Poor Puck Possession and Penalties Sink the Oilers

When ever the Oilers face the Detroit Red Wings you know there is a good chance they are going to get blown out. Most of the game was dominated by the Red Wings but late in the third period the Oilers decided to make a game of it when they tied the score at 2 a piece with 4:05 left in the game. A stupid penalty by Benoit Pouliot with 2:29 would completely erase any hope of a win.

Highlights

First Period

• 9:48 4v5 - Teddy Purcell for Hooking - Drawn by Kyle Quincey
• 9:35 - Something we’ve seen over & over again. All of the Oilers are in the corner. Tomas Tatar sneaks into the slot all alone and gets the best chance so far.
• 9:18 - Tatar gets in close again and this time he hits the post.
• 7:35 5v5 - Penalty expires
• 7:09 5v4 - Luke Glendening for cross checking - Drawn by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
• 6:02 5v3 - Danny Dekeyser for delay of game - Puck over the glass
• 5:09 5v4 - Glendening penalty expires
• 4:31 GOAL - Jordan Eberle walks in from the corner and shelfs it. It was a nice hard pass from Jeff Petry that gave Eberle the chance.

The first 10 minutes of the game belonged to the Red Wings… who am I kidding, with the exception of the 2 power plays for Edmonton, Detroit took the first by a landslide. Funny thing is that Viktor Fasth came up big when he needed to and the post saved him as well.

Second Period

• 18:37 4v5 - Nikita Nikitin for delay of game - Puck over the glass
• 16:37 5v5 - Penalty expires
• 13:10 - Glendening and Tomas Jurco come in on a 2 on 1 again Justin Schultz. Schultz sprawls and completely takes away the pass.
• 12:58 4v5 - Matt Hendricks for closing hand on the puck
• 9:16 GOAL - Justin Abdelkader fights off Justin Schultz and brings it up high along the board, passes it off to Quincey, who puts it past Fasth.
• 6:36 - Fasth was down and out and Nikitin sprawling. Tatar comes from behind the net and puts the puck through the crease.
• 5:22 - Datsyuk and Helm in on a 3 on 1. Datsyuk makes a great pass but Fasth makes the save.
• 1:40 4v5 - Eberle for tripping - Drawn by Nyquist
• 1:31 GOAL - You can only give the best power play in the league so many chances. This time Abdelkader tips the puck and scores on a shot from Niklas Kronwall.

Well it was more of the same from Detroit in the second. The Oilers got lucky to get out of the second down by 1.

Third Period

• 17:35 5v4 - Johan Franzen for hooking - Drawn by Teddy Purcell
• 15:35 - Abdelkader and Darren Helm break in 2 on 1 on the PK. Abdelkader gets in close and gets a shot away but Fasth makes the stop.
• 4:05 GOAL - Eberle scores on a great pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the Oilers are able to maintain some pressure
• 2:29 4v5 - Benoit Pouliot (4 minutes) for spearing - Drawn by Jonathan Ericsson
• 0:34 GOAL - Pavel Datsyuk scores on the power play as Andrew Ference and Matt Hendricks get crossed and it goes off of Hendricks’ stick and in
• 0:03 GOAL - Glendening scores on the empty net

Not much changed in the third period. The Oilers got out played, Detroit dominated most of the play, including their own penalty kill, and came up short in the end.

Thoughts

Even though the score doesn’t reflect it, Fasth had a decent game. He still made some typical Fasth bonehead moves but he came up when the team needed him to.

The fourth line of Hendricks, Boyd Gordon and Rob Klinkhammer has been nice. Jesse Joensuu was a nice compliment to Gordon and Hendricks but Klinkhammer was a great acquisition.

Interesting side note. At EV the Oilers TOI leaders were Nikita Nikitin (17:28) and Mark Fayne (17:09). It almost seems like Todd Nelson is feeling out all of the defensemen to see what he really has on his hands. Since he’s become the solo bench boss no defenseman has been tops in EV TOI twice in a row. It’s very strange.

Up Next

So the Oilers stay at home and get a visit from the Chicago Blackhawks. This is going to be fun to watch.