THE LOSING STREAK IS OVER!!! 😀
The Oilers got a few players back from injury today as Drake Caggiula, Matt Hendricks, and Kris Russell came off the Injured Reserve and drew back in. The Oilers opted to scratch Benoit Pouliot and Mark Letestu, and it seemed to pay off as they beat the Stars to snap their 5 game skid.
It’s nice to see the team back in the win column, and hopefully Edmonton can build some momentum and string together a few more. Too often in years past this team would drop 5 straight, win 1, then turn around and lose 2 or 3. With the win tonight the Oilers sit tied with the Ducks with 21 points, with the Kings just 2 points behind. The Pacific is turning into a knife fight and every point counts.
Here’s the game as I saw it:
1st Period:
-McDavid would open the scoring 3 minutes into the game with a lucky goal. He’d attempt a pass through the Stars crease and the puck would bounce off the defenders stick and into the net. Not only did the Oilers FINALLY score the first goal of the game, they ended up with some puck luck (something they haven’t been getting a lot of as of late). Don Cherry seemed to think it was intentional, but I’m not sure I’d agree:
“YES!” #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/2znX1d0G55
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
Finally, somebody who can bury a McDavid feed.
— Rob Tychkowski (@Sun_Tychkowski) November 20, 2016
-The Oilers would take a delay of game penalty shortly after that with 16 minutes left to go as Nurse attempted to clear the puck and put it right over the glass. The PK was one of the stories of the game tonight, and the Oilers would kill this one off successfully.
-McDavid’s goal seemed to energize him and he was flying all over the place after the successful penalty kill
#ZoomZoomZoom pic.twitter.com/TgxXArVnls
— Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) November 20, 2016
-Both teams would trade chances at the halfway mark of the period as the pace to the game started to pick up. Talbot played well and made some key saves to keep the Oilers with the one goal lead.
-“Lance Pitlick” and “Blake Caggiula” (inside joke) would score on a beautiful 2 on 1 opportunity to put the Oilers up by 2 goals:
PITTY PARTY! ? #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/u1U1zlfEgo
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
-At this point, the game seemed to take a bizarre turn as the refs decided to take centre stage. McDavid would be called on a very weak hooking call (which the Oilers would ultimately kill off). I find it comical that the refs can let this guy get hooked, held, interfered with, etc. Game in and game out. Then they call a weak one on him like that? Such is life in the NHL I suppose, but this was just the beginning of a very questionable evening for Team Zebra.
-Maroon would be tripped in the offensive zone right in front of the officials but, well… No call.
-The rest of the 1st was basically just missed calls by the refs, with this beautiful hip check by Larsson on Patrick Eaves. Eaves tried to dance around Larsson and paid the price:
Adam Larsson with the hip-check on fellow Swede John Klingberg. #Oilers #HNiC pic.twitter.com/Lwzzj5F4uJ
— McConnorGoal (@rellturner) November 20, 2016
2nd Period:
-All four lines for the Oilers were clicking in this one, with each of them generating chances early in the frame. RNH’s line in particular looked quite dangerous early in the 2nd, but couldn’t pot one.
-The Oilers would get some more puck luck as Klefbom would T up a shot from the blueline that would bounce off a skate in front of the net and in. Nice to have the bounces go our way for once!
KLEF-BOUNCE! #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/PCafm4Cu4T
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
-McDavid would follow that up with this 2nd of the evening, putting the Oilers firmly in control of the game:
OPEN THE FLOODGATES CONNOR! -bm #oilers #nhl pic.twitter.com/NRPmf4dyKf
— OilersNation.com (@OilersNation) November 20, 2016
THE CAPTAIN! #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/jBnAWWP8hg
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
-The Oilers did an excellent job at this point in the game of limiting the Stars chances to the outside. Talbot was there to shut the door when Dallas did actually manage to get pucks to the net.
-The Oilers would step on the gas and McDavid seemed to kick it into another gear. He was flying all over the place and you could just tell he wanted that hat trick badly after his lengthy goal scoring slump.
