hall. He adds some nice size to that line, and he was rewarded with one of the easiest assists of his career on McDavid’s goal. 
• Lauri Korpikoski went to the net and banged home a loose puck for his ninth goal of the season. Say what you will about Scorepikoski, but the guy goes to the net and he has three goals in his last five games. Assists on the Korpi-goal (sounds like an ottoman) went to Letestu and Clendening.
• I liked the Maroon-Draisaitl-Eberle line tonight. They seemed to get a chance or two on nearly every shift they played. Of all the Oilers lines this one was the most dangerous. Eberle in particular seemed to have a bunch of chances but couldn’t cash. 
• Andrej Sekera had another solid game for the Oilers. As Lowetide would say, he was skating for miles and he also wasn’t afraid to jump into the play. He played 22:45 tonight. 
• Jordan Oesterle looked good again. I like the way he’s able to skate the puck out of the Oilers end, and he’s also able to make a pass. He’s an interesting prospect for sure.
• Cam Talbot was locked in tonight. He played the kind of game where you were going to have to be perfect to beat him, and the only goal he allowed was a nearly perfect shot. Props to him for shaking off the less than stellar game against San Jose, and shutting the door down on a Minnesota Wild team that is working to make the playoffs. Talbot finished the night with 29 saves and a .967 save%. 
• Nuge is coming back soon!

THE FACE PALMERS

• Matt Hendricks left early in the game and didn’t return. Sportsnet showed footage of him on the bench going over to talk to the trainer and then leaving down the tunnel. You’d have to think that Hendricks leaving had something to do with his crash into the boards from Tuesday night. This horrible year of injuries just won’t end. 
• Zach Parise hadn’t scored a goal in nine games, but that all changed tonight. Have a streak that needs ending? Not to worry. The Oilers are here for you. 
• I don’t know if the Oilers could have been much worse on the face off circle. As a team, they went 27% on the dot. Shocking.
• Leon Draisaitl was 18% on the dot tonight. You know he’s not happy with that, and he shouldn’t be. Ugly number for the big man. 
• I don’t know how many ways I can say that the Oilers’ power play is awful so I pulled up a Thesaurus and looked for synonyms. From Thesaurus.com: appalling, atrocious, depressing, dire, distressing, dreadful, frightful, ghastly, gruesome, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrific, shocking, ugly, unpleasant. The Oilers went 0/2 on the night and looked bad while doing it. 
• Darnell Nurse was suspended for three games for doing essentially the same thing that landed Max Domi a one game suspension. Shout out to the NHL for always being the model of consistency in terms of their punishments. Shake it off, Darryl. Never change. 

SCORING SUMMARY

BEST OF THE TWEETS

THE NORTH X NORTHGRETZ PODCAST

PREVIOUS EPISODES

• 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
• Episode 18 – The Trade Deadline