I’M HAPPY ABOUT THE WIN BUT OH GORD WHAT’S GOING ON WITH MCDAVID!? Final Score: 4-1 Oilers
All I cared about, coming into tonight’s game, was that the boys were even half as fired up for it as I was. These were two big points available here, and the Oilers needed to be focused on the task at hand rather than the Christmas break that immediately follows. The boys are finally starting to gain some traction in the win column, and the importance of taking advantage of a team that played less than 24 hours to keep the good times rolling could not be overstated. With the way the Oilers started their night, I had a pretty good feeling that we’d be heading into Christmas on a high note. From the moment the puck dropped, the Oilers were all over the Canadiens. They were relentless in their forecheck, crisp with their puck movement, and unwavering when the puck went back the other way.
For as bad as the Oilers were at Rogers Place early on in the year, they were mostly fantastic tonight. Aside from the penalty kill, which can be more or less pencilled as an assumed disappointment at this point, and a late surge by the Canadiens, Edmonton played a pretty solid hockey game. In a way, I’m actually disappointed that the Oilers have a few days off because they’re absolutely rolling right now. This was a big win that they had to get and they did so convincingly. That’s something that needs to carry on if the Oilers plan on continuing their ascent up the standings. On the other hand, with Connor leaving the game late in the third period then maybe these days off are exactly what they need right now.
Underneath the mistletoe, we wrap… and then kiss.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

  • Ryan Strome opened the scoring for the Oilers after some beautiful puck movement by his linemates set him up on a tee. Jujhar Khaira walked the puck into the slot and made a perfect pass to give Strome a wide open net to cash in his seventh goal of the season.
  • Upcoming Christmas break be damned because Connor McDavid was ready to play tonight. Connor got the Oilers’ second goal of the night after taking the puck for a skate around the Habs’ zone and firing a quick wrister past Niemi for his 14th goal of the season. The captain was absolutely flying out there and he gave the Habs fits basically any time he was on the ice and now the Nation awaits news of what’s going on after that blocked shot.
  • Milan Lucic was the business end of a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl that set the big man up with a tap-in. Lucic’s 9th goal of the season was not only remarkable passing but it also happened on the power play, something that hasn’t happened a whole lot lately.
  • Jujhar Khaira continues his excellent run by adding an empty netter that sealed the deal for the Oilers.
  • Once again, Cam Talbot was lights out between the pipes and it’s a beautiful sight to see him get back to the levels we expect from him. The guy was starting to turn things around before he got injured and he picked things up right where he left back when he came back. He finished the night with 29 saves and a .967 save%.
  • Three point night for Leon Draisaitl as the big man seems to be getting better and better as the days go on. Big Sexy 2.0 is back!
  • Darnell Nurse continued his excellent season with another strong performance. He played a team-high 22:22, added an assist, and finished the game as a +2.
  • Can I go on record and say how much I love the three centres being split up across three lines? I mean, how do you match up against that? You can’t is the answer.
  • Die Hard is a Christmas movie. You’re damned right it is.

THE FACE PALMERS

  • Connor McDavid blocked a shot in the third period and had to get helped off the ice and into the dressing room. As far as bad news, it doesn’t get worse than that. WE NEED AN UPDATE NOW!
***UPDATE**** CONNOR IS GONNA BE OKAY!
  • Edmonton had the Canadiens on the ropes and down by three goals when the visitors were finally able to get themselves on the board with a power play marker by Andrew Shaw.
  • The Oilers penalty kill is horrible. Even when it doesn’t look that bad it will find a way to be bad. If it wasn’t so annoying, it would actually be impressive how inadequate the Oilers are when down a man. Unsurprisingly, the Canadiens went 1/2 with the man advantage tonight.
  • Edmonton got sloppy in their own end late in the third period and I found that they were spending way too much time in their own zone. Fortunately, Cam Talbot was rock solid and able to cover up for those mistakes.
  • The Oilers were only 43% in the faceoff circle tonight which isn’t nearly good enough. They’re normally better than this but, as it turns out, the faceoffs didn’t matter on this night.

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
13:49
Edmonton
Ryan Strome (7) ASST: Jujhar Khaira (6), Leon Draisaitl (19)
0-1
15:50
Edmonton
Connor McDavid (14) ASST: Darnell Nurse (11), Kris Russell (12)
0-2

2ND PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
04:21
Edmonton
PPG – Milan Lucic (9) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (20), Connor McDavid (29)
0-3
12:55
Montreal
PPG – Andrew Shaw (9) ASST: Paul Byron (5), Joe Morrow (3)
1-3

3RD PERIOD

TIMETEAMDETAILSSCORE
18:02
Edmonton
EN – Jujhar Khaira (6) ASST: Leon Draisaitl (21)
1-4

#GOODCONTENT

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REAL LIFE PODCAST

This week on the Real Life Podcast, the boys locked themselves in the KGB interrogation room to talk all things Oilers, break down McDavid’s illnesses, look at Maroon’s beard tug, and talk about why the City of Calgary is stealing Baggedmilk’s beet thunder.
Source: NHL.com, Official Game Page, 12/23/2017, 7:30pm MST