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The Oilers were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs back in November but there were still things for us to cheer for and tonight one of those came true. Taylor Hall got one goal and two assists earning him 77 points on the season. He has played 72 games now and with 3 games left in the season it is now official the second line flop, Taylor Hall, is a point per game player.
Game Notes
Pre-game
Oscar Klefbom was not on the ice for the morning practice and it was speculated that he would not play. It was later revealed that he would be a game time decision. The decision at game time was a go and he was in the line up.
First Period
18:40 Goal - Sam Gagner a stride behind his check, Jakob Silfverberg, is unable to stop him but Viktor Fasth does make the initial stop. The rebound goes out to Gagner who kicks it into his own net. (While you watch the clip listen to who gets the blame because its pretty stupid. ICYMI: It's Klefbom!)
16:56 - Hampus Lindholm gets a shot on net that goes off of Jeff Petry but Fasth is there to make the stop
15:46 - Andrew Cogliano gets loose from a Martin Marincin check and gets a great scoring chance but again Fasth makes the save.
14:31 - Another chance for the Ducks as Devante Smith-Pelly is left all alone in front of the net but Fasth makes the stop
13:56 - Justin Schultz's pass hits Taylor Hall and bounces right to Jordan Eberle. Meanwhile Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is able to sneak past Daniel Winnik and gets a great scoring chance
11:40 - Corey Perry picks up the puck in the neutral zone and is able to beat Marincin who falls on the play. From the ice Marincin gets his stick on the puck and negates a possible Perry break away.
9:02 - Gagner holds up Stephane Robidas in the Ducks zone and there is a delayed penalty. The Ducks are able to get 1:12 of 6v5 time before an Oilers player finally touches the puck.
7:50 - Gagner finally gets called for holding
5:50 - The Oilers kill off the penalty to Gagner
4:48 - Ryan Smyth receives a pass from David Perron and gets a chance in front but Jonas Hiller kicks out his pad and makes the stop
1:16 - Robidas takes a hooking penalty on Anton Lander
Second Period
There was a lot of action in the second period. In fact I ended up using 3 pieces of paper to track it all.
19:16 - Ducks kill off the penalty to Robidas
18:25 - Steve Pinizzotto and Matt Beleskey fight. 28 seconds prior Pinizzotto tried to enage Beleskey right off of the face off but Beleskey just skated away before anything came of it
18:11 - Perron gets called for tripping Cogliano
16:12 - Petry beats Smith-Pelly to the puck in the Oilers zone and Smith-Pelly gets his stick up in Petry's mouth. There is no call on the play even though Petry is bleeding profusely from his mouth.
15:17 - Perron gets two shots, each scoring chances, in close but Hiller is up to the challenge
15:15 - Ben Lovejoy gets a holding penalty on Smyth
13:43 Goal - On the power play Hall, with Smyth standing in front of the net, scores five hole on Hiller from a sharp angle.
13:41 - Matt Hendricks and Patrick Maroon fight
12:43 - Kyle Palmieri gets called for holding on Mark Fraser
12:27 - Hall gets the initial shot and it bounces up in the air. He almost bats it out of the air but misses it.
11:29 - Schutlz takes a tripping penalty on Silfverberg negating a break away and the Oilers power play.
10:39 Goal - With the Palmieri penalty about to expire the Oilers gain the zone 4v4 and keep it in. Just as the penalty expires Perron shoots from the face off dot and scores. Although it wasn't a short handed goal in the traditional sense it was nice to see the Oilers by on the good side of a SHG.
8:21 - Hall streaks down the left side and tries to get a pass to Gagner but he's tied up and can't get his stick on it
7:30 - Smyth takes a slapshot from the top of the face off circle that hits Hiller up high and almost floats into the net
6:48 - Off of a false start on a face off Beleskey skates over to Pinizzotto to have some words and both get 10 minute misconducts
5:59 - Another fight this time is Fraser and Maroon
3:49 - Ryan Getzlaf makes a pass over to a wide open Perry at the face off dot and Perry blasts a shot but Fasth gets over and makes the stop
3:22 Goal - Schultz in deep in the offensive zone (behind the net) gets the puck to Eberle who drives the puck to the net. The puck ends up going to the side of the net and Schultz is able to tap it in
0:03 - Perron takes an interference penalty on Maroon
Third Period
19:35 Goal - On the power play Getzlaf takes a point shot that gets tipped by Perry past Fasth. The unsung hero on this goal is Maroon parked in front of the net.
16:17 - Nugent-Hopkins gets a shot on net that drops right in the five hole of Hiller and he doesn't know where it is but a quick whistle negates any second chances
15:03 - Perty gets called for holding on Getzlaf
14:05 - On the power play, on a similar play that scored on the previous power play, Getzlaf blasts the puck from the point but hits the post
7:43 - Nugent-Hopkins almost tips a pass from behind the net into his own net. Off of the save the puck goes to the side of the net and Winnik tries to kick it in
4:05 - Perry's pass to Maroon leads to another great chance for the Ducks
1:21 - The Ducks pull Hiller
0:48 - Sami Vatanen appears to shoot the puck wide looking for a rebound off the rear boards. The puck bounces out but Fasth reads the play and gets his glove on it before anything can happen
0:13 - With the net empty and Eberle getting the puck deep into the Ducks zone Perry gets the puck but Hall is able to get his stick on it and chip it to Eberle. Eberle takes a shot at the empty net and scores
Full Highlights
Game Review
Game Rating: 6 out of 10
The Oilers played a game of catch up and won it. With the exception of the goals and some nice saves by Fasth there was nothing pretty about this win. The only player with a positive Corsi rating in the game was Steve Pinizzotto every other player was even or worse. One can argue that score effect took place after the Oilers went up 3-1 but that wasn't the case tonight. The Oilers got lucky to win this game but at least they won. Also Bruce McCurdy was proven wrong tonight with his theory of goalies facing their former teams.
Jason LaBarbera PHX 5 EDM 4 Ilya Bryzgalov PHA 4 EDM 3 (SO) PHX 4 EDM 3 (OT) ANA 5 EDM 2 PHX 4 EDM 3 Ben Scrivens LAK 4 EDM 2
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) April 3, 2014
Player Profile
Tonight I won't go through the momentum guys but I will include a little criticism. The honour belongs to Anton Lander. He looked slow out there tonight. Whether he was tired or sick or what I don't know but the pace of the NHL just seemed to beat him down and it's been a steady decline over the past 5 games. Tonight his Corsi was 15.8%! That is a bad game no matter how you slice it.
I had high hopes for the guy but unless he can bounce back in the next three games he may not be long for the Oilers organization. Even if he does bounce back I don't see him in an Oilers uniform next season. His biggest competition for a position next season is signed for dirt cheap (Mark Arcobello) and players like Gagner and Boyd Gordon are higher on the depth chart than he is. An off season trade is a real possibility for Lander but we'll see.
Up Next
The Oilers go up against their former North West Division rivals the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. As we all know they are the "hottest" team in the NHL right now so maybe some Oilers end of season luck puts a damper on their parade and maybe a former member of that team can finally score that elusive power play goal he's been looking for against them.
P.S. I forgot this sub story. Justin Schultz scored against the team that drafted him and that he snubbed to play for the Oilers. I know it's meaningless but it's still nice.