-Sekera would lose his man on a counter attack by the Stars, leaving Talbot all alone, but he would make a huge save to keep the Oilers up by 3. Talbot had an exceptional game and it seemed like the rest he was given did him wonders.
-The game would take another strange twist at this point in the period as Kassian would get called for a weak hooking call. Unfortunately for the Oilers, Kassian beaked the ref and received an extra 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.
-The Stars would score on both minors, with Eaves and Klingberg tallying to put the game back in reach for the bad guys.
-The Oilers would FINALLY get a penalty of their own with around 2 minutes left in the period, but they were flat with the man advantage. Oilers fans have been talking about this for a month now, and the same issues still seem to be plaguing the powerplay. I’m not going to pretend I’m smarter than the Oilers coaching staff, but something needs to give here.
3rd Period:
-Talbot would make what was probably his biggest save of the game within the 1st minute of the 3rd off a grade A chance by Tyler Seguin.
-Edmonton would get another chance with the man advantage as Seguin tripped up Nuge in the neutral zone. Seguin would complain about the call but for reasons known only to the ref, ended up with only one minor penalty.
-With the man advantage the Oilers managed to generate some good chances this time around, with Draisaitl coming inches away from scoring a powerplay goal:
Leon strikes iron. ? #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/aZxEZlW6BC
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
-The powerplay started out well enough with Draisaitl’s opportunity, yet would fall flat on it’s face right after as the team gave up yet another 2 on 1. I can’t count how many times the Oilers have given the opposition a 2 on 1 opportunity while on the powerplay (I’m sure someone is keeping track). Luckily, Talbot would stand tall again.
How in hell does the powerplay give up a full-rink 2-on-1 off an ozone faceoff AGAIN??!!! Unbelievably poor attention to detail
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) November 20, 2016
–CONNOR MCDAVID SCORES HIS FIRST CAREER NHL HAT TRICK!!! 😀
GRAB THAT PUCK! ??? #EDMvsDAL pic.twitter.com/iGoyBcWtyV
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 20, 2016
-Nuge’s line was looking dangerous right after the McDavid goal but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net
-Both teams started trading chances as the Stars seemed to get desperate to get back in the game, but that would be the last of the goals for either team
Random Thoughts:
-I really liked Draisaitl’s game tonight. He did everything but score. While he did pick up an assist, I felt like he deserved more. He was aggressive on the forecheck, strong along the boards, and had a few great scoring chances of his own. Excellent play from the Deutschland Dangler.
-McDavid was McDavid. What a pleasure to watch. I think I speak for Oilers fans everywhere when I say how giddy I am that he’s all ours.
-Jesse Puljujarvi picked up a couple of assists tonight. Nice to see him get rewarded.
-There were a few defensive breakdowns, but overall I thought Edmonton’s blueliners played a decent game. Standouts to me were Larsson, Nurse, Klefbom, and Russell. Benning had a couple of big hits as well. Probably not one of Sekera’s better games, however.
-All 4 forward lines seemed to be aggressive and getting their chances in the Stars end. The forecheck was solid, and Edmonton did a good job of making it tough for Dallas to get out of their own zone.
-Cam Talbot looked rested, and the extra night off seems to have done wonders for him. While he wasn’t being shelled, he made some big saves in a timely fashion (other than the 2 goals the refs gifted the stars).
-Speaking of the refs, the officiating in this game was Gord awful. I’m not alone on this, am I? I understand the odd missed call, but this seemed skewed. Had the Oilers managed to lose this game, I would be ranting for McLellan to take the fine.
-Drew Remenda. That is all.
–WOO! 2 POINTS!
The Oilers head back to Roger’s Place to face the Blackhawks on Monday. They play the Avalanche after that in Colorado, and get an opportunity to feast on the Pacific Division basement dwellers two games in a row after that (the Coyotes, who have completely cratered). Now would be a nice time to string together another 5 game winning streak.
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