Oilers Postgame: Punch In The Gut

Final Score: Canadiens 4 – Oilers 1

Well, that sucked. Seriously, when the Canadiens second goal found the twine off of one of the most unfortunate deflections you will ever see, it really felt like a big man from Quebec came and socked us Oilers fans in the stomach. The two empty netters were a pair of kicks while we were down, just for good measure I suppose. Terrible.

It’s especially awful in that leading up to the tying goal, the Oilers were writing themselves a rather nice story. A 1-0 game looked to be relatively safe with the Oilers doing a pretty effective job of stifling the Montreal attack. They were active in the neutral zone and at the blue line, which was really limiting the Canadiens ability to cleanly enter the Oilers zone.

The even strength goal by Milan Lucic off of a brilliant, hard fought rush seemed like it would be all the Oilers would need on the evening. And even though it was boring, defensive hockey, it was fine because the Oilers were winning.

But then came the undercut.

First came the tying goal by Byron, who capitalized on lapsed defensive coverage by Sekera and Pouliot to bury one home right in front of the net. Talbot did not have an answer to the grade A chance.

Then came the other finishing shot: the unfortunate deflection mentioned above, which seemed like it was willed into the net by the hundreds of spiteful anti-Oilers forces around the league. Something like that couldn’t have happened in one of our games where we win by 2 or more goals, couldn’t it?

Overall though, the fact that the awful deflection even made a difference probably highlights the biggest issue on the night, which was the lack of run support by the Oilers. They had a few chances, but nowhere near the danger that they brought in the final 40 minutes against the Penguins on Friday. If you only bring a subpar attack against Carey Price, about 1 goal is all you should expect.

And when you only manage to get 1 goal, well, that’s when terrible deflections can bite ya.

There were a few positives on the night, but they certainly don’t have the positive vibe that they could have, so let’s quickly rattle them off. Nugent-Hopkins looked good, Kassian played one of his best games of the season, and the penalty kill went another game without giving up a goal.

https://twitter.com/SportsnetSpec/status/841082935105150976

For now, the Oilers will hope for an Anaheim Ducks regulation loss tonight, while Oilers fans will try not to toss and turn in their beds with frustration tonight. It won’t be easy.

10 Takeaways

1. Darnell Nurse is one tough customer. His fight in the first with McCarren highlighted his fearlessness in a pretty matter of fact manner.
2. Good things happen when you shoot the puck. Lucic showed that with his goal in the 2nd, picking the five-hole on Price. Hopefully the rest of the team was taking notes.
3. Kassian took a trip up to the first line for a shift in the 2nd period. He has to be playing some of the best hockey in his career lately.
4. I am not sure how it will get done, but the Oilers have to make it a priority to improve ice conditions for next season.
5. Nugent-Hopkins looks much more confident on the ice than earlier in the season. is setting up plays, keeping cycles alive, and kickstarting rushes. He had 4 shots tonight.
6. The tying goal by the Canadiens late in the 3rd was a really poor play by Oilers players in deep. With Russell engaged in a losing effort for the puck down low, neither Sekera or Pouliot was able to pick up the goal scorer Byron.
7. Cam Talbot finished the night with 37 saves and a .949 save percentage.
8. The Oilers actually found a way to perform really well in the faceoff dot, winning 67% of the draws.
9. With his goal tonight, that makes it 5 points for Milan Lucic in his last 7 games.
10. If you find yourself stricken with nightmares featuring Montreal’s go-ahead goal, please remember, you are not alone.

Oilers Player of the Game

Milan Lucic gets the nod tonight. It was close with Kassian, but Lucic did have the lone Oilers goal, he had 4 hits, and he played a hefty amount, with 18 minutes of ice time on the night.

Up Next: The Stars on Tuesday

The Oilers will get a much softer opponent on Tuesday when the Dallas Stars walk into Rogers Place. The key will be to come out and play with all of the frustration that tonight’s loss caused. The 2 points on the table will be crucial for Edmonton.

Highlights

Pretty cool ref cam view of some of the Darnell Nurse/ Michael McCarron fight pic.twitter.com/TI87GUjns2

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 12, 2017

So fast. So close to 1-0. #MTLvsEDM pic.twitter.com/voebZSBbAq

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 12, 2017

Kassian with the silky mitts. pic.twitter.com/t0Fh1DX8AI

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) March 12, 2017

Lucic shrugs off Emelin and gives the Oilers a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/dkqxaMZYgF

— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) March 13, 2017