<p>The Oilers can&#8217;t let 22 minutes of ugly hockey overshadow 698 minutes of solid hockey. Use the 22 minutes as a reminder of how quickly things can change, but there should be no reason to panic or overreact Oilersnation.</p>
<p>Edmonton saw a 4-2 lead evaporate into a 6-5 loss in the span of 22 minutes on Monday. I&#8217;m sure the loss stings a bit more coming against the Florida Panthers, but no NHL season is easy and without speed bumps. The Oilers just need to ensure it was a one-off and get back to how they played in the previous 35 periods.</p>
<p></p>
<p>When Leon Draisaitl scored his league-leading 23rd goal of the season midway through the second period it gave the Edmonton Oilers a 4-2 lead. Draisaitl&#8217;s goal was the Oilers third goal in a span of 3:04. They had taken control of the game and led 4-2. Florida didn&#8217;t have a scoring chance for the next seven minutes. Then Gustav Forsling took a point shot with just over two minutes remaining in the second period. Stuart Skinner made the save, but the puck hit the back of Ty Emberson and bounced into the net. Unlucky, sure, but the Oilers had a chance to clear the puck out earlier in the sequence and were unable to. The goal itself was unlucky, but not clearing the puck is what led to the goal.</p>
<p>Last night&#8217;s game was odd from the start. The Oilers were awarded an early powerplay only 2:33 into the game. They won the ensuing faceoff and got it back to Evan Bouchard. He proceeded to move across the blueline to the middle off the ice and he toe-picked, lost his balance and that allowed Jesper Boqvist to skate in untouched from just outside his blueline and score a shorthanded breakaway. It was a foreshadowing of how chaotic, unprecise and entertaining the game would be.</p>
<p>The game featured 11 goals, a season-high for an Oilers game. Some high-scoring games feature many great plays, but last night wasn&#8217;t one of them. It was an eventful game, but both head coaches won&#8217;t be using the video as a &#8220;how to play hockey&#8221; as there were some odd goals off of backs, helmets, the end boards and overall, numerous &#8220;burn the video&#8221; plays that led to goals.</p>
<h3>Florida&#8217;s goals&#8230;</h3>
<ol>
<li>Bouchard toe-picks at the blueline and Boqvist has a breakaway and scores shorthanded. It is the Panthers&#8217; eighth short-handed goal this season. Crazy.</li>
<li>In the final 15 seconds of a double minor, Verhaeghe takes a shot and Tkachuk lifts his skate in the air and directs it into the net. Legal play, but not very common.</li>
<li>Brett Kulak and Adam Henrique had chances to clear and couldn&#8217;t. Forsling&#8217;s point shot is stopped by Skinner, but it ricochets off Emberson&#8217;s back and in.</li>
<li>Jonah Gadjovich hammers Jeff Skinner just in front of the benches. Three Oilers forwards get focused on pushing Gadjovich (but, no one is fighting him as he&#8217;s a legit heavyweight) and while that is going on, the puck gets dumped into Edmonton&#8217;s zone. Bouchard has it on the left side on his backhand and the Panthers forecheck him hard and create the turnover, and they have outnumbered the Oilers in the zone and Niko Mikkola walks in from the blueline and is wide open in the slot and fires a great shot top shelf. All three forwards were in the neutral zone pushing Gadjovich as they were considering a line change.</li>
<li>Draisaitl has possession in the offensive zone, he makes a pass attempt back to the point to Mattias Ekholm, but Sam Reinhart deflects it out of the zone. Now it is a footrace and Ekholm falls awkwardly (maybe he was lunging for the puck), but he doesn&#8217;t touch the puck, and Reinhart gets it in the corner. He&#8217;s behind the goal line skating towards the net and he fires a shot off the side of Skinner&#8217;s helmet, and it bounces in. It was a smart play by Reinhart to try for the deflection, but Skinner didn&#8217;t need to be in the RVH at that point, and Ekholm should have just stayed on his feet and battled for the puck.</li>
<li>Ekholm has possession behind the goal and reverses up the boards, but no Oiler is there. Mikkola keeps it in, quickly finds Sam Bennett in the corner, and moves it quickly to Verhaeghe in the slot and he scores the game-winner with 6:55 remaining.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Edmonton goals&#8230;</h3>
<ol>
<li>Leon Draisaitl enters the zone and loses the puck, but it goes right to Bouchard. He dishes to Connor McDavid, who finds Zach Hyman, and he walks in down the slot and snipes it top shelf. Great shot, but in the initial entry, Draisaitl actually mishandled the puc and it went to Bouchard.</li>
<li>This was a nice goal. Draisaitl moves it up to McDavid and as he is falling for the puck he tips it to Hyman, who scores on a breakaway.</li>
<li>Brett Kulak crosses centre and dumps it in, but Niko Mikkola gloves it down, but he can&#8217;t control it inside the blueline and the pucks ricochets to Corey Perry, he corrals it and then finds Connor Brown at the bottom left circle and his quick shot beats Sergei Bobrovsky short side. Bob would want that goal back.</li>
