When a Win is a Loss

The Oilers probably played their best game of the season so far against the Philadelphia Flyers today but lost is the worst way possible. With 1:45 remaining in the second period Connor McDavid tried to make something out of nothing during an Oilers penalty kill and appeared to injure his left shoulder.

The Oilers would end up winning the game in the third period but the loss of McDavid could be huge. This team, thanks to the defense, may be worse that last season’s team during McDavid’s absence.

Highlights

The Good

Possession

This was easily the Oilers best game of the season. They had a corsi of 61.86% at EV and were 1 shot shy of cracking 50 shots in the game.

One Hall of a Game

I know Gene Principe would be proud of me for that one but in all seriousness Taylor Hall had a great game. He had a goal and two assists and displayed why he is still a driving force on this team.

The Bad

In a game like this it’s difficult to pick out the bad but if I had to I’d have to say the second period. 34 seconds into the period the Oilers allowed a weak Flyers team to tie the game and then 12 and half minutes later allowed them to take the lead. Add the McDavid injury to that and tt was a bad period all around.

The Ugly

Well we all know what this is going to be. Connor McDavid who was having a great season got injured on a play that seemed simple enough. He got tangled up with Brandon Manning and Michael Del Zotto and crashed into the boards. If that isn’t ugly enough for you, as I’m writing this word is McDavid is out long term.

Coach McLellan says @cmcdavid97 has an upper-body injury that will keep him out long term.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 4, 2015

So not only do the Oilers have an issue on defense they now have a big gap on their 1B line. The only silver lining is that Jordan Eberle is expected back next game which may help a little.

Thoughts

What can I say? This is going to be yet again another tough season for the Oilers. Most of us knew this was going to be a sh*t show but at least we’d get to watch McDavid play now we don’t even have that. I guess all we can hope for is that Peter Chiarelli figures something out quickly so that this team at least gets a chance to keep it’s head above water while McDavid is out but that is rather doubtful.

Up Next

The last phenom to enter league visits Edmonton on Friday when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit Rexall Place. The game starts at 7PM and who knows what the line up will look like, all we know is that it will be different.