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We're Not the Worst! We're Not the Worst! The Oilers Win 4-3 in OT

In a game of first goals the Oilers finally find a team worse than them and squeak out a victory.

By OilFanInYYC
Mark Arcobello celebrates after scoring the game winning goal in the Oilers OT win over the Florida Panthers
Mark Arcobello celebrates after scoring the game winning goal in the Oilers OT win over the Florida Panthers
Joel Auerbach

The Edmonton Oilers headed to Florida for yet another road trip that would see them face another team desperate for a win. Neither team had a win in their last 5 games, it was truly the battle of the bottom!

The Oilers, beat up and bruised, were given a breath of life when it was announced that both Devan Dubnyk and Ryan Smyth would be back in the line-up for the game. With Justin Schultz out of the line-up the Oilers called up Taylor Fedun and he wouldn't disappoint in his NHL debut.

Highlights

I'm going to switch up the post game wrap a little bit. Let me know what you think.

First Period:

10:35 - As Oilers fans have come to expect the other team scored first. Marcel Goc got his 4th of the season to make it 1-0. Here is what Twitter had to say about it.

16:59 - The Oilers finally score!!! After 2:46:11 of being shut out the Oilers finally scored. I think our friend Michael Parkatti said it best with his Gene Principe impression.

And here is what the fans were saying:

That's right, the player to score the Oilers first goal in almost 7 periods of hockey was Philip Larsen on a beautiful pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Second Period:

2:06 - Mark Arcobello finally adds a goal to his 10 assists on the year on what can only be described as the best Oilers goal of the year.

2:39 - It kept on going as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins set up Taylor Fedun for his first NHL goal.

Then Devan Dubnyk came up with a great glove save to keep the game 3-1.

Third Period:

And then came the third period. The Oilers up by two goals decided it was time to go into defensive mode. Here is the problem with that, the Oilers are not good defensively so when they try to defend any type of lead be it 1 goal or 2 goals they are going to lose the battle.

10:04 - Scottie Upshall scored his first goal of the season after a massive break down by the Oilers defensively.

19:02 - With the Panthers' net empty Scottie Upshall scored again in the high slot.

And just like that we were off to OT:

The hero of the 3rd period for the Panthers would become the cause of the OT loss to the Oilers. 32 seconds into the overtime period Scottie Upshall took a penalty for tripping when he stuck out his leg in an attempt to slow Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down in the neutral zone.

1:55 - On a 4v3 power play the puck came to Mark Arcobello and he scored his second NHL goal and second goal of the game to give the Oilers their first win in 5 games!

Take Aways

So let me start with why I changed the format up today. I actually had another article going but as I watched my Twitter feed I had to go back and change things up. If there has ever been a game where all sides of the fan base come out this was the game. The fans were up and down and all over the place. After the glove save by Dubnyk in the second fans were ecstatic then when Florida tied the game in the 3rd the Dubnyk haters came out. Social media is fantastic that way. It really shows how polarized fans can be in the span of an hour or two. I don't plan on doing this every game but let me know what you think.

Now for the game take aways.

Ryan Jones - I cannot wait to see Taylor Hall and David Perron back in the line-up. If I have to watch Ryan Jones on the power play ever again in my life it will be too soon. Heart, soul, desperation, blah, blah, blah! Seeing him out there on the power play is worse than nails on chalkboard.

Nail Yakupov vs Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins whiffed on two shots setup on the right hand face off dot on the power play. He is not the trigger man on the power play. I know Yakupov hasn't had the puck luck he had last season but on the power play he needs to be the trigger man.

Devan Dubnyk - Two of the three goals were not his fault. They were complete defensive break downs and he had little to no chance on either of them. He stepped up when he had to but did let in a "soft" goal to tie the game.

The Oklahoma City Barons - All three of the OKC Barons' players had a good game. Taylor Fedun was first on the team in Corsi for percentage and Mark Arcobello was right behind him in third. Philip Larsen had a worse game but got on the score sheet when the team needed a goal.

Three Stars

  1. Taylor Fedun
  2. Mark Arcobello
  3. Boyd Gordon

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