<li>Oilers score late on the power play as McDavid finds Draisaitl deep in the right circle. Solid goal, although from that angle and Bobrovsky upright, it isn&#8217;t a great goal allowed.</li>
<li>Kasperi Kapanen wins a battle behind the net and pushes the puck to the sideboards. Brett Kulak takes it, skates to the middle of the ice just inside the blueline and fires a shot. It hits a stick and goes high over the net, bounces off the glass and falls to the ice, Kapanen (who is behind the goal line) whacks it off of Bobrovsky&#8217;s pad and in.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can watch the <strong><a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/edm-vs-fla/2024/12/16/2024020495">highlights here</a></strong> if you want a laugh or a cry.</p>
<h1>QUICK THOUGHTS&#8230;.</h1>
<p>&#8212; Edmonton still has the best P% in the NHL over the 12 games at 9-3. They are second in goals scored/game at 4.33 and even with the brutal final 22 minutes they are tied for fourth fewest goals allowed/game at 2.50. They had only allowed 26 goals through 34 periods and 18 minutes, before allowing four in the final 22 minutes. It is important not to overreact to a small stretch. Overall, the team has played great the past month, and last night can be used as a reminder to reset and get back to getting pucks out when you can, making smart reads and being sharp all over the ice.</p>
<p>&#8212; It was a rough night for Ekholm and Bouchard. They were directly involved in four goals against, two each. Bouchard has been on the ice for 12 goals 5&#215;5 during the last 12 games, while Ekholm has been on for 11. The other D-men have been on for nine (Kulak), seven (Troy Stecher), six (Ty Emberson) and two (Darnell Nurse). Yes, they play more against Elite competition, but their GA/60 v. Elite is the worst. Ekholm (3.8), Bouchard (3.6), Stecher (3.5), Kulak (2.8), Nurse (1.7) and Emberson (1.6).</p>
<p>&#8212; In the past 12 games, Nurse is averaging the most TOI/GP at 5&#215;5 at 19:22, followed by Kulak (18:35), Bouchard (18:19) and Ekholm (18:11). Stecher and Emberson are each at 13:39 and 13:16 respectively. Nurse sits at 0.62 GA/60 while Bouchard (3.00) and Ekholm (2.75) have the highest. That pair isn&#8217;t playing up to their capability, but the Oilers are still 9-3 over that span.</p>
<p>&#8212; Bouchard didn&#8217;t like his game last night and was quick to point out he needs to be better.  “I wouldn’t say it got away from everybody, myself maybe, yes.” Bouchard on the game. I asked him what areas of his game he wasn&#8217;t happy with and what he wanted to improve. “A lot of everything. Not acceptable tonight,” he said.</p>
<p>Bouchard is in a funk right now. Ekholm is a bit as well, but I don&#8217;t see Paul Coffey drastically reducing their minutes. He will show them the video and get them to play their way out of it. He won&#8217;t play Stecher for three or four more minutes and reduce Bouchard by the same amount. Same with Emberson and Ekholm. You just work with them and remind them they are good, because they are.</p>
<p>&#8212; I can understand why last night was frustrating for a fan. You want your team to win, especially when they lead 4-2 with 23 minutes remaining against the team who beat them in the Cup Final last spring. The game got away from the Oilers, but I don&#8217;t expect them to panic. They will practice today, have a day off tomorrow and then be fresh to play Boston on Thursday. They face Boston, San Jose and Ottawa on the 19th, 21st and 22nd and have a very good chance to enter the Christmas break feeling good about themselves. They should, as they&#8217;ve played way more good hockey than bad hockey the past month.</p>
<h1>MONTH OF GIVING&#8230;</h1>
<p>Thanks to Trent for his great bid on the Oilers suite yesterday.</p>
<p><strong class="text-lg font-bold">DAY Eleven:</strong> <strong class="text-lg font-bold">🎁 <strong>Elks Dinner with Chris Morris and Ed Hervey at <a href="https://www.ruthschris.com/restaurant-locations/edmonton-alberta/?utm_source=yext&amp;utm_medium=location_manager_listing">Ruth’s Chris</a></strong></strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-166378 size-full" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ruths-Chris-Logo2.jpg" alt="" width="130" height="70" /></p>
<ul>
<li>You and three friends will dine with multiple Grey Cup winners and current President and CEO Chris Morris and VP of Football Operations and GM Ed Hervey and Jason Gregor at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.</li>
<li>Four-course dinner with wine pairings and choice of beverages in the private “Vault” room</li>
<li>We will host the dinner between Feb 15th and May 15th in 2025 on a day that works for all parties.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong class="text-lg font-bold">You can bid via text between 2-6 p.m. on Sports 1440 by texting 833.401.1440 (can call same number) and include your name and donation amount. Money raised will support Santas Anonymous.</strong></p>

