Smyth Surpasses Gretzky on "Gretzky Night"

The news of the night was Wayne Gretzky's visit to Rexall Place and for the first two and half periods it was looking to be the highlight of the night. Then out of nowhere Ryan Smyth decided it was the perfect time to surpass Gretzky in power play goals as an Edmonton Oiler. Even though the Oilers won, Smyth's goal was the highlight of the night just because of the significance. And to think just over 24 hours ago he may have never had that chance.

Highlights

First Goal Against

The Oilers allowed their 11th short handed goal against after yet another failed attempt to gain the zone on the power play.

Second Goal Against

On delayed penalty a shot from the point gets deflected and trickles through Ben Scrivens giving the Islanders a 2-0 lead.

First Goal For AKA Smyth Surpasses Gretzky

A typical power play goal by Smyth. The goal is ugly but it counts. The 100 year old Smyth still has it even if he plays with a 2x4 of hockey stick and hey there are still 18 games left for him to surpass Glenn Anderson for the all time Oilers lead in power play goals. Then he can retire and replace Kelly Buchberger on the bench.

Second Goal For

Philip Larsen has been a bit of disappointment for the Oilers this year. He was part of the trade that saw Shawn Horcoff leave the Oilers and has been injured for the better part of the season but this goal was pretty nice.

The Over Time Winner

Originally credited to Sam Gagner this goal was scored because of Taylor Hall's tip in front of the net. If Hall doesn't tip the puck then Evgeni Nabokov has an easy stop. Nabokov was in position to stop it but Hall is able to make the tip and it slides past Nabokov for the game winner. My favourite part of this winner was Ben Scrivens skating the length of the ice to celebrate with the rest of his team mates.

Game Review

Game Rating: 4 out of 10

The Oilers played a bad game. They decided to "show up" in the last minute of the 2nd period then won it in over time against their doppelgänger.

Momentum Killer

The Oilers' power play. Ok sure they scored a goal on the power play but they also allowed a short handed goal against. If there was a theme to this season it would be short handed goals against. The team cannot setup correctly on the power play and watching them try to enter the zone is like a trip to the dentist. I can't wait to see Smyth behind the bench next season showing guys how a power play should work.

Momentum Driver

This honour belongs to two players. Ryan Smyth and Ben Scrivens. Ryan Smyth for the obvious power play goal but also because for as old as he is he out hustled many younger players on the back check. As for Ben Scrivens he is playing fantastic, hopefully his play carries over to next year and gives the Oilers a chance to do more than pick 1st overall but so far he's played fantastically. Also how does Nabokov get the second star in the game and Scrivens gets the third?

Points

The new post game section. Tracking the Oilers' worst season. The Oilers worst season(s) was 2009/10 and 2010/11 when the team ended with 62 points. After tonight's win the Oilers now have 52 points and 18 games remaining. If they don't want to make this the worst Oilers season of all time they still need to win 6 more games. That is a pretty tough task seeing that the Oilers are currently 22-34-8. Anyway this will be fun just to see how bad the Oilers really are. I'm betting that they end the season at 60 points.

Up Next

Yay! The Oilers face the Los Angeles Kings! So I'm guessing that the 52 points will be carried over.