Before watching this game, I made a wonderful discovery. Sherwood Park has a donair shop that’s actually open on Sundays. Richards used to be, until one of their owners retired, I really thought I was going to have to settle for something else. Luckily, I have discovered Roma’s Pizza and Donair, the best part is that they use Skip the Dishes. Having learned all this was a great way to kick off an afternoon game. I could order in, relax and prepare for what I expected to be another loss. The Oilers were on the second half of a back-to-back, and were on a six game losing streak. I’m not really sure anyone was too convinced that this was going to be the kind of game that the Oilers win.

During the anthems I learned another thing that I should have probably already known. No, it’s not something as important as where and when I could get a donair, but still the kind of thing that a Canadian should be made aware. I had a chuckle at the Pepsi center singer for screwing up the lyrics. Seriously, she has one job, how hard is it to learn the words and get them right?.... Oh..... It turns out that the anthem has been changed and it all happened without me knowing about it. It’s an interesting thing. I don’t know how I missed this happening — I’d imagine it’s the kind of thing that garners controversy — but I find it hilarious that for a while there, I didn’t know the words to my own anthem. Anyway, time to get to the game.

1st Period:

This was a boring frame of hockey. The entire thing was pretty uneventful start to finish. For this reason, I’m just going to give the quick version.

• Cam Talbot was able to make the Avalanche work for their first goal. He stopped the first one and patiently held them off until their second shot of the game. Tyson Jost sped his way into the Oilers zone and put a great wrist shot over Talbot’s glove.
• There was sloppy play all over the ice from both teams after that.
• Drake Cagguila tripped up Mikko Rantanen. The worst PK against one of the worst Powerplays was very boring. No one scored, but no one looked good.
• The Avalanche got called for too many men. One of the worst Powerplays against one of the worst Penalty kills was boring this way, as well. No one scored and no one looked good.
• The Oilers ended up leading the shot clock but losing on the scoreboard at the end of the 1st.

2nd Period:

• Again, really boring start to this period.
• Leon Draisaitl slashed Gabriel Landeskog and had to sit for two. Luckily for the Oilers, the Avalanche are really good at killing off their own powerplays.
• Just over half way through the period, It’s Oscar Klefbom, to Patrick Maroon, to Matt Benning for a shot. The rebound goes right to the best player in the world and the game is tied 1-1.

• Wouldn’t last long though, Anton Lindholm took a shot from the blue line, it hits Alexander Kerfoot and takes the luckiest of lucky bounces past Cam Talbot for a 2-1 Avalanche lead.
• The teams start playing a lot more exciting hockey from here on out. Chances at both ends, Semyon Varlomov made some big saves, Cam Talbot held his own. The Oilers go into the break down 2-1

3rd Period:

Connor McDavid Scores. This one is from Leon Draisaitl and Kris Russell.

• As mentioned in the tweet, a huge part of that goal is Leon Draisaitl smacking Patrik Nemeth’s stick out of the way to leave him helpless. This is one of the reasons he’s worth every penny of those 8.5 million dollars.
• Ryan Strome, Milan Lucic and Mike Camalleri made a really nice passing play that Strom couldn’t finish. This is his reaction:

Luckily for Strome, he didn’t throw a water bottle and get his coach wet. That’s always a lot worse. Also, he made up for it by scoring a goal of his own.

Just to make everything right in the world, Connor McDavid completes the hat trick into the open net.

And there you have it. The Oilers win 4-2 and managed not to lose seven in a row.

Notes:

• Jesse Puljujarvi had just a hair over 8 minutes of ice-time throughout the game. He looked ok despite missing on a really good chance. I think I’m going to give him his own article later this week,
• Leon Draisaitl had two assists. It’s important to remember that he’s really damn good.
• The third period comeback had a lot to do with the Avs losing two defensemen two injury. One of those being the very good Erik Johnson who looks like he’ll be out for a while.
• The Penalty kill went 3/3, but that does not mean they did a good job. They weren’t stopping passes, they didn’t clear often, the L formation was in full force. Luckily the Avalanche do not shoot with the man advantage.
• Cam Talbot had a really solid game despite the early goal against.
• No one can stop McDavid, it’s just never going to happen.