New Year - Similar Result

What can one say? It's not like I expected to win but hey at least they got the loser point and that's almost as good as a win. Right?

Highlights

First Period

• 14:17 4v5 - Luke Gazdic literally steps on the ice and gets called for slashing - Drawn by Nathan MacKinnon
• 4:14 Fight - Matt Hendricks drops the gloves with Cody McLeod
• 0:52 4v4 - Anton Lander for cross checking and John Mitchell for goaltender interference

Quiet first period. The Oilers played the majority of the first in their own end but were able to keep the Avalanche from getting too many decent opportunities. Even though the Avalanche were still able to get a couple really good changes but Ben Scrivens’ was able to come up big when needed.

Second Period

• 19:15 4v3 - Taylor Hall for slashing - Drawn by Landeskog
• 15:55 - Nail Yakupov gets the puck up by the Oilers blue line and tries to make a quick pass but Barrie intercepts and gets a good shot on Scrivens.
• 12:05 GOAL - Daniel Briere scores after Schultz chases the puck instead of covering his man.
• 5:30 4v4 - Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Fraser for roughing
• 1:46 5v4 - McKinnon for hooking - Drawn by Jeff Petry

As quiet as the first period was for both teams the second period saw one team jump out and dominate the other. The Avalanche came hard and scored. The Oilers seemed to be hemmed in their zone for most of the second and couldn’t really get anything going.

Third Period

• 18:45 - Alex Tanguay circles out and get the puck over to Nick Holden. His shot gets goes right into the crease and onto Jarome Iginla’s stick but some how the puck stays out.
• 17:56 5v4 - Briere for tripping - Drawn by Gazdic
• 15:58 5v3 - Tanguay for hooking - Drawn by Derek Roy
• 15:56 5v4 - First penalty expired
• 15:13 GOAL - Standing infront of the net on the power play, Benoit Pouliot scores on his second attempt.

If the second period belonged to the Avalanche then the third definitely belonged to the Oilers. The Oilers didn’t allow the Avalanche to register a shot on net until 12:45 into the period. By that point the Oilers already 10 shots and a goal in the period.

Overtime

• 4:00 - Hall and Petry break out 2 on 1. The pass is taken quite well so Hall has to shoot but Semyon Varlamov makes the stop

Shootout

• 1 - McKinnon - Save
• 1 - Roy - Post
• 2 - Matt Duchene - GOAL
• 2 - Jordan Eberle - Save
• 3 - Tanguay - GOAL

Thoughts

A loss is a loss no matter how you try to slice it. When it comes to the shootout the Oilers, like they do in regulation, just can’t seem to score.

Scrivens played well again and the goal against was not his fault. My biggest critique of Scrivens isn’t his inability to play the puck but the fact that he keeps doing it.

It seems like the Oilers have decided that Justin Schultz is going to be their number one defenceman no matter what the numbers say. He played 24:04 tonight and him and Nikitin were the only minus players. As much as I don’t like +/- tonight’s minus for Schultz was well deserved as he was directly responsible for the goal against after he followed the puck instead of defending his man.

Once again Petry and Klefbom had a good game unfortunately coaching decisions kept them apart and it hurt the team.

Up Next

Well the Oilers face Islanders at home on Sunday. This isn’t the Islanders of past though so the Oilers are going to be in tough against them. Rob Klinkhammer will be in town by then and Leon Draisaitl will either draw back into the lineup or be in the WHL. If the latter happens expect to see Gazdic back in the lineup for Sunday’s game.