Edmonton Oilers vs. Arizona Coyotes- Oilers fall to Yotes, again

The Coyotes beat the Oilers 4-2 on Tuesday night. They are now 19-0-4 against the Oil in their last 23 meeting. Frankly, that's ridiculous. As we all know, it's not like the Yotes have been a good team in recent years. They were the only western conference team with a worse record than the Oilers last season, and they're still not particularly close to a playoff spot this year. But against Edmonton, they might as well be the 1987 Canada Cup team.

Recap

The first period was more or less even in terms of chances. The Coyotes struck first on a goal by the NHL's highest scoring Mooseheads alum Alex Tanguay. The Oilers answered on the power play, which hasn't been as atrocious as it normally is, as of late. The goal came on a goal-mouth scramble, where Jordan Eberle managed to shovel in the loose puck.

The ice seemed tilted in the Coyotes' favour in the second period. They scored the first two goals of the period. The first was by Martin Hanzel, while the second was by former Oilers prospect Tobias Rieder, immediately off a faceoff. Mark Letestu answered for the Oilers late in the period, the second Oilers goal on the man-advantage of the game. The worst news of the period, and the game for that matter, was that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left the game, following an apparent head-shot he received from Connor Murphy.

The early part of the third was fairly even. The Griffin Reinhart had a fantastic chance following a Leon Draisaitl pass just before the 13 minute mark, but he rang it off the crossbar and out of play. About five minutes later, Draisaitl was back to his playmaking ways, setting up Hall on a two-on-one, but Hall missed just wide. That's as close as the Oilers would get. Max Domi iced the game for Arizona with an empty-netter at the end.

Silver Lining

Connor McDavis had two assists. That gives him 42 points in 39 games this year. If he gets at least three points in his final six games, he'll become only the third teenage rookie since 1990 to average a point-per-game. The other two were Eric Lindros and Sidney Crosby. He truly is a generational talent.

Stats Central

Jordan Oesterle and Griffin Reinhart were +16 and +14 respectively in 5 on 5 Corsi differential. To say that number is impressive would be an understatement.

Players of the Game

I've said it before, but I can't just give this imaginary puck to McDavid every night. He's a special player, and while two assists are great, it's not that big of a deal for him. He's a generational talent of Pete's sake. Tonight's game puck goes to Jordan Oesterle. He was particularly impressive in orchestrating breakouts tonight. He took a couple of big hits, but he didn't let them throw him off his game. He's really impressed me with his recent play. I can't think of anyone more deserving of my fictional game puck.