BoA More Like DoA

I have to say that this was the most lifeless Battle of Alberta I've seen in my life. Not even "Sweet Luke Gazic and his Magical Mitts" could bring life to this game.

Highlights

Justin Schutlz on the GWG

This was a bad play all around. Jordan Eberle waves his stick out and tips the puck after Kris Russell tries a cross ice pass to Jiri Hudler. Eberle's attempted swing at the puck redirects it and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins then swings at the puck and tips it into Justin Schultz's skates. The puck bounces out to a wide open Hudler who scores the OT goal.

Observations

Before the pass attempt from Russell, Hudler is already set up by himself infront of the net. Justin Schultz had him covered for a second but Hudler takes a step back and Schultz moves forward opening up a lot of room for Hudler to take the pass and score. All Schultz needed to do was stick with his check.

It may be time for Schultz to get a birds eye view of the game but with Jeff Petry injured the chances of that happening any time soon are slim.

Tweet of the Night

This Tweet summed up the night.

I figured this would be a terrible Oilers effort. Tired from patting themselves on the back after the 8-2 win.

— Loxy (@loxyisme) December 8, 2013

Impressions

Taylor Hall

When you look at his corsi rating Taylor Hall had a hell of night. At the end of the second period Michael Parkatti Tweeted this out.

Taylor Hall at +16/-1 means that while he's off the ice the Oilers are at exactly 50% Corsi%. While he's on the ice, they're 94%.

— Michael Parkatti (@mparkatti) December 8, 2013

By the end of the game Hall was +23/-8, extremely impressive.

Nail Yakupov

I don't understand why Nail Yakupov was stapled to the bench for most of the 3rd period. In his time on ice he was +12/0 in shot attempts. That's right! He had 20 shifts and had 7 shot attempts alone. Almost every time he was on the ice the puck was going the right way. He had 3 shots, 1 blocked shot and 3 missed shots on the night but received the least amount of ice time out of any of the top 9.

Same Gagner

Interestingly Sam Gagner had a pretty good game, corsi wise, being on the ice with Taylor Hall. That is to say with the exception of the power play gaff. He's still struggling defensively but at least with Hall it's not as prevalent.

Jeff Petry

Before his concussion Petry was having a pretty good game. Hopefully the Oilers follow the proper protocol and give Petry the time to recover from this concussion.

The Power Play

What the hell was that? Sam Gagner's gaff on the first power play where he passed the puck right to Lee Stempniak was brutal. When is it Gagner's turn to get a seat in the press box to watch how to play the game?

There was one Oilers power play where the Flames had more chances on net than the Oilers. Oh and by the way all of the power play units had a defenseman on them. Maybe Eakins can revisit the 5 FWD PP.

Three Stars

1. Taylor Hall
2. Nail Yakupov
3. Devan Dubnyk