Lucky 13

This game had all the markings of the Calgary Flames game a couple nights before. The Oilers entered the third period up 3-1 to the Sharks but once again collapsed and almost lost it 4-3. Justin Schultz would end up being the saviour in the game when he tied the game at 4 with 2:37 left in the third.

Highlights

First Period

• 14:09 - For the first 6 minutes or so nothing really happened then Taylor Hall picked up a mishandled puck in close range and came up with a really nice scoring opportunity.
• 14:01 5v4 - Brent Burns for hooking - Drawn by Hall
• 12:01 5v5 - Penalty expires. Good sustained pressure by the Oilers’ second PP unit
• 8:17 4v5 - Andrew Ference for hooking - Drawn by Barclay Goodrow
• 8:10 GOAL - Right off of the faceoff Patrick Marleau gets the puck and fires a pass at Joe Pavelski and it goes in off of his foot and in.
• 4:09 - Viktor Fasth makes a stop off of Matt Irwin from the point but juggles the rebound. Melker Karlsson is right there to get the rebound but Fasth comes up big.
• 1:57 GOAL - Hall makes a nice pass over to Jordan Eberle. Eberle skates the puck in and makes some beautiful moves and puts the puck away after Antti Niemi is completely down and out.
• 0:41 - Tomas Hertl scores but it is immediately waved off as James Sheppard interfered with Fasth on the play.

Second Period

• 19:38 GOAL - Eberle again. Schultz takes a weak shot on net but the Niemi throws out a big rebound. Eberle picks up the puck and puts it away.
• 13:36 - Matt Hendricks bumps his player off the puck behind the Sharks net and grabs the puck. He then gets the puck into the slot where Boyd Gordon is streaking in but Gordon puts the puck over the net.
• 10:21 GOAL - Derek Roy starts this and ends it. After some sustained pressure by the Sharks, Roy is able to get the puck in deep behind the Sharks net. Nail Yakupov continues on with the puck and skates it out. He makes a move that looks like he is going to shoot the puck but instead wires a pass to Roy in the slot. Roy’s one timer beats Niemi
• 1:09 4v5 - Jeff Petry for roughing - Drawn by Karlsson

Third Period

• 20:00 - Both Benoit Pouliot and Hall did not return for the third period
• 19:09 5v5 - Penalty expires
• 17:25 GOAL - Joe Thornton from the side of the net gets a hard pass over to Scott Hannan who muscles it past Fasth
• 16:11 GOAL - Matt Tennyson riffles a shot from the point and with Logan Couture causing some interference infront of the net the puck goes in. This time it’s a goal.
• 10:57 - Matt Nieto and Couture on a 2 on 1 against Keith Aulie. Nieto gets the puck over the Couture who fires it high. Fasth got a piece of it to keep the game tied.
• 10:32 GOAL - Burns makes a hard pass over to Pavelski who puts it past Fasth.
• 2:37 GOAL - The Oilers sustained pressure for about 60 seconds. The puck makes its way to Justin Schultz. With Anton Lander in front of the net, Schutlz takes a shot and beats Niemi.
• 0:02 - Fasth stops Pavelski from point blank to force overtime

Overtime

• Overtime didn’t see much action. The best chance probably came off of Petry’s stick and his shot went wide.

Shoot Out

• 1 - Couture SAVE
• 1 - Roy SAVE
• 2 - Pavelski SAVE
• 2 - Eberle SAVE
• 3 - Thornton SAVE
• 3 - Purcell SAVE
• 4 - Marleau SAVE
• 4 - Yakupov SAVE
• 5 - Burns GOAL
• 5 - Nugent-Hopkins GOAL
• 6 - Karlsson SAVE
• 6 - Matt Fraser POST
• 7 - Hertl SAVE
• 7 - Hendricks POST
• 8 - Goodrow SAVE
• 8 - Schultz SAVE
• 9 - Tennyson MISS
• 9 - Lander SAVE
• 10 - Tyler Kennedy SAVE
• 10 - Oscar Klefbom SAVE
• 11 - Sheppard MISS
• 11 - Gordon SAVE
• 12 - Nieto SAVE
• 12 - Petry SAVE
• 13 - Irwin MISS
• 13 - Rob Klinkhammer GOAL

Thoughts

The Oilers played quite well and kept pace with the Sharks tonight. For the first 40 minutes they stayed ahead of the Sharks but like we've seen so many times this season (and season past) they fell apart in the third. The second goal by San Jose really seemed to demoralize the team. They were also playing short handed playing without Hall or Pouliot in the third.

I think the strangest part of this game was San Jose's second goal. A similar goal was disallowed in the first and in this case the goal tender interference was even more blatant. Some will argue that Ference pushed Couture into Fasth but it appeared to be momentum more so than anything that drove Couture into Fasth.

Fasth played well and his performance in the shootout was outstanding. He looked calm and collected even after giving up 4 goals in regulation. As for the shootout itself it was mildly entertaining although there were many outstanding moves made by the shooters.

Up Next

The Oilers head back to Rexall to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. It will be interesting to see how they do against one of the best in the Eastern Conference.