1 Minute and 36 Seconds

After playing a great first period the Oilers started the second period flat and allowed the Los Angeles Kings to score 3 goals in a minute 36. The third goal would end up being the game winner.

Highlights

The Good

The Oilers played a pretty decent game. In the first they had the majority of the chances but were unable to solve Jonathan Quick. With the exception of the 1:36 from 4:22 of the second to the 5:58 mark of the second period the Oilers played well. The Oilers fired 44 shots at Quick but couldn’t seem to score more than twice.

The Bad

Once again the referees missed a lot of calls. By my count there were 5 missed infractions and they were pretty big ones. The Oilers could’ve had 3 more chances on the power play while the Kings would’ve had two more chances. I get that it’s mid-season and things will be missed but some of them were obvious calls and went completely uncalled.

The Ugly

We keep hearing about how Cam Talbot keeps practising and trying to improve his game but these dead angle shots keep biting him in the ass. The start of the goal scoring flurry started because of a bad goal while he was cheating on the post. How many more goals like this is he going to allow? It has become chronic and teams know his weak spot and are continually taking advantage of it. This should be the focus of his training and it should be almost 100% of the focus. These goals just kill the team and any momentum they may have at the time.

Up Next

Anyone want to track this game for me? :)

Obviously I’m kidding, the Oilers take on the Anaheim Ducks on New Years Eve and if the game is anything like the the Ducks played tonight it’s going to be boring. The Ducks defeated the Flames 1 - 0 and held the Flames to only 14 shots while only taking 21 of their own. Hopefully the Oilers come out with the same jump that they came out with tonight and make it an interesting game at least. The game starts at 7PM MT. Hopefully this is the last game sans the Oilers second line (one can hope anyway).