The Oilers can't let 22 minutes of ugly hockey overshadow 698 minutes of solid hockey. Use the 22 minutes as a reminder of how quickly things can change, but there should be no reason to panic or overreact Oilersnation.

Edmonton saw a 4-2 lead evaporate into a 6-5 loss in the span of 22 minutes on Monday. I'm sure the loss stings a bit more coming against the Florida Panthers, but no NHL season is easy and without speed bumps. The Oilers just need to ensure it was a one-off and get back to how they played in the previous 35 periods.



When Leon Draisaitl scored his league-leading 23rd goal of the season midway through the second period it gave the Edmonton Oilers a 4-2 lead. Draisaitl's goal was the Oilers third goal in a span of 3:04. They had taken control of the game and led 4-2. Florida didn't have a scoring chance for the next seven minutes. Then Gustav Forsling took a point shot with just over two minutes remaining in the second period. Stuart Skinner made the save, but the puck hit the back of Ty Emberson and bounced into the net. Unlucky, sure, but the Oilers had a chance to clear the puck out earlier in the sequence and were unable to. The goal itself was unlucky, but not clearing the puck is what led to the goal.

Last night's game was odd from the start. The Oilers were awarded an early powerplay only 2:33 into the game. They won the ensuing faceoff and got it back to Evan Bouchard. He proceeded to move across the blueline to the middle off the ice and he toe-picked, lost his balance and that allowed Jesper Boqvist to skate in untouched from just outside his blueline and score a shorthanded breakaway. It was a foreshadowing of how chaotic, unprecise and entertaining the game would be.

The game featured 11 goals, a season-high for an Oilers game. Some high-scoring games feature many great plays, but last night wasn't one of them. It was an eventful game, but both head coaches won't be using the video as a "how to play hockey" as there were some odd goals off of backs, helmets, the end boards and overall, numerous "burn the video" plays that led to goals.
<h3>Florida's goals...</h3>
<ol>
 	<li>Bouchard toe-picks at the blueline and Boqvist has a breakaway and scores shorthanded. It is the Panthers' eighth short-handed goal this season. Crazy.</li>
 	<li>In the final 15 seconds of a double minor, Verhaeghe takes a shot and Tkachuk lifts his skate in the air and directs it into the net. Legal play, but not very common.</li>
 	<li>Brett Kulak and Adam Henrique had chances to clear and couldn't. Forsling's point shot is stopped by Skinner, but it ricochets off Emberson's back and in.</li>
 	<li>Jonah Gadjovich hammers Jeff Skinner just in front of the benches. Three Oilers forwards get focused on pushing Gadjovich (but, no one is fighting him as he's a legit heavyweight) and while that is going on, the puck gets dumped into Edmonton's zone. Bouchard has it on the left side on his backhand and the Panthers forecheck him hard and create the turnover, and they have outnumbered the Oilers in the zone and Niko Mikkola walks in from the blueline and is wide open in the slot and fires a great shot top shelf. All three forwards were in the neutral zone pushing Gadjovich as they were considering a line change.</li>
 	<li>Draisaitl has possession in the offensive zone, he makes a pass attempt back to the point to Mattias Ekholm, but Sam Reinhart deflects it out of the zone. Now it is a footrace and Ekholm falls awkwardly (maybe he was lunging for the puck), but he doesn't touch the puck, and Reinhart gets it in the corner. He's behind the goal line skating towards the net and he fires a shot off the side of Skinner's helmet, and it bounces in. It was a smart play by Reinhart to try for the deflection, but Skinner didn't need to be in the RVH at that point, and Ekholm should have just stayed on his feet and battled for the puck.</li>
 	<li>Ekholm has possession behind the goal and reverses up the boards, but no Oiler is there. Mikkola keeps it in, quickly finds Sam Bennett in the corner, and moves it quickly to Verhaeghe in the slot and he scores the game-winner with 6:55 remaining.</li>
</ol>
<h3>Edmonton goals...</h3>
<ol>
 	<li>Leon Draisaitl enters the zone and loses the puck, but it goes right to Bouchard. He dishes to Connor McDavid, who finds Zach Hyman, and he walks in down the slot and snipes it top shelf. Great shot, but in the initial entry, Draisaitl actually mishandled the puc and it went to Bouchard.</li>
 	<li>This was a nice goal. Draisaitl moves it up to McDavid and as he is falling for the puck he tips it to Hyman, who scores on a breakaway.</li>
 	<li>Brett Kulak crosses centre and dumps it in, but Niko Mikkola gloves it down, but he can't control it inside the blueline and the pucks ricochets to Corey Perry, he corrals it and then finds Connor Brown at the bottom left circle and his quick shot beats Sergei Bobrovsky short side. Bob would want that goal back.</li>
 	<li>Oilers score late on the power play as McDavid finds Draisaitl deep in the right circle. Solid goal, although from that angle and Bobrovsky upright, it isn't a great goal allowed.</li>
 	<li>Kasperi Kapanen wins a battle behind the net and pushes the puck to the sideboards. Brett Kulak takes it, skates to the middle of the ice just inside the blueline and fires a shot. It hits a stick and goes high over the net, bounces off the glass and falls to the ice, Kapanen (who is behind the goal line) whacks it off of Bobrovsky's pad and in.</li>
</ol>
You can watch the <strong><a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/edm-vs-fla/2024/12/16/2024020495">highlights here</a></strong> if you want a laugh or a cry.
<h1>QUICK THOUGHTS....</h1>
--- Edmonton still has the best P% in the NHL over the 12 games at 9-3. They are second in goals scored/game at 4.33 and even with the brutal final 22 minutes they are tied for fourth fewest goals allowed/game at 2.50. They had only allowed 26 goals through 34 periods and 18 minutes, before allowing four in the final 22 minutes. It is important not to overreact to a small stretch. Overall, the team has played great the past month, and last night can be used as a reminder to reset and get back to getting pucks out when you can, making smart reads and being sharp all over the ice.

