We could have been watching football. Final Score: 4-0 Red Wings
Coming into today’s game against the Red Wings, the Oilers needed more of the same effort level and passion that we saw in Friday night’s win against the Devils. That game saw the Oilers getting goals from six different players and that kind of secondary offence is the exact thing that would bury the Detroit Red Wings. When Edmonton is able to get a couple goals from their bottom six, they have a pretty good chance to win regardless of who they’re playing. Unfortunately, hoping for goals was about as far as we go today because it’s tough to win hockey games with a goose egg hanging on the scoreboard.
Arguably, the most important thing that the Oilers needed to do was to get a good start, something that hasn’t happened all that much in matinee games. Needless to say, the tradition continued in a big way with the Oilers, once again, looking a step behind and not quite ready to play when the puck dropped (or even in the third period for that matter). Once the Red Wings opened up their two-goal lead, the Oilers looked defeated without much fight available to get themselves back into it. After Detroit added a third goal, the rest of the game had the same feeling as trying to drive home on a tire with a slow leak. When the fourth goal came around, all that was left be done was bask in the warm glow of the dumpster fire and wait for was the clock to run out.
We wrap.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • The fourth line was easily the Oilers’ most consistent trio today. Of all the lines, Pakarinen-Letestu-Kassian was the only combination with any consistency.
  • Klefbom-Benning were pretty good tonight. They moved the puck well, generated six shots between them, and was the only pairing to not get tagged with an even strength goal against.
  • The Oilers keep rolling in the faceoff circle as they finished the day at 59% on the dot (Nuge a team high 73%). They keep getting better, doesn’t really matter.
  • Kailer Yamamoto looked pretty good in what could be his last NHL game of the season. He had a couple of good chances from high quality shooting areas and got robbed of his first NHL goal. Now that game number nine is in the books, we’ll all be watching to see what the Oilers do with him.
  • The game is over.

THE FACE PALMERS

  • Frans Nielsen opened the scoring for the Wings on a ridiculous deflection from a wide angle that Talbot didn’t really have much chance at stopping. Definitely not the start they wanted.
  • The third pair got caught puck watching, McDrai flew the zone early, and Gustav Nyquist was able to walk into the slot and bang home a loose puck, putting the Oilers down by two goals in the first period. Not ideal.
  • There has been a couple of times in the last few games where the Oilers have had a good chance to score at one end only to have the opponent come down and score at the other. That happened again when Martin Frk was able to cash in on his chance while the Oilers could not.
  • The Oilers were having a tough time connecting on their passes and it gave the Red Wings all kinds of extra attack time. I’m not sure why they were passing to no one in particular but it happened a lot today.
  • Quiet game from Connor and Leon as they didn’t look like their usual selves.
  • Russell and Gryba had a rough start to this hockey game and didn’t really get much better as the day went on. They played the fewest minutes of any pairing but were still -2 on the day.
  • That said, it’s tough to single anyone out in a bad overall effort by mostly everyone. None of the pairings really looked all that comfortable or on top of their games.
  • Not the day Cam Talbot wanted, though it’s hard to blame him for all four goals against.
  • Surprise, surprise the Oilers lost both special teams battles on the day.
  • Why is the NHL allowing their refs to be so inconsistent from game to game? I’m not even being a homer on this one, the refs missed plenty of calls for both teams and it’s really ridiculous considering how many penalties there were in the pre-season.
  • OF COURSE I HAVE TO EAT BEATS ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON. Updates on my Twitter. ?

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
03:23
Detroit
Frans Nielsen (5) ASST: Nick Jensen (5), Darren Helm (4)
1-0
09:10
Detroit
Gustav Nyquist (5) ASST: Henrik Zetterberg (7), Justin Abdelkader (5)
2-0

2ND PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
11:13
Detroit
Martin Frk (4) ASST: Anthony Mantha (6)
3-0

3RD PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
06:30
Detroit
PPG – Anthony Mantha (7) ASST: Martin Frk (3), Mike Green (12)
4-0

#GOODCONTENT

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Source: NHL.com, Official Game Page, 11/05/2017, 4:00pm MST