The Game Defined: Decent

Pronunciation: /ˈdiːs(ə)nt/
Adjective:
Of an acceptable standard; satisfactory.

In comparison to their last road game, that came two nights ago in Vancouver, the Oilers played a decent road game. The fenwick/corsi differential was actually in the Oilers favour up until the point of the bone head move by Corey Potter in the second period. The Oilers had to kill off a 5 minute major which seemed to kill any momentum they may have had up to that point. Even though the Oilers lost their momentum they were still able to draw even on the score clock midway through the third period but as it often seems to happen, a ghost from their past scored the winning goal.

Highlights

The Haunting

It seems to happen all too often and tonight was no different. One of the Oilers "cast aways" came back to haunt them this time in the form of Dustin Penner. This play starts and ends with Penner.

• T -14 seconds, Penner keeps the puck alive and dumps it behind the net.
• T -11 seconds, Sam Gagner chases the puck behind the net and wins the puck battle against Corey Perry and puck lands on Jeff Petry's stick who tries to clear the puck around the far boards.
• T -7 seconds, Francois Beauchemin wins the race to the puck against Nail Yakupov and dumps it back in behind the net. Nick Schultz starts to chase the puck but notices Petry coming after the puck and Schultz gets back into position.
• T -3 seconds, Petry doesn't make to the puck in time and it goes all the way back to the point where Ryan Getzlaf gets to it to Perry who quickly passes it to a wide open Dustin Penner in the slot.
• T -1 second, Schultz and Petry realize that Penner is wide open. Petry tries to get to Penner but isn't fast enough. Schultz decides to step infront of the net and offer up a screen for Penner.
• The rest is obvious.

Observations

One player not mentioned in this whole play is David Perron. He is tight on his check at the point for the first bit of the sequence and actually disappears from the screen for about 5 seconds. He then drifts into the slot for a second but pursues the puck when Beauchemin's shot goes around to the point. This is what leaves Penner wide open.

I understand Nick Schultz is trying to protect the front of the net but only has a player covered (Corey Perry) for less than 2 seconds. The rest of the time all he is doing is covering tight infront of the net. Meanwhile leaving Yakupov covering 2 players (Beauchemin & Penner). He decides to take the point shot away instead of covering the slot.

Finally Nick Schultz's adjustment when the puck goes to Penner in the slot provides a perfect screen. I'm not 100% sure if the shot gets deflected off of Schultz's stick or not but it wouldn't be the first time if it did.

Tweet of the Game

The reason this is the Tweet of the night is because I was really hoping this year would be different. I knew the Oilers had holes but I didn't think they'd be this bad.

So how depressed is everyone knowing the #Oilers don't have a shot at the playoffs with so many games left to go?

— Oil on the Rise (@OilontheRise) December 16, 2013

Thoughts

Sam Gagner

Gagner had a decent game. It's been a while since we've see this type of a game from him and he seemed to play the way we know he's capable of. Also how many times did Quinn and Debrusk mention Gagner's faceoff wins? It had to be at least 20 times. Hey SportsNet FOW =/= possession!

Ilya Bryzgalov

Bryzgalov is like the anti-Dubnyk as in he'll stop the soft ones that Dubnyk lets in but allows the tough ones that Dubnyk seems to stop. Can someone come up with a hybrid version of these two guys? You know a 7 foot monster that can move quickly and stop every type of shot. I'll admit that I'm glad to see him back in net though. Now if the Oilers could just get another number one defenseman to help Petry and shift the depth chart down by one that would be fantastic.

Corey Potter

What the hell was that? That cross check was beer league and it swung the momentum of the game in the Ducks favour. Be prepared for him to be waived as soon as his suspension is completed.

Three Stars

1. Sam Gagner
2. Ilya Brygalov
3. Andrew Ference