--- It was a rough night for Ekholm and Bouchard. They were directly involved in four goals against, two each. Bouchard has been on the ice for 12 goals 5x5 during the last 12 games, while Ekholm has been on for 11. The other D-men have been on for nine (Kulak), seven (Troy Stecher), six (Ty Emberson) and two (Darnell Nurse). Yes, they play more against Elite competition, but their GA/60 v. Elite is the worst. Ekholm (3.8), Bouchard (3.6), Stecher (3.5), Kulak (2.8), Nurse (1.7) and Emberson (1.6).

--- In the past 12 games, Nurse is averaging the most TOI/GP at 5x5 at 19:22, followed by Kulak (18:35), Bouchard (18:19) and Ekholm (18:11). Stecher and Emberson are each at 13:39 and 13:16 respectively. Nurse sits at 0.62 GA/60 while Bouchard (3.00) and Ekholm (2.75) have the highest. That pair isn't playing up to their capability, but the Oilers are still 9-3 over that span.

--- Bouchard didn't like his game last night and was quick to point out he needs to be better.  “I wouldn’t say it got away from everybody, myself maybe, yes.” Bouchard on the game. I asked him what areas of his game he wasn't happy with and what he wanted to improve. “A lot of everything. Not acceptable tonight,” he said.

Bouchard is in a funk right now. Ekholm is a bit as well, but I don't see Paul Coffey drastically reducing their minutes. He will show them the video and get them to play their way out of it. He won't play Stecher for three or four more minutes and reduce Bouchard by the same amount. Same with Emberson and Ekholm. You just work with them and remind them they are good, because they are.

--- I can understand why last night was frustrating for a fan. You want your team to win, especially when they lead 4-2 with 23 minutes remaining against the team who beat them in the Cup Final last spring. The game got away from the Oilers, but I don't expect them to panic. They will practice today, have a day off tomorrow and then be fresh to play Boston on Thursday. They face Boston, San Jose and Ottawa on the 19th, 21st and 22nd and have a very good chance to enter the Christmas break feeling good about themselves. They should, as they've played way more good hockey than bad hockey the past month.
<h1>MONTH OF GIVING...</h1>
Thanks to Trent for his great bid on the Oilers suite yesterday.

<strong class="text-lg font-bold">DAY Eleven:</strong> <strong class="text-lg font-bold">🎁 <strong>Elks Dinner with Chris Morris and Ed Hervey at <a href="https://www.ruthschris.com/restaurant-locations/edmonton-alberta/?utm_source=yext&amp;utm_medium=location_manager_listing">Ruth’s Chris</a></strong></strong>

<img class="aligncenter wp-image-166378 size-full" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ruths-Chris-Logo2.jpg" alt="" width="130" height="70" />
<ul>
 	<li>You and three friends will dine with multiple Grey Cup winners and current President and CEO Chris Morris and VP of Football Operations and GM Ed Hervey and Jason Gregor at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.</li>
 	<li>Four-course dinner with wine pairings and choice of beverages in the private “Vault” room</li>
 	<li>We will host the dinner between Feb 15th and May 15th in 2025 on a day that works for all parties.</li>
</ul>
<strong class="text-lg font-bold">You can bid via text between 2-6 p.m. on Sports 1440 by texting 833.401.1440 (can call same number) and include your name and donation amount. Money raised will support Santas Anonymous.</strong>

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