The most highly touted game between these two teams. MCDAVID. MATTHEWS. This was like some kind of billion dollar UFC fight, if you were to believe the media. Two of the league’s young heavy weights squaring off against each other. WHO WOULD SCORE MORE POINTS? WHO WOULD PROVE TO BE THE NEXT GENERATIONAL TALENT?
It turns out neither of them. Nazem Kadri is a dick, and he’s the next big thing in hockey. Sorry for the spoiler.
1st Period:
-Kadri would open the scoring early for the Toronto, notching a goal not even 2 minutes into the game off an awful turnover by Oscar Klebom just to the left of Cam Talbot. The problem? He literally hauled McDavid down seconds before in the Leafs end. Kadri would be up in McDavid’s face all night, and this was just the start of it.
Steer wrestling McDavid down when he never touched the puck is supposed to be interference. What gives @nhl @NHLPR pic.twitter.com/LkWXkF1vNT
— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) November 1, 2016
-The Leafs would follow the goal up with all kinds of pressure in the Oilers end, and early on the Oilers managed to counterattack a few times, but Toronto was in control of the game when it came to offensive zone time.
-About 5 minutes into the period, the Oilers started figuring out they needed to get shots on Andersen, and while they did a good job of firing plenty of them off, they couldn’t seem to hit the frickin net.
-Lucic and Eberle would have a fairly good opportunity with about 13:30 left to play, but Morgan Reilly would break up the play. Drew Remenda claimed it was botched, and Lucic should have shot the puck instead of attempting a pass, so I’ll defer you to his expertise.
-The Oilers were just dreadful at the halfway mark of the frame. Todd McLellan apparently agreed and started double and triple shifting McDavid (something that would trend for the remainder of the period). McDavid found himself playing with just about every other line, but the Leafs did a fantastic job of shutting him down. Nazem Kadri was a huge part of it.
-The Oilers defense was awful all night, but there were a couple players that passed my eye test in the 1st. Nurse was one of them:
Hello, Nurse! ? #EDMvsTOR pic.twitter.com/1ghPa9dwze
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 2, 2016
-Kris Russell had multiple turnovers right in front of his own net and this period easily could have escaped the Oilers if it wasn’t for another fan-freakin-tastic performance by Cam Talbot.
-Benning looked nervous to me in the first. He botched a couple of outlet passes and plays in his own end, which will somehow be Darnell Nurse’s fault I’m sure #FancyStats
-Everyone’s predicted hero would come out of nowhere in the dying seconds of the frame to tie it up for the Oilers though! I bet you had Lander predicted to score, right?
Lander has more goals than Ryan Nugent Hopkins
— EmbarassingCousin (@loc8ingoil) November 2, 2016
A wild Freddy-And-It’s-In appears pic.twitter.com/tpxnjcMaMd
— AOL Keyword: Mike (@mikeFAIL) November 2, 2016
2nd Period:
-The Oilers would come out firing. Firing all kinds of shots on Andersen within the first minute and a half of the period. Unfortunately they were missing the net by half a mile (except for Klefbom who would ring one off the post)
-The RNH line would put some pressure on the leafs early in but couldn’t get a bounce. What the heck is it going to take for Nuge to get a goal this season? I have no idea but we’re all going to lose it when he finally pots one.
-The Leafs would counterattack and get a goal from Smith as Darnell Nurse lost his man out front. The entire defense for the Oilers was just a complete tire fire through the whole 2nd period (Nurse included)
Good thing the Oilers added more size in the offseason. Makes it easier for them to absorb all these hits from the #Leafs
— VisuallyBetter (@Isuckatpicking) November 2, 2016
-The Oilers seemed to be having all kinds of issues with the leafs fore check (again). I don’t want to call anyone out here, but it seemed to me like they were out coached.
-Kadri was hanging all over McDavid throughout the 2nd. Hitting him, getting in his face, and generally getting away with murder. It’s one of those games you want to see a player like Kassian have, so in the end I can’t fault him, despite the fact he was a total dirtbag the entire game.
-Pouliot would take a headshot from some Russian scrub and the Oilers would crap the bed on the Power Play again.
“In Soviet Russia shoulder to head hit still good” -Soshnikov probably #Cheater
— Harambaggedmilk (@jsbmbaggedmilk) November 2, 2016
-Oilers Power Play to the rescue, right? WRONG.
Ralph Krueger should give Woodcroft a call on how to run a proper powerplay.
— DC (@David___Co) November 2, 2016
Jay Woodcroft pic.twitter.com/ssRyEI5MJ1
— Oil City Dynasty (@OilCityDynasty) October 13, 2016
-The leafs would end up on the PP near the end of the second as Nikita Zaitsev would place a high hit to the head on Lander. The Zebras missed the initial call but saw fit to call Lander on the retaliation.
-While the Oilers would kill off the penalty, the 2nd period was a complete gong show to say the least:
Oilers second period summary. pic.twitter.com/4sbvb97cxx
— VisuallyBetter (@Isuckatpicking) November 2, 2016
McLellan looking to keep things simple for the third pic.twitter.com/uBPB4wg0de
— Jeanshorts (@JSBMjeanshorts) November 2, 2016
3rd Period:
-The Leafs would come out flying and if it weren’t for Talbot (again), this game could have been out of control.
-Anton Lander would get another nice chance about 3 minutes into the frame but let’s temper our expectations here.
-The Leafs would continue to control most of the early half of the 3rd, with the Oilers never really testing Andersen
-DARNELL NURSE SCORES!
@KjellIverson everytime Nurse scores, Ric Flair blades himself and works himself into a frenzy. pic.twitter.com/N6rEakD9kY
— Shane Sander (@SanderTHW) November 2, 2016
That puck had eyes. ? #EDMvsTOR pic.twitter.com/MM6X7Ww9zB
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 2, 2016
– At this point I just wanted the Oilers to hold on for the rest of the period to grab a loser point. They managed to do so, at which point Nazem Kadri scored like 14 seconds into OT.
Random Thoughts:
-The Oilers were absolutely AWFUL in their own end. There wasn’t a single defenseman without blemish in this game, and that ran all the way up to the forwards as well
-Jesse Puljujarvi had a couple good looks
-Auston Matthews didn’t score
-Nazem Kadri is a dick
-Cam Talbot seems to be the real deal. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a legit 1B to give him the odd rest though?
-Flat starts are killing the Oilers
-I’m not sure what the hell is wrong with the Power Play but the Oilers need to fix it soon. Completely inexcusable.
-Why didn’t anyone run Kadri or Zaitsev through the boards?
-WE GOT A POINT!
Parting Shots:
This road trip doesn’t look any kinder folks. The Leafs were the “easiest” team to beat, and while we managed to escape with a Bettman point, it gets a lot more challenging from here. We have games against the Rangers, Islanders, Red Wings, and Penguins ahead of us. This is the real test, and everyone tweeting about Vegas odds for the Oilers to win the cup 9 games in can settle the hell down.
Points are points though, and we’ll take one here.
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